why were jesus's teachings radical?

Question

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Answer 1

Why did the Jews in general not accept Jesus as the Messiah?

The Encyclopaedia Judaica says: “The Jews of the Roman period believed [the Messiah] would be raised up by God to break the yoke of the heathen and to reign over a restored kingdom of Israel.” (Jerusalem, 1971, Vol. 11, col. 1407) They wanted liberation from the yoke of Rome. Jewish history testifies that on the basis of the Messianic prophecy recorded at Daniel 9:24-27 there were Jews who expected the Messiah during the first century C.E. (Luke 3:15) But that prophecy also connected his coming with ‘making an end of sin,’ and Isaiah chapter 53 indicated that Messiah himself would die in order to make this possible. However, the Jews in general felt no need for anyone to die for their sins. They believed that they had a righteous standing with God on the basis of their descent from Abraham. Says A Rabbinic Anthology, “So great is the [merit] of Abraham that he can atone for all the vanities committed and lies uttered by Israel in this world.” (London, 1938, C. Montefiore and H. Loewe, p. 676) By their rejection of Jesus as Messiah, the Jews fulfilled the prophecy that had foretold regarding him: “He was despised, and we esteemed him not.”—Isaiah 53:3, JP.

Before his death, Moses foretold that the nation would turn aside from true worship and that, as a result, calamity would befall them. (Read Deuteronomy 31:27-29.) The book of Judges testifies that this occurred repeatedly. In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, national unfaithfulness led to the nation’s being taken into exile in Babylon. Why did God also allow the Romans to destroy Jerusalem and its temple in 70 C.E.? Of what unfaithfulness had the nation been guilty so that God did not protect them as he had done when they had put their trust in him? It was shortly before this that they had rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

Is Jesus Christ actually God?

John 17:3, RS: “[Jesus prayed to his Father:] This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God [“who alone art truly God,” NE], and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (Notice that Jesus referred not to himself but to his Father in heaven as “the only true God.”)

John 20:17, RS: “Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], ‘Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (So to the resurrected Jesus, the Father was God, just as the Father was God to Mary Magdalene. Interestingly, not once in Scripture do we find the Father addressing the Son as “my God.”)

Answer 2

They were not radical. Period.

The teachings of Jesus were not radical but a further revelation of God's plan of salvation set forth in the Old Testament. If anything was radical it was the understanding that everything was dependent upon God and nothing upon the works or ideas of men.

They attempted and finally did kill Him based, not on his teaching, but on the fact that His teaching brought life to those who received and took spiritual control away from religious leaders whose income centered around observances and regulations of the law (which they didn't keep themselves); and because, as they testified, He made Himself equal with God.**

The first commandment was nothing new nor radical. How the law and the prophets were to be fulfilled was radical and what the teachers of a "radical Jesus" still cannot accept in their hearts today.

The person who assigned the essay may need more help than you do..

Answer 3

They were not radical, in the global sense - many sub cultures were developing religious beliefs away from groups of religious leaders, and towards individual contact with priests.

Within Judaism, the Essenes, a separatist sect of the Second Temple Period, a portion of whom had formed an ascetic monastic community at Qumran - they produced many of the ideas in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

What makes Jesus so radical, is that he took his teachings into the center of Jewish religious life, rather than retreat to the outskirts of the community. The reason we know so much about him, is that he also included the non Jewish community into his 'church' so that his ideas spread amongst the Hellenistic (gentile) Asians throughout the Eastern Roman Empire.

Pagan roman religious practice remained controlled by high priests, as did Judaism (until the 10th Century), but Christianity was a grass roots movement.

Ironically, it was the roman establishment who took control of this (Constantinople (Orthodox) and Rome (Catholic) and became the patriarch churches.

Answer 4

‘You Must Pray This Way’
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2004/9/15/article_01.htm

The Lord s Prayer Its Meaning for You
- What Is God's Name?
- God's Will to Take Place on Earth
- Prayer and Our Physical Needs
- Our Prayers and Forgiveness
- Help to Pursue a Righteous Course
- Faith in God Essential
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2004/9/15/article_02.htm

The Golden Rule--Is It Still Practical?
- A Universal Teaching
- It Is Still Practical
http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2001/12/1/article_02.htm

The Jews of Jesus' time were having a Lot of trouble with the Roman's, whom God was allowing to rule over them. Many of them truly resented the Roman's presence, and actually had high hopes tht the promised Messiah would end the Roman's authority over them. When Jesus showed no interest in meddling or changing the man-made political structure of the time, they refused to accept that he was indeed the Messiah. Even though several hundred prophecies concerning him had already been fulfilled in him, they were blinded by their desire to have freedom from Roman rule NOW! They even ignored the fact that Christ was born when & where the Bible had long foretold that he would be, & he was the Only one that the prophecies pointed to, but they stubbornly refused him, even killing him! Jesus was not politically radical. He only appeared to be radical to those whose preconcieved ideas he didn't fit into. Those very ones refusing to accept his headship over them, and therefore, God's Kingdom.

What Really Is the Kingdom of God? :
1 Where is it located?
2 Who is its King?
3 Do others share in ruling with the King? If so, how many?
4 What shows that we are living in the last days?
5-7 What will God's Kingdom do for mankind in the future?
http://www.watchtower.org/library/rq/article_06.htm

The Perfect Government of Peace ...
http://www.watchtower.org/library/lmn/article_10.htm

Answer 5

Maybe we can say Jesus's teachings were radical because he came for everyone!! that's right everyone! he didn't hang with the very rich..he healed , he delivered, set free and taught thousands in a open forum. .Christs were about only one gospel, he preached it, transmitted it through his disciples and committed it to the Church, it was The message of the Kingdom. He taught about Human worth and mandates social concern and place on proper value of others , not just experiencing the christian walk unrelated to the service of humanity.Every vile thing Satan tempts us with Jesus was tempted with too!! You see Satan doesn't care about your worth, you are worth nothing to him. Jesus came to be a curse for us so we could live free, live in Glory, be able to have him as a comforter , the holy spirit indwelling, and to help others be set free. The commission of the King is to preach everywhere and that is being accomplished in these times with the net and satellite. Is it radical that we only need one book to clear everything up in out lives, NO, can it be radical that one would die for every one of our sins? Its radical to grasp that the love for us is so great that we mean that much to him, no matter what we have done!! no mater what,even thoses who served satan can go to Jesus, now that radical. Satan cant do any of that, ever. Read the most radical book of your life, The Living Bible.

Answer 6

Because the Old Testament ogres preached the 'an eye for an eye', but as people have wittily observed this means that everyone ends up blind.

Jesus said people should forgive, turn the other cheek - and its not a cop out. Its an incredibly courageous act.

Only now with modern mathematical models are we able to demonstrate why Jesus was right with models in game theory, eg Iterated versions of Prisoner's Dilemma. Look up 'the evolution of cooperation'

Answer 7

Jesus' teachings were radical for his time because they were not the norm. Anything radical: means it's "new", unheard of, uncomfortable for some. The word radical has a sort of "WOW" factor . . .A lot of people did not accept his teachings - he taught on Sunday - that was unheard of, and blasphemous! He didn't abide by the church's rules . .. and that was radical! He touched lepers! He FORGAVE!

Answer 8

He was a Jew and He came to free us from religions. Religious people did not like it. They were too busy with their religious stuff that they did not notice that they had prophesied Messiah among them. He was friends with the poor, He loved unloved and sick, He wanted to give us the way to the Father's house and religious leaders did not think that He was authorized to do that. ..forgive people's sins.

People were so hang up on law that Jesus wanted to teach them how to have a personal relationship with God.

Answer 9

His teachings were radical because he taught the opposite of everything in the bible before him.

Answer 10

Jesus' teachings were radical because our sinful nature is at enmity with God's holy nature. www.equip.org

Answer 11

it said that you as a poor lowly individual peon have worth to God equal to or even greater than the elite rulers, or even the religious leaders ...it was indeed a very revolutionary concept in the overall scope of history and serfdom ..