Can you be Jewish and still believe in Jesus?

To some, the concept of a Jew believing in Yeshua seems to be a contradiction in terms.  People have a dichotomy, they believe that you are either Jewish and believe in Judaism or Christian and in Christianity.

But this dichotomy is erroneous.  If we go back 2000 years we find that Yeshua was a Jew living in a Jewish land among Jewish people.  All the apostles were Jewish as well as the writers of the New Covenant and for many years this faith in Yeshua was strictly a Jewish one.

From the Book of Acts and other historical evidence, many believe that in the first century there were literally hundreds of thousands of Messianic Jews (Acts 2:41, 2:47, 4:4, 6:7, 9:31, 21:20).  In addition, there were Messianic Synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire and beyond (James 1:1, 2:2).

These first century Messianic Jews remained highly loyal to their people.

Whether it was Jewish to believe in Yeshua was never an issue.  Of course it was Jewish!  What else could it be?  The big question back then was whether Yeshua had been sent for the Gentiles also.  When God miraculously showed the Messianic Jews that he was the Messiah for both Jew and Gentile alike, then Gentiles from every nation began to pour into this Jewish faith.

Through the years, as the numbers of Gentile believers increased, they began to predominate in this messianic movement.  With the passing of the Jewish apostles and the early Messianic Jews, the Jewish roots of the faith were eventually lost.

This "De-Judaizing" process continued until in one of the greatest paradoxes in history, it became alien for a Jewish person to believe in Yeshua as his Messiah!

These writings are based on the writings of Rabbi, writer and television personality David Chernoff, Messianic Rabbi at Congregation Beth Yeshua, Philadelphia, PA.