WHAT IS MESSIANIC JUDAISM ?? WHAT IS A MESSIANIC GENTILE ??

I have only been studying Messianic Judaism for a few weeks and I'm very new to their teachings, so my conclusions may not be exactly correct. I just want to present some things I've learned

DEFINITION AND IDENTITY

Messianic Judaism could be considered a sect of Christianity and also a sect of Judaism. They see Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God in the same way that mainstream Christianity does, and they are committed followers of Jesus.

It's important to note that a Messianic Jew is different from a Jewish Christian. Just because a Jewish person commits to following Jesus Christ does not make them a part of the Messianic Jewish movement.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

It seems the Messianic Jewish movement began to come together around the '60s and has now become a flourishing sanctuary for Jewish people to become followers of Jesus and feel comfortable keeping their identity of being Jewish. The Messianic Jewish movement can trace its roots all the way back to 1946, in which a group of Jewish believers in Jesus began to light candles on the Sabbath and keep Shabbat in the land of Israel.

CURRENT GROWTH AND SCHOLARSHIP

The Messianic Jewish movement now has gained lots of momentum within the Christian communities and Jewish communities and has developed quite a plentiful scholarly community in time. More and more scholars are taking a liking and applying their work to Messianic Judaism. And it is being recognized with valuable contributions to the academic community.

BARRIERS BETWEEN TRADITIONS

You see, the Christian community makes it very hard on Jews to become believers in Jesus because modern Christianity is so different from Jewish tradition. For example, Christian tradition worships on Sundays; Jewish tradition worships on Saturdays (the Shabbat). Christian churches don't serve kosher food. Christian tradition and Jewish tradition celebrate different holy holidays. Traditional Jews keep the Shabbat and Torah while Gentile Christians do not.

Therefore, mainstream Christianity presents quite a bit of hurdles and difficulties for a Jewish believer to keep their Jewish identity without becoming "uncircumcised" while becoming a follower of Jesus.

PAUL'S TEACHING ON JEWISH AND GENTILE IDENTITY

This goes against Apostle Paul's standard that he preached in all of the early churches—that Jews should remain Jewish and Gentiles should remain Gentile.

1 Corinthians 7:17–20 TLV
[17] Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, let him walk in this way. I give this rule in all of Messiah’s communities. [18] Was anyone called when he already had been circumcised? Let him not make himself uncircumcised. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? Let him not allow himself to be circumcised. [19] Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing—but keeping God’s commandments matters. [20] Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called.

THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL

I will also note that the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 and reiterated in Acts 21 ruled that Jewish believers are to continue to keep the Torah, while Gentile believers are not expected to. Gentiles have no need to keep the parts of Torah directed for Jews or become circumcised or follow any other Jewish tradition.

UNIFIED FAITH IN ONE MESSIAH

It seems the Bible presents the story that when Jesus Christ came as the Jewish Messiah, Judaism was supposed to continue as a religion but embrace their Jewish Messiah, and also Gentiles could follow this Jewish Messiah and did not have to convert to Judaism.

Ephesians 2:11–16 TLV
[11] Therefore, keep in mind that once you—Gentiles in the flesh—were called “uncircumcision” by those called “circumcision” (which is performed on flesh by hand). [12] At that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Messiah Yeshua, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. [14] For He is our shalom, the One who made the two into one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Within His flesh He made powerless the hostility— [15] the law code of mitzvot contained in regulations. He did this in order to create within Himself one new man from the two groups, making shalom, [16] and to reconcile both to God in one body through the cross—by which He put the hostility to death.

So there was never supposed to be two separate religions of Judaism and Christianity. They were supposed to be one religion that follows one Messiah.

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS

But there were many issues in the early church because of the differences between Jewish believers and Gentile believers. The differences were so strong that instead of staying together in love for one another, they eventually ended up parting ways. Scholars call this "the parting of the ways," which is the separation of Gentile believers and Jewish believers over several centuries.

By the 4th and 5th centuries, the believers in the Jewish Messiah became predominantly Gentile and took a different direction in ecclesiology. Some of those examples easily visible are the two main Christian holidays became the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, known as Christmas and Easter. And the weekly day for Christian worship became celebrated on the day of the Resurrection—Sundays. This being different than the Jewish feast days and Shabbat.

WHAT MESSIANIC JUDAISM SEEKS TO RESTORE

Messianic Judaism is a movement that attempts to join together Jews and Gentiles as followers of Jesus in the way that they were first together in the early church when it started in the first century.

Jewish believers that identify with the Messianic Jewish movement would be called Messianic Jews, and Gentile believers that identify with the Messianic Jewish movement would be called Messianic Gentiles.

Their weekly services of worship take place in a synagogue with a rabbi and look much more like a Jewish synagogue service than a traditional Christian service.

KEY BELIEFS OF THE MESSIANIC JEWISH MOVEMENT

1. They believe Jews should continue to keep Shabbat and as much of the Torah as they possibly can today.

2. They believe Gentiles should not be responsible for keeping the Torah or the Shabbat. But Gentiles are encouraged to come alongside the Jews and express themselves in Torah observance as much as they would like to. But there is no pressure for Gentiles to observe Torah.

3. They believe in a future Messianic Kingdom. They believe the Kingdom of Heaven is a future Kingdom in which Christ will return to restore Israel and reign over the entire Earth over all nations with peace, justice, and prosperity for eternity. This would be called a pre-millennial eschatology in Christian theology.

4. They believe in the ongoing election of Israel.

5. They agree with the majority of mainstream Christian doctrine such as the Trinity and early Church creeds. But they are not as much creed-driven as mainstream Christians. They see a life of faith somewhat more important to be lived out and practiced than an adherence to a system of creeds or beliefs. A lot of their theology is still being worked out by scholars.

6. They agree with the majority of mainstream Christian doctrines such as the resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment, etc.

7. They see the Christian Old Testament and New Testament as divinely inspired by God in the same way Christians do.

FINAL NOTE

I've never attended a Messianic Jewish synagogue and I purposely have never looked up any documentation that lays out their core beliefs. I've just immersed myself in their writings and teachings for a few weeks, and it has been so enriching to my faith!

Much love!