I have heard of many Jews who came to faith in Christ calling themselves “completed Jews.” But this term, though it sounds good, is just not Biblical. The answer then, simple as it may seem, is that a converted Jew is called a “Christian,” a follower of Christ. I will often refer to them as simply “Jewish Christians.”
There is a movement among converted Jews called Messianic Judaism. This movement is made up of Jews who believe that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah. The Messianic Jew is a converted Jew who embraces the Christian doctrines of the New Testament and yet continues to practice their Jewish traditions. They prefer to worship in Jewish synagogues rather than with a Christian congregation. I have a friend who attends the Baruch Ha Shem Messianic Synagogue in Dallas. I’ve been there a couple of times to worship. They quote a lot from scripture – both from the Old and New Testaments. They sing a lot of Jewish songs and perform Jewish dances. In Israel today there are only about 25,000 Messianic Jews (out of 9.3 million people) or 0.3% of the population – a very small percentage. Most of the world’s Messianic Jews reside in the United States.
Messianic Jews refer to themselves as “completed Jews” claiming not to be converted since conversion implies changing one's religion. But the Bible claims that Jews who come to Christ ARE converted. In Peter's sermon (Acts 3:12-26) addressing predominately a Jewish audience, he began his sermon, “Men of Israel..." Peter, who was a Jewish convert, urged his people to “repent...and be converted, that your sins be blotted out." Peter does not admonish them to change their religion but rather to change their minds about Christ, repent of their sins, and turn to the Lord.
Messianic Jews strongly cling to their Jewish roots, not that there is anything necessarily wrong with that. But the problem is that they believe that God wants the Jewish people to remain a distinct and obedient nation until the end of time. That is why Messianic Jews retain their Jewish symbolism, heritage, culture, seasonal days of celebration and many details of religious observance. However, contrary to the Bible, Messianic Jews do NOT have a mandate from God to distinguish themselves from other Christians as Jewish Believers. They may claim that they do, but they do not. To say that the rituals and traditions of Judaism are necessary in the church for Jewish people who believe Jesus is the Messiah is Biblically unfounded. The early church struggled with this very issue. As you may be aware the first converts to Christianity came out of a Jewish background. Judaism was deeply engrained in them. The question arose, “Should the Gentiles who come to Christ be circumcised and keep the Jewish customs and laws?” The Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) debated this issue at length. In the end their decision was that those things were not necessary for salvation. One does NOT have to be “Jewish” in order to be a Christian.
Judaism is clearly of the Old Covenant. The church that Jesus purchased with His blood and to whom He sent His Holy Spirit after Pentecost is the New Covenant. Christianity is NOT Judaism nor is it an offshoot of Judaism. They are completely different from each other. While it is true that the Law and all of the Jewish practices in the Old Testament were given by God to His covenant people, it is also true that the Good News of the Gospel (salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ) was given by God. Something changed and that something was Jesus!
It’s not as though Judaism comes in Part I and Part II, with Part II being Christianity, making one a “completed Jew." Rather, it is about choosing the better covenant of the two. This is the central message in the Book of Hebrews – that the New Covenant in Jesus Christ is better than the Old Covenant. There is a sharp difference between Judaism and Christianity and they do not overlap. Christianity far transcends Judaism. The New Covenant is superior to the Old Covenant. A Jewish person making the transition from Judaism to Christianity becomes a new creature in Christ, but that does not make that person a “completed Jew,” but rather, a Christian, a follower of Jesus (Yeshua).
Under the New Covenant there is no distinction made between Jews and non-Jews. Both must enter through the same door. Jesus said, “I am the door: by Me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9). In the true church of Jesus Christ, there is no division of Jew and non-Jew – no separation of Messianic Jew and Christians because all are Christians. All people coming through Jesus are ONE before God. This means that those former Gentiles and Jews who have taken in their hearts the Son of The God of Israel, the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, the Anointed One, the King of Israel – ALL are called “Christians.”
