S4 EP1 | Is Messianic Judaism a Jewish or Christian Religion?

A Jew and a Gentile Discuss

In this episode of A Jew and A Gentile Discuss, Carly and Ezra discuss where Messianic Judaism falls in the realm of Judaism and Christianity and show you that it’s a more complicated question than you might think. First, they head over to Wikipedia to see what it says on the matter – not because it’s the most reputable place to start but because a lot of people find answers there. They also get into:

• Why this is a loaded question
• Ethnicity, religion, separations and links
• Hmmm… Would Jesus define Himself as a Messianic Jew?
• Where the “one new man” of Ephesians chapter 2 fits in all of this

Along the Way

Along the way, you’ll also hear about

• Wikipedia’s interesting qualifier when defining Messianic Judaism and where its entry stands on this question
• Four pigeonholes that Jews and Christians seem to automatically go to when trying to figure out Messianic Judaism
• Some errant extremes that some people go to in interpreting Ephesians’ “one new man”
• So, what about Galatians 3, where Paul says there is neither Jew nor Gentile among Believers in Jesus?
• How Messianic Judaism is both “distinct from” yet “one with” Christianity
• How ethnicity and religion muddy the waters of this question, making it difficult to give a simple answer
• Giving Constantine the benefit of the doubt regarding his separation of Judaism from faith in Jesus
• The danger of working backward in history and assuming that the way things are today was the way things were back in the Bible, particularly about today’s predominantly Gentile body of Believers in Jesus
• A paradigm shift for Christians, too – How many, when asked about their faith, say they believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?

Words You Might Learn in This Episode

Christianos, Christos, Mashiach, ecclesia, Yeshua

Scriptures Referenced in This Episode

Acts 11:26, John 10:30, John 8:58, Ephesians 2:14–18, Matthew 11:1–6, John 4:25–26, Galatians 3:26–29, Romans 11:17–24, Ephesians 2:8–9, Deuteronomy 18:15, Isaiah 7:14, Jeremiah 23:5–6, Ezekiel 36:26–27, Zechariah 12:10, Daniel 9:26, Psalm 16:8–10, Genesis 12:3

Don’t miss next week’s episode discussing why you should even care about all this!

Thanks for listening!

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