During the fourth century Church Father Epiphanius considered the Nesarim to be "heretics" because they refused to abandon
the Word of God which they refer to as His Law. Epiphanius wrote:
"...they are mainly Jews and nothing else. They make use not only of the New Testament, but they also use in a way the Old Testament
of the Jews; for they do not forbid the Books of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings... so that they are approved of by the Jews,
from whom the Nesarim do not differ in anything, and they profess all the dogmas pertaining to the prescriptions of the Law and to
the customs of the Jews, except they believe in Christ... They preach that there is but one God, and his son Jesus Christ. But
they are very learned in the Hebrew language; for they, like the Jews, read the whole Law, then the Prophets...They differ from
the Jews because they believe in Messiah, and from the Christians in that they are to this day bound to the Jewish rites, such
as...the Sabbath and other ceremonies." (Panarion 29).
According to Epiphanius, members of the First Century Nesarim "did not give themselves the name of Christ, or that of
Jesus", but they called themselves Nesarim (Aramaic: "Nasraya", Nazareans). All the Torah Observant Believers were called Nesarim and not
"Christians". Epiphanius says: "For a short time they were also given the name Iessaeians, before the disciples in Antioch began
to be called Christians. And they were called Iessaeians because of Jesse, it seems to me, since David was from Jesse, and by
lineage Mary was of the seed of David, fulfilling the Holy Scriptures according to the Old Testament when the Lord said to
David (Psalm 131:11), 'From the fruit of your loins will I set upon your throne'" (Panarion 29, 1,2-4)
Before the rise of Western or gentile "Christianity" the Nesarim knew only of members who were Torah Observant. It was partially through
the ministry of the apostle Paul that the Christian movement began in the West among gentiles. Some of these were termed as
being "nosrim" and not "Nesarim". The nosrim do not observe Torah and they follow the writings of Paul and selectively choose
teachings from the Gospels.
