Didn't there used to be people who claimed that Christ was not a Jew?

Question

What were their arguments? I'm not talking religious affiliation but ethnicity. There were other ethnic groups in the area at the time - including Palestinians,who were actually there before the Jews. He certainly doesn't seem to identity as Jewish in the ethnic sense - to go by quotes attributed to Him - but obviously was brought up to Judaism. Anything serious ever done on this topic? And please,serious responses.

Answer 1

If one discards the 'son of David' stuff (very suspect to me anyway), Jesus was a Galilean. The Galileans were not originally Jews; the original Israelite population had been deported by the Assyrian kings, and the replacing Galileans were conquered and forcibly converted to Judaism by the Hasmonean kings in the 2nd-1st centuries BC. They were still a group distinct from other Jews at the time of Christ, as the statements 'Can anything good come out of Galilee?' and 'A Jew without guile' indicate.
So, while Jesus was a Jew in terms of the Jews of his time and today, he was quite possibly not descended from Old Testament Jews.

Answer 2

I'm sure there have been some serious people who have come up with arguments to say that Jesus was not an ethnic Jew. However, I don't think that any of these arguments has ever been taken seriously by mainstream scholars. There have been, and still are, arguments claiming that Jesus was not of the tribe of Judah, originally refered to as Jews, but it becomes a silly mix of words. I don't think there is any doubt among reasonable scholars of any Jewish or Christian group that the genealogy given for Jesus in the New Testament leaves no doubt that he was a Jew. It would be easier to argue that he never lived at all.

I don't know what you mean that he "he doesn't seem to identify as Jewish in the ethnic sense--to go by quotes attributed to him." Almost everything he ever said is a quote from the Old Testament.

He definitely preached an open spirituality, inviting people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds to join him. but he himself was a Jew. He made no demands on others to behave as Jews, for example telling a servant he had healed that it was okay for him to bow when his master bowed, but that is typically Jewish.

Answer 3

By all credible accounts, "the Christ" was a Jew. After all, Judaism is a religion, not a race (and it is clear that the Christ followed that religion). However, many theories have been proposed that this was not the case, but it turns out that these were just Anti-Semitic propaganda.

The Brown Cult was one of the most vehement deniers that the Christ was not Jewish. The Cult was created by Nazi SS officers as an Aryan "religion," and its ideology was (very) loosely borrowed from Christianity. It was argued in the ideology of the Cult that the Christ was not Jewish, but rather Aryan. Their reasoning was straightforward---the Christian God was Aryan, so that makes the Christ Aryan. I wonder if anyone still believes in that drivel?

Answer 4

He certainly doesn't seem to identity as Jewish in the ethnic sense - to go by quotes attributed to Him
You seem to have read a different Bible than I did as he speaks of his beliefs with respect to Jewish belief repeatedly and offers alternatives. Also remember that the Bible we read has been filtered through centuries of Christian viewpoint and selection. Even the first versions of the Gospels were written well after his death when people were trying to convince others - Jews and Greeks - of his legitimacy.

- but obviously was brought up to Judaism
in Judaism

Palestinians = Philistines
Contemporary with Israelites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan

Answer 5

the Jews were making home in philistine land philistines were people from Cyprus with the Phoenicians and Assyrians they were occupied the land that is called Israel now who knows what the long island will be called 2000 years from now since they are 2 million Jews live there.now Christ is Greek word which he got later from Constantine 330 years later Jews back then were like Gypsy's do you know any Gypsy's what life they did till lately??

Answer 6

There are a lot of people, who historically, have said Jesus was not a Jew, he was the first Christian. Of course the problem with this historically is that it gets the order of things, the chronology all wrong. Jesus was gone (dead or ascended, you can choose) before the church came along.

It's all about anti-semetism. When people hate the Jews they don't want Jesus to be Jewish. But he was. And that's that.

Answer 7

If one follows what is taught in the Bible, Jesus was not a Jew. In the book of Ezra, it says that a persons Jewishness comes from his mother (not father). With this in mind, Jesus was a descendant from David whose Great-Grandmother was Ruth who was not a Jew. (check the last couple verses of the book of Ruth)

With that in mind, neither David nor Jesus were Jews

Answer 8

Much depends upon how you interpret Jew. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, which is in Palestine. His native language at birth was Aramaic and not Hebrew. How Jewish is that?

Answer 9

Probably. I have a Roman Catholic friend from South America who was appalled when I said that Jesus was circumcised. She said she was going to ask her priest.
However, male Jews and Muslims are circumcised.
Arabs and Israelis are both Semites. This is not a racial question.

Answer 10

they still do because they crucified him they have a problem with saying he was a Jew, those in power were jews (never mind the roman theory) if you read your bible the roman emporer washed his hands of it so it was the priests of the time that gave the order to crucify.that is the other problem with the Jews they do not read the new testament,