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Edith Schaeffer, wife of the late Francis Schaeffer, wrote a book with the title, Christianity is Jewish. Her point is that Christianity, no matter how un-Jewish some of its current forms of expression may be, and there are many, has its roots in Judaism and in the Jewish people.
The facts are simply not a matter of debate. Think with me for a second. The New Testament depicts all the disciples of Jesus were Jewish. The New Testament has been traditionally believed up until late with modern scholarship to have been entirely written by Jews (Luke being, in all likelihood, a Jewish proselyte). The very concept of a Messiah is nothing but Jewish. The Messiah was never promised to the "non-Jew". Finally, "the Christ" is depicted in this New Testament as Jewish and following Judaism. He attended a synagogue "as was his custom" where Moses is read on the Sabbath and "not Sunday". No where in the New Testament do we find texts that say or suggest that he has ceased to be a Jew can ever desired to start a new religion or convert to emerging Christianity. It was Jews who brought the "good news" to Gentiles. Paul, the chief emissary to the Gentiles was an observant Jew all his life [even after the time of the death of of this Jesus as depicted again in the New Testament]. Indeed the main issue in the early Church and the crux of the whole New Testament is whether without undergoing complete conversion to Judaism a Gentile could be admitted to the Israel of God (be a "Christian" at all) [Acts 15 council]. The Lord's Supper is rooted in the Jewish Passover and Sabbath traditions; baptism is a Jewish practice which is linked to being "born again" in the mikvah; and indeed the entire New Testament is built on the Hebrew Bible, with its promise of a "New", or in reality a "Re-Newed" Covenant, so that the New testament without the Old is as impossible as the second floor of a house without the first.
But it is more than that even.
Moreover, much of what is written in the New Testament is incomprehensible and easily misinterpreted and misunderstood apart from sound knowledge of Judaism. In fact I learned the hard way in my studies that if I ever desired to "let this mind be in me that was in Christ Jesus" then I would have to get into my mind what was in this "mind of the Jewish Christ" since being a "Jewish mind" to begin with. This Jewish Christ expressed the truths of the Divine thought Judaism and not Roman Christianity. Constantine will later try to nullify and change this and sadly I must say he will be successful beyond even his wildest ambitions. Not possessing this necessary knowledge of Judaism then the New Testament for me was at first most difficult because not possessing at the beginning of my studies a comprehensive and competent understanding of Judaism and its dogmas then I was not able to discern when the New Testament departed from this "mind of Christ" and this "Jewish religious belief system" of this Jewish Christ. But that would all change since following Seminary I would earnestly and intently study Judaism for the first 5 years of my pastorate. Amazed I was that after 3 years and a Masters Degree in Divinity that I was not taught basically "anything" about the Jews or the Jewish Jesus. It was in this serious study of Judaism, the faith of the Jewish Christ, that I was able to read the New Testament as a detective of sorts noting when the later New Testament of Rome's creation departed from the "Divine Pattern" given the Jewish people and their Rabbis and substituted a "replacement religion" that goes without notice by most who read the New Testament not possessing this most necessary information and knowledge of Judaism.
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, "If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness" (Mt. 6:23). This is where the Christian Church makes his biggest mistake....they don't approach the Bible and Jesus with "Jewish eyes of understanding." Failure to do this guarantees that one will miss this "Divine Pattern" given the whole of humanity; a pattern that can be traced to the beginning of the human race and a "pattern" will will die with the pens of the Roman scribes and monks.
Answer for yourself: What is an evil eye?
Someone not knowing the Jewish background might suppose he was talking about casting spells. But in Hebrew, having an "evil eye," means being stingy; while having a "good eye," means being generous. Jesus is warning against lack of generosity and nothing else. Moreover, this fits the context perfectly: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... You cannot serve both God and money."
The Jewishness of Christian faith is clear throughout the New Testament. Because Judaism and Christianity have long been separate entities, we tend to read the division between the two faiths back to the very beginnings of the Christian church. Yet the truth is that the majority of the first generation of Christians regarded themselves as faithful Jews, and saw their faith and hope in the Jewish Messiah as the fulfillment of Judaism. Paul makes it explicit in the book of Romans. He writes, "In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the very words of God," (Rom.3:2) meaning the Hebrew Scriptures and Bible, and then expands on the theme, adding that the people of Israel were made God's children, the Shekinah [God's glory manifested] has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises; the Patriarchs are theirs; & from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah. ...(Rom. 9:4-5).
Answer for yourself: If it is the Jews who have the "very words of God", are "God's children", have the "Shekinah", the "Covenants" (plural), the "Torah given to them", the "Temple and Temple services", and the "promises of God" then what does the "non-Jews" have then? A need to be taught the Divine Truths of God by these Jews.
Answer for yourself: Does the New Testament teach us that salvation is of the Jews?
John 4:22 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (KJV)
Christianity self-consciously saw itself as the continuing outgrowth, the fulfillment, of true Judaism. As such, Christianity didn't start in the first century but long before with King David (in reality the Pharaoh Tuthmose III, with King Solomon (the Pharaoh Amenhotep III), Moses (the Pharaoh Akhenaten), Abraham, and ultimately the first man, Adam. Everything in older Judaism was the repetition of the ancient Divine Spiritual Wisdom of the ancients and was building up and pointing to the work of the "indwelling Krst/Karest/Christ" in the hearts of mankind.
So when we start thinking about Christianity, we have to understand its very Jewish roots and even behind them we find the ancient Egyptian Roots which lie behind the altered personages of the Pharaohs made out to be "Jews" by Ezra when he rewrote the Jewish Bible when the exiles were returned home to Israel by Persia. We should assume that Christianity ought to look and sound like Judaism except when it explicitly claims to change something. These "changes" should bother you in light of the fact that the revelation of our Bible teaches us that "God changes not". We should expect that the Scriptures, institutions, basic principles, laws, meditations, family life, etc. of Judaism would carry over into Christianity. The problem is that don't; a "radical reinterpretation" of Jewish beliefs and practices has occurred and these changes have been recorded in our Sacred texts in the Christian Bible as the "status quo". The shock of all shocks is when one gets studying hard and runs across the fact that all forms of Christianity display strong but yet "blurred" parallels to the rituals found both in Judaism as well as ancient Egypt.
Thus although the Gospel message is for Jew and Gentile equally, the context of Biblical faith is Jewish and behind these "Jewish Roots" we find "ancient Egyptian Roots" if we but look. Even if one were to accept the false premise of Replacement Theology that the Jews are no longer God's people, and millions have, this would not change the fact that Christianity is Jewish (or should be "Jewish") if the "Divine Truths" and "Divine Pattern" expressed in it are to properly and correctly understood since again it is expressed through "Jewish Eyes". To try to understand it differently, lets say with "Roman eyes" and with a bent toward "replacement religion" can only distort God's message and we have the witness of the Dark Ages and the tragic history of the Gentile Christian Church as confirmation of this tragic loss of truth.
If you are not familiar with what "losing our Jewish Roots" did to this "movement of the indwelling Christ" then I suggest that you read The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe. But have some kleenex handy since this horror story will break your heart and bring tears to your eyes that we have unknowing followed such a distortion of Divine Truth most of our lives.
There is no higher religion even given man by God than Truth
Blessings.