Anointed One – was Jesus anointed king over Israel?

In his book, Twenty-six reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus, Asher Norman claims that “Jesus failed to fulfil any of six authentic Jewish messianic criteria”. Jesus’ first supposed failure, namely that he could not be from the tribe of Judah without a biological father, is dealt with in an earlier article. We now consider whether Jesus […]

The House built on Sand – Rabbinic Judaism and the Oral Law

Judaism ascribes the many obvious and fundamental differences between its own practices and the religion of the Bible to an oral law and tradition: “The Jewish People are frequently called ‘the People of the Book’; yet if one were to search out a people who follow the teachings of the Written Law (Torah sheBichtav) literally, […]

Did Jesus sin by cursing a fig tree?

This is a further response to claims that Jesus was not “a perfect being” and “not without sin”. In an earlier study we dealt with an objection to Jesus calling a disciple to follow him at the expense of attending his father’s burial (see “A Christian response to Asher Norman’s claim that Jesus sinned”.) Another example […]

The genealogy of Messiah – could Jesus be from the tribe of Judah and a descendent of David if he had no biological father?

In his book, Twenty-six reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus, Asher Norman states a common objection of the rabbis: “The Messiah ben David must be Jewish, from the Tribe of Judah … Under Jewish law, tribal affiliation is through the birth father only. Since Jesus allegedly had no human father, he had no tribal affiliation. Therefore, […]

A Christian response to Asher Norman’s claim that Jesus sinned

The cover of Asher Norman’s book, “Twenty-Six Reasons why Jews don’t believe in Jesus,” contains a number of enthusiastic endorsements of this work: “An intense and powerful work. Had I only read the first pages, I would not have become involved in messianic Judaism for ten years.” – Paul (Pesach) H. Goodley, M.D. (Former leader […]

How firm a foundation?

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein has published a book entitled, “How Firm a Foundation – A Gift of Jewish Wisdom for Christians and Jews” in which he seeks to explore “potential areas of agreement” between the two communities in an attempt to reconcile Jews and Christians. The book is written as an appeal for Christians to better […]

The Great Divide between Church and Synagogue

Имеется русский перевод статьи In his introductory remarks to his scholarly work “The Jewish people and Jesus Christ” Jacob Jocz writes: “Both Judaism and Christianity are the result of a major controversy which took place during the first century and the first half of the second century. This controversy was of a theological nature and […]

“Stop confronting us with Jesus!”

In discussions with Jewish leaders and Rabbis it is often  suggested that Christians should stop “targeting” Jews with the gospel because they have the Law of Moses and have no need to repent, and should rather turn their attention to the pagans, prostitutes and drug addicts. The Lord’s verdict however is somewhat different: Go now, write […]

Why did so many Jews miss the Messiah?

The promise of the Messiah-King is the principal theme of Biblical prophecy from Genesis to Malachi. The apostle Peter says that the prophets searched intently trying to find out the time and circumstances that the Spirit of Messiah was pointing to and that even angels longed to look into these things (1 Peter 1:10). The […]

The Sign of Jonah

Dies auch in Deutsch erhaeltlich As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation … The […]