Jesus is a Jew. Matthew records in his Gospel (1:1-17) Jesus’ genealogy, as does Luke (3:23-38). Both of these genealogies record Jesus’ lineage going through King David, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. I say that he is a Jew because he is alive – when did he stop being a Jew, by lineage? As a Jew, Jesus held the Temple in Jerusalem in extremely high regard, as any good Jew should during this time, “In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (John 2:14-16 ESV). To go further, Jesus worshipped in the Temple – Luke 2:41-49. Notice that he told his parents, “…that I must be in my Father’s house?”. Why must he be in his Father’s house? Why else go into the Jewish Temple in the Jewish city of Jerusalem if not to worship as a Jew?
Christianity was originally a Jewish sect. Jesus stated in John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.”. Christians claim that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, which I affirm as true. However, what did Jesus mean here, if not, “you will find salvation in the Jewish Messiah”? If Jesus isn’t Jewish then this statement makes no sense, at all. The first converts into this Jewish sect were all Jews. Taking for granted the apostles, 3000 Jews were added to their number due to the Holy Spirit’s actions during Peter’s sermon during Pentecost. Luke records in Acts 2:22, ““Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know”. Why would Peter state, “Men of Israel,” if he were not addressing Jews? We also know that the Gospel was preached, first, to the Jews – and not just in the manner in which Paul practiced this by going, first, to the synagogues in Hellenistic cities – but, only seeking out Jews for the first many years after Jesus’ ascension. Luke records in Acts 11:19, “Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.”. This “word” that they spoke to the Jews was the good news found only in Jesus (except they would, likely, have said Yeshua).
The original Jewish followers of Jesus were noted for being, “zealous for the law” (Acts 21:20b.). This means that, instead of abandoning the Law of Moses because of their faith in Jesus, they became all the more devoted toward it. Evidence for this is littered throughout Luke’s Gospel and Acts:
And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. (Luke 24:52-53 ESV)
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (Acts 2:46 ESV)
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (Acts 3:1 ESV)
While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s. (Acts 3:11 ESV)
Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. (Acts 5:12 ESV)
And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. (Acts 5:42 ESV)
The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem after the Pentecost. Although many of the apostles eventually left the holy center of Judaism in order to spread the Gospel, early on, for many years, the apostles were stationed in Jerusalem. We know from Matthew’s account that the first disciples, who would all become his apostles, were from Galilee (Matt. 4:12-22, ESV). So, the question becomes, when Jesus commissioned them to preach his Gospel and when they received the Holy Spirit, why didn’t they return, immediately, to Galilee? I believe there are two reasons for this that can be derived from the Scriptures: 1.) The apostle’s view of Isaiah 2:3; 2.) The Lord Jesus’ command in Acts 1:8.
“…and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:3 ESV). Oscar Skarsaune contends that the rabbis held this piece of Scripture to mean that Jerusalem is the seat of authoritative interpretation of the Law and, therefore, the Word is to proceed forth from there (Skarsaune, In the Shadow of the Temple, 2002, 148). The apostles seem to have thought in much the same way (Bauckham, The Book of Acts in Its First Century Setting, 1995, 417-427). According to Skarsaune, this could help to explain Paul’s comment in 1 Cor. 14:36, “Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?” (ESV), in that it is from Jerusalem in which the Word of Christ (the Gospel) is to go forth (Skarsaune, 2002, 148). When you combine this point of view with what we read in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV), one gets the sense that Jesus wanted them to stay in Jerusalem and preach the Gospels to the Jews there. Therefore, the apostles began their preaching ministry in the Temple Square – in the seat of Jewish authority. This only makes sense if Jesus had not rejected Judaism.
The apostles never claimed to be forming a new religion: Nor did they ever claim to be leaving Judaism, also, they never specifically claimed that Christianity (The Way) was a new religion. This makes sense when one examines what has come to be known as the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. Peter says it clearly, ” Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” (Acts 15:10 ESV). The “yoke” that he is speaking of is circumcision and all that comes with it – following the Law. Notice, also, that he mentions “our fathers” – all of the Jews who had come before them. These people would only be counted as fathers if they were, indeed, still Jews. The Gentiles, weren’t Jews, therefore, it was not necessary for them to follow the whole of the Law. The apostles prescribed that they, the Gentiles, should only be required to abstain from a few things that the Law requires (idolatry, sexual immorality, eating meat from strangled animals, and from consuming blood) so as not to completely offend their Jewish counterparts.
When the Gentiles received the Gospel, they were counted as a part of what God was doing with Israel (the Jews). Paul stated, “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world… So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” (Ephesians 2:12, 19 ESV). This relationship that Paul described is displayed as that of an olive tree in his letter to the Romans:
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” (Romans 11:17-24 ESV)
So then, Israel, as well as the Jews, were not being abandoned by God – they were the root in which the Gentiles were being grafted in to. We, as Gentile believers, have life only because of the Jewish Jesus.