Judianity and Messianic Judaism

Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles

If you're not sure who Messianic Jew's are, here's a quotation, from an earlier version of the website for the Union of British Messianic Jewish Congregations.

"What is a Messianic Jew?

According to the Scriptures, a Jew is anyone who is born of a Jewish mother or father. A Messianic Jew, then, is a person of Jewish lineage who has accepted Yeshua as his Messiah and personal kinsman redeemer, has chosen to follow the teachings of Scripture, and seeks to maintain a Jewish lifestyle in accordance with his calling and heritage".

That said, arguably what seems to be missing from this material is something like this:

"What is a Messianic Gentile?

A gentile is anyone who is'nt born of a Jewish mother or father. A Messianic Gentile, then, is a person not of Jewish lineage who has accepted Yeshua as his Messiah and personal kinsman redeemer, has chosen to follow the teachings of Scripture, and seeks to maintain a lifestyle in accordance with scripture (or the Bible)".

That's why Judianity still has a clear USP (unique "selling" point), in our view.

Here's another quote, this time from the British Messianic Jewish Alliance pamphlet: "Introducing the British Messianic Jewish Alliance"

"Who Can Join ?

Any Jewish person who is in agreement with our Statement of Belief, which is based on the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible) and on the Brit Chadashah (the New Testament). Note: For our purposes, a Jewish person is someone with at least one Jewish grandparent".

This extract from the BMJA's Spring 2008 Chai magazine was written by its Editor.

"Some have accused the BMJA of racial apartheid because only Messianic Jews can have full membership within a Messianic Jewish alliance! They dismiss statements the BMJA has made on various issues because Gentiles can't be voted onto the committee and can't vote, yet they level no such accusation against other specialist support networks. It is true that Gentiles are not allowed to stand for membership of the management committee nor are they allowed to vote for new committee members. However, the BMJA welcomes Gentiles and, as associate members, they can fully participate in the life and fellowship of the alliance. In addition, there are exceptions: Gentiles who are married to Messianic Jews, and are therefore tied to the fate of the Jewish people in some way, are eligible for full membership".

"Nevertheless, this pejorative accusation gives rise to a serious question: Is the BMJA guilty of rebuilding a wall of separation and going against the "one new man" principle?"

"The answer is no, because the BMJA is not a local congregation; rather it is a specialist support group for Jewish followers of Yeshua in Britain".

Now it would be wrong to leave you with an impression that either of these groups exclude non-Jews or deliberately treat them as second class citizens. This certainly isn't the case. In fact, both of these UK groups welcome gentiles into their fellowships, and have a significant number of gentile members, who appear to be happy.

Messianic Jewish Liturgy

However, the liturgy in at least some Messianic Jewish fellowships can have a strong (and Judians would say arguably an unnecessary) Jewish cultural bias. Some suggest that this results from an understandable desire to be viewed as authentic Jews by their non Messianic brethren. Practically this often means that, Kippas have to be worn and not insignificant proportions of the readings and songs in a Sabbath service may be conducted in Hebrew! The net result for a gentiles fellowshipping with such Messianic Jewish groups, (particularly if they don't speak Hebrew) can be quite an intimidating experience.

So, we applaud Messianic Jewish fellowships which, like Judianity, strive to avoid unnecessary cultural bias, which might otherwise risk marginalising non Jews.

Go back to the start of Judianity - A "Third Way" Between Judaism or Christianity?

Christian theologians believe even after the crucifixion that Paul kept Nazirite vows at the temple and offered sacrifices. One predictable adjustment to a written Torah law about circumcising gentile proselytes in Acts, caused massive turmoil in the church. If most of the other "Old Testament" laws were abolished, why wasn't a similar level of controversy recorded then? Does Galatians mean the Torah law is really "done away" ?