There is very little known about the Ebionites as
they did not leave us many writings. What is known about them are the things
that others have written or said about them throughout history. It is known
that they had a small community in Qumran in the late first century A.D. The
Ebionites may have migrated from Jerusalem to Qumran after the destruction of
the temple in 70 A.D. The Ebionites suffered persecution by other Jewish groups
as well as “Christians” who hi-jacked the name of Christ for their own selfish
gains. As a result, the Ebionites lost influence and followers toward the
middle of the second-century. However, Epiphanius noted the settlement of
Ebionites in Cyprus in 375 A.D.
The highly ascetic Ebionite group received their
name, meaning “poor ones” in Greek, from Irenaeus around the year 180. This was
derived from the fact that they valued voluntary poverty.
The Ebionites believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
They accepted His humanity, but rejected His deity, which is also a
rejection of His pre-existence, virgin birth, atonement, and resurrection. They
claimed that Jesus was the biological son of Joseph and Mary, and had been
chosen by God to be the Messiah. Some Ebionites, however, believed that Jesus
became God when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him at baptism, but that divinity
left Him at His crucifixion. These are reasons why the early church fathers
regarded them as heretics.
The Ebionites reject every word of the New Testament
except for a Hebrew version of Matthew, which of course had omitted the first
two chapters. They believed that the Apostle Paul was an apostate to the Jewish
faith because he did not mandate circumcision or obedience to the Law (among
other things). Epiphanius claimed that the Ebionites alleged that Paul was a
Greek who converted to Judaism only to marry a high priest’s daughter, but
apostatized when she rejected him.
The Ebionites believed that Jewish laws must be
strictly observed and that all people must observe the Law to become righteous.
However, as their numbers dwindled, they departed from traditional Jewish
practices, and began to engage in excessive ritual bathing, opposing animal
sacrifices, and even denying the Law. Methodius, who died in 311 A.D., noted
that at that time the Ebionites did not even believe that the Old Testament
prophets were inspired.
A rejection of either the deity or humanity of
Christ is clearly an errant view of our Savior. The Ebionites refused to
believe the testimony of the Apostle John, who writes in chapter one of his
gospel that “the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”
(John 1:1-14). Paul tells the Colossians that in Christ “the whole fullness of
deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9). He also exhorts Titus to wait “for our
blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ” (Titus 2:13). Clearly, Scripture teaches that the man Jesus Christ was
also fully God.
Like the ancient Ebionites, there are currently certain
spheres of evangelicalism that force restrictive, unnecessary, and unbiblical
laws on its adherents. Paul tells the Galatians that laws cannot bring
salvation. Only faith in Christ alone can save us (Galatians 2:16). The law of
God is perfect (Psalm 19:7) and man is imperfect. Therefore, it is impossible
for us to keep the law. As a matter of fact, if we keep every aspect of the
law, but fail in one point, James writes that “we have become accountable for
all of it” (James 2:10).
