(a correction of my previous posting)
Hello Onedoug,
Your question was: “Why is a so-called messianic jew not a christian? Or, if supposedly (s)he is christian, how can (s)he claim to be a Jew?”
“Messiah” is the English term that comes from “Moshiach”. It is a Hebrew word meaning “the anointed one.” There were a number of moshiach’s in Jewish history, including King David and Judas Maccabeus. All were “types” of the ultimate “Moshiach”, Yeshua or Jesus of Nazareth, who shed His blood as a offering for the sins of all mankind, and will one day site upon the “Throne of David” in Jerusalem as King of all the earth.
To avoid any semantics, Messiah means Christ. A Messianic Jew is a Christian Jew. Paul, Peter and myriads of Jews believing in the diety and Messiah-ship of Jesus are Messianic Jews. They are also Christian Jews. As a gentile in Christ, you are a Messianic Gentile. As far as election, we are all one in Christ.
There are some Messianic Jews that may take issue with my statment “A Messianic Jew is a Christian Jew”. They are being factous and are not speaking from a Christ centered perspective, but rather a foolishly contrived pseudo Messianic perspective.
Feel free to refer to me as a Messianic Jew, Hebrew Christian or Jewish Christian. All that matters is that Jesus knows who I am and I know that He knows. I hope that answer lays to rest your question.
There are those that question why a believer in Jesus with Jewish ancestry should still be considered a Jew. Should one’s Jewishness be denied if one believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah? Why so? If Jesus is not the Messiah, King of Israel, than I am an apostate and you Christians are deluded fools. If Jesus is the Messiah, then my Jewishness should be proclaimed. Did not Paul state that he was a Jew. He did not do so from false pride, but simply stated a fact.
In Christ,
Marshall
A better answer than some I’ve seen.
I'm a Noachide, so you might see my take that The One God revealed Himself to the Hebrews at Sinai.
I see Jesus legacy as having opened the scientific revolution of the Renaissance, and without which the United States could not have been founded.
On the other hand, I suspect Jesus the Jew would have been appalled to see what Paul and the Gospel writers had turned him into.
I think Jews becoming Christian is fine so long as when they choose Christianity they leave Judaism to Jews. Conversely a Christian who became a Jew, yet still called himself a Christian would be disingenuous at best, and likely could be considered deeply sinful.
I just don’t understand how one can be one thing yet insist on being called what that thing clearly is not. It strikes me as somewhat infantile that one cannot stand with one’s convictions, and rather attempt to have it both ways. That seems like moral relativism to me.
”If I knew God I’d be Him.” Though I think singleness of purpose overall is an attribute of which He’d approve.
God’s grace to You and Yours.
I'm going to have to take exception to that, mbeeber. What you are failing to recognize is that words change connotation and meaning over time. "Christian" no longer simply means someone who follows the Christ/Messiah/Annointed One, but also a person who worships on Sunday, rejects a significant portion of the Torah, and has a peoplehood separate from the Jewish people. In fact, for most of the last two millennia, the Christian Church has persecuted those of its own members who continued to keep their Jewish identity. Even today, many congregations practically make eating a ham sandwich a test of faith.
A Messianic Jew, on the other hand, continues to follow the Torah, including circumcision, the Feasts, kosher, etc. A Messianic Jew identifies with the Jewish community rather than a Gentile one, and continues to keep the traditions of his or her people to a greater or lesser extent. A Messianic Jew stands against the tide of Christian teaching that one cannot be a follower of Yeshua and continue in one's cultural Jewishness.
It's not simply being factitious. It's following Yeshua's teaching that we are to keep the whole Torah (Mat. 5:17-19), Paul's teaching that one who is circumcised is not to become uncircumcised (1Co. 7:18), that one who is circumcised is obligated to keep the whole Torah (Gal. 5:3), and that a Jewish person who ceases to keep the Torah ceases to be Jewish (Rom. 2:25). It was the expectation of the Apostles that Jewish believers should be zealous for the Torah, circumcise their children, and keep the traditions (Acts 21--see here for more).
I want every Jew to know Yeshua as their Messiah King, as the Son of God, and as the Passover Lamb--but I do not want any Jew to become a Christian as long as "Christian" means ceasing for all practical purposes being a Jew.
Shalom!