The First
Church Was Jewish
Lynda MacDonald,
Nova Scotia
What
we now call "The Church." is vastly different from what it was meant
to be.
Jesus- the head
of the church- was not a Christian – he was a Jew who practiced the religion of
Judaism. Jesus’ disciples were all Jewish. The people who followed him and
listened to his teachings were Jewish (except for a few gentiles). He taught life lessons and kingdom lessons
in a Jewish style and used Jewish idioms in his conversations.
Everything Jesus
and his disciples (talmidim) did was from a Jewish viewpoint and from a
Jewish culture. The many people who joined up with Jesus (Yeshua) to form the
first “gathering of Jesus” were schooled in the Hebraic ways of ancient
scriptures and practiced the Jewish traditions.
It surprises many
believers today when faced with the truth that Jesus was Jewish. Many have a
picture of Jesus being a no-nationality Messiah. God chose him to come to earth
in a Jewish country, to a Jewish family and live a Jewish life. That was not a
happenstance but a deliberate plan from the Father.
God chose that
His Son would live his too short years ministering to a Jewish audience for Jesus
said that He came to the “lost sheep of Israel”.
His death was on
Jewish land and his burial was in a Jewish tomb owned by a Jew. When he returns
it will be to the land of Israel to set up a throne in a Jewish city
–Jerusalem- from where He will rule and reign. Hallelujah – another Jewish word
that means, “Praise to Yehovah”.
The First Generation of Believers
In the book of Acts, we see the growth of the
early church under the leadership of Jews. These leaders who were taught by Jesus
attended synagogue and studied the ancient Torah scriptures.
In Acts 1:15
“there were about 120”Jewish people and in 2:41 “about 3000 were added”. The
family of believers grew daily (Acts2: 47) and by Acts 4:4 the congregation
grew by another 5000 Jewish men.
From Acts 5:14,
we see that throngs of believers joined the “Jesus group” and even a large
crowd of Priests (Acts 6:7) accepted the message that Jesus was the Messiah.
This growing
family of believers was still all Jewish, observing Jewish Feasts, Sabbaths and
traditions of the Jewish faith. The difference was that they knew that their
long-sought-after Messiah had come and freed them from the sting of sin.
Lets see where we
are now- Acts 8:12, many men AND women were baptized into this new “family of
God” and chapter 9:31 says that their numbers kept multiplying- all Jewish.
Aha! - Acts
10:45- the first Gentile –Cornelius accepts salvation along with many other
people who were in his house and a new corner is turned. Salvation has come to
the Gentiles.
What a perfect
person to be the first Missionary to the Gentiles- this “God-fearer” who had
such a divine visitation from The Most High. But no way, God picked a Jewish
man- Saul of Tarsus, to bring the message of salvation to the Gentiles.
Now, do we see
that the direction of God has shifted from the Jews to the Gentiles? Acts 14:1
says “ a large number of Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) came to trust...” so He was
still adding Jews to the “church” and the leadership was totally in the hands
of the ones that Jesus left in charge- a Jewish leadership.
Paul tells us in
Romans 9:4 that” theirs (The Jews) is the adoption as sons: theirs the divine
glory; the covenants; the receiving of the Law (Torah); the Temple worship and
the promises; the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of
Jesus. Paul goes even further in chapter 15:27”For if the Gentiles have shared
in the Jew’s spiritual blessings, they (Gentiles) owe it to the Jews to share
with them their material blessings.” Since the church of today is a
continuation of the one Paul spoke of- we Gentiles have a lot of changing to do
to put the church back on the foundation God built.
This People that God chose because He set His
heart on them (Deut 7:7) was Jewish. The foundation that God set under the
church was Jewish.
The Redeemer for all mankind came in a Jewish
body-so where is that foundation today?
Was it because of
Israel’s sin that the church became “gentilized”? Paul says in Romans 11:11”did
they (the Jews) stumble as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather because
of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel
envious.” He has a plan and it has never stopped being connected with Israel
and her people. We as Gentiles need to rejoice that salvation was extended to
us for it was “ to the Jews first”.
Another time we
will look at what happened to change that foundation.
Shalom!
Lynda
