RELG 402 - World's Living Religions
Messianic Judaism
Christianity was born in a Jewish community, and the earliest missionaries and church leaders were Jewish. However, in the early years of the Christian Church it appears that Gentiles were more receptive than Jews to the message of the Gospel, and the Church became predominantly Gentile in make-up. Early Jewish Christian congregations became marginalized or else assimilated into Gentile congregations, and when the Romans burned Jerusalem in AD 70 the Church at Jerusalem was scattered and lost its position of leadership.
Throughout the following centuries, if ethnically Jewish people became Christians they usually joined one or other of the (Gentile) Christian churches and gave up practicing the rituals of Judaism. They became "Hebrew Christians" - ethnically Jewish people who were members of one of the Christian denominations.
However, in the 19th century there was a world-wide resurgence of Jewish nationalism, including Zionism, and the desire to return to what was at that time Palestine, with the reintroduction of Hebrew as a living language (it had become an academic language which was learned by scholars, rather than spoken in every-day life).
Among some Jewish Christians there was a desire to return to a Jewish style of worship, though retaining the central beliefs of Christianity. Jesus was proclaimed as the Messiah for whom all religious Jews wait, but the Jewish Sabbath and other festivals should be observed.
By the mid-1800s a group of Jewish Christians started to assemble together as a separate Jewish congregation, called Beni Abraham (sons of Abraham), and in 1866 the Hebrew Christian Alliance of Great Britain was organized - this spread to other European countries and to the USA.
Jewish believers are now divided into two broad groups: Hebrew Christians, who identify themselves as religiously Christian but ethnically Jewish, and Messianic Jews, who affirm themselves to be completely Jewish, but representing a special type of Judaism.
Hebrew Christians are quite happy to be integrated into local Christian churches, but Messianic Jews seek an Jewish expression of theology, worship and lifestyle. The term "Messianic Jews" came into prominence in the 1960s when some Christian Jews adopted the name Messianic Jews and referred to themselves as "Fulfilled Jews" in order to affirm their belief that Jews who accept Yeshua/Jesus as the Messaih are in fact returning to what they describe as "true Judaism".
Messianic Jews/Jewish Christians adhere to certain Jewish practices while acknowledging Jesus (whom they refer to by his Aramaic name Yeshua) as the Messiah foretold in the Hebrew scriptures. Traditional Jewish practices observed by Messianic Jews/Jewish Christians are the Friday evening service, lighting Shabbat candles, kiddush, and wearing kippot during their service. The service includes the recitation of traditional Jewish prayers in Hebrew, with the words are amended to include Jesus.
Messianic Jews refer to God as Ha Shen (The Name), to Jesus Christ as Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah), and to the New Testament as the Brit Hadshah.
Messianic Jewish congregations have formed several alliances, one of the largest being the Messianic Bureau International (MBI). The MBI states the "Three Great Pillars of Faith" for Messianic Jews as being
- The Pre-eminence of Messiah Yeshua
- The Permanence of Torah
- The Promises to Israel
The Messianic Jewish (Hebrew Christian) Alliance states that
"They look to the One God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as their sole divine authority, and acknowledge the Tanach (Old Testament) and Brit Hadshah (New Testament) as the Word of God.
They reject the authority of Rabbinical literature.
They accept Messiah Yeshua as their personal saviour.
They believe in the atonement which he wrought once and for all by His death and His resurrection, and acknowledge Yeshua as the promised Messiah.
They have to make public confession of their faith."
People of Jewish parentage who share their beliefs are entitled membership; non-Jewish believers, however, are only entitled to associate membership.
Several organizations make outreach to Jews a focus of their mission. One of the earliest and most prominent is "Jews for Jesus" - an organization of Messianic Jews who reach out to other ethnic Jews with the Messianic message.
Copyright © 1999 Shirley J. Rollinson, all Rights Reserved
