Because his mother was a member of the Israeli tribe of Judah, as was his earthly father, Joseph. Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
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Yes. Jewish tradition regards the children of a Jewish mother as Jewish, so Jesus was definitely Jewish.
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Yes. According to the New Testament, Jesus is a descendant of Abraham by his great-grandson Judah, which would make him a Jew.
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Matthew 1:1-16
1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram,
4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiahand his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
Yes, absolutely. According to the New Testament, Jesus was of Jewish heritage. His human ancestry was of the Kingdom of Israel through both his mother and his adoptive father, Joseph. The Gospels have genealogies for both of his parents.
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The Bible mentions that Jesus' family went to synagogue and participated in Jewish customs such as circumcision and Passover. Apparently he was quite knowledgeable about scripture. Jesus never mentioned starting another religion although he was a was very critical about how religion was practiced in his day.
Jesus studied the Scriptures with rabbis and was a rabbi himself. He quoted often from the Law and the Prophets (Jewish scriptures). Christianity as a separate religion did not start until well after his death.
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Yes, Jesus was a Hebrew. Most historians believe he was a rabbi of some sorts, while many Christians believe he was not.
Answer 1
Yes, he was. The Jews believed that God would send someone to them. Jesus Christ is that person (some people disagree with this.) For hundreds of years Christians were "good Jews" first and foremost. They were just considered a sect of Judaism. They eventually separated. Many people wanted to become Christian, but they wouldn't because they had to become Jewish first and that can take a while to do. So Christians dropped the title Jew. You could look this up to be sure.
Answer 2
Jesus of Nazareth was in fact a Jewish man (provided he existed). His entire ministry, as stated throughout the four gospels was to restore faith in his fellow Jews. After his death, second generation followers deified him as God/Son of God in a literal sense.
Answer 3
According to the Christian Bible he was born to a Jewish woman which would have made him a Jew.
A Christian view:
Yashua Messiah was from the Tribe of Judah, from Judah and Tamar who is claimed to be of Abraham's family, though the Torah doesn't name her ancestry. Other Jews come from Judah and Tamar (over 2/3 of Jews, see Numbers 26), plus Judah and the Adullamite's daughter Bathshuah through Shelah her third son. Adullamites were Canaanites. Yashua Messiah was therefore a Royal Judahite and Israelite, not a Canaanite.
To use the word 'Hebrew' racially in order to describe an ethnic group of people is a misnomer, because both Jews and Israelites use the Hebrew language as did the Edomites being of Esau, Jacob's brother. The British Gaelic and Old English tongues are Hebrew in origin.
"The English tongue agreeth with the Hebrew a thousand times more than with the Latin."
- William Tyndale
A Jewish view:
The above is disingenuous and misleading. If you quote the Jewish tradition that Tamar was of Abraham's family, then you must also quote the Jewish tradition that the word "Canaani" in reference to the Adullamite does not mean racially Canaanite. It means "merchant" (Targum and Rashi commentary, Genesis 38:2). Note also that Jesus was not the only descendant of Tamar; most of the Jewish people today are her descendants.
Jesus was born Jewish, and went forth to start a different religion.
See also the Related Link.
The two are the same thing.
"Hebrews" (Ivrim) actually means descendants of Eber (Ever). Ever was an ancestor of Abraham (Genesis ch.10-11) and the earliest Hebrews were Abraham's uncles and cousins for several generations back. They were among the Western Semites and lived in northern Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Balikh and the Euphrates.
Abraham (18th century BCE) was called a Hebrew (Genesis ch.14) because of his wider family, but after his time, "Hebrews" is often used to mean Abraham and his Israelite descendants, instead of his wider family. In this sense it refers to the Jewish people.
The word "Hebrews" continues to refer to Abraham's descendants until the lifetime of Jacob. After that, we use "Israelites," since Jacob was given that name by God (Genesis ch.35), and it is considered a national title; one of honor. "Israelites" refers to the people (Jacob's descendants) down to the Assyrian conquest (133 years before the destruction of the First Temple), some 2600 years ago.
See:
"Jews" refers to the same people, from the end of First Temple times until today, because after the Assyrian conquest the Israelites who remained in the land were (and are) mostly from the Israelite tribe of Judah, and the land was then called Judea. But all the above terms are occasionally interchanged.
In modern usage, we prefer to use the term "Hebrew" only to refer to the language.
Jesus was born Jewish and went on to found a different religion.See also the Related Link.
Yes. Jesus was Jewish his entire life. Christianity started off as sect within Judaism and did not become an independent religion until a few hundred years after the time of Jesus.
Simple answer is: both (ethnically, religiously).
Jesus was Jewish by birth.
Jesus was Jewish
Jesus was raised Jewish.
Jesus was Jewish.
Jesus was Jewish.
Jesus was not Jewish
Jesus was Jewish and the apostles were Christians because they followed him :)
He was Jewish. Jesus was Jewish, Mary was Jewish.
Virtually all Jews in Israel at the time of Jesus had Jewish funerals, including Jesus. At that time, a Jewish funeral would have NOT included a coffin.However, according to Christian belief, Jesus was never buried.
During the times of Jesus, the stories of the Jewish patriarchs were the basis for Jewish identity. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were the Jewish patriarchs.
Jesus was a Jew because he was born to a Jewish mother and observed Jewish rituals.
Jesus was Jewish and all first Christians were Jewish so was Matthew. This is the foundation of Christianity.
No. Jesus was Jewish.