Are Messianic Jews a Biblical Identity?

213 Views 3 min Jun 26, 2024

Is there such a thing as a "Messianic Jew?" Does Jewish identity still matter, or do Jews become Christians, embracing a new religion, when they accept Jesus? Nic Lesmeister, Executive Director of the Gateway Center for Israel, states why GCFI embraces the biblical concept that Jewish believers in Jesus are still Jewish in this episode of"Responding to Viewers Comments."

Nic explains how God's remaining covenant with natural Israel is not new - it's original to the first followers of Jesus - and this foundational truth (buried by centuries of faulty Church replacement theology) is now being resurrected by God Himself in our day.

Video Transcript

To anyone finding this video, do not listen to this pastor or anyone affiliated with Israel or any type of Messianic Jews.

Are Messianic Jews real?

Yeah, so this is a good one because, hey, I really do get it. There’s a theology that’s gone on for a long time. It’s called Replacement Theology, and it’s sunk deep, deep, deep into the foundation. So the comment is there’s no such thing as Judeo-Christians or Messianic Jews. Basically, that once you put your faith in Jesus, you’re no longer Jewish. You’re just a Christian. So to come with the narrative that God still has a covenant with the Jewish people and that Jewish identity still matters, it really upsets a lot of the foundational theology people have pinned their theology on. We’re just literally saying that maybe that theology is off. Maybe we should do an autopsy on it. And Messianic Jews are real people. Jewish believers in Jesus are real people. All of the first believers in Jesus were Jewish.

It says in the Book of Acts, and I think it’s Acts 21, when the apostles who were Jewish ask Paul to go take a vow to prove that he still is maintaining Torah, they say there are hundreds (maybe even thousands in the text) of Jews who believe in Jesus that are zealous for the law. This isn’t something that disappeared. This is something that God’s resurrecting. It is real. Jewish people are, and their identity really does matter. So this isn’t a subversive thing. We’re not trying to pitch anything and trying to coerce anybody. We’re literally just saying there is something God’s doing and it’s founded in scripture, and we want to attach ourselves to it because God’s doing it.

Hey, seriously, thank you for commenting on our videos. If you’re somebody that’s commented and you’ve been critical about what we’re saying, literally I hope we love you and we want to keep learning with you. Please, if you don’t agree with what we’re saying, put it in the comments. We just ask you to be kind and let’s learn together. We’re not saying we’re right all the time. Look seriously. But let’s go through the process of learning together and working together to solve some of these technical tricky questions. So please keep commenting, and I hope this was helpful for you as you guys listen to some of these things and looking forward to seeing you in another video.