by Harry BuererFrom my study of the scriptures, especially of the New Testament, I have come to the conclusion that God wants Gentiles who turn to him in our era to embrace four things: the God of Israel, the people of Israel, the faith of Israel, and the Messiah (king) of Israel.
Ruth is an example of this. Although a Moabite, she promised Naomi that “your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). She truly embraced the people of Israel as well as their faith. She also turned out to be an ancestor of David, from whom Jesus the Messiah was to come.
Judaism has done well at preserving the first three items on the list. But, as Paul points out in Romans 11, they have been temproarily blinded regarding the identity of the Messiah. But at some time in the future they will turn to him as a nation (Romans 11:25-26). Then they will have embraced all four.
The followers of Jesus in the first century started out with all four. Paul explained how believers in Jesus became one with the people of Israel. “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (that done in the body by the hands of men)– remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:11-13) “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 3:6) “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:17-18)
Jesus and his followers practiced biblical Judaism, keeping the law, worshiping in the temple and synagogue, and keeping the biblical festivals. There was no intention of starting a new religion; Jesus presented himself as the fulfillment of the promises of scripture. When Paul commended Timothy for continuing the faith of his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5), the timeframe doesn’t allow this faith to be anything but Judaism.
In the early second century Gentile believers in Jesus, realizing that they weren’t Jews, didn’t see any reason to pay the heavy taxes that were being levied on Jews. So they positioned their faith as different from and in contrast to Judaism. They established a different holy day, different festival days, and abandoned the biblical law and festivals, essentially deserting the faith of Israel.
It’s well-known that much of the anti-semitism of history has come from Christians. Many of them didn’t consider the Jews as their brothers and co-religionists but their opponents. As a result, in areas where some form of Christianity became the official religion, Judaism was outlawed and Jews were persecuted and killed.
In more recent times many Christians have turned to look more favorably upon Jews and Israel. That’s a good thing. But most of Christianity continues to reject the faith of Israel, including the law of God.
A faith that reflects the teaching of the New Testament, as I understand it, would be Judaism plus Jesus. Or it could be considered to be a Christianity that embraced Israel and its faith. In either case, I think that scripture indicates that both groups will make progress in this direction as time passes, and be ultimately joined in the last days.