Question

How was Jewish religion incorporated into the foundation of Christianity?

The Christian holidays, Easter and Christmas, were adaptations from Jewish holidays.
The Christian symbol of the cross was adopted to represent Jewish belief in the resurrection of Jesus.
The Christian Bible included the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament.
The Nicene Creed was created to standardize Jewish beliefs and later used to develop Christianity.

Answer 1

Short answer: Christianity began as a Jewish movement, so many Jewish ideas, scriptures and practices were carried into the new religion — but several of the specific statements you listed are partly or wholly incorrect.

Evaluate the four statements

- “The Christian holidays, Easter and Christmas, were adaptations from Jewish holidays.”
- Partly true. Easter is closely tied to the Jewish Passover (the Last Supper was a Passover meal and early Christian dating of the death/resurrection of Jesus followed Passover/Pascha). The Christian celebration of Easter grew out of that Passover context. Christmas, however, is not an adaptation of a Jewish festival; the December 25 date developed later and was influenced by Roman calendrical and liturgical concerns (and probably pagan festivals), not by a Jewish holiday.

- “The Christian symbol of the cross was adopted to represent Jewish belief in the resurrection of Jesus.”
- False. The cross is a Christian symbol representing Jesus’ crucifixion and the belief in his death and resurrection. It was not a Jewish symbol nor an adoption from mainstream Jewish religious practice or belief.

- “The Christian Bible included the Torah, which is the first five books of the Old Testament.”
- True. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah or Pentateuch) are part of the Christian Old Testament (though the order, grouping and canons vary between Christian traditions). Early Christians used the Hebrew scriptures as their sacred text.

- “The Nicene Creed was created to standardize Jewish beliefs and later used to develop Christianity.”
- False. The Nicene Creed (4th century CE) was produced by Christian bishops to define Christian doctrine about Christ and the Trinity (addressing Arianism). It was not about standardizing Jewish beliefs.

How Jewish religion fed into Christianity (brief overview)

- Origins: Jesus and his first followers were Jewish; Christianity emerged as a Jewish sect in first-century Palestine.
- Scriptures: Early Christians accepted the Hebrew scriptures (often via the Greek Septuagint) and interpreted them as pointing to Jesus as the Messiah.
- Theology and concepts: Monotheism, covenant language, prophetic expectations, ethical teachings, and messianic ideas carried over and were reinterpreted in light of Jesus.
- Worship and calendar: Elements of Jewish worship shaped Christian practice — the Last Supper’s Passover setting led to the Eucharist; Pentecost (Greek Pascha/50) links to Shavuot; liturgical readings and psalm use come from Jewish synagogue practices. Sabbath observance conceptually influenced the idea of a weekly holy day (Christian Sunday as the Lord’s Day celebrating the resurrection).
- Rituals and institutions: Baptism has affinities with Jewish ritual washings; early church structure and teachings drew on synagogue leadership models. But many Jewish laws (kosher, circumcision) were rejected for Gentile converts after early church decisions (e.g., Council of Jerusalem).
- Divergence: Christianity developed distinct doctrines (Jesus as divine, the Trinity, salvific meaning of the cross and resurrection) that set it apart from Judaism and led to a separate religion.

If you want, I can expand on any one topic (how Passover shaped Easter, the Council of Jerusalem and the law, the use of the Septuagint, or how liturgy and calendar developed).