Failure of Faith

Christians went to Jewish festivals out of superstition, not out of true religious belief. Authors often look at John Chrysostom's sermons from 386–387 CE and assume his church members had a deep love for the Old Testament laws. However, a closer look at the actual history shows a different story. These Christians were experiencing a failure of faith.

They were mixing their religions together because they were superstitious and did not fully trust in Jesus.

Chrysostom’s own words reveal exactly why these people were slipping away to the synagogues. They were not there to study theology; they were looking for a good show and a quick fix. In his first sermon, Chrysostom complains that his people viewed the synagogue as a place of magical power. They went there to get physical healings, chase away diseases, and get lucky charms.

Chrysostom asks them a direct question: Is Jewish magic really stronger than the Holy Spirit? By treating the synagogue like a good luck charm, these people showed they did not have enough faith to trust Christ with their problems.

These Christians also fell into superstition when it came to making promises. In the city of Antioch, people falsely believed that a promise made inside a synagogue was much more powerful and scary than one made in a Christian church. Chrysostom even tells a story about a Christian man who dragged a Christian woman to the synagogue just to force her to swear an oath there. This actions show that these believers did not understand their own faith. They functionally believed that God was less powerful in a church than inside a synagogue building.

In the end, Chrysostom was not arguing against a deeply religious group of Torah-believers. He was arguing against spiritual weakness. By running to old rituals for luck and safety, these Christians acted as if Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was not enough. They treated their faith like it was incomplete. Chrysostom's sermons do not prove that early Christians properly kept Jewish holidays. Instead, they prove that some early Christians had weak faith and chose superstition over trusting in God.