JVMI Messianic Jewish Ministries
10 Biggest Lies about Yeshua, His Jewishness, and What Some Call ‘Jewish Christianity’
Published on December 01, 2015
More Jewish People live in America than anywhere else in the world, with the possible exception of Israel. And yet, efforts to reach the Jewish People with the Good News have not been very successful in the U.S. The Idea of Messianic Judaism, or what some call Jewish Christianity, can be confusing to Jewish People. Many Christians who have tried to share their faith with Jewish friends, co-workers, or family members have often been met with rejection.
Jewish Believer Rabbi Jonathan Bernis notes, however:
It is important to state that I believe Jewish People have not rejected Jesus. They simply haven’t heard a Gospel message they can identify with or a biblically authentic representation of their Messiah. Most have many misconceptions obscuring the true identity of Jesus—many of them derived from a 2,000-year legacy of misunderstanding about the Jewishness of Jesus.
We’re going to look at just ten of the most significant lies about Jesus and His Jewishness that separate Him from His Jewish People.
Lie #1: Jesus Only Appears in the New Testament
A common argument claims that Jesus is not found in the Hebrew Scriptures– the Old Testament and that He is a Christian or Gentile creation only mentioned in the New Testament. True, the name “Jesus” is not found in the Old Testament, as it is an anglicized version of the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous). However, Jesus was born in Israel among a Hebrew-speaking people. His name in Hebrew is “Yeshua.” Matthew 1:21 refers to what was well understood by the Jewish People: the name Yeshua means “salvation” or “God saves.” Matthew 1:21 says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” His Hebrew name, Yeshua, means “the LORD saves,” and this is confirmed in many Bibles that contain a footnote such as “Hebrew: Yeshua (Joshua), meaning The LORD saves.”
Biblical names commonly reveal the character, attributes, or destiny of a person. This is exactly the case with the name Yeshua. The reason for His coming to earth was for salvation, to save His People from their sins. Here are just a few examples:
Adonai is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation” (Exodus 15:2 TLV).
Adonai has made His salvation known” (Psalm 98:2 TLV).
So I will give You as a light for the nations, that You should be My salvation tot the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6 TLV).
In these verses—and more than 150 times throughout the Old Testament— the word “salvation” is the Hebrew word Yeshua (ye•shu•ah). Yeshua (Jesus) existed from the beginning, and His Hebrew name is found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures in amazing prophecies.
Lie #2: The Jewish People Rejected Jesus as Their Messiah
For almost 2,000 years, both Judaism and Christianity have promulgated the lie that the Jewish People rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Messianic Rabbi Jonathan Bernis often tells about his upbringing in a Jewish home.
I was raised as a child in a Jewish home with the understanding that I was born a Jew, that I was to die a Jew, and anyone who wasn’t Jewish was a Christian or a Gentile. I also understood that Jewish identity meant one thing: Jews don’t believe in Jesus.
Rabbi Bernis goes on to say,
But that is a lie—the Jews have not rejected Jesus. The entire New Testament story took place in the Land of Israel— the Land of the Jews. Jesus was a Jew. He declared Himself the Messiah of Israel. All of His followers were Jews. The disciples were all Jews, as were the 120 in the Upper Room. The 3,000 that came to faith on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, or Pentecost, “grew to about 5,000,” according to Acts 4:4. So there is a record of thousands of Jewish Believers in the promised Messiah of Israel, and they took the Gospel around the world.
The Bible attests to what some refer to as a Jewish Christianity in which Jewish People believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Lie #3: The Jews Killed Jesus
There is a grievous lie that blames the Jews for killing Jesus and that God has cut them off irrevocably because of it. It is the cornerstone of deception and has caused a 2,000-year legacy of hatred, anti-Semitism, and persecution of Jewish People in the name of Christ and Christianity. This lie is the foundation of Replacement Theology, an erroneous doctrine claiming the Jews are under eternal punishment and have been replaced by the Church.
Jonathan Bernis sets the record straight:
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