What is Judaism?
Question 60011
Judaism is one of the oldest religious traditions in the world and the religion from which Christianity historically emerged. Understanding what Judaism actually believes and practises is important for Christians, not because all religions are equally valid, but because the Old Testament is a Jewish book, Jesus was Jewish, and the relationship between the God of Israel and His ancient people runs through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. A thoughtful Christian engagement with Judaism requires both respect for its history and honesty about where it stands in relation to the gospel.
The Historical Roots
Judaism traces its origins to Abraham, whom God called out of Ur of the Chaldees and with whom He established a covenant (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-21; 17:1-14). The Abrahamic covenant is unconditional, guaranteed by God’s own faithfulness, and includes promises of land, descendants, and blessing to all nations. The Mosaic covenant, given at Sinai (Exodus 19-24), established the Torah as the governing framework for Israel’s national and religious life. The Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7:12-16) promised an everlasting kingdom through David’s line. These covenants form the backbone of both Judaism and the Christian understanding of God’s redemptive programme.
Biblical Judaism, as practised in the Old Testament period, centred on the temple, the sacrificial system, the priesthood, and the Torah. The destruction of the Second Temple by Rome in AD 70 was a catastrophic event that fundamentally reshaped Judaism. Without a temple, there could be no sacrifices, no functioning priesthood, and no Day of Atonement as prescribed in Leviticus 16. Rabbinic Judaism emerged from this crisis, centred no longer on temple worship but on Torah study, synagogue prayer, and the oral traditions that were eventually codified in the Mishnah (c. AD 200) and the Talmud (completed c. AD 500).
What Judaism Believes
Modern Judaism is not a single, monolithic system. It encompasses a wide spectrum from Ultra-Orthodox to Reform, with significant theological differences between them. However, certain core commitments run through most expressions of Judaism. God is one (the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 is the foundational confession). God is the Creator of all things. The Torah is divine revelation. Israel is God’s chosen people with a unique calling and responsibility. The Mosaic law, in varying degrees of observance depending on the branch of Judaism, remains central to Jewish life and identity.
Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles of Faith (twelfth century) represent the closest Judaism comes to a formal creed. These include the existence and unity of God, God’s incorporeality, God’s eternity, the obligation to worship God alone, the truth of prophecy, the supremacy of Moses’ prophecy, the divine origin of the Torah, the immutability of the Torah, God’s omniscience, divine reward and punishment, the coming of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead. Not all branches of modern Judaism would affirm all thirteen, but they remain an influential statement of Jewish belief.
The Critical Difference: Jesus
The defining point of departure between Judaism and Christianity is the person of Jesus. Judaism does not accept Jesus as the Messiah. The traditional Jewish objection is that Jesus did not fulfil the messianic prophecies as Judaism understands them: He did not restore the Davidic kingdom, did not bring universal peace, did not gather all Jews to the land of Israel, and did not rebuild the temple. From the Jewish perspective, the messianic prophecies remain unfulfilled, and therefore Jesus cannot be the Messiah.
The Christian response, rooted in the whole of Scripture, is that the prophets foretold two distinct comings of the Messiah: a suffering servant who would bear the sins of the people (Isaiah 53; Psalm 22; Daniel 9:26) and a reigning king who would establish an everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 14:4-9; Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the suffering servant at His first coming. The prophecies of the reigning king await His second coming. The dispensational framework makes particular sense of this distinction: Israel’s rejection of the Messiah at His first coming led to the present Church age, during which God is calling out a people from among the nations, after which He will resume His programme with Israel, culminating in Christ’s return and the establishment of the millennial kingdom.
Judaism and Salvation
The question of how Judaism understands salvation is complex. Traditional Judaism does not share the Christian framework of original sin, substitutionary atonement, and justification by faith. Most branches of Judaism emphasise righteous living, teshuvah (repentance), good deeds (mitzvot), and adherence to the Torah as the path of right relationship with God. The rabbinic tradition generally holds that repentance and prayer have replaced sacrifice as the means of atonement since the destruction of the temple.
The Christian assessment must be both honest and compassionate. The New Testament is unambiguous: “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus Himself declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The sincerity of Jewish devotion to God is not in question. What is in question is whether any system of human righteousness, however sincere, can satisfy the demands of a holy God. The entire argument of Romans 1-4 answers this question with a definitive no. Justification is by faith alone, and this has always been the case, even for Abraham (Romans 4:1-5; Genesis 15:6).
So, now what?
Christians should approach Judaism with deep respect, genuine knowledge, and unflinching honesty. Respect, because the Jewish people gave us the Scriptures, the prophets, and the Messiah Himself. Knowledge, because understanding Judaism illuminates the Old Testament and the world in which Jesus and the apostles lived. Honesty, because love that withholds the gospel is not love at all. The Jewish people need Jesus, as Paul made clear with great anguish in Romans 9:1-5 and 10:1. God’s heart for Israel has not changed. His covenant promises stand. And the gospel remains “to the Jew first” (Romans 1:16).
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.” Romans 10:1
