"It is increasingly accepted among scholars that at the end of the 1st century there were not yet two separate religions called 'Judaism' and 'Christianity'….the first Christians (the disciples or students of Jesus) were essentially all ethnically Jewish or were Jewish proselytes. In other words, Jesus was Jewish, preached to the Jewish people and called from them his first disciples. However, the Great Commission, issued after the Resurrection is specifically directed at "all nations." Jewish Christians as faithful religious Jews, regarded 'Christianity' as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with the addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah. The doctrines of the apostles of Jesus brought the early church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities (Acts records dispute over resurrection of the dead which was rejected by the Sadducees…and possibly later led to Christians' expulsion from synagogues. While Marcionism rejected all Jewish influence on Christianity, Proto-orthodox Christianity instead retained some of the doctrines and practices of 1st-century Judaism while rejecting others…Christian baptism was another continuation of a Judaic practice." [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_events_in_early_Christianity ]
In the fourth century we see two other events which further affected the division of Jewish believer from Gentile believer:
Constantine, the emperor of Rome at that time and an avid worshipper of the sun god, while at the same time claiming to be a Christian with a "vision" to make Christianity the state religion and to take up the sword in the process (remember Jesus telling Peter to put his down?), forced any Jewish believers to publicly renounce all things Jewish and to "become" a "Christian." Any Gentile who joined with the Jews in their worship, including Gentile believers worshipping with Jewish believers, would be breaking the law and punished accordingly.
Then there were the church "councils" who, while quick to set aside the laws of Torah (God's law in the Old Covenant), went about proclaiming their own set of laws. Here is one law that was directed specifically at the Jews, proclaimed by the Church Council of Elvira in Spain circa 309 A.D. [Source: http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/elvira.html ]:
Canon 50: If any of the clergy of the Faithful eats with Jews, he shall be kept from communion in order that he be corrected as he should. (Strangely reminiscent of the religious Jews of Jesus' day who set themselves against Jesus because He ate with tax collectors and sinners. Paul himself rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy of not eating with Gentile believers when Jews were around. )
There is one other that is worth noting, although not dealing with Jews specifically:
Canon 33: Bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and all other clerics having a position in the ministry, are ordered to abstain completely from their wives and not have children. Whoever, in fact, does this shall be expelled from the dignity of the clerical state." (This was a precursor of worse things to come. By the sixth century, "Pope Gregory 'the Great' said that all sexual desire is sinful in itself" (even in the marriage bed). In 1074 by Pope Gregory VII who said that anyone to be ordained must first pledge celibacy: "priests must first escape from the clutches of their wives." Twenty years later, "Pope Urban II had priests' wives sold into slavery, children were abandoned." [Source: http://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/history.htm)]
It is important to remember that there was no other organized "church" at this time, thanks to Constantine who made the church the religion of the state (although I am still searching for a "remnant" which might have included both Jew and Gentile believers.) In such a few short centuries, the church had changed its doctrines and thinking so dramatically from that of the early church where both Jewish believer and Gentile believer attended Synagogue together and studied the Torah together, that it was hardly recognizable by most (and by me not recognizable at all) as still being the church. Instead, we begin to see the words of Paul coming true as spoken to Timothy:
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." (I Timothy 4:1)
Obviously the organized Catholic church, forbidding marriage to its clergy and forbidding the eating of meat on Fridays (fish only) to all of its members, would fit that prophetic declaration; but it might have occurred in some degree even during Paul's latter ministry years, as some in the Roman church had apparently decided only herbs and such as found in the Garden of Eden were approved by God, and no animals were ever to be eaten (Romans 14:2). But I digress…
The council of Antioch in 341 AD donated these edicts:
Canon 1: "…But if any of the persons occupying prominent positions in the church, such as a Bishop, or a Presbyter, or a Deacon…should dare to insist upon…celebrating Easter along with the Jews, the holy Council has hence judged that person to be an alien to the church, on the ground that he has not only become guilty of sin by himself, but has also been the cause of corruption and perversion among the multitude." (This is concerning celebrating Passover in the Jewish tradition, rather than Easter, in the church tradition.)
Note these proclamations from the 4th century Council of Laodicea which seem to be a bit conflicting in terms of whether it was the Sabbath or the Lord's Day that the Lord wanted to be honored and observed [Source: http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm ]:
Canon 16: The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath [i.e. Saturday] with the other Scriptures.
Canon 29: Christian must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ.
Canon 49: during Lent the Bread must not be offered except on the Sabbath Day and on the Lord's Day only.
Rather than Gentile believers assimilating into the things the Jewish believers practiced, as was established by the Jerusalem Council of which Peter and Paul and James and all the disciples were a part (Acts 15), a century or more later, the Jewish believers were now being forced to assimilate into Gentile Christianity, leaving behind any resemblance to things Jewish. For all of us, this was and still is tragic.
By the end of the fourth century, Christianity was now being kept distinct from anything Jewish.
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