Why are people christian when Jesus was a Jew?

Answer 1

Jesus was a Jew and His disciples were Jewish. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. And He is the Messiah talked about in scriptures....which is what makes a Christian a Christian.

The second is much harder to answer: What makes a Jew a Jew?

If it is by blood, then how do you prove it?

After the destruction of the 2nd Temple, so many men had been killed and so many women had been raped that the lineage of "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" was changed to the wife. One has to question whether the change from tracing the man's lineage to tracing the woman's lineage wasn't more a matter of convenience than God's direction.

And if being Jewish is traced by bloodline, then you can have Jewish Christians, Jewish Buddhist, and Jewish other religions because beliefs don't always pass from the parent to the child like bloodlines do.

The second thing that must be examined is the Talmud. It is widely held among Jews to be additional Jewish scripture but the authorship needs to be considered. The Talmud was comprised at the time after the destruction of the 2nd temple. No prophet or prophet-like person was quoted.

The one thing that the Jews of the Jewish religion do agree on, however, is that Jesus was not the Messiah.

Answer 2

Jesus was a Jew. He lived by the Jewish law. However he came to fulfill that law and when he was resurrected The Law of Moses was fulfilled and Christs followers began to live the Law of the Gospel. Thus they are called Christians because they follow Christ. All of the Old Testament prophets were "Christian" also because they believed in and followed the pre-mortal Lord Jehovah.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church affirms the Jewish heritage of both Jesus and Christianity, "To the Jews belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.'

But Jesus came to start his own church, Matthew 16:17-19 states:

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Catholics follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and highly respect our Jewish religious heritage.

With love in Christ.