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Bible Study Was Jesus Actually Considered Jewish?

HeIsRisen2018

Dramione love 3333
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I remember asking a question similar to this quite awhile ago, and I remember learning that the term "Jew" came from the word Judea, however since Jesus observed Passover and was circumcised when He was eight days old due to Jewish tradition, did that actually mean that His religion was Jewish because considering the fact that Jewish people today don't even believe in Jesus, (or maybe they do, they just don't believe that He has come yet) that would be rather ironic and that they have come really far backwards in the origin of their religion.
 
He was referred to as the "King of the Jews." But He would more importantly referred to as a Hebrew, or Israelite, as it is that nation that was God's people, not just the Jews, who were a small portion of that entire nation.

That being said, he was born to Mary who was part of the tribe from which the Jews descended, so in that regard he could be considered a Jew.
 
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” John 8:58 NCV

Many consider Jews to be children of Abraham. Jesus existed long before Abraham was born. An interesting question.
 
I remember asking a question similar to this quite awhile ago, and I remember learning that the term "Jew" came from the word Judea, however since Jesus observed Passover and was circumcised when He was eight days old due to Jewish tradition, did that actually mean that His religion was Jewish because considering the fact that Jewish people today don't even believe in Jesus, (or maybe they do, they just don't believe that He has come yet) that would be rather ironic and that they have come really far backwards in the origin of their religion.

Jesus' ethnicity is Jewish.
Religiously.... another whole thing.

Let's review for a moment...

Remember The Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
This commandment comes right after the one about misusing God's name but right before honoring your parents/ancestry.

Notice that this is mentioned in singular...(not Sabbaths)

Notice also that it doesn't say "Every Sabbath"... again a reference to only one particular Day.

There's a reason why...and it has nothing to do with Saturday worship.
Failure to keep to Saturday worship though was punishable by the death sentence...so was murder (after the parent one) and misusing God's name.

Why?
Because this particular Commandment was all about showing faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross in the future and how there would be a new one to follow.

The New Testament writers were using a slang term for Israelites based off of the tribe of Judah...Jew for short. All of the Greeks and Roman's used this term...and the New Testament writers followed suit. Meaning that the "Jews" were the ones who clung to the Old Covenant and rejected the New.
 
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” John 8:58 NCV

Many consider Jews to be children of Abraham. Jesus existed long before Abraham was born. An interesting question.

Judaism didn't start until Moses.
 
Yes, Jesus was really Jewish. Never did He talk about starting a new religion, but He did talk about building His Church and that He Himself would be the one to do that. He still does!

You are correct in your OP, about irony of Jews rejecting Jesus. No, they do not accept Him in any sense. They don't look for their Messiah to come as God in the flesh, neither do they look for Him to make a blood atonement for them. It's the book of Enoch that has Prophecy that spells this out clearly, but Rabbis started keeping people from reading it once they saw their ranks believing in Christ. Without Enoch, Rabbis didn't have to do much to convince Jews not to follow Jesus, mostly just re-interpret Isaiah 53.

There is a different confusion, not only here in this thread but it sprung up in our lifetime and has spread. Being Jewish means three things, which can be different:

1) practicing the religion of Judaism. Anyone who does that is a Jew.

2) Being part of the Nation of Israel. That's not enough to make someone "a Jew" today, but it certainly was in Biblical times. When exactly that changed is a different conversation.

3) Being born to a Jewish Mother. This is enough to make you "a Jew" today. Other people could explain better than I could why this has to do with the Mother and not the Father.

The confusion comes from the thought today that "a Jew" is ONLY someone from the tribe of Judah, not any other of the 12 tribes of Israel that you read about in the books of Moses. That's a modern invention. It's really confusing to change the definition of a word like that when it's such an important part of Scripture.
 
Judaism didn't start until Moses.

The law was given through Moses, but Jews consider themselves to be children of Abraham. More importantly, Jesus says children of Abraham. The promise was given to Abraham.

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. Luke 19:9 NASB

The Biblical definition of a real Jew is:

You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. Galatians 3:7 GNT

People's definitions are meaningless. It is only what God thinks that matters. Abraham has faith in God. His real children are those who similarly have faith in God.
 
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The law was given through Moses, but Jews consider themselves to be children of Abraham. More importantly, Jesus says children of Abraham. The promise was given to Abraham.

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. Luke 19:9 NASB

The Biblical definition of a real Jew is:

You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. Galatians 3:7 GNT

People's definitions are meaningless. It is only what God thinks that matters. Abraham has faith in God. His real children are those who similarly have faith in God.

Correct. Judaism as a religion did not start until Moses. Abraham didn't have it. A Jew is primarily a practitioner of the religion of Judaism. We are children of Abraham, (by adoption) but are not Jews.

Moses' bloodline did of course come through Abraham, but they were never known as Jews until later. (Probably much later)
 
From the tribes of Judea and benjamin.
 
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As far as I can see a Jew is a decendant from the line of Judea or Benjamin.

There are many people who call themselves jews who are atheist. Many people (jews) in Israel are atheists. In todays terms being a jew has nothing to do with religion at all because many Jews are not religious. And many gentiles convert and did convert to judism who are called jews yet have no lineage or can prove it.

"In today's terms," yes, the restrictive way many want to refer to Jewishness blurs the lines and makes the Bible confusing, especially to someone new in the Faith.

Two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were part of Judah when that was ruled separately from the rest of Israel. (A rather ugly part of their history, I think) So restricting the word "Jew" away from the tribe of Benjamin makes no sense at all, as you say.

Non-practicing Jews (by birth) have always been held to be Jews. This is significant to our Christian Faith, and should not be changed or removed.

People who practice Judaism, not only Orthodox but also reform, have always been known as Jews regardless of birth; this shouldn't change either. (Very few people who aren't born Jewish convert to Judaism)

Citizenship of the modern State of Israel, and non-citizens living in Israel, maybe aren't Jews since many Muslim Arabs live there now. This is a substantial change from Biblical times, and I think it makes sense for our language to reflect that.

Trying to trace an individual's bloodline to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin is contentious at best, after some 3500 years. Establishing identity on this basis seems ridiculously murky.

"Jew" was originally a derogatory term; maybe practitioners of Judaism want to lose that moniker? I don't think so, since they still strongly relate to the term "Jewishness."
 
The world needs to stop labels. People need to stop labels.
Jews very much like being called "Jews".
For them it's a point of pride.
It's their heritage and a sense of identity.
Most of the world operates on this.

Where I can understand why someone who lives in an area that was founded to be a penal colony might not appreciate their heritage... and it becomes a thing that isn't shared with the rest of the world. But...to ignore that people have an ancestry is anti-biblical.
 
Was Jesus Actually Considered Jewish?
Well he was born in Israel so he was a Jew in that respect-
"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:7-9)

But he certainly didn't slavishly follow Jewish traditions, he taught a new free open-minded way, and people quickly cottoned on..:)-
"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Peter 1:18 )
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17)
 
Well he was born in Israel so he was a Jew in that respect-
"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:7-9)

But he certainly didn't slavishly follow Jewish traditions, he taught a new free open-minded way, and people quickly cottoned on..:)-
"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Peter 1:18 )
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17)



Passover and circumcision are Jewish traditions are they not? Of course although it gets a bit confusing, I agree with what JohnDB originally posted.
 
Well he was born in Israel so he was a Jew in that respect-
"When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (John 4:7-9)

But he certainly didn't slavishly follow Jewish traditions, he taught a new free open-minded way, and people quickly cottoned on..:)-
"Jesus saved you from the empty way of life handed you by your forefathers" (1 Peter 1:18 )
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17)
Samaritans were "half Jewish".
Israel was a caste based society. Your ancestry was ALL important for most people. When Israel went into captivity/exile those people who remained were the very poor and the slaves of the rich. Ethnicly Jewish but the "marginal" people from their society.
As they remained they intermarried with the occupying nation and didn't stay true to the guidelines for marriage set down in the Torah. So when the Jews came back from the Diaspora...these descendants were marginalized even more and labeled Samaritans.
So much so that they created yet another civil war. Mostly due to the falsified Torahs that they were sold.
A copy of the Torah cost roughly $80,000-$120,000 in today's money. And then for them to be deliberately falsified to keep the "Samaritans" out of the Temple was going "beyond the pail" in their book.

The only reason there wasn't open fighting between the two groups was because of the Roman's. Anybody that got caught fighting was killed regardless of reason.

The Samaritans used to do things like throw a dead body into the Temple right at Passover (defiling the Temple) and all kinds of things. Jews weren't any better.

So Jesus used the Samaritans for two different points He wanted made. That they were Jews and that they weren't the enemy.
 
Passover and circumcision are Jewish traditions are they not? Of course although it gets a bit confusing, I agree with what JohnDB originally posted.
I meant the stuffy cobwebby snooty traditional way of teaching that the Jewish priestly classes used.
Jesus called them hypocrites and urged everybody not to be like them..:)
 
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