Can you be both a Jew and a Christian at the same time?
That depends on your definition of a Jew and your definition of a Christian. Let's try and work it out.
Let's say your definition of a Jew is someone who observes Torah and is a firm believer in the 13 articles of faith of Maimonides.
And your definition of a Christian is someone who is baptised as a baby and goes to church.
Then you can't be a Jew and a Christian at the same time.
But most people (including Orthodox Jews) define a Jew as someone born to a Jewish mother. Under the Israeli Law of Return it is not your degree of faith in Judaism that defines your Jewishness but your Jewish parenthood. On the opposite side of the picture under the Nuremburg laws it was not how often you went to synagogue or whether you even believed in God that made you a Jew in the eyes of the Nazis. It was having Jewish parents or even grandparents. Being Jewish therefore is an accident of birth not necessarily a religious commitment. If being committed to the synagogue and to Judaism is your definition of Judaism then a large proportion of the Hebrew speaking population of Israel is not Jewish.
Many people define a Christian as we have done above. This makes most of the population of Ireland or Spain Christians.
However the New Testament and most importantly Jesus himself never defined 'Christian' in this way. In an interview with a Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, Jesus said, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven' (John 3.3). This spiritual rebirth comes as a result of repentance from sin and faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah as a sacrifice for sin (in fulfilment of such biblical passages as Isaiah 53, which prophesies the future sufferings of the Messiah as a sacrifice for sin). If you care to study the Tenach you will find that Jeremiah 31.31-34 describes the New Covenant and Ezekiel 36.26-28 speak of the new heart and spirit which God promises to Israel. The new covenant and the new spirit are available in the Messiah Jesus and are our experience when we put our trust in Him.
By definition this experience can never happen to a baby who has no ability to choose about anything least of all about such issues as the existence of God, Jesus being the Messiah and the need for personal repentance and faith. Therefore no one can be born a Christian in the true sense. As Jesus said 'You must be born again', not physically but spiritually. Now the qualification for having this experience has nothing to do with our race or previous religious convictions or lack of any religious convictions. Atheists can be born again, so can former believers in Islam, Hinduism, witchcraft or even nominal Christians! But also by definition so can Jews be born again.
Now if we accept the racial definition of being Jewish there is no problem with this. A born again Jew also remains Jewish, just as a born again Irishman remains Irish. If you insist on the definition of Jewishness meaning practising Judaism then there is a problem clearly because according to Maimonides' 13 principles Judaism is still waiting for the coming of the Messiah, but according to the New Testament the Messiah has come.
This then leads to the real question 'Is Jesus the Messiah?' The major problem to any kind of rational discussion of this question (which is the one we are really interested in) is the kind of emotional (and we would have to say often irrational) arguments 'I was born a Jew and will die a Jew' (and therefore cannot even consider the claim that Jesus is the Messiah, 'You have betrayed our people by accepting Jesus as Messiah', or 'You are worse than the Nazis who only tried to destroy us physically. You are trying to destroy us spiritually.' All of these arguments are good for clouding the issues and stirring up hostility to Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah. They are totally counter productive to any kind of sensible discussion of a question which no Jewish person can really avoid - 'Is Jesus of the Nazareth the one prophesied in the Tenach as the Messiah?'
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Can you be both Jewish and christian
This is such an important issue I really must say more, if I may. First we need to spend time understanding the scriptures and then all these questions are answered. The term Christian occurs two times in the new testiment, both are negative. When Paul said if any of you suffer as a christian, be glad, he didn't mean to go out and found a new religion on a bad word. It was like calling someone a nigger. Even discussing this is missing the point of what happened on the cross. The issue is whom is the bride of Christ. The old bride was the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. The new bride is everyone who believes in Yeshua and keeps His commandments, as evidenced by the event at the house of Cornealus with Paul. It was then Paul realized the Kingdom is open to all who believe and become spiritual Jews. Being spiritual Jews is being the New Jews and the new bride of Christ as explained in Romans 2:28 and Rev. 3:9, and supported by the Lord in St John 4:22, When He said, "salvation is of the Jews". He means all the judges now and forever will be Jewish, Jewish, being the name of the Bridegroom that was given on the mountain that burned with fire. The Lord did not change the rules when He came, He simply took it out of the hands of men to administer the Kingdom and put into His own hands. Now He is the one who decides who is a Jew by what is in our heart and not by the corrupt measure men always end up using. Therefore the new Bride of Christ is now invisible to the evil ones and scattered over the world, where they will be collected on the last day. Forgive the length of this but it is such an important point if we are to understand our relationship with the scriptures and our place in the world.
Ron Cash
roncash326@gmail.com
can you be both jewish and christian?
I don't think so. I think becoming Jewish is like having the faith to put the blood on the door in Egypt. It was not something people would have imagined doing and no doubt revolted the Egyptians considering their law against slaying sheep. If we want to be part of God's family it appears we must decide whom we are going try to impress with our behavior, God or man. I don't think any of this is an accident and being Jewish has always been unpopular. It is so unpopular people don't even know what it means today. It has really never been a bloodline issue and as Paul and Yeshua explain in Rom. 2:28, St. John 4:33, Rev. 2:9 and 3:9; It is now a matter of faith. Believe it or not.
Ron Cash
roncash326@gmail.com
Can you be both Jewish and christian ?
We must stop passing judgement on one another! Of course being born Jewish doesn't stop re-birth into Chistendom.
That rebirth is open for all !
Faith is indeed the real requisite. '...and now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love' (1 Cor.13) and being a channel for God's love is what unregenerate, self-centred mankind finds it so difficult to cope with, Jew and Gentile alike. Only in obedience can we cry 'Abba, Father' as Children of God.
Mustard seed
can you be both a jew and a christian at the same time?
well,the word "christian" came from the Roman Empire Church lead by Constantine. After Yeshua ascended to heaven the disciples were called messianic or nazarenes at that time. the messianics(disciples,apostles)kept the sabbath and the feasts of Israel because yeshua never told them to stop. in Torah Yeshua's father told the hebrews to keep the sabbath and all of the feasts forever throughout their generations. since Yeshua obeyed his father's commandments we should as well, but also keep the testimony of yeshua HaMashiach. Amen!! Shalom!
can you be both a jew and a christian at the same time?
A Jew that adopts 'Gentile Christianity' becomes as a Gentile. He places himself in an apostate pagan rooted religion that does NOT have Jewish Roots and places himself outside of the Jewish Nation. Christianity is the result of branches that were a part of the Olive Tree then they broke theirselves off it and formed their own religion. Y'shua, his talmidim, literally 1000's of the earliest Jewish believers all kept Torah in one expression or another. They were a part of the Judaism of their day because they were Jewish people. A Jew, whether Messianic or not should be a part of a legitmate Judaism today just like the 1st century Jews were in the context of their own time.
Christianity is Gentile and pagan. It is not Jewish and not for Jews.
Can you be both a jew and a christian at the same time
your statement: "Christianity is Gentile and pagan. It is not Jewish and not for Jews". A harsh judgement! I can assure you I am not a pagan, and do not subscribe to pagan rites and practices which are very much of the flesh. May God forgive you, brother.
Mustard seed, a Christian and so thankful for it.
May I say something?
I think Christianity is not pagan by choice. I think christians at first are trying to find the truth, then after many years they give up and just keep traditions. So after a time I believe they become pagan because they reject the knowledge of God. Hosea said, those who do not understand will fall. The same can be said about the "jews" in Jerusalem. I was there last year and asked a young man, "say, I bet it's really nice to live here and celebrate the holidays God ordained." He said, "not really, it's just family tradition, it means nothing." You see, it can happen from either side in the flesh. When you understand what Paul was talking about when he said 'you can't partake of the table of devils and the table of God', you will see Paul was Jewish, like he said, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus and raised at the feet of Gamilel". Paul said he is a Jew. The Lord said, St. John 4:22, "...the kingdom of heaven is of the Jews." God is a Jew. Paul explains who is a Jew in Romans 2:27. Why do people not understand this?
Ron Cash
roncash326@gmail.com
Jewish Christian
Well words words words. I am a follower of God. YHWH. Yeshua. I used to use the name Jesus for this. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In terms of this prior discussion, a Christian. I am not Jewish by birth or faith as such. However the more I study the word of God and think about it the more I think "Christians" should be Torah observant. Seventh day Sabbath, feasts etc. So the question might be am I then Jewish? Hmmm. Maybe God's chosen people were chosen to lead the way and for Gentiles to follow? Is it proper though to call God's Law/Torah teaching and all a religion, Jewish or Christian??