Ebionitism was an early Jewish-Christian sect (named from Hebrew ebyonim, "the poor ones") that denied the deity of Christ and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. They insisted that Jesus was a great human prophet but not God incarnate, and that Gentile converts must still keep the Mosaic law — circumcision, Sabbath, dietary laws — to be justified. Paul combated the same root error in Galatians: "a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:16). John, Paul, and Hebrews all affirmed against them what Ebionites denied: "the Word was made flesh" (John 1:14); "in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). The Ebionite formula is grace plus works, faith plus merit — and Paul calls it another gospel.