Reading an article published in Israel Today Online it asked the question; “Are Messianic Jews still Jewish?” It was followed by the statement; “Why are so many young Messianic Jews distancing themselves from Judaism?” In Israel there are two types of Messianic Jews. There are Jews in Israel who believe that the Messiah is still to come and of course they reject that the true Messiah has already come in the person of the Lord Jesus. Then there are the Messianic Jews who believe that the Lord Jesus is the promised Messiah who has already come and will come again.
Today there is still confusion among many Jewish believers in the Messiah our Lord Jesus as to whether they are still considered to be Jewish because they have now become Christians. Having said this the term ‘Christian’ was sort of a nick name given to the followers of the Lord Jesus at Antioch. (Acts 11:26) So then does a Messianic Jewish believer in the Lord Jesus lose their Jewish ethnicity when they become a Christian? What does scripture say? Let’s look at this.
Abraham the father of faith has two families on the earth that God accepts. One is the people of Israel through the line of Isaac and Jacob and the other family are his spiritual descendants who are not ethnically Jewish, but Gentile, and who through faith in the Messiah, are also Abraham’s descendants. (Romans 3:21-31; 4:16-17) Israel and the true Church are like two sides of the same coin, separate, yet one, with a common eternal destiny. The spiritual experience that links them together and makes them one family under God is the circumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus called it the Second Birth or being spiritually reborn from above. (John 3:3) The Rabbi Paul the Apostle wrote: “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” (Romans 2:28-29)
Circumcision cannot save anyone and does not count in this matter but what counts is the new creation. (Galatians 6:15) All who have genuine faith in God and in His only unique and eternal Son the Lord Jesus are the true circumcision according to Rabbi Paul the Apostle; “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in the Messiah Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.” (Philippians 3:3) This is the circumcision of the heart spoken of in the prophet Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) All who have faith in the Messiah the Lord Jesus are descendants of Abraham. Both Jew and Gentile are one family in the Messiah Jesus and together are all God’s family.
The Middle wall of partition separating Jew from Gentile is removed through the atoning blood of the Messiah our Lord Jesus making one new man. (Ephesians 2:11-22) This is God’s spiritual temple and the one that really counts as far as He is concerned. (1 Corinthians 3:16) These are the ones who worship God in Spirit and in truth which the Father seeks to worship Him. (John 4:23-24)
In his letter to the believers at Rome the Apostle Paul clearly shows that Gentile believers in the Messiah Jesus are the wild uncultivated olive branches grafted into the Olive Tree being the Commonwealth of Israel. The natural engrafted branches are Jews who believe in the Messiah. The Gentile believing branches are grafted in among the natural believing branches (Jews). The root that provides spiritual nourishment to the tree and its branches causing them to produce spiritual fruit that is acceptable to God is the Jesus the Messiah the true vine and the fullest expression of what Israel should be. (John 15: 1-8)
The natural branches broken off are individual Jews who reject Jesus the Messiah. Having said this, the Olive Tree (Israel) still stands. (Romans 11: 15-24) When a Jewish person comes to faith in the Messiah Jesus they do not cease to be Jewish ethnically but discover what it is to be fully Jewish Biblically. This is not a matter of losing one’s identity as being Jewish ethnically. The first Church was Jewish. They only had the Old Testament scriptures as their Bible. The spiritual, moral and ethical commandments of Torah God require were written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit.
The Torah summed it up in this way which the Lord Jesus Himself affirmed. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) The Lord Jesus said; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
When any Jew or Gentile comes to trust completely in the Messiah and in His atoning blood for salvation the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit giving them the capacity to love God and love their neighbour supernaturally as we see commanded in Torah and affirmed by the Messiah Jesus. (Romans 5:5) All that has been written in the Torah and the prophets are fulfilled by this royal law of heaven. God’s love shed abroad in the heart and acted upon fulfils all of the Law. The New Testament affirms this great Biblical truth. (Romans 10:13)
A day is coming when there will only be one flock under one shepherd who will feast with the Lord Jesus and with all of the believers in all ages both Jews and Gentiles in the Messianic Kingdom in the age to come. The Lord Jesus said this would be so. “I have other sheep (Gentiles who were to believe in Him for salvation) that are not of this fold (the Commonwealth of Israel). I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.” (John 10:16)
Spiritually speaking all who believe in the Lord Jesus in this age whether they are Jew or Gentile ethnically they are one family having the same kind of faith that Abraham the father of faith had. (Galatians 3:28) In the age to come they will co-reign with the Messiah in His Kingdom from Jerusalem and then after that for time and for eternity. Most definitely a Messianic Jew is still Jewish in every way. They do not cease being Jewish when they believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation. After all “Salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22)
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