It is distressing to me how the archeological adventurer Vendyl Jones, on reading Jesus tell the Canaanite woman “Salvation is from the Jews” decided the right move was to apostatize from Christianity and pursue a kind of Judaism for Gentiles called Noahidism.
Noahidism removes all religious obligations from Gentiles, putting all the onus on Jews as the sole mediator(s) between God and man on this earth. According to Judaism, the obligations of a Gentile are purely secular encapsulated in the 7 Noahide Laws. The thirst for actual worship for Noahides has lead to some kind of abridged Jewish liturgy deemed appropriate for Gentiles in modern times.
The Noahide Laws have been foundational in Christianity as can be read in Acts 15. However, they are rarely alluded to in the New Testament because they’re taken as a given. Certainly from a secular and functional perspective they are essential. However, from a Christian perspective, where Jesus has fulfilled the Jewish role in the intermediary role between God and man, they are barely relevant to the message of the Gospel.
One reason is that Christians look to the 10 commandments which are much more comprehensive in articulating God’s Law. According to Jewish tradition all 613 mitzvot can be categorized within the 10 commandments. Within Catholicism, it’s exactly the same principle although I’m not sure how much work has been done connecting Mitzvot to Canon Law. However, in Jewish tradition the 7 Noahide Laws are outside of the 613 making a grand total of 620 laws for man. I’ve written elsewhere how Jesus hid himself within the Noahide Laws and raised them into holiness by transforming them into the 7 sacraments.
For Noahidism to actually work there would need to be a Jewish Temple. There were many non-Jewish Godfearers throughout the ancient world prior to the coming of Jesus. Noahidism was viable and made sense. There are many records of Gentiles bringing sacrifice to the Jewish Temple. That is a key point. There was cultic religious practice for Godfearers so they could actually worship God in the form of the Second Temple. A restart of Noahidism in the present day is nearly bankrupt of viable worship.
We know Jesus is the temple for all mankind—Jew and Gentile. Every ceremonial mitzvot that required the Temple is being performed in eternality by Him. We enter that Temple and commune with Him at the Mass. We sacrifice AND worship at the Mass. There is no other completed sacrifice or worship that one can participate in anywhere on earth except at Mass. For a Gentile to subscribe to Noachidism is to participate in the blindness to the Messiah, Jesus Christ Son of God. It’s even more troubling if a Baptized Catholic were to apostize in favor of Noahidism. I can only hope with proper catechisis this hardly ever happens.
My father received a tract from a Chabad group that was proselytizing to Gentiles on the street about the Laws of Noah. On the cover it has the Rebbe Schneerson labeled as the Messiah. I understand it’s a small minority of Lubivitchers who hold that the Rebbe is the Messiah and will rise from the dead—but they are quite vocal and “evangelical” about their beliefs. It strikes me how little they know about Christianity to be preaching The Rebbe as the Messiah. My hope is that a wayward Christian who had an encounter with them would come to their senses and rush back into the arms of Jesus. (I am not speaking ill of The Rebbe. I admire him. He’s not the Messiah and he said so himself. But there is a small fanatical fringe of Chabad who won’t take no for answer.)
My fundamental disgust with Noahidism is Jewish condescension. These fanatical Jews preaching Noahidism on street corners must think Christianity is some kind of idolatry, without any knowledge or respect for the immense depth of its tradition. It’s a criticism I have against Christians who proselytize to Jews as well. The depth of both traditions is immense, and of course it would be, as they are inextricably linked to the one true God forever.
I suppose one could make a counter argument that the culture is so fallen that Noahidism is better than nothing (and they would be correct). However, for a Gentile to have the choice of the splendor and mercy of Catholicism or the insufficiency of Noahidism, it would be a tragedy to choose the 7 natural laws of Noah over the fullness of Christ within the 7 Sacraments of Catholicism.
