Messianic Judaism is a modern term for the original faith of the First Century disciples that began strictly within the confines of First Century Judaism in approximately AD 30-33. The term Messianic comes from the Hebrew word Mashiach, which translated into the English word Messiah. It means Anointed One, so a Messianic believer is someone who has become a follower of the Messiah. Messianic Judaism is rooted in Biblical Judaism (as opposed to Rabbinic Judaism, which developed after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70) and reflects our belief that Yeshua, having fulfilled the prophecies of the Tanakh, was indeed the promised Messiah of Israel.
All of the first believers in Yeshua were Jewish–not some, but all. Yeshua Himself taught that He had come only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. It was only after His death and resurrection, just prior to His ascension, that He instructed His disciples to go into the nations and proclaim the redemption that was available in Him.
Messianic believers were referred to by different names in the early days, including The Way and the Nazarenes. They were never considered to be part of a separate religion, but instead a sect within Judaism. That continued even after Gentiles began coming to faith in great numbers, beginning in Acts Chapter 10. Soon the number of Gentile believers surpassed the number of Jewish believers; however, the Movement continued to be led primarily by Jewish believers throughout the First Century.
Messianic Judaism differs from Christianity in that it is rooted in Judaism. Messianic Jews do not separate from their Jewish roots when they accept Yeshua as Messiah, but instead maintain their Jewish identity. Whereas Christians often do not conduct their lives in accordance with the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), Messianic Jews continue to do so, observing the seventh-day Sabbath, celebrating the feasts established by G-d, and adhering to the dietary restrictions as commanded by Adonai in the Torah. Messianic Jews understand that salvation is by faith in Messiah only and that ritual observance to commandments do not lead to salvation, but believe that adherence to G-d’s commands should be the natural byproduct of faith. In other words, we strive to keep the commandments not as a way to gain salvation, but because we are saved.
We also believe each person should remain in the condition he or she was when called, as taught by Rav Sha’ul (the Apostle Paul) in 1 Cor. 7:17-20:
17 Only let each person live the life the Lord has assigned him and live it in the condition he was in when G-d called him. This is the rule I lay down in all the congregations.
18 Was someone already circumcised when he was called? Then he should not try to remove the marks of his circumcision. Was someone uncircumcised when he was called? He shouldn’t undergo b’rit-milah.
19 Being circumcised means nothing, and being uncircumcised means nothing; what does mean something is keeping G-d’s commandments.
20 Each person should remain in the condition he was in when he was called. (CJB)
Simply put, Jews are to remain Jews, and Gentiles are to remain Gentiles. Gentiles were never instructed in the Bible to become Jewish, and neither were Jews instructed to renounce Judaism.
Despite the belief by many that Paul did just that, when Scripture is read in its proper context, we see that he did just the opposite. After his encounter with Yeshua on the road to Damascus, Paul continued to live according to Jewish traditions and customs, even taking a Nazirite vow, proclaiming in the present tense that “I am a Pharisee” (not “used to be a Pharisee”), and upholding the Torah. And he was not alone. Acts 21:20 (which occurred around 55 CE) tells us that tens of thousands of Jews came to faith in Yeshua and continued to be faithful to the Torah of Moses. Some historians believe that number may have been well over one million. Regardless of the exact number, it was substantial, and the book of Acts tells us that Pharisees and many priests were part of the early Messianic Movement.
In the early days, believers (both Jewish and non-Jewish) worshipped alongside non-believing Jews in their synagogues and continued to be part of daily Jewish life for a number of years. But that began to change when Israel went to war with Rome in AD 66. It is beyond the scope of this writing to detail everything that happened, but ultimately, the Jewish believers found themselves rejected by their Jewish brethren who did not accept Yeshua, and the persecution they faced from their Jewish brethren eventually resulted in the believing Gentile community separating themselves from the Jewish believers.
By the end of the Fourth Century, although there were still Jewish believers, the Messianic Movement itself had disappeared from the pages of history and Jewish believers more or less assimilated into the church from that point until modern times.
Then, in the 1800s CE, that began to change when a group of Jewish believers founded the first modern Messianic congregation in Kishinev, Moldova, called “Israelites of the New Covenant”. There, Jewish believers could worship Yeshua and freely maintain the practices of their Jewish heritage.
The movement began to grow and expand around the world, giving Jewish believers an opportunity to practice their faith as followers of the Jewish Messiah while still identifying as “Hebrews.” Hebrew Christian Alliances were formed, which opened the way for what we know today as Messianic Judaism.
Then, in 1967, the true rebirth of Messianic Judaism occurred. Israel was victorious in the Six Day War and regained control of Jerusalem. For the first time in 1900 years, Jewish people were allowed to worship G-d freely at their holiest site. Many miracles were reported from the battlefield. A global spiritual revival among the Jewish people began, with hundreds of thousands professing faith in Yeshua as their Messiah, and new congregations where they could maintain a Jewish lifestyle while also following Yeshua were founded.
Here in the U.S., during the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s young people–especially hippies and drug users–were becoming believers and really on fire for our Savior. At the same time, there was also a revival among the Jewish young people who wanted to reclaim their Jewish heritage and expression after coming to faith in their Messiah. Those Jewish young people led the transformation of the Movement from what was basically a church with a sprinkling of Judaism mixed in, into what is a Movement that is steeped in Judaism, transforming the music from church hymns to Messianic music borrowing heavily from both Jewish and modern tunes as well as lyrics straight from Scripture, and also incorporating dance into their worship services.
Revival also broke out in Israel in 1967 (indeed, throughout the globe) following the Six-Day War. Many of the approximately 1,000,000 young people who had come to faith during the Jesus Movement here in the U.S. were Jewish, and many began to immigrate to Israel in the 1970s, giving the Body of Messiah in the Land a much-needed boost in both numbers and energy.
By 1989, the estimated number of believers in Israel had reached 1,200 (up from 23 at its founding in 1948), with at least 30 Messianic congregations. By 1999, there were 81 Messianic congregations, and an estimated 5,000 believers. In 2017, 300 congregations were counted. It has become increasingly difficult to accurately identify the number of Jewish believers in Israel, but a conservative estimate in 2017 was 30,000. And the Movement continues to spread. In fact, it is estimated that there are now at least 870,000 Jewish believers in Yeshua worldwide. Some scholars believe that the number is too low because there are a considerable number of Jewish people who believe Yeshua is the Messiah, but are afraid to admit it publicly for fear of being rejected by family and society; therefore, the true number may be much higher.
Just as the Messianic Movement began with a small group of Jewish people in the First Century, and then expanded to include multitudes from the nations, the modern Messianic Movement was started by a relatively small group of people so that Jewish believers could express their worship within Judaism, and a multitude from the nations has once again been drawn into the Movement.