When the Church Forgot Her Roots: Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Separation from the Messianic Movement

The earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish.

They prayed in the Temple, kept the feasts, and lived deeply rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures. They didn’t see themselves as leaving Judaism behind, but rather as stepping into its fulfillment. Jesus ( ישוע| Yeshua in Hebrew) was the long-awaited Messiah, and the faith in Him was first preached from the synagogues of Jerusalem to the diaspora communities of the East.

But somewhere along the way, something went terribly wrong.

What began as a Jewish movement birthed in the heart of Jerusalem soon became foreign-even hostile- to the very people through whom it was given. The growing Gentile church, as it spread across the Roman Empire, slowly severed itself from its Jewish roots. And with that separation came something far more dangerous: the rise of antisemitism from within the Church itself.

From Belonging to Blame

By the second and third centuries, Church Fathers like Justin Martyr and Tertullian began to portray Jews as blind, cursed, or even guilty of killing the Messiah. As Christianity grew in influence, it distanced itself from anything that looked "Jewish"- not just culturally, but theologically. The Sabbath was replaced by Sunday, Passover replaced by Easter, and the rich Jewish context of Scripture was slowly erased.

Instead of honoring the people of Israel as the natural branches from which their faith had grown, many Christians began to blame them - for the crucifixion, for the rejection of the Gospel, and even for the ills of society.

By the time Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, this posture had hardened into policy. Synagogues were destroyed, Jewish communities were persecuted, and centuries of church-sanctioned antisemitism began to take root.

A Severed Body

What was lost in this tragic shift was not only theological accuracy—but spiritual wholeness. The Church, once a body of Jews and Gentiles united in Messiah, became fragmented.

Messianic Jews—those who continued to follow Jesus while embracing their Jewish identity—were rejected by both sides. The Jewish community saw them as traitors, and the Gentile church viewed them as irrelevant.

The separation wasn’t just cultural. It was a spiritual amputation. The Church, having drifted away from its Hebraic foundations, began to misinterpret Scripture, misunderstand God’s covenants, and even claim to have replaced Israel entirely.This theology—known as replacement theology—became one of the most dangerous ideas in Church history, paving the way for Crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, and eventually, even the silence of many Christians during the Holocaust.

And yet, Jesus Himself had warned us not to treat His people this way.

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me… I was in prison and you came to me… Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did for me.”— Matthew 25:35–40

How many times have we failed to see the face of Jesus in the faces of His own people?

A Time to Return

But the story isn’t over.

Today, there is a growing movement of believers—Jews and Gentiles alike—who are rediscovering the Jewishness of Jesus and the beauty of a faith rooted in both covenants. The rise of the modern Messianic Jewish movement is not new—it’s a restoration.

And with this restoration comes a call: for the global Church to repent for its role in antisemitism, to tear down the walls it helped build, and to humbly return to the olive tree from which it was grafted.

As a former Muslim who was taught that Jews were cursed, I’ve come to see the lies that shaped both my past and the past of the Church. I believe it’s time for us to speak the truth boldly: antisemitism has no place among the followers of Jesus. Not in our hearts, not in our history books, and certainly not in our sermons.

The Jewish people are not the problem—they are part of the promise.

And to serve them with love, dignity, and truth… is to serve Yeshua Himself.

May we be part of the healing.

By Sahar Saeed