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Was Jesus a Jew?



    
    

Clarify Share Report Asked July 01 2013 Mini Anonymous (via GotQuestions)

Community answers are sorted based on votes. The higher the vote, the further up an answer is.

22
Shea S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries
One needs only to search the internet today to determine that there is great controversy and disagreement over the question of whether Jesus of Nazareth was actually Jewish. Before we can answer th...

July 01 2013 11 responses Vote Up Share Report


9
Emilio 1992 Emo Tenorio Supporter Shomer
Yes in my humble opinion Jesus was the king of the Jews, but much more than that He was the perfect Jew keeping all of the commandments of the law. 
Coming first as Messiah to the house of Israel the root of the covenant and then after the Jewish rejection of Him. The new covenant was extended later to the gentiles who were grafted into the root.
Ephesians 2:12

In the Lord freedom and shalom...........warrior on

December 07 2013 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


7
Stringio Remya Abraham Supporter
It's interesting to see the divergent answers.... I believe Jesus was 100% man and 100% God, and that's one of the dichotomies that we cannot grasp with our finite minds. I think as someone says here, it's right to say that Jesus was born a Jew and lived as a Jew, and that the Jews of his day accepted him as such. Also, Jesus came from a line of Jews, and from the beginning God intended it to be that way. So it would not be right to say he was NOT a Jew. 

However, as some others have pointed out, Jesus is the son of God, the Creator God who created everything and everybody upon earth, and He is above religion or nationality. Mary was merely a vessel used by God, to plant HIS seed almost like a surrogate mother, I believe. There was no sexual union involved. So when you consider that, it's difficult to decide whether he really was a Jew biologically. 

Eventually, I think it does not matter. These are just opinions that do not contribute to tempering one's faith. Will knowing whether Jesus was biologically a Jew help us yield fruits of the Spirit? Christ is risen today, and this risen Christ is beyond race, religion or nationality.

August 06 2014 6 responses Vote Up Share Report


6
Mini Jon Davis Supporter
The Jews, both the lineage of the blood line and the religion, were established by God from the beginning in order to prepare mankind for its savior. After the crises of Adam (the first sin) and Noah (the destruction of mankind), God established a line of descendants most notably including Abraham and King David. These people, known as the Jews, were special because they were the people who would retain knowledge and adherence about their Maker. Other people around the world fell away to work with their own devices, theologies, and notions of the universe, but in the middle of everything there was a group of people that chose to continue to follow the Creator of all things who identified himself as "I Am", meaning the meaning of existence itself.

So, yes, Jesus was a Jew, both in blood and in faith. His mother, Mary, was of the lineage of King David and of Abraham, and he also fulfilled the Jewish law. But he was the finality of the Jews. Ancient Judaism existed as the womb, or egg, or whatever metaphor you may like to use, of the savior to mankind. The Jewish religion existed so that when the savior did arrive, He would arrive among a people who acknowledged "I Am" and who had experienced life as human beings while maintaining a faith in God. It was perfect timing with perfect preparations. And now that He has come, and resurrected with the job of saving mankind completed--mankind is saved in that mankind has full access to God by His grace--the Jews are frankly only relevant to the world anymore because of its history and previously promised special favor given to them by God. 

So, you see, the Jews existed to prepare Earth for the savior to mankind. But the salvation the Messiah brought was for all of mankind, including Gentiles. That is why those who follow Jesus are not Jewish, but fully appreciate the Jews simply because they are Jews, because they acknowledge "I Am", the Creator of the universe, and because from them came the Messiah. 

Unfortunately Jews today who identify themselves as Jews but do not identify themselves as "messianic Jew" don't reciprocate appreciation for Christian Gentiles. They simply do not believe that Jesus was the messiah (savior). And, appreciated by Christians or not, they are, sadly, condemned like everyone else. See John 3:18.

November 04 2014 1 response Vote Up Share Report


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Mini Salem Markus Purba Supporter
According to the Gospel of Mathew 1: 1-17, undoubtedly Jesus was a Jew; but He was not an ordinary Jew. He was King David's offspring as God had promised to David through the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7 :8-17).

David was a King of the Israelite people, but Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mathew 3:2-3), the Kingdom that endure forever before our Father in Heaven.

August 06 2014 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


2
Mini James Kraft Supporter 74 year old retired pipeline worker
Mary was a Jew. Jesus claimed to be KING OF THE JEWS. Witten on the cross. KING OF THE JEWS. 

Mary was a descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

January 14 2022 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


1
My passport new Arun Kumar Supporter Engineer, Chennai, India
Physically, Jesus is not a jew. Because He is not the biological seed of David or Abraham. Jesus is God incarnate. But Jesus identified Himself as a jew since He was born to jewish parents and observed the jewish law until He died in the cross, since He Himself became the Pascha lamb.
Jesus Himself asks the scribes in the temple, Luke 20:44, "David spoke of the Messiah as his Lord, so how can the Messiah be his son?" Hence Jesus is not the blood of David and not a jew by birth, but only an observant jew.

April 29 2014 5 responses Vote Up Share Report


1
Mini Jeffrey Goff Supporter
A Jew is from the tribe of Judah, and Jesus was the great grandson of King David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and a Jew, because he was of the tribe of Judah.

If you look up 'Jew' in Strong's Concordance, you will see what Jew means. 
I believe Jesus was an ethnic Jew, but not his beliefs.

June 17 2015 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


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