What religion was Jesus? This simple question tells a powerful story about our faith.
Christianity is unique among other world religions because we worship God incarnate, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human. God became man and lived during a specific time in history in a specific location. Therefore, we can know things and ask questions about the man who was God—such as what religion was Jesus?
According to Scripture, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea to Mary (a virgin until after Jesus’ birth) and her husband, Joseph, who had traveled to that city to be registered in preparation for a census. Luke sets the timing of Jesus’ birth during Caesar Augustus’s reign and Quirinius’s rule as governor over Syria. Despite having the traditional celebration of Christ’s birth on December 25, we don’t know the precise day. However, we can establish the timing of Jesus’ arrival as somewhere around 2 or 3 BC. More than one calendar system was employed at the time, so while some would place his birth in 1 AD, it was likely a bit earlier.
Most importantly, Jesus was born at a certain point in history, lived His entire life in a specific geographical area, died, and rose at a specific time and place. So, what religion was Jesus when He walked the earth?
What Was the Religion that Jesus’ People Followed?
Both Matthew and Luke trace Jesus’ genealogy squarely within the family of the Israelites who practiced the Jewish religion. Joseph and Mary, His parents, were Israelites who raised Jesus according to Jewish tradition. Jesus was Jewish ethnically through His human mother and lived according to the laws of Judaism.
Dawn Wilson wrote, “While Joseph’s genealogy in Matthew 1:1-16 shows Jesus’ connection to the royal Davidic throne, Mary’s genealogy is spelled out in Luke 3:23-38. Her name does not appear there, but women’s names were not normally included in genealogies. Mary was the daughter of Heli, a direct descendant of Judah, and Joseph was listed as the ‘son’ of Heli by his espousal to Mary. (Joseph’s biological father was Jacob.) Mary was from the tribe of Judah, the line of the Messiah. Names mentioned in Mary’s lineage include David, Boaz, Judah, Jacob, and Isaac—and all the way back to Adam.”
The story of Jesus’s birth opens the New Testament. The history of Judaism is recorded in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, which shares its first five books, or the Pentateuch, with those who follow Judaism, a religion of covenants.
Genesis 12:1-3 records what is known as the Abrahamic Covenant when God called Abraham (then called Abram) and promised to make of him a great nation through whom God would bless the earth.
“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (ESV)
Abraham descended from Noah, with whom God made the Noahic covenant, promising never again to flood the earth (Genesis 9:8-17). But, it was with Abraham that God began to set apart for Himself a nation who would worship Him.
Genesis describes the growth of Abraham’s line through the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who would be called Israel. From Israel came the twelve tribes of Israel with the promised Messiah to descend from the line of Judah. Following the deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt, God made a covenant with Moses (the Mosaic Covenant) and gave Moses the laws, feasts, offerings, and traditions by which His people were to live. God then promised King David (the Davidic Covenant) that there would always be a son of David to sit on the throne, eternally, and it would be God’s Son. Jesus was born as a Jewish man from the line of Judah, living in Israel and following His people’s laws, feasts, offerings, and traditions.
What Major Events Changed the Jewish Religion Before Jesus’ Time?
Following King David’s rule, his son Solomon reigned. Solomon built a great temple to worship God and was the wisest king ever. However, Solomon ignored his wisdom late in his reign to indulge his desires. Through Solomon’s many wives, idolatry gained a foothold in Israel.
“So the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son.’” (1 Kings 11:11-12 NIV)
Shortly after that, under Solomon’s sons, the kingdom of Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern kingdoms. Idolatry continued despite decades of prophets warning Israel to repent. Finally, God brought judgment on His people and gave enemy tribes victory over them. The temple was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians when they conquered Israel. Conquering nations dispersed the Jews to various places outside of Israel, and they weren’t allowed to return until the Persian Empire under Cyrus.
In Nehemiah and Ezra, we see the return of the Jews to Israel and the city’s rebuilding. The Second Temple was built, also known as Herod’s Temple. Israel suffered in various ways under subsequent empires that tried to obliterate their culture. During the Greek Empire, under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the temple was profaned. Antiochus then forced the Jews to assimilate to Hellenistic ways, resulting in the Maccabean revolt (whereby the tradition of Hannukah began). Between the Old and New Testaments, there were 400 years of silence from God.
By the time Jesus was born, the Jews, always a tiny nation, were living under Roman rule. The Romans allowed them to practice their religion but only as much as they remained peaceful and caused no trouble to those who ruled over them.
Who Were the Major Jewish Religious Groups in Jesus’ Time?
At the time of Jesus, the Sanhedrin ruled the temple.
The Sanhedrin was a council comprised of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were the supreme legal and religious leaders over the Jews until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. The Sadducees believed the Pentateuch was the only ruling authority, denying supernatural activity such as angels and resurrection and traditions created by the Pharisees. The two groups often battled for power. Both John the Baptist and Jesus condemned the attitudes and behaviors of the Sadducees.
Conversely, The Pharisees believed in angels, demons, resurrection, and more supernatural aspects of faith. They also created traditions or “hedges” around the Law to protect the people from engaging in sin. For instance, they defined what it meant to “work” on the Sabbath with strict designations. While some Pharisees were interested in Jesus or eventually believed in Jesus (i.e., Nicodemus, Saul/Paul), John the Baptist and Jesus called out all Pharisees to repent of their hypocrisy and legalism.
Two other ruling groups during this time included:
1. The Zealots were, according to Ben Reichert, a “libertarian group that wanted to serve no one but God alone. And one of them played an important part in Jesus’ ministry.” The Zealots believed in taking action, sometimes to extreme measures, to overthrow the government and restore Israel’s independence. Their vision of the Messiah was of a political and military leader who might direct the creation of an earthly kingdom. Simon the Zealot (Mark 3:18) was one of the twelve apostles.
2. The Essenes (never mentioned in the Bible) were a separatist group who considered the Jewish priesthood corrupt and kept to themselves. The Essenes came to light in modern times at the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. One theory of the scrolls’ survival is attributed to the dedication and preservation work of the Essenes.
In every age, religions are often practiced by individuals with differing views of what that religion looks like lived out. The times in which Jesus lived were no different.
Did Jesus Say He Was Changing or Fulfilling the Jewish Religion?
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
He told His followers that unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they would not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). By these words, He indicated what was to come: He would die in our place, rise again, and we would inherit His righteousness as ours.
Jesus didn’t remove the Jewish religion. He issued in a new time by His coming. The Jewish people lived by the Word of God, but in Jesus, as John explains, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
Through His parables and His activities and then through His apostles, Jesus taught that His coming ushered in an age whereby the Jews could bless all the people of the earth by entering into the salvation the Messiah provides.
Did Jesus’ Followers See Themselves as Starting a New Religion?
The early followers of Christ did not see themselves as starting a new religion but as following the Jewish Messiah. In John 14:16, Jesus tells His disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In Acts 9:2, those who follow Jesus are called “belonging to the Way.”
Most of Paul’s missionary attempts began in the synagogues of every city until he and his companions were usually thrown out. The Holy Spirit then made it clear that Jesus came to be the Messiah for the Jews and the Gentiles, and the gospel spread throughout the known world. Some accused the first followers of atheism because they followed “a man” and not an idol. In Antioch (Acts 11:26), followers of Jesus were first referred to as Christians or “little Christs,” which is likely a better descriptor because disciples of Jesus weren’t seeking to form a new religion but to be like Jesus.
Modern-day Christians often point out that they aren’t “religious” but are, instead, in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Modern Jewish followers of Jesus often refer to themselves as “Messianic” or “completed” Jews to make the point to others that they don’t have to abandon their Jewish heritage to accept that Jesus is the Messiah.
It’s important to remember that Jesus was Jewish because we live a historical faith built on human history, communicated by the living God through the Jewish people. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies entrusted to the Jewish nation; even that nation’s survival points to God’s power.
Jesus came, however, to redeem not only the Israelites but all who will believe in Him as it says in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (ESV)
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