Weren't the Gospels Jewish?

Question

It seems to me many think they are Christians and according to history or at least the show I am watching says that the Gospels were actually Jewish.

Just wondering.

Well firstly IM NOT CHRISTIAN IM PAGAN. I am educating myself about both Judaism and Christianity and I have a few questions. At least i am not bashing or being negative about a faith I do not follow, I am open minded and willing to be educated. So none of it is obvious to me or I would not ask!

Also I NEVER THUMB down unless your rude so no one has gotten a single vote up or down from me yet!!

Too hard to pick the best answer, I am going to let this go to vote. Too many good answers here to pick just one, thank you every one i appreciate your understanding with a Pagan..=]] ty to the one who left me the link to educate myself more without attempts of conversion for i am not interested in that, but I am interested in the history though!! TY.

Answer 1

All the books of the Bible, Old and New Testaments are Jewish. Luke, while he was probably not Jewish, devoted his entire book to Peter (whose real name was Kefa) and Paul (whose real name was Sh'aul).

The books have been "Christianized" for centuries. Example, the book of James. There was not a Jew named James in the year 30. In Hebrew, the name is Ya'akov, which translates Jacob, not James.

If you're interested in learning about the history of the early church, which was entirely Jewish, I can recommend free audio files that are NOT intended to convert anyone. They're from a Messianic Jewish congregation in Israel, Netivya. Start with Elahanan Ben-Avraham's "The People Known as the Early Christians," and anything by Joseph Shulam.

Answer 2

The Gospels were written in Greek which was the most universal language of the day much as English is today. The persons promoting the gospels were Hebrew.
I'm no Bible scholar but that is what I have read in my investigations.
As an aside I am a practicing Christian and in my humble opinion it seems that Christians should not be bashing other peoples faith. Faith is a good place to start a discussion because all religion is based on faith.
God bless.

Answer 3

The Gospels were NOT Jewish. They were written in Greek, not Hebrew; and primarily for Greek and Roman, not Jewish, audiences. Hence the blame placed on the Jews for Jesus' crucifixion, which was patently a Roman punishment for crimes against Roman law. Had the Jewish Sanhedrin wanted to kill Jesus, they could've done so by stoning without bothering the Romans at all.

But above and beyond all this, the salvationist theology of Christianity does such critical damage to the old Jewish structure that there's no way you can consider the Gospels to be "Jewish" documents. In fact, the Christian legend has much more in common with the pagan traditions from which it borrowed so heavily.

Answer 4

the old testament is about God's dealings with mankind and written in the Jewish language. because God chose them to present God to the world.
in the new testament, the gospels of the life of Jesus were of a Jewish religion presented to the Jews. to fulfill the old covenant, start the new covenant, and get the Jews back on track because at that time, they had wondered away from God and their call to present God to the world.

the gospels were written by Jews, and later as the gospel began to spread to include the gentiles, was translated to the prevalent gentile language of that day - Greek.

at that time, a portion of Jews had accepted Jesus as their Messiah, but many had not. so God has used the gentiles to present God to the world. but the Jews still have that call upon them and will in future once again fulfill their calling.
.

Answer 5

The writers of the Gospels were of Jewish decent mostly, but they were jews in the form of religion, which then converted to christians because they followed Jesus.
More they were Judeans(not gentiles), and were of Jewish faith because they believed in the God of Abraham, and then when Jesus came and said that now the word would be spread to all his people and all his people would be equal, it didn't matter what they were, and they were Christians in faith because they believed Christ. (I don't think they had the title christians yet)

The Pauline apsitles, were largely to the gentiles though, as Paul was the Apolstle to the Gentiles and the other Apolstles were more to the Judeans.

Good question.

Jessica - feel free to email me

Answer 6

Sorry I'm late!

The gospels are not "Jewish" when you consider that Luke was a Gentile physician who interviewed and collated information from eye witnesses to the events surrounding the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He also accompanied Paul on many of his journeys, keeping a record of the events.

The message of the "gospel" is initially directed to the Jews, but extends out to all who believe; Jew and Gentile. To the Jew, it was a call to turn back to, or return to God with their whole heart and accept salvation and justification with God thorough faith in Jesus. This declaration was quite a departure from what they had all been raised to believe in relation to the law.

.

Answer 7

Most of the Characters portrayed in the gospels were indeed Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. Christianity didn't come into being until AFTER the birth and death of Jesus.
So indeed, the gospels were written by Jews, for the most part. jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but Jews nonetheless.

Answer 8

Any practicing Jew who reads the Gospels as well as the rest of the New Testament can tell that they were not written by Jews. Mainly because the total lack of understanding of Judaism in them.

Answer 9

The Christian Bible is written in Greek and presents a Greek world view, not a Jewish one.

The Synoptic Gospels contain more Jewish elements, but by the time John was written (around 100 CE) it was Greek/Gentile all the way.

Answer 10

All were Jews except Luke. Just because they were written in the common language of the day does not change their authorship. Now one must also understand the target audience as well.

Matthew was written to a Jewish audience.
Mark was written to a Roman audience
Luke was written to a Greek audience
John was written to the existing church