Ancient Israel's religious leadership involved priests and Levites, crucial for maintaining covenant worship patterns, instruction, and national identity through history.
What Do We Know About the Israelite Priests and Levites?
GNOSTICISM: Guard Against Falsely Called Knowledge—How Important Is Truth to You?
Gnosticism heresy is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge over orthodox teachings, traditions, and ecclesiastical authority. The Gnostics (Greek gnosis, meaning “knowledge”) maintained they had superior knowledge by way of secret revelation and bragged that they were the “correctors of the apostles.” Gnosticism weaved philosophy, speculation, and pagan mysticism with apostate (false) Christianity.
What Do Scripture and History Reveal: The Apostolic Age of the Twelve Apostles and Paul (33-100 A.D.)?
THE APOSTOLIC AGE The period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Great Commission of the Apostles by the resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem (33 A.D.) until the death of the last Apostle, believed to be John the Apostle in Anatolia (100 A.D.).
Who Were the Pharisees?
Religious sect active in Palestine during the NT period. The Pharisees are consistently depicted in the Gospels as Jesus’ antagonists. It is commonly held that the Pharisees represented mainstream Judaism early in the 1st century and that they were characterized by a variety of morally objectionable features.
Who Were the Sadducees?
Sadducees. Jewish party cited 14 times in the NT, not referred to in the OT. In the Gospel narrative they first appear together with Pharisees at John’s baptism. He addressed them as “sons of snakes” and challenged them by asking, “Who said that you could escape the coming wrath of God?” He demanded that they... Continue Reading →
Who Were the Essenes?
The Essenes was a Jewish sect or community in Palestine in the last century BC and the 1st century AD.
Who Were the Ebionites?
The Ebionites combined Jewish faith and asceticism but diverged from apostolic teachings by rejecting Christ's deity and Paul's authority.
