What is Messianic Judaism?

Messianic Judaism is a bit of an unknown to many people. Are they Jews or Christians? What is their worship like? How do they fit into religious discussion? Let's answer those questions.

[Marbof]

An excellent neutral take Messianic Judaism. Finding themselves disliked on both sides, its difficult to find an unbiased source of information.

[graemesilb]

I'm Jewish and feel like this is a very fair representation of Messianic Judaism. I'm not Messianic myself, but I do generally consider people who are born Jewish who become Messianic Jews to still be Jews, though I realize I am an in the minority. I probably wouldn't consider Gentiles who convert to Messianic Judaism to be Jews, and I am on the fence about Gentiles who convert to non-Messianic Judaism then become Messianic Jews later. A lot of the nuance here for me has to do with the fact that Judaism is not just a religion but also an ethnicity, so conversion can be a bit wonky.

Also, I really enjoy this channel in general despite not being a Christian, keep up the good work.

[Doigt]

As always, I am so impressed by the thoroughness with which these topics are covered and the matter-of-fact, non-judgmental delivery of our RTH host.

[paradigmmedia]

Yes, strange that more Jews find atheism less disqualifying in the survey than Jews who believe upon Yeshua/Jesus. Overall an informative video. Thanks.

[Vissaius]

My dad was into Messianic Judaism and I was into it when I was younger but gradually fell away from it and religion altogether. My mom is a Protestant Christian so my dad and my mom had a lot of theological disagreements. I went to various Messianic Congregations as a kid and even a Messianic Jewish cult. I also went to a Messianic Southern Baptist church for a while. Like ready to Harvest Said the movement is still forming it's own identity. Numbers are hard to keep track of and everything but it's somewhere around 200, 000 to 400, 000 but again it's hard to know.

From my experience with going to different Messianic Jewish groups I can tell you there are general trends but they do vary quite a bit for such a small movement. Some of them are very adamant about following Jewish Laws. For example the hardcore Messianic Jews believe that men must have beards and that people should never eat unclean food and must keep the Sabbath. The more hardcore Messianics usually emphasize practicing the Jewish Holy Days as apposed to Christian Holidays which are seen as Pagan. They argue that Christmas and Easter are based on Pagan traditions and to avoid them and instead practice Jewish Holy Days such as Hanukkah and Passover.


Messianic Jews are heavily influenced by Evangelicals Christianity (Critics say they are simply Evangelicals "larping" as Jews." Like Evangelicals most Messianic Jews tend to be politically and culturally very very very. They are almost universally against abortion, gay marriage, support gun rights, and other conservative positions. From what I have seen though there are more moderate members of the movement. The Messianic Southern Baptist church I went to celebrated BOTH Christmas and Hanukkah. Some Messianic Jews appropriate more Jewish customs than others. Most Messianic Jews I've known generally don't go for rabbinic Judaism. They tend to follow strictly what the Bible says as much as possible. They take sola scriptura more extreme than a lot of Protestants do even. Messianic Jews universally support the State of Israel. They are more hardcore in their support of Israel than mainstream Jews are actually. Many of them even support Greater Israel where they believe Israel shall eventually take more land and build an even greater nation.

Messianic Jews tend to get a lot of hate from both Jews and Christians and others. Jews say they are Christian and Christians say they are Jews. I'd definitely say they are more in line with Evangelicals Protestant Christianity than mainstream Judaism but they are too different to be considered Christian either. They are sort of in a weird area like Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and Jehovah's' Witnesses where they do share commonalities with mainstream Christianity but Mainstream Christians seem to have mixed views of them. Messianic Jews views on Christians can vary. From what I saw they get along with Evangelicals Christians best. They generally think Evangelicals Christians are pretty good and some Messianic Jews like my dad even went to an Evangelicals Church. I'd say the closest Christian Denomination to them would probably be either Southern Baptist or Pentecostal. They tend to be more more ambivalent towards the more liberal protestants such as Methodists and Lutherans. Most Messianic are NOT fond of the Catholic Church and many consider the Catholic Church to be at best a heavily distorted Church and at worst a bunch of covert Satanists. Hardcore Messianic would almost prefer someone to be an outright Pagan than Catholic because in their eyes at least an outright Pagan is honest about it.

This is mostly what I witnessed in the Messianic Congregations I went to as a kid. In my honest opinion they are generally pretty extreme in their views. Even a lot of hardcore Evangelicals Christians think Messianic Jews take it too far and I am inclined to agree. I was in a Messianic Cult for several years with my dad and it was really extreme. I was part of this group called "Cradle of Hope Ministries ran by a self proclaimed Prophet named Tom Deckerd. His cult combined stuff from Messianic Judaism as well as JWs, Holiness Pentecostalism, and other fundamentalist denominations. He always spoke of economic collapse and upcoming nuclear was and such. I left the cult at 13 and my dad left a few years later. After that my dad still believed in Messianic teachings but he toned down on things more over the years and later on went to a mainstream Evangelicals Church with my mom and even got Baptized there.
Even after saying all this it's still hard to explain the movement. It's a very interesting movement that takes different beliefs from different Christian groups as well as stuff from Judaism. Degrees of orthodoxy vary widely amongst members. There are general trends in the movement but things vary from congregation to congregation and even on an individual basis. Some see Jewish laws as absolute rules that must be followed and some more as general guidelines. Many of it's members are conservative if not ultra conservative but there are some more moderate members that have views closer to mainstream Christianity. Honestly I've never met a single liberal or left leaning Messianic Jew. I'm curious to see how things develop in the movement as time goes on. I'm no longer part of the movement but I learned a lot about Christianity and Judaism from being in it. What I have to say is not vindictive of all in the movement and like I said the views vary widely in the movement. If you're interested in anything else about Messianic Judaism feel free to ask.

[justonetime]

So Jews are more likely to accept atheistic Jews as Jewish, even though they believe in no God…. but would reject messianic Jews as Jewish because they believe Jesus is the messiah. Weird!

[sheo]

There's a lack of information about Messianic Judaism on Youtube, so I'm glad you've made this video. I was given a pamphlet by a "Jews for Jesus" representative at my university when I was visiting over the summer. As someone who comes from a Protestant Christian background I became very interested in their movement, .

[siwardwoudstra]

"Contextualizing our faith in cultural forms is good; making this contextualization the standard for all cultures represents a fatal misunderstanding of the Gospel"

This message needs to be heard in the many others contexts it is relevant in.

[Salisbury]

I deeply appreciate how hard this channel works to provide an unbiased perspective of different denominations and beliefs within Christianity. Allowing them to speak in their own voice sets this channel apart from others that seem to be more intent on proving why other (often minority) viewpoints are wrong. Thank you for an informative video! I learned a lot.

[bootmender]

I am like a stray dog that shows up on your porch. I was told My grandfather’s grandfather was a Lithuanian Jew that came to America in the mid 1800’s ? Then my Mother was a runaway mennonite teenager and put in Foster care with my fathers aunt? My father just back from WW2 met my mother and we’re married in the late 40’s. They brought me up in a missionary Baptist Church, but as a teenager I found fault in there doctrine. Then when I got married to a Southern Baptist I became one. I made a profession of faith at 12 and was later call into the Ministry then ordained in 1970 but went to Dallas theological seminary then on to LSU for a PHD in psychology. I now attend a small mennonite/Baptist church where our mission is to help in disaster relief and to share the Saving grace of Jesus Christ.

[ronashman]

Oh how much work you put into these videos young man. Greatly appreciated thank you.

[babygraceblue]

Absolutely love this channel! It would be neat to see a video on Anabaptist denominations

[enchantingdan]

Ah yes. 1 in the morning is a perfectly reasonable time to post a YouTube video. (Just messing around lol. Love your stuff!)

[lordwinterdawn]

I started to learn of Messianic Judaism back in 2012. I did feel like something was missing from my understanding of not only Adonai, but Yeshua as well. It brought me closer to Adonai and it helped me understand a even clearer perspective of what the entire bible was saying. I just wanted to follow the path that will set my foundation. To most people, it is a taboo on what I'm in observance of. Yet, I never felt more confident or closer than I am now to Adonai.

[twenty-fifth]

As an agnostic, these are my favorite new obsession. I just love researching and learning the theological metaphysics and/or community and spiritual traditions, beliefs and practices.

Please do not stop ever making these ‘neutral’ videos, you are doing god’s work as far as I can tell.

[liacrow]

Great video! I'm a Messianic Jew but I certainly learned a lot in regards to the difference between the MJAA, UMJC, and IAMCS. I'll have to share this video with some of my relatives, some are Catholic and some are Jewish and all seem rather confused about what I believe in.

[robforney]

I really appreciate your approach with all of your videos. Using source material from whatever community you're talking about without unnecessary commentary. Great job, and thanks for what you do!

[Dorn-Dvinn]

This was a very interesting, broad and deep examination of Messianic Judaism.

[ooffordays]

This is a really interesting group to learn about! I had never heard of them before watching this video, but I knew that the majority of Christians during the time of Paul the Apostle were of Jewish descent, so hearing that there is a sect of Christian-adjacent Jews today is really interesting, and hearing their unique perspective on the body of Christ is truly fascinating and insightful.

[eldoradolou]

This is a most interesting and informative video about Messianic Judaism. Could you please make a video about the Hebrew Catholics as well?