Today there is much made of the fact that the New Testament (NT) and Christianity is a Jewish religion. Some then draw the conclusion that if we want to understand Jesus and the NT, then we must understand Judaism. This is completely true, for if we do not understand the context Jesus, Paul, Peter and the others wrote to, then we will not understand their sayings and writings. However, this does not mean that we should rush to our local synagogue to understand Judaism. Because Modern Judaism is NOT the Judaism spoken of in the NT.
What is Ancient Judaism?
Ancient Judaism could also be called Yahwism—the worship of Yahweh as the only true God. It was made distinct from the many religions around them which recognized that there were many gods vying for power. All Judaism recognized that there is only one God, Yahweh, and he is the king of all other powers and authorities in and above the world. In the first century (the time of the NT), all the Judaisms were based on the foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures (called by Christians today the Old Testament), especially the first five book—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These were called the Law or Torah and all Judaism recognized many parts of it as the foundation of their beliefs.
However, we must recognize that there was not one kind of Judaism in the first century, but many. And there were many aspects of every kind of Judaism.
Law—All Judaism believed that God gave a law that he wanted his people to follow. And though the five books of Moses included many laws, there were many disagreements as to what law would best be followed, how to interpret God’s law and how it should be enforced among his people. The Pharisees were one group that saw God’s law as central to Judaism.
Temple—All Judaism saw a temple as central for worshipping God and to offer sacrifices at. They saw the priesthood as descended from Moses’ line and they ran the temple. They were all in agreement that God established a place among his people where he should rightly be worshipped. And apart from one sect—the Samaritans—all Judaism believed that the temple in Jerusalem was the place God has chosen to be worshipped. However, some saw it as more important than others, and one group—the Essenes—believed that the temple and priesthood in Jerusalem was impure and God would replace them.
Kingdom—All Judaism recognized that God has established a nation which was chosen by Him. And they all believed that God’s nation was destined to rule the world someday, even as Rome did. Some of them believed that this would take place through God’s chosen king, called a Messiah, who might be the son of David, or might be a priest. However, most Jews were focused on the continuing process of running a nation, especially when most Jews—who recognized that they were a part of God’s nation—lived outside of God’s chosen land, Israel/Judah. Some held that Jews should focus on bringing this kingdom to pass, either through obeying God’s law, or through political maneuvering, or through warfare.
There are many other aspects of Ancient Judaism, such as prophetic speech, good deeds, various schools and much more.
What happened to Ancient Judaism?
Beginning with 70AD, Judaism changed dramatically. The Temple was destroyed in that year, and the priesthood has never been officially recognized since. The nation of Judah lost all political power, and almost all Jews became dispersed from their land. There were only two kinds of Judaism that was prepared to continue past the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD—Christianity and a Judaism that focused on the law.
What is Modern Judaism?
The Judaism that focused on the law was connected to the Pharisees, but distanced themselves from that group, focusing instead on teachers who interpreted the law in a way that could last past the temple. These teachers were called Rabbis—Aramaic for “master”—and they taught that the one who obeyed the Torah of God was the true Jew. However, many of the laws in the Hebrew Scriptures could not be obeyed because there was no more nation, temple or priesthood. So the Rabbinic Jews focused less on the books of Moses themselves, and more on the interpretations of the books. They taught that while Moses himself wrote down laws for all the people, he taught the interpretation of the law to the judges that were called “elders” in the Bible. These elders passed down this interpretation from one generation to another, until finally it was written down in a book called the Mishnah, in about 200AD. Later Rabbis interpreted the Mishnah for contemporary use, and their interpretations were written down in a larger book called the Talmud. Today, most Rabbinic Jews recognize the Talmud as Scripture, and they study it and interpret it for their everyday life. Thus, they do not live out the books of Moses directly themselves, but instead interpret it through the teachings of the ancient Rabbis.
The NT and Judaisms
Thus, we can draw the following conclusions:
Modern Judaism is not the Judaism of the NT
We should not think that we can gain a full understanding of Ancient Judaism on the basis of what we learn from Modern Judaism. To understand the Judaism of Jesus and Paul’s day, the best resources we have are not the writings or teachings of modern Rabbinic Judaism. Rather than reading the Mishnah or Talmud (as helpful as that may be) or consulting with modern Rabbis, we would do better to read ancient Jewish books, such as those found in Catholic Bibles. Books such as Sirach or the Psalms of Solomon or the Testimonies of the Twelve Patriarchs or Tobit give us a much better idea of the Judaism of Jesus’ day.
Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are equally the outgrowth of ancient Judaism
Modern Judaism is not the “mother” religion, with Christianity being the “daughter”. Rather, Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are really both “daughters” of Ancient Judaism, which passed with the Temple. Jesus was unique in his understanding of Judaism, and while he was in agreement with some of the ancient ways, he also had a completely different way of seeing it from most people. The Rabbis of the Talmud also saw Judaism differently than the ancients and from Jesus, and so they constitute a different Judaism again. Now, all that is left is Christianity—the outgrowth of Jesus’ understanding of Ancient Judaism—and Rabbinic Judaism—an outgrowth of the Rabbi’s understanding of Ancient Judaism.
The NT is not directly speaking to Modern Judaism
We should not try to understand Jesus’ or Paul’s critique of Judaism in their day on the basis of what we understand Modern Judaism doing. None of the writers of the NT were speaking to modern Jews because modern Judaism did not exist in those days. Rather, the NT speaks to Ancient Temple Judaism, with their political involvement and powerful priesthood and magnificent Temple. On the other hand, the Talmud does have some to say about Jesus and Christianity—and they reject it in no uncertain terms. There is no question that some part of the development of modern Judaism was a negative response to the rise of Christianity, which they saw as an aberrant form of ancient Judaism (not recognizing that they were just as divergent from the ancient religion).
The Messianic Movement
But what shall we say about the “Messianic” movement today, then? This is a group which retains its Rabbinic Jewish heritage, but also claims Jesus as their Messiah. Are they wrong to do this? Absolutely not. But do they represent a return to NT congregations? Probably not. Although what the Messianic congregations do is very interesting, they are not much closer to the ancient Jewish church than Eastern Orthodox churches. And neither group fully represents the ancient church that we read about in the NT.
We must keep in mind that the NT church was based on the synagogue practices of two thousand years ago. All organizations and practices—no matter how traditional in origin—shift over time. To base Christian congregations on Modern Judaism is not a return to ancient practice. It is rather a cultural coloring of Christianity on the basis of Modern Judaism.
Some might have a problem with this, thinking it is corrupting the church. However, it is really the best form of evangelism there is. The Messianic congregations demonstrate to modern Jews that Christianity can honor many of their traditions, and yet honor Jesus as Lord. It has been a cliché that one could be a Jew or a Christian, but not both—the Messianic congregations prove that one could be a cultural, ethnic (modern) Jew and be a full, obedient believer in Jesus. And so they have overcome a hurdle that the church could not have done without them.
The only warning the NT has about these congregations is this: do not allow the practice of your congregation become the basis of judgement against another. There are many ways of honoring the Lord Jesus with our lives—but just because one seems more “Jewish” than another, it does not mean that it is closer to Jesus’ will. Let us all honor Jesus in the freedom Jesus gave us, some as (modern) Jews, and some as (modern) Gentiles. And let us all praise God that Jesus welcomes us all, no matter what our cultural background!
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