Since Jews and Christians both claim to have God's Word, do they basically For the Jews the coming of the Messiah or the messianic age still lies in the future .
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There are many areas of agreement between the two faiths, for Christians also accept the Old Testament and all its teachings as inspired. Among the basic truths accepted by both faiths are the perfect creation of the world out of nothing by an infinite God, the entrance of sin into this world via the temptation of another transcendent being called Satan, the judgement of God on sin, and the necessity of atonement for sin.
Judaism, however, does not accept the central Christian teaching that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. This watershed point is made throughout the New Testament and forcefully stated in Galatians 3: When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. All the differences in ceremonies, Kosher food, dress, festivals and worship are not as basic as the messianic expectation and its fulfillment in Christ. Christianity has received from Judaism its basic understanding of God, his covenant relationship with His people, and assembling together for worship.
There is a divine plan for history and it is moving toward a wonderful goal when Yahweh will be the King not only of the Jews but of all the earth. Separation from the corrupting influences of the pagan world is important, but Judaism is not a religion that focuses on a spiritual world somewhere down the road. Its focus is on this present world, where life is meant to be rich and full. This is, at times, a great source of contention between these two similar faiths as Jews accuse Christians of corrupting the image of the one, true God, and Christians accuse Jews of dismissing the very Son of God.
Christianity began with the teachings of Christ. After the death of Jesus on the cross, His disciples went out into the world, establishing churches. This is reiterated throughout the New Testament, and is of central importance for every Christian denomination. Jews often see the Christian Trinity as being inherently polytheistic, in fact.
Aside from these main differences, there are also traditions, ceremonies, and norms which are unique to each faith. While examining the enormous scope of Jewish customs is beyond the scope of this article, Judaism has its own unique holidays such a Hanukkah, Yom Kippur, and Passover, and has its own unique clothing, symbols, and festivals.
Worship practices, too, are different, with Jews attending synagogues or temples, which are often the centers of Jewish communities, social activity, and charity work. Religious leaders, in Judaism, are called Rabbis, while Christian religious leaders are often called priests or ministers. In general, the Christian traditions can seem less complex because, in the Christian tradition, Christ abolished the need for things like dietary laws, feast days, and many other religious norms that are still practiced in Judaism.
Both religions, in their own ways, are startlingly complex. These two faiths also differ in the ultimate goal of life: Christianity is rooted in Second Temple Judaism , but the two religions diverged in the first centuries of the Christian Era. Christianity emphasizes correct belief or orthodoxy , focusing on the New Covenant as mediated through Jesus Christ , [1] as recorded in the New Testament.
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Judaism places emphasis on correct conduct or orthopraxy , [2] [3] [4] focusing on the Mosaic covenant , as recorded in the Torah and Talmud. Christians believe in individual salvation from sin through receiving Jesus Christ as their God and savior through faith.
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Jews believe in individual and collective participation in an eternal dialogue with God through tradition, rituals, prayers and ethical actions. Christianity generally believes in a Triune God , one person of whom became human. Judaism emphasizes the Oneness of God and rejects the Christian concept of God in human form.
Judaism's purpose is to carry out what it holds to be the only covenant between God and the Jewish people. The Oral Torah is the primary guide for Jews to abide by these terms, as expressed in tractate Gittin 60b, "the Holy One, Blessed be He, did not make His covenant with Israel except by virtue of the Oral Law" [5] to help them learn how to live a holy life, and to bring holiness, peace and love into the world and into every part of life, so that life may be elevated to a high level of kedushah , originally through study and practice of the Torah, and since the destruction of the Second Temple , through prayer as expressed in tractate Sotah 49a "Since the destruction of the Temple, every day is more cursed than the preceding one; and the existence of the world is assured only by the kedusha Since the adoption of the Amidah , the acknowledgement of God through the declaration from Isaiah 6: This continuous maintenance of relationship between the individual Jew and God through either study, or prayer repeated three times daily, is the confirmation of the original covenant.
This allows the Jewish people as a community to strive and fulfill the prophecy "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand and keep you. And I will establish you as a covenant of the people, for a light unto the nations. See also Jewish principles of faith. According to Christian theologian Alister McGrath , the Jewish Christians affirmed every aspect of then contemporary Second Temple Judaism with the addition of the belief that Jesus was the messiah, [9] with Isaiah Collectively, these are known as the Tanakh.
Rabbinic tradition asserts that God revealed two Torahs to Moses, one that was written down, and one that was transmitted orally. Whereas the written Torah has a fixed form, the Oral Torah is a living tradition that includes not only specific supplements to the written Torah for instance, what is the proper manner of shechita and what is meant by "Frontlets" in the Shema , but also procedures for understanding and talking about the written Torah thus, the Oral Torah revealed at Sinai includes debates among rabbis who lived long after Moses. The Oral Law elaborations of narratives in the Bible and stories about the rabbis are referred to as aggadah.
It also includes elaboration of the commandments in the form of laws referred to as halakha. The Talmuds are notable for the way they combine law and lore, for their explication of the midrashic method of interpreting tests, and for their accounts of debates among rabbis, which preserve divergent and conflicting interpretations of the Bible and legal rulings. Since the transcription of the Talmud, notable rabbis have compiled law codes that are generally held in high regard: The latter, which was based on earlier codes and supplemented by the commentary by Moshe Isserles that notes other practices and customs practiced by Jews in different communities, especially among Ashkenazim, is generally held to be authoritative by Orthodox Jews.
The Zohar , which was written in the 13th century, is generally held as the most important esoteric treatise of the Jews. All contemporary Jewish movements consider the Tanakh, and the Oral Torah in the form of the Mishnah and Talmuds as sacred, although movements are divided as to claims concerning their divine revelation, and also their authority.
Christianity and Judaism
For Jews, the Torah—written and oral—is the primary guide to the relationship between God and man, a living document that has unfolded and will continue to unfold whole new insights over the generations and millennia. A saying that captures this goes, "Turn it [the Torah's words] over and over again, for everything is in it. Two notable examples are:. Instead of the traditional Jewish order and names for the books, Christians organize and name the books closer to that found in the Septuagint.
Some Christian denominations such as Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox , include a number of books that are not in the Hebrew Bible the biblical apocrypha or deuterocanonical books or Anagignoskomena , see Development of the Old Testament canon in their biblical canon that are not in today's Jewish canon, although they were included in the Septuagint. Christians reject the Jewish Oral Torah, which was still in oral, and therefore unwritten, form in the time of Jesus. Christians believe that God has established a New Covenant with people through Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles, and other books collectively called the New Testament the word testament attributed to Tertullian is commonly interchanged with the word covenant.
Others, especially Protestants , reject the authority of such traditions and instead hold to the principle of sola scriptura , which accepts only the Bible itself as the final rule of faith and practice. Anglicans do not believe in sola scriptura. For them scripture is the longest leg of a 3-legged stool: Scripture cannot stand on its own since it must be interpreted in the light of the Church's patristic teaching and ecumenical creeds. Additionally, some denominations include the "oral teachings of Jesus to the Apostles", which they believe have been handed down to this day by apostolic succession.
Christians refer to the biblical books about Jesus as the New Testament, and to the canon of Hebrew books as the Old Testament. Judaism does not accept the retronymic labeling of its sacred texts as the "Old Testament", and some Jews refer to the New Testament as the Christian Testament or Christian Bible. Judaism rejects all claims that the Christian New Covenant supersedes , abrogates , fulfills, or is the unfolding or consummation of the covenant expressed in the Written and Oral Torahs.
Therefore, just as Christianity does not accept that Mosaic law has any authority over Christians, Judaism does not accept that the New Testament has any religious authority over Jews. Many Jews view Christians as having quite an ambivalent view of the Torah, or Mosaic law: Some Jews contend that Christians cite commandments from the Old Testament to support one point of view but then ignore other commandments of a similar class and of equal weight. Examples of this are certain commandments that God states explicitly be a "lasting covenant" NIV Exod Some translate the Hebrew as a "perpetual covenant" Exod Likewise, some Christians contend that Jews cite some commandments from the Torah to support one view, but then ignore other commandments of a similar class and of equal weight.
Christians explain that such selectivity is based on rulings made by early Jewish Christians in the Book of Acts , at the Council of Jerusalem , that, while believing gentiles did not need to fully convert to Judaism, they should follow some aspects of Torah like avoiding idolatry and fornication and blood , [20] including, according to some interpretations, homosexuality. This view is also reflected by modern Judaism, in that Righteous gentiles needn't convert to Judaism and need to observe only the Noahide Laws, which also contain prohibitions against idolatry and fornication and blood.
Some Christians agree that Jews who accept Jesus should still observe all of Torah, see for example Dual-covenant theology , based on warnings by Jesus to Jews not to use him as an excuse to disregard it, [22] and they support efforts of those such as Messianic Jews Messianic Judaism is considered by most Christians and Jews to be a form of Christianity [23] [24] [25] to do that, but some Protestant forms of Christianity oppose all observance to the Mosaic law, even by Jews, which Luther criticised as Antinomianism.
Judaism and major sects of Christianity reject the view that God is entirely immanent although some see this as the concept of the Holy Ghost and within the world as a physical presence, although trinitarian Christians believe in the incarnation of God. Both religions reject the view that God is entirely transcendent , and thus separate from the world, as the pre-Christian Greek Unknown God.
Both religions reject atheism on one hand and polytheism on the other. Both religions agree that God shares both transcendent and immanent qualities. How these religions resolve this issue is where the religions differ. Christianity posits that God exists as a Trinity ; in this view God exists as three distinct persons who share a single divine essence , or substance. In those three there is one, and in that one there are three; the one God is indivisible, while the three persons are distinct and unconfused, God the Father , God the Son , and God the Holy Spirit.
It teaches that God became especially immanent in physical form through the Incarnation of God the Son who was born as Jesus of Nazareth , who is believed to be at once fully God and fully human. There are denominations self-describing as Christian who question one or more of these doctrines, however, see Nontrinitarianism.
By contrast, Judaism sees God as a single entity , and views trinitarianism as both incomprehensible and a violation of the Bible's teaching that God is one. It rejects the notion that Jesus or any other object or living being could be 'God', that God could have a literal 'son' in physical form or is divisible in any way, or that God could be made to be joined to the material world in such fashion. Although Judaism provides Jews with a word to label God's transcendence Ein Sof , without end and immanence Shekhinah , in-dwelling , these are merely human words to describe two ways of experiencing God; God is one and indivisible.
A minority Jewish view, which appears in some codes of Jewish law , is that while Christian worship is polytheistic due to the multiplicity of the Trinity , it is permissible for them to swear in God's name, since they are referring to the one God. This theology is referred to in Hebrew as Shituf literally "partnership" or "association".
Although worship of a trinity is considered to be not different from any other form of idolatry for Jews, it may be an acceptable belief for non-Jews according to the ruling of some Rabbinic authorities. Judaism teaches that the purpose of the Torah is to teach us how to act correctly. God's existence is a given in Judaism, and not something that most authorities see as a matter of required belief. Although some authorities see the Torah as commanding Jews to believe in God, Jews see belief in God as a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for a Jewish life.
The quintessential verbal expression of Judaism is the Shema Yisrael , the statement that the God of the Bible is their God, and that this God is unique and one. The quintessential physical expression of Judaism is behaving in accordance with the Mitzvot the commandments specified in the Torah , and thus live one's life in God's ways.
Thus fundamentally in Judaism, one is enjoined to bring holiness into life with the guidance of God's laws , rather than removing oneself from life to be holy. Much of Christianity also teaches that God wants people to perform good works , but all branches hold that good works alone will not lead to salvation, which is called Legalism , the exception being dual-covenant theology. Some Christian denominations hold that salvation depends upon transformational faith in Jesus, which expresses itself in good works as a testament or witness to ones faith for others to see primarily Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism , while others including most Protestants hold that faith alone is necessary for salvation.
Some argue that the difference is not as great as it seems, because it really hinges on the definition of "faith" used. The first group generally uses the term "faith" to mean "intellectual and heartfelt assent and submission". Such a faith will not be salvific until a person has allowed it to effect a life transforming conversion turning towards God in their being see Ontotheology.
The Christians that hold to "salvation by faith alone" also called by its Latin name " sola fide " define faith as being implicitly ontological —mere intellectual assent is not termed "faith" by these groups. Faith, then, is life-transforming by definition. In both religions, offenses against the will of God are called sin. These sins can be thoughts, words, or deeds. Catholicism categorizes sins into various groups.
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A wounding of the relationship with God is often called venial sin ; a complete rupture of the relationship with God is often called mortal sin. Without salvation from sin see below , a person's separation from God is permanent, causing such a person to enter Hell in the afterlife. Both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church define sin more or less as a "macula", a spiritual stain or uncleanliness that constitutes damage to man's image and likeness of God. Hebrew has several words for sin, each with its own specific meaning.
The word pesha , or "trespass", means a sin done out of rebelliousness. The word aveira means "transgression". And the word avone , or "iniquity", means a sin done out of moral failing.
Christianity and Judaism - Wikipedia
The word most commonly translated simply as "sin", het , literally means "to go astray". Just as Jewish law, halakha provides the proper "way" or path to live, sin involves straying from that path. Judaism teaches that humans are born with free will , and morally neutral, with both a yetzer hatov , literally, "the good inclination", in some views, a tendency towards goodness, in others, a tendency towards having a productive life and a tendency to be concerned with others and a yetzer hara , literally "the evil inclination", in some views, a tendency towards evil, and in others, a tendency towards base or animal behavior and a tendency to be selfish.
In Judaism all human beings are believed to have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take. It does not teach that choosing good is impossible—only at times more difficult. There is almost always a "way back" if a person wills it.
Although texts mention certain categories for whom the way back will be exceedingly hard, such as the slanderer, the habitual gossip, and the malicious person. The rabbis recognize a positive value to the yetzer hara: In contrast to the Jewish view of being morally balanced, Original Sin refers to the idea that the sin of Adam and Eve 's disobedience sin "at the origin" has passed on a spiritual heritage, so to speak. Christians teach that human beings inherit a corrupted or damaged human nature in which the tendency to do bad is greater than it would have been otherwise, so much so that human nature would not be capable now of participating in the afterlife with God.
This is not a matter of being "guilty" of anything; each person is only personally guilty of their own actual sins. However, this understanding of original sin is what lies behind the Christian emphasis on the need for spiritual salvation from a spiritual Saviour, who can forgive and set aside sin even though humans are not inherently pure and worthy of such salvation. Paul the Apostle in Romans and I Corinthians placed special emphasis on this doctrine, and stressed that belief in Jesus would allow Christians to overcome death and attain salvation in the hereafter.
Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, and some Protestants teach the Sacrament of Baptism is the means by which each person's damaged human nature is healed and Sanctifying Grace capacity to enjoy and participate in the spiritual life of God is restored. This is referred to as "being born of water and the Spirit", following the terminology in the Gospel of St.
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Most Protestants believe this salvific grace comes about at the moment of personal decision to follow Jesus, and that baptism is a symbol of the grace already received. Christians will often use the Septuagint to make distinctions between the types of love: Like many Jewish scholars and theologians, literary critic Harold Bloom understands Judaism as fundamentally a religion of love.
But he argues that one can understand the Hebrew conception of love only by looking at one of the core commandments of Judaism, Leviticus Talmudic sages Hillel and Rabbi Akiva commented that this is a major element of the Jewish religion. Also, this commandment is arguably at the center of the Jewish faith. As the third book of the Torah, Leviticus is literally the central book. Historically, Jews have considered it of central importance: Bernard Bamberger considers Leviticus 19, beginning with God's commandment in verse 3—"You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God, am holy"—to be "the climactic chapter of the book, the one most often read and quoted" The only statements in the Tanakh about the status of a fetus state that killing an unborn infant does not have the same status as killing a born human being, and mandates a much lesser penalty Exodus The Talmud states that the fetus is not yet a full human being until it has been born either the head or the body is mostly outside of the woman , therefore killing a fetus is not murder, and abortion —in restricted circumstances—has always been legal under Jewish law.
Rashi , the great 12th century commentator on the Bible and Talmud, states clearly of the fetus lav nefesh hu: Christians who agree with these views may refer to this idea as abortion before the quickening of the fetus. Judaism unilaterally supports, in fact mandates , abortion if doctors believe that it is necessary to save the life of the woman. Many rabbinic authorities allow abortions on the grounds of gross genetic imperfections of the fetus.
They also allow abortion if the woman were suicidal because of such defects. However, Judaism holds that abortion is impermissible for family planning or convenience reasons. Each case must be decided individually, however, and the decision should lie with the pregnant woman, the man who impregnated her and their Rabbi. Jews and Christians accept as valid and binding many of the same moral principles taught in the Torah. There is a great deal of overlap between the ethical systems of these two faiths.
Nonetheless, there are some highly significant doctrinal differences.