Jesus was Jewish. His first followers were Jewish. The authors who documented his life in the New Testament were Jewish. Christianity, which actually just means “followers of Messiah,” is Jewish to its very core.
I am a Messianic Hebrew (Hebrew literally means “crossed over”, having crossed over from death to life, from being a Christian who had no idea about Sabbath, His Appointed feasts to a Torah observant follower of Yeshua), which is very different to a mainstream Christian. The Torah is the compilation of the first 5 books of the Old Testament (in Greek it’s called the Pentateuch), which contains God’s laws, giving to us through Moses for living a set-apart life for Him. There are 613 of these commands. Torah was translated to “nomos” in Greek, which means “standard” and then translated to English later into “law”. When Jesus taught from Scripture or instructed His followers to observe commands, they would all come from the Torah. The New Testament would not be compiled for another few hundred years.
I am part of a body of believers (made up of Jews and former Gentiles) that not only seeks to understand the Hebrew roots of the faith but by extension, to live out their belief by living as their Messiah lived. This belief is lived out in a Jewish context (as our Messiah did) and as part of the Jewish people because we are grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel. In order to live out the life of the Messiah, I go beyond merely learning about “Jewish” life. I must move towards adopting the life of the Messiah. This means not only talking about the Torah He lived but living and following the Torah myself (NOT for salvation but as the fruit of that salvation).
Is someone required to become a Jew to be saved? No, the Jerusalem Council made it clear in Acts 15 that one does not have to become a Jew to be saved. They also made it clear that the redeemed former Gentiles (having crossed over in Messiah) were to now learn God’s commands (Acts 15:21) from the Jews. I should also note that nowhere in scripture are Jews commanded to live like Gentiles (give up Torah) to be saved. Though it is never commanded in scripture, that is exactly what the majority of the Church has been doing for the last 1700 years (or more).
We are not only to learn about the Messiah; we are to take on the life of the Messiah, meaning to live like Him. That life expresses itself as a Jewish lifestyle. We must never forget, our Messiah was born of a Jewish woman, of the tribe of Judah, lived a Jewish life, and died as a Jew.
Some well-intentioned people (or sometimes not so well-intentioned) will consider this Messianic Jewish lifestyle to be “Legalism”. They will say we are “free” from the Law. The only problem is, is that true? 1 John Chapter 3 says:
- 1Jn 3:4 Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah – indeed, sin is a violation of Torah.
- 1Jn 3:5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and that there is no sin in him.
- 1Jn 3:6 So no one who remains united with him continues sinning; everyone who does continue sinning has neither seen Him nor known him.
- 1Jn 3:7 Children, don’t let anyone deceive you – it is the person that keeps on doing what is right who is righteous, just as God is righteous.
- 1Jn 3:8 The person who keeps on sinning is from the Adversary because from the very beginning the Adversary has kept on sinning. It was for this very reason that the Son of God appeared, to destroy these doings of the Adversary.
- 1Jn 3:9 No one who has God as his Father keeps on sinning because the seed planted by God remains in him. That is, he cannot continue sinning, because he has God as his Father.
- 1Jn 3:10 Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary: everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God. Likewise, anyone who fails to keep loving his brother is not from God.
Thus sin is a violation of the Torah (verse 4) and anyone who keeps violating Torah has neither seen Him nor knows Him (verse 6). Even more startling is verse 8 “The person who keeps on violating Torah (sinning) is from the Adversary”.
So how then do we know what sin is? By knowing and following Torah.
