by Reiko Yukawa

Created on: December 19, 2006   Last Updated: August 27, 2010

While the majority of Jews today still do not recognize the Messiah, there is no denying that Yeshua, called Jesus by the Hellenized, Westernized world today, was fully Jewish. He lived the perfect life, not just by being "a good person," but by keeping all of God's laws, which had been preserved by Israel through the centuries. However, the Ten Commandments, while given specifically to Israel at Mt. Sinai to keep as an example to the world, were in existence from the very beginning and were intended to be kept by all people for all time.

Furthermore, the original first-century church was also Jewish. The gospel originally went to the Jews, and when the Jews as a people rejected it and rejected the Messiah who made it possible, then the gospel went out to Gentiles through people like Paul. But Paul and the original disciples were all Jews by blood and background, and the first-century church retained most of that Jewish background, even for the Gentiles who entered it.

It has been said that the early church was so Jewish that the Roman government could not tell the difference and thought that Christianity was just a sect of Judaism for some time. For instance, the early church used the same scriptures as the Jews because until the gospels and the letters were written, the only books of the Bible that they had were the books of the original Hebrew Old Testament, as we call it now.

The early church also kept all of the same Holy Days, but with added meaning. The Passover, for instance, had been kept for centuries as a memorial of God's miraculous rescue of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. However, after the crucifixion, the Passover lamb took on new meaning: Yeshua as the Lamb of the world, slain to take away sins. The spring Holy Days that were a memorial of things past and a shadow of things to come were now fulfilled and memorialized something even greater than freedom from Egypt - freedom from sin.

It was only after the destruction of Jerusalem and Rome's realization that Christianity was something really different from Judaism that the focus began to slip. Eventually, anti-Semiticism took hold, and the main part of the church decided to sever its ties to Judaism by renouncing the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and anything else that made them seem too close to being Jewish. Only a small remnant held onto the Sabbath and other signs of following the original faith.

Learn more about this author, Reiko Yukawa.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.