Recovering the Jewish Roots of Christianity: Nicaea Revisited
By Dr. Juergen Buehler, ICEJ President
This year marks 1700 years since the Council of Nicaea—a defining moment in church history. While its theological achievements are often celebrated, Nicaea also marked the beginning of a systemic detachment from the Jewish roots of Christianity.
This summer, the ICEJ has held a special 100-day observance of prayer and teachings on Nicaea’s positive impact and its misstep toward the Jews. The four transcribed excerpts that follow offer key insights from the weekly online teachings, inviting both respect and repentance for Nicaea’s mixed legacy.
Seeds of Displacement: The Earliest Form of Replacement Theology
By Dr. Juergen Buehler, ICEJ President
Replacement Theology—the belief that the church has replaced Israel in God’s covenantal plan—is not a modern error. Its roots stretch all the way back to the early days of the church, and even earlier.
One of the first examples appears in the story of the Samaritans. After the Assyrian exile of Israel’s northern tribes (2 Kings 17), foreigners were settled in northern Israel and adopted some local Israelite practices but merged them with idolatry. Over time, they claimed to be the true people of God. In John 4:22, Jesus refutes this directly: “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” Far from endorsing syncretism, Jesus reaffirms Israel’s central role in God’s salvation plan.
Another early form of replacement thinking emerged through Gnosticism in the first century. Gnostics rejected the physical incarnation of Jesus and sought to detach the gospel from its Jewish roots. They denied the God of the Hebrew Scriptures and redefined Jesus as a temporary divine being. The apostolic response was strong: John writes, “Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2–3). Paul, likewise, defends the gospel’s Jewish foundation in Romans, Colossians, and Corinthians—reminding us that Jesus is a descendant of David and the fulfilment of Israel’s promises.
How the Church Drifted From Its Jewish Roots
Even within the apostolic church, the drift had begun. In 3 John, the beloved disciple warns of Diotrephes, a leader who rejected apostolic authority and refused to receive Jewish emissaries. He slandered them and cast out those who welcomed them. This episode shows how early the seeds of theological arrogance and disconnection from Israel were sown.
Tragically, the de-Judaizing of Christianity continued throughout history, culminating in the twentith century with Nazi Germany’s “De-Judaizing Institute” within the Lutheran Church. Influential theologians like Gerhard Kittel contributed to erasing Jesus’ Jewish identity and recasting Christianity as anti-Jewish.
Today, similar ideas have resurfaced. Some argue the Old Testament reveals a different God or that it has been superseded entirely. But the Bible offers no such division. The New Testament proclaims Jesus as the fulfilment of Israel’s Scriptures—not their replacement.
To avoid falling into the same error, we must recover the full counsel of God, rooted in both Testaments and in the covenantal history of Israel. This is not about theological correctness alone—it is about humility, memory, and fidelity to the story of redemption. Let us return to the roots that nourish our faith.
The Hidden Shift: Uncovering the Treasures Buried at Nicaea
By Rev. Dr. Petra Heldt, Director, Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel
Hosea 4:6 warns, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” This loss of spiritual clarity became tragically evident at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, where a subtle but decisive shift disconnected Christianity from its Jewish roots.
The early church was born in Jerusalem, nurtured in synagogues, and shaped by covenants made with Abraham, Moses, and David. Yet by the fourth century, political power and theological influence had moved westward. At Nicaea, theological terms foreign to Scripture [like homoousios, meaning “of the same substance” or “of one essence,” used in the Nicene Creed to affirm that the Son is of the same essence as the Father] entered the church’s core vocabulary, recasting the faith through Greek philosophical lenses.
One of the clearest breaks came in the dating of Passover. Until then, many Christians celebrated Passover on the Nisan 14, as taught by John and practiced by churches in Asia Minor. But Emperor Constantine pushed for a calendar free from Jewish ties: “It appeared unworthy,” he wrote, “to follow the custom of the Jews.”
This was more than liturgy—it was a theological realignment that obscured the Jewish identity of Jesus and the apostolic church.
Yet the light was never extinguished. Remnant communities, and today’s Messianic believers, preserved the flame. Our task is to uncover these treasures, not to undo the creed—to restore their full meaning, rooted in Israel’s story and fulfilled in the Messiah.
Erased from the Creed: Nicaea and the Roots of Christian Antisemitism
By Paul O’Higgins, Founder of Reconciliation Outreach
The Council of Nicaea is widely praised for affirming the divinity of Jesus and unifying the church. Yet it also introduced a theological omission with long-lasting consequences: the near-complete removal of Israel from the church’s liturgy and identity.
The Nicaean Creed skips over the entire story of Israel—from Abraham and Moses to the prophets and covenants—leaping straight from creation to Christ’s incarnation. This omission helped normalize a theology in which the church replaced Israel as God’s covenant people.
That mindset was codified through specific actions. At Nicaea, the church broke from the biblical Passover calendar and established Easter independently from Jewish reckoning. Emperor Constantine made his intention clear: “Let us have nothing in common with this detestable people.”
These decisions marked the rise of formal Replacement Theology, a framework that disconnected Jesus from His Jewish context and silenced the ongoing relevance of God’s promises to Israel.
As a seminary-trained theologian, I can testify that the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants were rarely mentioned in Christian education. Yet the New Testament proclaims otherwise. Mary celebrates God’s covenant with Abraham (Luke 1), Peter speaks of “the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21), and Paul reminds us, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).
Today, the restoration of Israel is unfolding before our eyes. The church must revisit what Nicaea omitted and replant itself in God’s ongoing covenant with His people.
A Covenant Unbroken: The Land Promise in the New Testament
By Dr. Gerald McDermott, Anglican theologian and author
Many Christians have long believed that God’s promise of land to Israel was spiritualized or rendered irrelevant by Christ’s coming. Yet the New Testament tells a different story.
While less prominent than in the Hebrew Bible, the land promise is still present—and assumed. Hebrews 11 affirms Abraham’s expectation of a specific inheritance. Acts 7 and 13 recount God’s gift of the land to Israel. Neither text reinterprets nor retracts that promise.
In Acts 1:6, the disciples ask if Jesus will restore the kingdom to Israel. He doesn’t correct them—He simply says the timing is not for them to know. The expectation remains valid. Paul’s statement in Romans 11:29, “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” includes the land, which was central to Jewish identity. Even Revelation affirms a future for the land. Jerusalem is called “the holy city” (Revelation 11, 21), and the twelve tribes are honored. The storyline of redemption remains rooted in both a people and a place.
The land promise was never abolished. It was reaffirmed and illuminated by the Messiah. To rightly understand the gospel, the church must once again embrace the full scope of God’s covenant with Israel—land included.
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