Is it a SIN to be a Jew? This article dares to expose an extremist campaign cleverly masquerading as Christian!

An evil is again rearing its ugly head in America! Today, it is fashionable, among some who teach the identity of the Anglo-Saxons as descendants of the lost tribes of Israel, to claim that the Jews are not really Jews and that Jesus was not a Jew. This error strikes at the very nature and office of Jesus Christ!

It is time we had the truth. It is time we examine the proof.

It is salvation that is at stake-for if Jesus was not a Jew, then he was an impostor and not a savior!

Who Is a Jew?

The facts-which you can verify in any reputable history-are that the Jews, long after they were driven into captivity from Judea, migrated throughout the Roman Empire in the west and Parthia to the east. Following later medieval religious persecutions they migrated en masse to Poland and Russia from Central Europe.

The Jews are not-as is the claim of some-the descendants of the native Mongoloid Khazar gentiles of Southern Russia, which were converted to Judaism in the seventh century. Those converts were later conquered and largely lost their adopted Judaic religion under Islam and Russian Orthodoxy. They still dwell mainly around the Black Sea today.

Bible Defines a "Jew"

It is said by some of those who know the identity of the Anglo Saxons that since the word Jew was coined in the 17th century in the English language-that therefore Jesus was not a Jew because he lived about 16 centuries before the word Jew was formed by English-speaking people!

Let's understand the truth.

The word Jew is merely a late English form, and a shortened form, of an older English word Judean. The word Judean means a man descended from the patriarch Judah or one descended nationally from the house of Judah or kingdom of Judah. Christ descended from Judah. He was a Judean. He was therefore a Jew Nothing could be plainer.

But the real proof lies in the Bible itself. Notice the New Testament book of John. "And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Judea, because the JEWS sought to kill him" (John 7:1).

Note that Jews were in Judea, in what came to be called Palestine, during the time of Christ The original inspired Greek word translated "Jews" in this verse is Ioudaioi, meaning "men of Judah." A Jew is one descended from the house of Judah. That is the exact meaning of the shortened English word Jew!.

Now let us notice the evidence that Jesus descended from Judah-that Jesus was a Jew.

Jesus Was a Jew

The evidence in the book of Hebrews is undeniable. Notice what the apostle Paul wrote: "For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah" (Heb 7:14). In Revelation 5:5 Jesus Christ, who gave his life like a lamb before the slaughterer, is called the "Lion of the tribe of Judah"-for he is returning as a lion to conquer the nations. Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, a Jew.

Jesus "came unto his own"-Judah, the Jews-" and his own received him not" (John 1:11). Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace or Chief Ruler. Notice: "For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him [Judah] came he that is the Prince"-or "Chief Ruler"-the Messiah or Christ (I Chron. 5:2).

Genesis 49:10 brings us further evidence: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah." The scepter is the promise of salvation and of a kingly line. It was not a depart from Judah. Either the Messiah-Jesus, the Christ-is of Judah-hence a Jew-or he is not the Messiah or King of the Jews descended from David. If he is not the Messiah, no one has salvation!

According to the geneaology recorded by the inspired historian Luke, Jesus descended from Judah and from David through his mother Mary (Luke 3:31,33). David descended from Judah, the first Jew; and since Jesus descended from David, he was also a Jew.

Jesus recognized that he was a Jew. Notice carefully:
In his conversation with the woman at Samaria, Jesus said to her: "Ye"-the Samaritans-"worship ye know not what"-they were ignorant of the true God. But observe how Jesus continues" "We"-speaking of Judah, the Jews-"We worship what we know; for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22).

Notice Jesus used the personal pronoun we, by which he included himself among the Jews. What stronger proof do we need that Jesus knew he was a Jew?

Inherited Jewish Traits

Jesus did not look like the pictures you see of him in paintings and on crucifixes. Observe that the Jews could not distinguish Jesus from other Jews. His neighbors thought he was the son of Jews, Joseph and Mary (Matt. 13:54-56 and Luke 4:22).

Pilate thought Jesus was a Jew when he looked at him. "Thy nation"-the Jews-"delivered thee to me," he said (John 18:35). Judas had to kiss Jesus in order to point him out among the disciples during that fateful evening of the full moon. Where did Jesus obtain his Jewish traits? From Mary.

Notice what Peter said of David, Christ's ancestor: "God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ [the Messiah] to sit upon the throne" (Acts 2:30). Christ was of the fruit of David's loins. He inherited Jewish flesh and blood characteristics from his mother Mary.

Jesus was human, as you and I are. His human (physical) nature came from his Jewish ancestry. He came in human flesh, subject to all its temptations, but never once succumbed to them. Notice: "God, sending His own Son in likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). It is the doctrine of antichrist that Jesus did not come in human flesh as you and I have (I John 4:2-3).

Jesus Also Looked Like God

Jesus possessed characteristics both of Mary's ancestry and the characteristics of the Father in heaven. Jesus looked in general appearance like other Jews, yet he had the express facial resemblance of the Father Almighty-"Who hath seen me," said Jesus, "hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).

The Jews, then, more than other ethnic groups, must resemble the dominant personality of he Father. God is supreme Ruler. Judah prevailed above his brethren and the Prince of Chief Ruler was prophesied to come through him. Judah must have inherited particular qualities for rulership.

The most important truth about this whole question, however, is not the flesh. "The flesh profiteth nothing" (John 6:63). What is important is what we do with our lives. Through the sacrifice of Christ we can become begotten members-new entities, as Paul expressed it-of the family or kingdom of God, where there is no division-"no Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free; but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11).

What are we like if Christ lives in us? "For he is a Jew, which is one inwardly" (Rom. 2:29). Jesus Christ, as a descendant of Judah, by his example set the standard for his nation to follow. In that sense Christ lived the life of a perfect Jew. But even more important he was a perfect human being-an example to all races of how to live.

Remember, God's standards of perfection was revealed to the Jewish people (Rom. 3:1-3). And Jesus Christ will live the same kind of life in our minds and bodies if we surrender our self-wills to him and begin to obey him. We can all become like Jesus, who set us an example that we should follow. If we are ever to gain eternal life, we must follow his pattern of living.

Yes, Jesus was a Jew and the Messiah, sent from heaven to be the Saviour of all.

by Herman L. Hoeh