Was Jesus a Jew, a Christian or something else? Take a minute before reading on to think about the question. Seriously, take a minute…
Virtually everyone knows the name Jesus Christ; some people use that name as an expression of frustration, anger and or surprise while others recognize it as the name given to the Son of God. The name Jesus Christ is not the first and last name of God’s Son, rather they are two names given by God which describe the mission of His Son: Jesus meaning Savior (Jehovah-saved) (see Matt. 1:21) and Christ meaning anointed (see Matt. 1:16) taken together we have anointed savior or messiah.
When anti-theistic or other-theistic people want to argue with Christians about religion they will often make the statement that Jesus was a Jew; implying with that statement that the deity in whom Christians have placed their faith was not sent for them. I recently heard someone say something that I just took for granted, that Jesus was also NOT a Christian.
Let’s take a few moments to consider these arguments; first, was He a Christian or a Jew?
Jesus was born to a Jewish virgin who had never been with a man. He was raised by faithful Jewish parents who made sure that, as a child He was circumcised on the eighth day and the sacrifice for a first-born son was made according to the law (Lev.12:1-8, Luke 2:21, 22-24). As He matured, Jesus kept the feast days of Judaism – the Passover, the day of Unleavened bread and the feast of Tabernacles being specifically mentioned (Luke 2:42, Luke 22, Matthew 26:18-29, John 7:1-14), nevertheless because of the statement He made in (Matt. 5:17-18), that He would fulfill ALL the law of God given to the Jews, there can be no doubt that He kept every feast day ordained by His Father. To the previous point, the book of Hebrews makes the following statement about Jesus:
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Had He not fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law of God, including observing the high holy days of Judaism, Jesus could NEVER have saved His people from their sins.
But does having kept all the laws of Judaism imply that Jesus was a Jew? Before I answer that question we should also consider, was Jesus a Christian?
God had made it clear in (Jeremiah 31:31-33) that He would establish a “new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah;” through His blood and by His death and resurrection Jesus is the “mediator of that new covenant (Heb. 9:15). God was doing a new thing and “the church” – the ĕkklēsia or assembly of believers (see Matt. 16:16-18) would be established upon who Jesus is and what Jesus did.
Jesus did not establish Christianity, He established “the way” as it was called in (Acts 9:2), to God. Jesus made disciples and good disciples strive to be like their teacher thus when some of the disciples came before the religious leaders of the Sanhedrin in (Acts 4:1-22) and spoke, those leaders KNEW that Peter and John had been with Jesus because they spoke as He did. It was later, in Antioch (see Acts 11:26) that the disciples were first called Christian or little Christs but the term was given by wicked people to mock the followers of Christ even then. What I want you to see is that the term Christian was not a thing even as Jesus ascended back into heaven after rising again from the dead and not only that, but also that in the entire new testament, the term has only been used three times. The world has called the church which Jesus established, the Christian church and, whether a taunt or not, being a Christian is a claim of belief and a testimony of allegiance to the One who died to make the church which consists of people from every nation, tribe, people and tongue (see Rev. 7:9-10) a living thing.
But was He a Christian? Was Jesus a Jew? Listen, Jesus Christ has ONE spiritual identity – He is the SON of the LIVING God! As such He is King of Kings and Lord of lords; He is Redeemer, Savior and Messiah. He died for the sins of all who will call upon His name (Romans 10:13)! There is no other God like Him! None who has the power to save, to forgive, to heal, to reconcile and NONE who can call the Creator of all things His Father!!! He was not merely a prophet, teacher or ‘good’ man – He IS the ONLY hope for the redemption of your soul.
Who is He to you?
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