- May 12, 2024
- 79
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Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) was a German Bible critic with little sympathy for ancient Judaism. Yet his insights about Jesus have been
quoted by many Jewish leaders through the years: "Jesus was not a Christian; he was a Jew. He did not preach a new faith, but taught men
to do the will of God; and in his opinion, as also in that of the Jews, the will of God was to be found in the Law of Moses and in other
books of Scripture."
Jesus not a Christian, but a Jew? Prof. Shaye I. D. Cohen, a Jewish historian who has taught at the Jewish Seminary, Harvard University, and
Brown University, reminds us of just how Jewish Jesus was:
Was Jesus a Jew? Of course Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother of Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends,
associates, colleagues, disciples----all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogue.
He preached from Jewish texts from the Bible. He celebrated the Jewish festivals. He was born, lived, died, taught as a Jew.
According to Prof. Joseph Klausner, Jesus
.....keeps the ceremonial laws like an observing Jew: he wears "fringes"; he goes up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread,
he celebrates the "Seder" [the traditional Passover meal], blesses the bread over the wine; he dips the various herbs into the haroseth,
drinks the "four cups" of wine [again, referring to the Passover meal] and concludes with the Hallel [a prayer based on the Psalms].
As far Jesus not being a "Christian," the word was not coined until more than a decade after his death, it occurs just three times in the
New Testament (Acts 11:26, 26:28, 1 Pet. 4:16), and it was not widely used as a designation for Jesus' followers until the second century.
And from what we can tell, the term "Christian" was coined by outsiders, possibly as a term of derision, the equivalent of calling followers
of Muhammad something like "Muhammadites."
Obviously, Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew. Yet he was more than that. He was also a rabbi (although, to be clear, not in the sense of
a modern congregational rabbi). This of course, is common knowledge to many, but for others it is startling news. After all, the
traditional thinking goes like this: A Jewish religious leader is called a rabbi, but a Christian religious leader is called a pastor. And since
Jesus was the founder of Christianity, his disciples would have called him a pastor, as in Pastor Christ.
Well, that certainly would have been news to his first disciples, all of them Jews. They never heard of "Christianity" in their lifetimes.
And Yeshua's first followers went to synagogue on Saturday not church on Sunday, celebrated Hanukkah not Christmas (come to think
of it, they never heard of Christmas either), and referred to any popular teacher as rabbi, using it as a title of honor and respect.
Does this sound confusing to you? Does it appear that I am mixing two religions together or that I am claiming that Christianity
doesn't exist----or that it's actually Jewish? YOU decide!
Shalom
quoted by many Jewish leaders through the years: "Jesus was not a Christian; he was a Jew. He did not preach a new faith, but taught men
to do the will of God; and in his opinion, as also in that of the Jews, the will of God was to be found in the Law of Moses and in other
books of Scripture."
Jesus not a Christian, but a Jew? Prof. Shaye I. D. Cohen, a Jewish historian who has taught at the Jewish Seminary, Harvard University, and
Brown University, reminds us of just how Jewish Jesus was:
Was Jesus a Jew? Of course Jesus was a Jew. He was born of a Jewish mother of Galilee, a Jewish part of the world. All of his friends,
associates, colleagues, disciples----all of them were Jews. He regularly worshipped in Jewish communal worship, what we call synagogue.
He preached from Jewish texts from the Bible. He celebrated the Jewish festivals. He was born, lived, died, taught as a Jew.
According to Prof. Joseph Klausner, Jesus
.....keeps the ceremonial laws like an observing Jew: he wears "fringes"; he goes up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread,
he celebrates the "Seder" [the traditional Passover meal], blesses the bread over the wine; he dips the various herbs into the haroseth,
drinks the "four cups" of wine [again, referring to the Passover meal] and concludes with the Hallel [a prayer based on the Psalms].
As far Jesus not being a "Christian," the word was not coined until more than a decade after his death, it occurs just three times in the
New Testament (Acts 11:26, 26:28, 1 Pet. 4:16), and it was not widely used as a designation for Jesus' followers until the second century.
And from what we can tell, the term "Christian" was coined by outsiders, possibly as a term of derision, the equivalent of calling followers
of Muhammad something like "Muhammadites."
Obviously, Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew. Yet he was more than that. He was also a rabbi (although, to be clear, not in the sense of
a modern congregational rabbi). This of course, is common knowledge to many, but for others it is startling news. After all, the
traditional thinking goes like this: A Jewish religious leader is called a rabbi, but a Christian religious leader is called a pastor. And since
Jesus was the founder of Christianity, his disciples would have called him a pastor, as in Pastor Christ.
Well, that certainly would have been news to his first disciples, all of them Jews. They never heard of "Christianity" in their lifetimes.
And Yeshua's first followers went to synagogue on Saturday not church on Sunday, celebrated Hanukkah not Christmas (come to think
of it, they never heard of Christmas either), and referred to any popular teacher as rabbi, using it as a title of honor and respect.
Does this sound confusing to you? Does it appear that I am mixing two religions together or that I am claiming that Christianity
doesn't exist----or that it's actually Jewish? YOU decide!
Shalom
