Shadowing Practice: What the First Christians Really Believed Will Surprise You - Learn English Speaking with Video
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One of the surprising things that await any student of the New Testament
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when they study the text academically whether at university
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or at home reading academic texts is just how unorthodox
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and heretical the earliest Christian beliefs were compared to the later beliefs of the church.
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And I just want to share with you what some of these beliefs actually were
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because they I found them quite surprising when I first read about them and I'm going to use as my guide
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Jimmy Dunn's book unity
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and diversity in the new testament an inquiry into the character of earliest christianity
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and Jimmy Dunn as I've said before is a leading new testament scholar professor
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at the university of durham
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and he says in his book page 255 under the chapter
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just how orthodox was earliest palestinian christianity he says the following the first christians were jews
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luke's account of the range of nationalities present at pentecost this
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is the great falling of the holy spirit in acts chapter
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2 where they where they all receive the holy spirit people
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from all the nations of the earth apparently are congregated there
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but they were all jews and proselytites in other words they weren't gentiles these were committed people committed to judaism
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and even though they believed that jesus was the messiah
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and risen from the dead that did not alter their standing
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or outlook as jews
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and dunn continues they apparently continued to observe the law without
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question this is the jewish law the 613 commandments given to moses
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not interpreting their traditions of Jesus's words and actions in a manner hostile to the law
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nothing in what they understood about Jesus teaching told them to
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reject the law hence the Pharisees seem to have seen in them little
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or nothing of the threat which Jesus had posed
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acts 5 33 onwards and not a few became members of the Jesus sect
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while still remaining Pharisees Acts 15 5 21 20 hence to the shock of the Cornelius episode to the Jerusalem believers
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it had not occurred to them that faith in Jesus the Christ might make the purity law irrelevant
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so they had no understanding from Jesus that he had abolished the law
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or made what was unclean clean in regards to food at
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all he continues they evidently continue to be firmly attached to
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the temple the Jerusalem temple attending daily at the hour hours of prayer acts 2 46
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and 3 1 regularly coming together there for mutual support
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and in order to teach
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and evangelize the the hour of prayer is the hour of
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sacrifice it's not like going to church in the church of England
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or episcopalian church for prayers this is the temple was built for sacrifice and that's why
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it existed another characteristic was their distinctive belief in the imminent
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parousia of Jesus that's the return of Jesus the son of
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man this belief however seems to have stayed within the framework
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of Jewish eschatological hope this is probably the chief reason why they remained
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so firmly rooted in Jerusalem
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and centered on the temple for the temple was the obvious focal point of the imminent consummation as Malachi 3.1 clearly indicated.
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This would also explain why there was such a lack of concern for the Gentiles
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or for mission outside of Jerusalem amongst the earliest Jerusalem community
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they didn't go into all of the nations to evangelize as
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later christian tradition believed they did they stayed in jerusalem they
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stayed amongst the jews as jews they were still only thinking in terms of israel acts 1 6 22
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and following and 2 39 all that are far off
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which refers to the jews of the diaspora in short he says it is evident
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that the earliest community in no sense felt themselves to be
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a new religion distinct from judaism this is a really important
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point today after two thousand years of christian tradition we think of christianity
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and judaism as a completely separate and independent religions but actually the earliest community after jesus ascended into heaven were Jews,
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practicing Jews and within the Jewish faith there was no sense of a boundary line drawn between themselves
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and their fellow Jews they saw themselves simply as fulfilled Judaism, the beginning of eschatological Israel
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and the Jewish authorities evidently did not see them as anything very different from themselves they held one or two eccentric beliefs, so did other jewish sects
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but otherwise they were holy jewish indeed we may put the
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point even more strongly since judaism has always been concerned more with orthopraxy than with orthodoxy
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right practice rather than right belief the earliest christians were not simply jews
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but in fact continued to be quite orthodox jews these were
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no liberals jews they were no apostate jews these were very traditional committed jews notice then
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that this is the group with whom christianity proper all began only their belief in jesus as messiah
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and risen and their belief
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that the last days were upon them mark them out as different from the majority of their fellow jews.
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none of the other great christian distinctiveness distinctives that come to expression in and through Paul are present.
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So none of the great theological beliefs developed by Paul much later on you know the idea
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that Jesus the messiah died for people's sins is absent, the idea the law has been abolished is absent, the idea that the temple is no longer central is absent
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and so the idea that that gentiles don't follow the law if they become part of judaism is absent.
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Rather altogether it is a form of christianity
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which we today would scarcely recognize jewish christianity indeed
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or perhaps more precisely a form of jewish massianism a massianic renewal movement within pre-70s judaism
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so this is before the temple was destroyed in a.d 70 of course and then dunn says
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if we now shift our glance from the beginning of christianity forward 150 years
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or so into the second century and beyond it at once becomes evident
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and this is very interesting that the situation has significantly altered to put it mildly.
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Jewish Christianity so far from being the only form of Christianity is now being classified as unorthodox and heretical.
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there seem to have been several groups of Jewish Christians whose
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beliefs put them beyond the pale of the emerging great church
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one at least preserved an ancient title for early christians nazareans
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acts 24 5 the quran of course says something very interesting
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about these people what were they called in the quran the
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name probably embodied a claim to preserve the true tradition against
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the antinomian Christian communities elsewhere antinomian meaning those who were against
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the law who rejected the law now the best-known sect whose
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name became a kind of stereotype in the great church polemic
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against Jewish Christians was the Ebionites the Ebionites that's a name to remember
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if want to really grasp the original faith of the early church rather than Paul's Christianity the Ebionites
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and Dunn outlines three significant characteristics of this of this now
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heretical Jewish Christian faith first one not surprisingly is their faithful adherence to the Jewish law
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Justin Martyr the second century gentile convert to Paul's Christianity , very famous early father,
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knew of Jews who believed in Christ and who kept the law without insisting
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that all Christians should but he also knew others who not only kept the law themselves
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but who also compelled Gentile believers to keep it too
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so that's very interesting and then the next section here
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and I'm skimming lot of the detail here just to give
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you a concise flavour rather than exhaustive survey is what Dunn calls the exaltation of James
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and the denigration of Paul the exaltation of James the brother the actual brother of Jesus
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and the denigration of Paul that's obviously the apostle Paul it
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is clearest in the clementine literature now the clementine literature was
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a body of jewish christian writings from the second century it
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is clearest in the clementine literature where james appears as the
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head of the jerusalem jerusalem church from the first ordained bishop in it by the lord as for peter he
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and the other apostles are shown as subordinate to james
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and must give account of their work to him
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which is very interesting so james is the very very head of the church
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exaltation of james is accompanied as i said by denigration of paul so you know really putting him down.
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Araneus, Origen, Eusebius and Epiphanius number rejection of Paul as one of the characteristics of the Ebionite faith
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and of the other Jewish Christian sects as well in the clementines this Jewish writings again Paul is vehemently attacked.
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Peter calls him the man who is my enemy
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and dismisses his claim to have seen the risen christ wow
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in jewish christianity in general paul was the arch enemy responsible for the rest of christianity's rejection of the law
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and himself an apostate from the law i mean this is
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seriously interesting paul was seen as an absolute danger heretic apostate from the original Jewish Christian faith of the earliest church.
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he was not seen as some kind of hero he was an enemy the enemy
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because of course he taught people to abandon key aspects of the Jewish faith and perhaps now the most significant
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belief of the Ebionites was called adoptionism one of the most
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frequently attested features of Ebionite Christology is found in clearest expression
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in one of the early fathers description of it as a chap called Epiphanius
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and he describes there the Ebionite view is this
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Christ they call the prophet of truth
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and Christ the son of god on account of his progress in virtue
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and the exaltation which descended upon him from above they want him to be only a prophet
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and man and son of god and christ and mere man as we said before who attained by a virtuous life
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the right to be called son of god so for the ebionites the original christian belief
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in the earliest community all the way through to the second century these people who inherited and continued
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that tradition jesus was a prophet a man who by virtue of his excellence could be called son of god
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but certainly was not divine and dunn continues
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if these are indeed the three principal features of heretical Jewish
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Christianity then a striking point emerges this is the features of
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second century Ebionite views heretical Jewish Christianity would appear to be not
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so very different from the faith of the first Jewish believers' wow and then he continue here
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a bit about the it gives a bit more information here about the adoptionist Christology the idea
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that in a sense Jesus was adopted by God on an honorary kind of designation as son of God
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but not literally begotten of God through all the ages and divine anything like that.
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The adoptionist Christology of the Ebonites too seems to have a
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firm anchor point in the earliest Christian attempts to express faith in Jesus the Christ.
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If you look at Acts 2 36, Acts 13 33 for example
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and also note acts 2 22 jesus of nazareth a man attested to you by god
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so he was a man credited or tested by god
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and also 10 38 jesus was able to do to do good
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and heal for god was with him it doesn't say he was god
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but god was with him very interesting
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and then just to conclude this before i weary your patience totally final paragraph
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and this is jimmy dunn's summary of this
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and this the author jimmy dunn is a christian he believes
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in the trinity he's an ordained minister of the church
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but he's an honest historian which is why he is
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so honored by other historians and scholars for his integrity in his research
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and he says this in short apart from the different attitudes
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to the temple cult the measure of agreement between the earliest jewish believers
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and the ebionites is quite striking the heretical jewish christianity of the second
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and third centuries apparently has no closer parallel than the earliest christian community in jerusalem
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indeed on the basis of this evidence the heretical Jewish Christianity
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of the later centuries could quite properly claim to be more
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truly the heir of earliest Christianity than any other expression of Christianity wow
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so just read that again this is talking about the ebionites the heretical Jewish Christianity of the second
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and third centuries has no closer parallel than the earliest christian
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community in jerusalem heretical jewish christianity of the later centuries could
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quite properly claim to be more truly the heir of earliest
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christianity than any other expression of christianity than paul than the catholic church than the gnostics than whoever whatever whatever
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and what do they believe
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Exploring Early Christian Beliefs: A Real-Life Discussion Scenario
Imagine you’re chatting with a friend who’s curious about religious history, or preparing for an IELTS speaking practice topic on ancient traditions. The video we’re focusing on dives into surprising facts about the first Christians—like how they stayed rooted in Jewish practices, observed the temple, and didn’t initially mission to Gentiles. This conversation-style content is perfect for practicing natural speech flow, as it uses everyday explanations of complex ideas. You’ll hear phrases like “committed to Judaism” and “imminent parousia,” which are great for building vocabulary in academic and casual contexts alike.
Useful Chunks & Collocations to Memorize
- Firmly attached to: “They remained firmly attached to the temple.” This phrase works for describing strong connections to places, ideas, or traditions.
- Within the framework of: “Their belief stayed within the framework of Jewish eschatological hope.” Use this to explain how ideas fit into a larger system.
- Lack of concern for: “There was a lack of concern for the Gentiles.” A natural way to talk about not prioritizing something.
- Centered on: “The community was centered on Jerusalem.” Ideal for describing focus or main priorities.
- Imminent consummation: “The temple was the focal point of the imminent consummation.” Great for discussing future events in formal or academic speech.
Your Shadowing Challenge: Speak Like a Native
Ready to try shadow speak? Here’s your task: Watch the video segment where the speaker explains the first Christians’ temple practices (around the part about “attending daily at the hours of prayer”). Pause after each sentence, then repeat it aloud—mimicking the tone, speed, and stress. Focus on phrases like “the hour of sacrifice” and “mutual support” to improve your pronunciation. For extra practice, record yourself and compare it to the original. This shadowing technique is proven to boost fluency and make your speech sound more natural. If you’re new to shadowing, use a shadowing site to find similar clips, but start with this one—it’s slow enough for beginners and rich with useful phrases. You’ve got this! Every repetition brings you closer to sounding confident in English.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | were compared · are congregated · was built |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who were · man who is · people who inherited |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've said · has always been · has been abolished |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.