Council of Jerusalem in the context of Kashrut

Christianity began as a movement within Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions gradually diverged over the first few centuries of the Christian Era, and the Christian movement perceived itself as distinct from the Jews by the fourth century. Historians continue to debate the dating of Christianity's emergence as a discrete religion apart from Judaism. Philip S. Alexander characterizes the question of when Christianity and Judaism parted company and went their separate ways (often termed the parting of the ways) as "one of those deceptively simple questions which should be approached with great care". According to historian Shaye J. D. Cohen, "the separation of Christianity from Judaism was a process, not an event", in which the church became "more and more gentile, and less and less Jewish". Conversely, various historical events have been proposed as definitive points of separation, including the Council of Jerusalem and the First Council of Nicaea.

Historiography of the split is complicated by a number of factors, including the diverse and syncretic range of religious thought and practice within Early Christianity and early Rabbinic Judaism (both of which were far less orthodox and theologically homogeneous in the first centuries of the Christian Era than they are today) and the coexistence of and interaction between Judaism, Jewish Christianity, and Gentile Christianity over a period of centuries at the beginning of Early Christianity. Scholars have found evidence of continuous interactions between Jewish-Christian and Rabbinic movements from the mid-to late second century CE to the fourth century CE. The first centuries of belief in Jesus have been described by historians as characterized by religious creativity and "chaos".

Barnabas (/ˈbɑːrnəbəs/; Ancient Greek: Βαρναβᾶς; Syriac: ܒܪܢܒܐ), born Joseph (Ἰωσήφ) or Joses (Ἰωσής), was a prominent Christian disciple, identified as an apostle in Acts 14:14. According to Acts 4:36, he was a Cypriot Levite. He undertook missionary journeys as a companion of Paul the Apostle, evangelizing among the "God-fearing" Gentiles who attended synagogues in some of the Hellenized cities of Anatolia. He participated in the Council of Jerusalem (c. 49 AD).

Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles. Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture. The Epistle of Barnabas was ascribed to him by Clement of Alexandria and others in the early church and the epistle is included under his name in Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest extant manuscript of the complete New Testament. A minority of modern scholars concur with this traditional attribution

The circumcision controversy in early Christianity played an important role in Christian theology.

The circumcision of Jesus is celebrated as a feast day in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations, while the teachings of the Apostle Paul asserted that physical circumcision was unnecessary for the salvation of Gentiles and their membership in the New Covenant. The first Council of Jerusalem (c. 50) declared that circumcision was not necessary for new Gentile converts (as recorded in Acts 15); Pauline Christianity was instrumental in the split of early Christianity and Judaism and eventually became Christians' predominant position. Covenant theology largely views the Christian sacrament of baptism as fulfilling the Jewish practice of circumcision, as both serve as signs and seals of the covenant of grace.

Didascalia Apostolorum, or just Didascalia, is an early Christian legal treatise which belongs to the genre of the Church Orders. It presents itself as being written by the Twelve Apostles at the time of the Council of Jerusalem; however, scholars agree that it was actually a later composition, with most estimates suggesting the 3rd century, and other estimates suggesting potentially as late as the 4th century.

The Didascalia was clearly modeled on the earlier Didache. The author is unknown, but he was probably a bishop. The provenance is usually regarded as Northern Syria, possibly near Antioch.