On The Concept Of Messianic Judaism And Christianity

Judaism is the earliest monotheistic religion in the world. It had much influence on the development of Christianity, such as the theory of redemption, morality and religious laws and so on. However, with the different development of the two religions, there are many differences on religious theory and traditions between them. Above all, the difference on the concept of Messiah is the biggest one.We can divide the history of Judaism into three patterns, which are Biblical Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism and Modern Judaism, according to the different characteristics of the three patterns. Also, there are obvious changes in the concept of Messiah during those three patterns.In Biblical Judaism, the concept of Messiah referred to a mode used in the inauguration of a King or a Priest, which symbolized that the status was chosen by God and would be Holy forever, by anointing a King or a Priest. After the Judah Kingdom was defeated, the concept of Messiah turned out to have some special meaning. During the time of the Diaspora, Jews thought that God would send a Messiah to redeem them out of the government of the Gentiles, because of God's special love to their nation and their serious sufferings. The Messiah who is sent by God will lead them back to their homeland and to rebuild up a strong kingdom. In modern time, Judaism was divided into Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism and Reconstructive Judaism. They have different attitudes to the concept of Messiah. In general, Orthodox Judaism pays much attention to the concept of Messiah while Reform Judaism looks it down.Christianity inherited Jewish concept of Messiah, which claimed that the Messiah who is sent by God must come in future, but in Christianity, the concept had been changed a lot. In Christianity, it is said that all people were born to be sinful because of the degenerative actions of Adam and Eve, and from then on, all people did not have the right relation with God. In order to redeem human beings out of the sin, God sent his son who is named Jesus to the world by the way of Incarnation. The Incarnation demonstrates the love and grace of God. Jesus was sent to redeem all human beings out of the sin and repair the right relation between God and people. According to the Christian theology, Jesus is the Messiah who was waited by the people in the world. He is both God and a human being, and also he is Trinity. Anybody who believes in Jesus' redemption can be redeemed out of the sin. The tenet that Jesus is the Messiah is very clear and authoritative in Christianity. It was affirmed by Jesus himself, Paul, Peter and many other disciples. It was also assured by some tenets of the ecclesiastic, such as The Nicene Creed and so on. Many Christian theologians had built their theologies on that point, and the most famous of them is Martin Luther, who had great contribution to the development of the Protestantism. In a word, "Jesus is the Messiah" is the fundament of Christianity.Although Christianity had absorbed the concept of Messiah in Judaism, there were a lot of differences between the two religions on the subject of God, Messiah, Chosen People and the goal of Messiah and so on. The Messiah in Judaism is a King who is one of the descendants of King David. He is a political man, a brave and wise leader who will redeem Israelites by violent revolutions. His final goal is to release all the Israelites who are in the charge of the Gentiles and to rebuild up a righteous and peaceful country in the world.The Messiah in Christianity is Jesus Christ; he is the Incarnation of God, both divine and human. He was coming to accomplish the redemption of God through his death on the Cross. His redemption is open to all human beings in the world, to all the people who are willing to accept God's grace and to have a faith in the fact that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God. According to the Bible, this Messiah—Jesus Christ talked on the messages about the Heaven, and he concentrated on the redemption which could make people out of the sin. The most important point in Christianity is to have a faith in Jesus who is the Messiah waited by people.From the above words, we can conclude that there are both relations and differences on the concept of Messiah between in Judaism and in Christianity. It is very meaningful to study the differences on the concept of Messiah in the two religions, because the concept was the most fundamental element in Christianity. That is the very purpose of this thesis. In this article, I will try my best to keep an indifferent standpoint to do my study. I will use a comparative method to study the concept of Messiah in the two religions. The first part of the thesis is to introduce the concept of Messiah in Judaism, and then the second part is to introduce the concept in Christianity, and the final part is to demonstrate the differences on the concept between Judaism and Christianity based on the two former parts.