As of 1993 there were 160,000 adherents of Messianic Judaism in the United States and 350,000 worldwide. As of 2003, there were at least 150 Messianic synagogues in the U.S. and over 400 worldwide.

Messianic Jews practice their faith in a way they consider to be authentically Torah-observant and culturally Jewish. However, Jews of all denominations and many Christians do not consider Messianic Judaism to be a form of Judaism, but a form of Christianity.

Self identity

Messianics believe that the first followers of Jesus of Nazareth were called Nazarenes (in Hebrew, Notzrim; "נצרים) or simply the Way.

History

Modern Messianic Judaism was reborn in the 1960s. A major shift in the movement occurred when Martin Chernoff became the President of the HCAA (1971-1975). In June of 1973, a motion was made to change the name of the HCAA to the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) and the name was officially changed in June of 1975. The name change was significant as more than just a "semantical expression;" as Rausch states, "It represented an evolution in the thought processes and religious and philosophical outlook toward a more fervent expression of Jewish identity."

When the movement began to become larger, new organizations less mainstream in their beliefs such as the Messianic Israel Alliance, First Fruits of Zion, and the Coalition of Torah Observant Messianic Congregations arose. These new smaller sects usually disagreed with mainstream Messianic Judaism over the issue of Gentile observance, and whether it is obligatory (as in the One Law sects) or not (as in mainstream Messianic Judaism.)

Theology

Canon

Canon:

• Torah [תורה] meaning one or all of: "The Law"; "Teaching"; "Instruction". Also called the Chumash [חומש] meaning: "The five"; "The Five books of Moses". It is the "Pentateuch".
• Chumash [חומש] meaning: "The five"; "The five books of Moses". It is the "Pentateuch".
• Nevi'im [נביאים] meaning: "Prophets"
• Ketuvim [כתובים] meaning "Writings" or "Hagiographa".
• Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
• Acts
• General epistles of James, Peter, and Paul, author of Hebrews
• Book of Revelation, The Revelation of John or The Apocalypse of John

Torah

From the prophet Isaiah, 742-700 B.C.

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
(Isaiah 7:14 ESV)

⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
(Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)

² And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
⁴ but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
⁵ Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
(Isaiah 11:2-5 ESV)

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
¹⁴ As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
¹⁵ so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.
(Isaiah 52:13-15 ESV)

¹ Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
² For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
³ He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;by
his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53:1-12 ESV)

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
(Isaiah 61:1-2 ESV)

Scriptural commentary

Some Messianic believers also look to Jewish texts, such as the Babylonian Talmud and other rabbinic commentary, for historical insight into an understanding of biblical texts and halakha. Much like Karaite Judaism, some Messianics do not accept rabbinic commentary or halakha as authoritative where it seems to contradict the Scriptures of the Messianic canon listed above. This, however, is debated and varies from congregation to congregation, or from ministry to ministry--and perhaps even on issue-to-issue. Although there is much debate with regard to acceptance of the Babylonian Talmud, there does exist a small minority who adhere to the teachings of the Sages and the oral teachings held in the Talmud and consider them authoritative, yet the main difference between them and mainstream Judaism remains the same with regard to the belief in Jesus as the Messiah. These groups consider Jesus's command of, "The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses, all of which they command you to do, do, but do not do as they do." (Matt 23:2-3) to be a proclamation of Torah authority to the Pharisaic Jewish community. One of the great differences between them and most Messianics is their belief in non-separation from the Jewish community and the authority of the Rabbis. Although they hold the Apostolic teachings to be authoritative, as do the Messianics, there remain many details in Jewish Law which violate oral tradition, as well as the written Torah. Because of this, there remains for them another line of division between them and mainstream Judaism.

Many Messianic congregations use traditional Jewish rabbinic commentaries to gain historical insight into biblical teachings and passages and to better comprehend the environment that the first-century New Testament writers would have been familiar with. These traditional Jewish oral teachings are called the Mishnah and Gemara.

Messianic commentaries on various books of the Bible, with the exception of a handful of commentaries written on the Torah and New Testament texts, such as Matthew, Acts of the apostles, Romans, Galatians, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, can be few and far between. David H. Stern has released a one-volume Jewish New Testament Commentary, but it overlooks many of the issues of composition, history, date and setting, and only provides select explanatory notes from a Messianic Jewish point of view. Other noted New Testament commentary authors include: Joseph Shulam, who has written commentaries on Acts, Romans, and Galatians; Tim Hegg of TorahResource, who has written commentaries on Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and is presently examining Matthew; Daniel Thomas Lancaster, who has written extensively for the First Fruits of Zion Torah Club series; Stuart Sacks, author of Hebrews Through a Hebrews' Eyes; and J.K. McKee of TNN Online who has written several volumes under the byline "for the Practical Messianic" (James, Hebrews, Philippians, and a New Testament Survey).

Others in the Messianic movement do not share this rejection of the oral Torah. Some look to the Talmud and rabbinical interpretations of Israel for guidance in a fuller expression of obedience to the Torah. Messianics who honor halakhah point out that Deuteronomy 17 instructs not only obedience to the Torah, but also to the Judges we go to for Torah interpretation, to "do everything they direct you to do. Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left." The authority of the Pharisees is confirmed in Matthew 23, "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you."

As an example, the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (affiliated with the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations) has published its standards.

Core doctrines

• God - Messianics believe in the God of the Bible, and that he is all-powerful, omni-present, eternal, exists outside of creation, and is infinitely significant and benevolent. Some Messianics are more open to trinitarian views of God; others demand strict monotheism.
• Yeshua the Messiah - Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth, is believed to be the Jewish Messiah in Messianic Judaism. The mainstream movement accepts Jesus as "God in the flesh", and as "the Torah (Word) made flesh" (John 1:1). Some small offshoots exist outside the fringe of the movement which deny Jesus's divinity. These however, are rejected by mainstream Messianic Jews in the same way that Christians reject groups with differing Christologies, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses.
• Written Torah - Messianics, with few exceptions, consider the written Torah (Pentateuch), the five books of Moses, to remain fully in force and they therefore believe that it is a holy covenant, which is to be observed both morally and ritually, by those who profess faith in God. They believe that Jesus taught and re-affirmed the Torah, rather than do away with it. As Jesus says:

  ¹⁷ "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17 (ESV)

• Israel - It is believed that the Children of Israel were, remain, and will continue to be the chosen people of the God of Jacob, and are central to his plans for existence. Virtually all Messianics (whether Jewish or non-Jewish) can be said to oppose Replacement theology, the view that the Church has replaced Israel in the mind and plans of God.
• The Bible - The Tanakh and Apostolic Writings (sometimes called the "B’rit Chadasha") are usually considered to be the established and divinely inspired Biblical scriptures by Messianic Jews. Messianics are much more open to criticism of the established canon of the New Testament, since there was not considered to be a standard canon until the Gentile Church established one in the 4th century, when many Jewish sects devoted to the teachings and Messiahship of Jesus were on the decline.
• Biblical Eschatology - Most Messianics hold all of the following eschatological beliefs: the End of Days, the Second Coming of Jesus as the conquering Messiah, the re-gathering of Israel, a rebuilt Third Temple, a Resurrection of the Dead (and that Jesus was resurrected after his death), and the Millennial Sabbath. (see Christian eschatology, Jewish eschatology)
• Oral Law - Messianic Jewish opinions concerning the “Oral Torah”, encoded in the Talmud, are varied and sometimes conflicting between individual congregations. Some congregations beleieve that adherence to the Oral Law, as encompassed by the Talmd, is against Messianic beliefs and outright dangerous. Other congregations are selective in their applications of Talmudic law. Still others encourage a serious observance of the Jewish Halakha. Virtually all Messianic congregations and synagogues can be said to believe that the oral traditions are subservient to the written Torah. It is important to note that Jesus followed some oral traditions (such as the observance of Hannukah), but opposed others - such as the specific ritual for the washing of hands.

Additional doctrines

• Sin and atonement - Messianics define sin as transgression of the Torah (Law/Instruction) of God (1 John 3:4-5). Some adherents continue practices intended to atone for their sins - usually involving prayer and rituals relating to repentance—that is, acknowledgment of wrongdoing and seeking forgiveness for their sins (esp. on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement). Other Messianics disagree with these practices, believing that all sin (whether committed yet or not) is already atoned for because of Jesus's death and resurrection.
• Faith and works - Messianics draw on Jewish rather than Protestant tradition. In Hebrew there is one word for both faith and faithfulness: Emunah. Most adherents to Messianic Judaism believe in a showing of their faith through righteous works (Jacob 2:17-26; James 2:1-26), defined by the Torah. Few Messianics believe that faith and works are mutually exclusive or polarized; most believe that faith in God and righteous works are entirely complimentary to each other, and that the one (faith) naturally leads to the other (works).

People of God

The "People of God" is a larger set which includes Israel, but also includes Gentiles in the Christian Churches as well as Messianic Gentiles. Thus, a rabbinical Jew is part of "Israel", a Baptist is part of "Ekklesia," and a Messianic Jew is both "Israel" and "Ekklesia." Furthermore, rabbinical Jews, Baptists, and Messianic Jews, aka both Israel and Ekklesia, are all "People of God." Messianic Judaism sees itself as the "link," the point of the graft between Israel and Ekklesia.

The issue surrounding Israel's relationship to Ekklesia, especially in Covenantal terms, is highly important to Messianics. While Jews, whether they are Messianic or not, are considered to be within an irrevocable Covenant given at Mount Sinai, Gentiles are not. A Messianic Jew must keep Covenant. A Methodist need not. Those Gentiles who have joined Messianic congregations take up Torah observance, some more than others, but do so voluntarily, either out of love for God or simply as part of being in the community. Jews and Gentiles are seen as completely equal before God; they are seen as "one new man" in their belief in Jesus. But this union is not a homogenization, but more analogous to the union of husband and wife in marriage, where differentiation is preserved even within unity.

Thus, Messianic Judaism does not require Gentile conversion to Judaism, and in fact discourages it. However, the UMJC makes exceptions for those rare individuals who identify with Messianic Judaism in a stronger way than simply being "grafted on." The reasoning for this variance is as follows: While Titus may have been the norm in the epistles, a Gentile not converted to Judaism, Paul nevertheless made an exception for Timothy, whom he circumcised and brought under the Covenant. According to the statement of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council regarding Conversion, converts to Judaism do not in any way have a higher status within Messianic Judaism than the Gentiles attached to the communities.

Jewish law

Similar theologies

One Law theology

In One Law theology, anyone who is a part of Israel is obligated to observe the Covenant and its provisioned as outlined in the Torah. Leaders of the Messianic community such as Dan Juster of MJAA and Rus Resnick of UMJC have joined together to argue against One Law theology's insistence on Gentile observance. Tim Hegg responded to their article defending what he believes to be the biblical teaching on the subject.

Two House theology

Outline of Biblical Usage

• To make the Children of Israel His special possession among all people if they obey God and keep His covenant
  (Exodus 19:5)

• To make the Children of Israel a kingdom of priests and a holy nation
  (Exodus 19:6)

• To give the Children of Israel the Sabbath as the permanent sign of this covenant
  (Exodus 31:12-17)

Lexicon Results for hayah (Strong's H1961)

1) to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out
a) (Qal)
1) -----
a) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass
b) to come about, come to pass
2) to come into being, become
a) to arise, appear, come
b) to become
1) to become
2) to become like
3) to be instituted, be established
3) to be
a) to exist, be in existence
b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)
c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)
d) to accompany, be with
b) (Niphal)
1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about
2) to be done, be finished, be gone

Eschatology

¹¹ So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. ¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry ¹⁴ in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹ Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

²³ And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation

²⁵ Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

"The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
²⁷ "and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."

The majority of Messianics believe in a literal 7,000 year period for the human history of the world, from Adam to the Last Judgment, and believe that we are the final generation that will experience the Biblical apocalypse. A small, yet steadily growing sector of Messianics, have adopted forms of Old Earth Creationism which while denying the theory of evolution does discount a 6,000-7,000 year old earth, or in Theistic Evolution, the belief that God created using evolution, or similarly, that evolution occurred but that natural selection is an insufficient explanation for all of it, the hand of the Creator being evident.

Most Messianics believe that the Messianic Kingdom, or Millennial Sabbath, will literally be for a period of a thousand years, after the collective resurrection of the dead, with Jesus the Messiah ruling from Jerusalem. Many believe that we are living in the final days, or “End Times”, before the physical return of Jesus to Jerusalem.

Messianics also contend that no serious study of the End Times should ever leave out the significance of God's appointed times--the major Jewish Festivals in the Torah--and their fulfillment as prophetic events as it relates to the person of Jesus and to Israel. Many Messianics believe that just as the Spring Festivals (Passover, First Fruits, Shavuot) were literally fulfilled to the day at Jesus's first coming, the Fall Festivals (Yom Teruah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot) will be literally fulfilled to the day at Jesus's second coming, and that all of the moedim, indeed the entire Torah, intrinsically hints at the Messiah.

Overview of issues

Many Messianics believe that it is absurd to assume that any of the 613 Mitzvot would be abolished simply because certain commandments are or are not repeated or reaffirmed individually in the New Testament, proclaiming the belief that such was never the job of The Twelve Apostles in the first place, and that the Torah has always been immutable. Messianics sometimes challenge Christians by arguing that if they believe Jesus is the Messiah, then according to the Torah itself Jesus could not have changed the Torah.

As with Orthodox Judaism, capital punishment and animal sacrifice are not practiced because there are strict Biblical conditions on how these are to be practiced, requiring a functioning Temple in Jerusalem with its Levite priesthood. When the power of capital punishment is available, it is often exercised only after exhausting loopholes in the Torah are used to set a suspect free. According to the Talmud, capital punishment in Jewish law always had to lean on merciful alternatives to execution and make every effort not to give the strictest punishment within the confines of the Torah: "A Sanhedrin which kills once in seven years is considered murderous. Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: once in seventy years. Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon said: if we had been in the Sanhedrin, no one would have ever been killed." (Mishnah Makot 1:10).

Most Messianics believe that observance of the Torah brings about sanctification, not salvation, which was to be produced only by the Messiah.

Like so many other elements of Messianic Judaism, the issue of Torah observance varies widely across the movement. The following subsections attempt to explain the differing opinions regarding Torah observance within Messianic Judaism as a whole.

Law and grace

Others among the Messianics hold that both Jesus and Paul taught and commanded Jews to remain obedient to all the laws found in the Torah.

Most Messianics believe Jesus himself said that he came not to destroy the Law or Prophets but that he came to fulfill [to fill up to the full]. Matthew 5:17-19 17 " Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Jewish Jesus

Jewish Paul

Messianics cite the cutting off of Paul’s hair at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken (Acts 18:18), references in passing to him observing the Jewish holidays (see Feasts and Festivals), the frequent mistranslations of his writings in many Bibles, and his consistent good standing with his Rabbinic master Gamaliel, to show that he was wholly in continued observance of the laws and traditions of Judaism.

They maintain that Paul never set out to polarize the gospel between faith and righteous works, but that one is necessary to maintain the other. The New Perspective on Paul is important in Messianic Judaism.

Comparisons

Judaism

• a divinity,
• as the savior of humanity from its sins,
• and as the promised messiah of the bible.

Christianity

In recent times, the Gentile Church, Christians who are not messianic Jews, has put more emphasis on its Jewish roots, especially Sabbath keeping. Some even attend Seders, though primarily for education.

Ethnic Jews who are Christians

Jews for Jesus

Apostolic Messianic

Jesus

Doctrines

People of God

Eschatology

Torah

Religious practices

Holiday observance

Shabbat

The recommendations of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council on Shabbat may be found at http://www.ourrabbis.org/main/content/view/16/30/

Dietary laws

The recommendations of the Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council regarding Kashrut can be found at http://www.ourrabbis.org/main/content/view/20/34/

Jewish objections

Several anti-missionary organizations, such as Outreach Judaism and Jews for Judaism oppose Messianic Judaism on theological grounds, usually from an Orthodox Jewish perspective. In recent years these organizations have noticeably shifted their focus from countering the missionizing of Jews in the name of Christianity to countering the spread of Messianic Judaism. The Jewish anti-missionary organizations view the latter (Messianic Judaism) as a more threatening and subversive form of apostacy than the former (openly missionizing in the name of Christianity).

Denominations and organizations

According to the Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform):

"For us in the Jewish community, anyone who claims that Jesus is their savior is no longer a Jew and is an apostate. Through that belief she has placed herself outside the Jewish community. Whether she cares to define herself as a Christian or as a 'fulfilled Jew,' 'Messianic Jew,' or any other designation is irrelevant; to us, she is clearly a Christian."

"…Except in relations with Christians, the Christ of Christianity is not a Jewish issue. There simply can be no dialogue worthy of the name unless Christians accept — nay, treasure — the fact that Jews through the two millennia of Christianity have had an agenda of their own. There can be no Jewish-Christian dialogue worthy of the name unless one Christian activity is abandoned, missions to the Jews. It must be abandoned, moreover, not as a temporary strategy but in principle, as a bimillennial theological mistake. The cost of that mistake in Christian love and Jewish blood one hesitates to contemplate. …A post-Holocaust Jew can still view Christian attempts to convert Jews as sincere and well intended. But even as such they are no longer acceptable: They have become attempts to do in one way what Hitler did in another."

"One of the more alarming trends in antisemitic activity in Canada in 1998 was the growing number of incidents involving messianic organizations posing as "synagogues". These missionizing organizations are in fact evangelical Christian proselytizing groups, whose purpose is specifically to target members of the Jewish community for conversion. They fraudulently represent themselves as Jews, and these so-called synagogues are elaborately disguised Christian churches."

State of Israel

Suggestions of Jewish legitimacy

Reform rabbi Dan Cohn-Sherbok has stated in his book Voices of Messianic Judaism that Messianic Judaism (along with some other alternative movements) is a legitimate form of Judaism. Reconstructionist rabbi Carol Harris-Shapiro has stated her belief that Messianic Judaism is a form of Judaism, while simultaneously a form of Christianity. Most of the books she has written are about the movement, and the most prominent is Messianic Judaism: A Rabbi's Journey through Religious Change in America.

References

• a b Harris-Shapiro, Carol (1999). "Studying the Messianic Jews", Messianic Judaism: a rabbi’s journey through religious change in America (GoogleBooks), Boston, MA: Beacon Press, pg. 1. LCCN 98-54864. ISBN 0807010405. OCLC 45729039. “Messianic Judaism is a largely American Jewish/Christian movement whose origins can be traced in the United States to Hebrew Christian missions to the Jews in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Jesus people of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the resurgence of American Jewish ethnicity during those same decades. Messianic Jewish congregations are comprised of those born Jewish who accept Jesus as their savior, as well as Gentiles who convert to Messianic Judaism.”
• So, What Exactly is a Messianic Congregation?. RabbiYeshua.com. Kehilat Sar Shalom (2001). Retrieved on 2007-02-20. “Messianic Judaism of the first century busied itself with telling everyone of the Good News, it boldly proclaimed Yeshua – the resurrected Messiah – to all men and women.…Sin is lawlessness, it is “Torahlessness”. If one is truly in Messiah, then one will be Torah observant.”
• a b Schoeman, Roy H. (2003). Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22): the role of Judaism in salvation history from Abraham to the Second Coming. San Francisco, California: Ignatius Press. LCCN 2003-105176. ISBN 089870975X. “By the mid 1970s, Time magazine placed the number of Messianic Jews in the U.S. at over 50,000; by 1993 this number had grown to 160,000 in the U.S. and about 350,000 worldwide (1989 estimate). .. There are currently over 400 Messianic synagogues worldwide, with at least 150 in the U.S.”
• a b c Kaplan, Dana Evan (August 2005). "Introduction", in Dana Evan Kaplan (ed.): The Cambridge companion to American Judaism, Cambridge Companions to Religion. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pg. 9. LCCN 2004-024336. ISBN 0521822041. “For most American Jews, it is acceptable to blend some degree of foreign spiritual elements with Judaism. The one exception is Christianity, which is perceived to be incompatible with any form of Jewishness..Messianic Jewish groups are thus seen as antithetical to Judaism and are completely rejected by the majority of Jews.”
• Ariel, Yaakov [1995] (2005). "Protestant Attitudes to Jews and Judaism During the Last Fifty Years", in Robert S. Wistrich (ed.): Terms of survival: the Jewish world since 1945, Digital Printing edition, New York, NY: Routledge, pg. 343. LCCN 94-22069. ISBN 0415100569. “Evangelical Christians are engaged in aggressive and extensive missionary activity among Jews. Among other results, this has given rise to groups of 'Messianic Jews', of which 'Jews for Jesus' is the most outstanding example. These are actually Jews who have adopted the evangelical Protestant faith and its precepts.”
• Simmons, Shraga. Messianic Jews, Buddhist Jews. Ask Rabbi Simmons. About.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Yet there are limits to pluralism, beyond which a group is schismatic to the point where it is no longer considered Jewish. For example, everyone considers Messianic Judaism and belief in Buddah as outside of the Jewish sphere.”
• Schoen, Robert (April 2004). "Jews, Jesus, and Christianity", What I Wish My Christian Friends Knew about Judaism. Chicago: Loyola Press, pg. 11. LCCN 2003-24404. ISBN 082941777X. “The Jewish people believe that when the Messiah comes there will be an end to world suffering.…Jews do not believe, therefore, that the Messiah has come, and they do not recognize Jesus as their savior or as the Son of God.”
• Messianic Judaism: A Christian Missionary Movement. Messiah Truth Project. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Messianic Judaism is a Christian movement that began in the 1970s combining a mixture of Jewish ritual and Christianity. There are a vast and growing numbers of these groups, and they differ in how much Jewish ritual is mixed with conventional Christian belief. One end of the spectrum is represented by Jews For Jesus, who simply target Jews for conversion to Christianity using imitations of Jewish ritual solely as a ruse for attracting potential Jewish converts. On the other end are those who don't stress the divinity of Jesus, but present him as the "Messiah." They incorporate distorted Jewish ritual on an ongoing basis.”
• Ariel, David S. (1995). "The Messiah", What do Jews believe?: The Spiritual Foundations of Judaism. New York, NY: Schocken Books, pg. 212. LCCN 94-3550. ISBN 0805241191. “The Jews of the first centuries of the Common Era believed the Messiah had not yet come, while the followers of Jesus—strongly influenced by contemporary Jewish messianism—asserted that he was the Messiah. The belief that the Messiah has arrived and that he is Jesus is the teaching that most acutely divides Judaism from Christianity.”
• Nuesner, Jacob [1994] (February 2000). "Come, Let us Reason Together", A Rabbi Talks With Jesus, Donald H. Akerson (forward), Revised ed., Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press, pp. 3–4. LCCN 2001-339789. ISBN 0773520465. “I write this book to shed some light why, while Christians believe in Jesus Christ and the good news of his rule in the kingdom of Heaven, Jews believe in the Torah of Moses and form on earth and in their own flesh God’s kingdom of priests and the holy people. And that belief requires faithful Jews to enter a dissent at the teachings of Jesus, on the grounds that those teachings at important points contradict the Torah. Where Jesus diverges from the revelation by God to Moses at Mount Sinai, he is wrong, and Moses is right.” Schiffman, Lawrence H. (1993). Meeting the Challenge: Hebrew Christians and the Jewish Community (PDF). Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Though Hebrew Christianity claims to be a form of Judaism, it is not. It is nothing more than a disguised effort to missionize Jews and convert them to Christianity. It deceptively uses the sacred symbols of Jewish observance…as a cover to convert Jews to Christianity, a belief system antithetical to Judaism.…Hebrew Christianity is not a form of Judaism and its members, even if they are of Jewish birth, cannot be considered members of the Jewish community. Hebrew Christians are in radical conflict with the communal interests and the destiny of the Jewish people. They have crossed an unbreachable chasm by accepting another religion. Despite this separation, they continue to attempt to convert their former coreligionists.”
• Balmer, Randall Herbert (November 2004). "Messianic Judaism". Encyclopedia of evangelicalism (Rev. and expanded ed.). Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. pp. 448–449. ISBN 193279204X LCCN 2004-10023. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Messianic Jewish organizations, such as Jews for Jesus, often refer to their faith as fulfilled Judaism, in that they believe Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. Although Messianic Judaism claims to be Jewish, and many adherents observe Jewish holidays, most Jews regard Messianic Judaism as deceptive at best, fraudulent at worst. They charge that Messianic Judaism is actually Christianity presenting itself as Judaism. Jewish groups are particularly distressed at the aggressive evangelistic attempts on the part of Messianic Jews.”

Orthodox

• Why Don't Jews Believe in Jesus?. Ask the Rabbi. Aish HaTorah (February 1, 2001). Retrieved on 2007-02-14.

Conservative

• Waxman, Jonathan (2006). Messianic Jews Are Not Jews. United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Hebrew Christian, Jewish Christian, Jew for Jesus, Messianic Jew, Fulfilled Jew. The name may have changed over the course of time, but all of the names reflect the same phenomenon: one who asserts that s/he is straddling the theological fence between Christianity and Judaism, but in truth is firmly on the Christian side.…we must affirm as did the Israeli Supreme Court in the well-known Brother Daniel case that to adopt Christianity is to have crossed the line out of the Jewish community.”

Reform

• Missionary Impossible. Hebrew Union College (August 9, 1999). Retrieved on 2007-02-14. “Missionary Impossible, an imaginative video and curriculum guide for teachers, educators, and rabbis to teach Jewish youth how to recognize and respond to "Jews-for-Jesus," "Messianic Jews," and other Christian proselytizers, has been produced by six rabbinic students at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Cincinnati School. The students created the video as a tool for teaching why Jewish college and high school youth and Jews in intermarried couples are primary targets of Christian missionaries.”

Reconstructionist/Renewal

• FAQ's About Jewish Renewal. Aleph.org (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-20. “What is ALEPH's position on so called messianic Judaism? ALEPH has a policy of respect for other spiritual traditions, but objects to deceptive practices and will not collaborate with denominations which actively target Jews for recruitment. Our position on so-called "Messianic Judaism" is that it is Christianity and its proponents would be more honest to call it that.”
• Lotker, Michael (May 2004). "It’s More About What is the Messiah than Who is the Messiah", A Christian’s guide to Judaism. New York, NY: Paulist Press, pg. 35. LCCN 2003-024813. ISBN 0809142325. “It should now be clear to you why Jews have such a problem with ‘Jews for Jesus’ or other presentations of Messianic Judaism. I have no difficulty with Christianity. I even accept those Christians who would want me to convert to Christianity so long as they don't use coercion or duplicity and are willing to listen in good faith to my reasons for being Jewish. I do have a major problem with those Christians who would try to mislead me and other Jews into believing that one can be both Jewish and Christian.”
• Harries, Richard (August 2003). "Should Christians Try to Convert Jews?", After the evil: Christianity and Judaism in the shadow of the Holocaust. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, pg. 119. LCCN 2003-273342. ISBN 0199263132. “Thirdly, there is Jews for Jesus or, more generally, Messianic Judaism. This is a movement of people often of Jewish background who have come to believe Jesus is the expected Jewish messiah.…They often have congregations independent of other churches and specifically target Jews for conversion to their form of Christianity.”
• Kessler, Edward (2005). "Messianic Jews", in Edward Kessler and Neil Wenborn (eds.): A dictionary of Jewish-Christian relations (GoogleBooks), Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 292–293. LCCN 2005-012923. ISBN 9780521826921. OCLC 60340826. “From a mainstream Christian perspective Messianic Judaisms can also provoke hostility for misrepresenting Christianity.”
• Harris-Shapiro, Carol (1999). "Studying the Messianic Jews", Messianic Judaism: a rabbi’s journey through religious change in America (GoogleBooks), Boston, MA: Beacon Press, pg. 3. LCCN 98-54864. ISBN 0807010405. OCLC 45729039. “And while many evangelical Churches are openly supportive of Messianic Judaism, they treat it as an ethnic church squarely within evangelical Christianity, rather than as a separate entity.”
• Messianics.com. Messianics.com (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-15. “Find the best Torah Observant Messianic Judaism sites here at Messianics.com”
• MessianicLife.com. Perfect Word Ministries (2004). Retrieved on 2007-02-15. “As believers in the Messiah Yeshua, we are called to live a life of practical application as ordered by the Spirit. MessianicLife.com is designed to help Messianic believers have a closer walk with Yeshua, to aid Messianic families in living out the fullness of the abundant life promised in Messiah, and to exhort all of us to pass that fulfilled life on to the next generation.”
• Rausch, David A. "The Messianic Jewish Congregational Movement", The Christian Century, September 15-22, p. 926. Retrieved on 2007-02-19. "As I interviewed their leaders across the United States, I found a prevalent belief that they had coined the term “Messianic Judaism.” Others thought that the term had originated within the past ten or 20 years. Most of their opponents also agreed that this was so. In fact, both the term “Messianic Judaism” and the frustration with the movement go back to the 19th century. During 1895 Our Hope magazine, which became a bulwark in the fundamentalist-evangelical movement under the editorship of Arno C. Gaebelein, carried the subtitle “A Monthly Devoted to the Study of Prophecy and to Messianic Judaism.”"
• Maoz, Baruch. Judaism is Not Jewish: A Friendly Critique of the Messianic Movement. Christian Focus Publications. 2003. ISBN 1857927877
• Sedaca, David. The Rebirth of Messianic Judaism. International Messianic Jewish Alliance. Retrieved on 2007-02-15. “Messianic Judaism of today is the latest expression of a process that is over one hundred years old. The resurgence of this movement can be traced to Great Britain around the year 1850. At that time, there were thousands of Jewish people who converted to Christianity, but the end result of most of these conversions was the losing of their Jewish identity. By the middle of the 19th century, there were many outstanding Jewish believers in Jesus who began questioning the then prevailing principle that the corollary of accepting Jesus was the forfeiture of one's Jewish heritage. Contacts in England between these Jewish believers ultimately led to the formation in 1813 of the first body of believers who recognized both their Jewish ancestry and their faith in Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. The name of this association was "Beni Abraham" Children of Abraham.”
• Winer, Robert I. (June 1990). The calling: the history of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, 1915-1990. Wynnewood, Pa: Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, ??. LCCN 90-63000. ISBN 0962824305.
• Messianic Judaism - The Best Recipe. RabbiYeshua.com. Kehilat Sar Shalom (2001). Retrieved on 2007-02-28. “Modern Messianic Judaism was re-born in the 1960’s during a time when many Jewish people were coming to faith in the Messiah.”
• David A. Rausch, Messianic Judaism: Its History, Theology, and Polity pages?
• See, for example, Raymond Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (Doubleday, 1997), 10-15, esp. 15
• a b c d So, What Exactly is a Messianic Congregation?. RabbiYeshua.com. Kehilat Sar Shalom (2001). Retrieved on 2007-02-20. “ When we begin to study and observe Torah to become like Messiah, there are pitfalls we must avoid. One such pitfall is the study of Mishnah and Talmud (Rabbinic traditional Law). There are many people and congregations that place a great emphasis on rabbinic legal works, such as the Mishnah and the Talmud in search of their Hebrew roots. People are looking to the rabbis for answers on how to keep God’s commands, but if one looks into the Mishnah and does what it says, he or she is not a follower of the Messiah. Or, if one looks into the Talmud and does what it says, he or she is not a follower of the Messiah – he or she is a follower of the rabbis because Rabbi Yeshua, the Messiah, is not quoted there.…Rabbinic Judaism is not Messianic Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism is not founded in Messiah. Rabbinic Judaism, for the most part, is founded in the yeast – the teachings of the Pharisees. Yeshua’s teachings and the discipleship that He brought His students through was not Rabbinic Judaism. There is a real danger in Rabbinics. There is a real danger in Mishnah and Talmud. No one involved in Rabbinics has ever come out on the other side more righteous than when he or she entered. He or she may look “holier than thou” – but they do not have the life changing experience clearly represented in the lives of the believers of the Messianic communities of the first century.”
• Bernay, Adam J. (December 3, 2007). Who we are. Beit-tefillah.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-20. “"Orthodox Messianic" groups (they go by many names) teach that you must keep the commandments in order to be saved, and not just the commandments in the Scripture, but the traditional rules as coined by Judaism since the Temple was destroyed.. essentially, they teach that we must keep Orthodox Judaism, but with the addition of Yeshua. We do NOT teach this in any way, shape, or form. Some of the traditions are right and good, and in keeping with the commandments. Others are not. Only by studying to show ourselves approved of God can we rightly divide the word of truth and discover how God calls us to live.”
• Mission, Vision, & Purpose of the Jerusalem Council. JerusalemCouncil.org. JerusalemCouncil.org (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-23. “Our vision also includes the hope of re-appointing a beit din for Messianic believers worldwide, to be called the Jerusalem Council, or Beit HaDin HaYerushalmi, modeled after the original, and submitted to the new Jewish Sanhedrin in issues that do not contradict obedient faith to Messiah Yeshua or his teachings; to provide guidance in issues that may conflict with the Sanhedrin, or in issues that contradict the primacy of the written Word of God, or in issues which may divide the Body of Messiah; to promote the unity of the Body of Messiah worldwide by Spirit-led direction through means of accountability, open dialogue, reasoned doctrine, and sound leadership; and to provide corporate and individual edification by providing apologetic, midrashic, and halakhic guidance for the Body of Messiah.”
• Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council Standards of Observance. ourrabbis.og. Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-23. “At that time a set of Messianic Jewish leaders from New England invited some of their colleagues from outside the region to join them in working on a common set of halakhic standards for themselves and their congregations. While other areas of Messianic Jewish life are of profound importance, such as worship, ethics, education, and social concern, we believed that halakhic standards had received far less attention than their place in Messianic Jewish life warranted.”
• What are the Standards of the UMJC?. FAQ. Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (June 2004). Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
• Article denouncing trinitarian views.
• Jewish Status. Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
• See John 3:16 and Romans 10:9
• The Case for Conversion: Welcoming Non-Jews into Messianic Jewish Space. Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
• One Law Movements; a Challenge to the Messianic Jewish Community January 28, 2005
• One Law Movements A Response to Russ Resnik & Daniel Juster
• MJAA position paper: The Ephraimite Error
• Lancaster and Berkowitz (see below)
• statement of belief…. 5twenty8.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-20. “We are not "Jews for Jesus". We strongly agree with their work of bringing non-Messianic Jews to acceptance of Yeshua(Jesus), as the Jewish Messiah. However, we just as strongly disagree with the belief/policy of "Jews for Jesus"; upon acceptance of Messiah Yeshua(Christ Jesus), Jews(and Gentiles), are not to obey and follow the Torah(Law)! This contradicts and violates the Tanakh and Messianic Scriptures that speak of Yeshua(Jesus). We believe the Torah speaks of Yeshua (Jesus) and those that love Him keep His commandments.”
• Kavanaugh, Ellen. Actually, we are NOT Jews for Jesus (Messianic Judaism). Light of Moshiach!. Retrieved on 2007-12-20. “I consider Jews For Jesus a Christian organization. Moishe Rosen, founder of Jews For Jesus, is a Christian missionary, schooled in a standard bible college and not trained as a rabbi. The Jews For Jesus organization has worked diligently teaching Jesus to the non-believing Jewish people, but it is Christianity being taught and not Messianic Judaism (in spite of JFJ efforts to make the two terms synonymous). I would like to see evangelism to the Jewish people which includes teaching Torah observance.”
• Bernay, Adam J. (December 3, 2007). Who we are. Beit-tefillah.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-20. “We are NOT "Jews for Jesus"! "Jews for Jesus" is a primarily Baptist missionary group whose sole focus is converting Jews to Christianity. They are not a part of the Messianic movement and have never been in favor of Messianic congregations! We do not approve of their theology, their ideology, or their methods.”
• See Messiah#Christian view for further elaboration
• Berkley, George E. (February 1997). "And Collapse…and Collapse", Jews. Boston, MA: Branden Books, pg. 129. LCCN 96-47021. ISBN 0828320276. “A more rapidly growing organization [than Jews for Jesus] is the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America which seeks to incorporate many of the trappings of Judaism with the tenets of Christianity. It's congregants assemble on Friday evening and Saturday morning, recite Hebrew prayers, and sometimes even wear talliot (prayer shawls). But they worship not just God but Jesus, whom they call Yeshua.”
• Typical Messianic Statement of Faith. Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
• Who Is A Jew? Messianic Style. Chaia Kravitz. MessianicJewishOnline.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-23. “In Messianic Judaism, children are generally regarded as being Jewish with one Jewish parent. Since we are one in Messiah, both Jew and Gentile, there is not sharp division between the two groups. Therefore, if a Gentile has a heart for Israel and God's Torah, as well as being a Believer in Yeshua, and this person marries a Jewish Believer, it is not considered an "intermarriage" in the same way Rabbinic Judaism sees it, since both partners are on the same spiritual plane. Children born from this union are part of God's Chosen, just like the Gentile parent who has been grafted in to the vine of Israel through His grace.”
• Holiday Chart. Heartofwisdom.com. biblicalholidays.com (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
• Matthew 5:17-19, Matthew 28:19-20, 1 John 3:4, Romans 3:3
• Lancaster and Berkowitz
• a b Reinckens, Rick (2002). Frequently Asked Questions. MessianicJews. Info. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
• Simmons, Shraga. Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus. Aish HaTorah. Retrieved on 2007-02-23.
• a b Berman, Daphna (June 10, 2006). Aliyah with a cat, a dog and Jesus. Haaretz. Retrieved on 2007-02-20. “In rejecting their petition, Supreme Court Justice Menachem Elon cited their belief in Jesus. ‘In the last two thousand years of history…the Jewish people have decided that messianic Jews do not belong to the Jewish nation…and have no right to force themselves on it,’ he wrote, concluding that ‘those who believe in Jesus, are, in fact Christians.’ The state's position is backed by all streams of normative Judaism, none of which recognizes messianic Jews as Jews.”
• Opposition to Messianic Judaism from the Jewish community by Robinson, B. (Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance)
• Fackenheim, Emil (1987). What is Judaism? An Interpretation for the Present Age. Summit Books, p.249. ISBN 0-671-46243-1.
• 1998 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. MISSIONARIES AND MESSIANIC CHURCHES
• Joseph Reinckens
  • www.DidGodLie.com,