Messianic Judaism

Messianic Judaism? Sounds like a contradiction. One of the things that separates Judaism and Christianity is their different emphasis, or lack there of, on Yeshua. To believe Yeshua was the Jewish messiah of prophecies should be the most Jewish thing in the world but it is not. Yeshua was a Jew, as well as His first followers. Most of the followers of Yeshua were Jewish, until well after the end of the first century. So what does it mean to belong to a Jewish messianic organization and why are they not just called Christians?

Before going on, let’s clarify a couple of things. Yeshua is Jesus’ given Hebrew name. Jesus is Greek from “Yesh” which means salvation. Yeshua is pronounced as one would pronounce Joshua (changing the “J,” of course). The name Christ, again is a Greek word meaning “the Anointed One.” Christ is a title, such as king. The name Jesus began after His death and He would have never heard it with flesh ears. Messianic Judaism claims to be a Jewish religion, so it uses Hebrew names and words in its teachings. Brit Chadasha is Hebrew for the New Covenant and Tenach is the Old Covenant.

Messianic Judaism should not be confused with the organizations known as Jews for Jesus and Hebrew Christianity. Jews for Jesus target Jews to bring them over to Christianity in its must common form. The Jews for Jesus group believe Christianity, minus its Jewish roots, is the fulfillment of scripture. They believe it was Jesus’ intention to create Christianity. Messianic Jews believe it was not Yeshua’s goal to bring about Christianity. They believe that Yeshua was an observant Jew and they should be, too. Hebrew Christianity is the same kind of organization as Jews for Jesus. They are Christians that happen to be Jewish by blood.

Messianic Jews do not want to be called Christians, even though they will agree that the term of Christian is a good description of them, by definition alone. Christian means “follower of Christ” or “follower of the messiah.” Over time...