I want to begin by sharing an insight I learned at Hebrew University in 1978 when I was with Derek Prince and Rabbinic scholars working on translation errors in the King James Bible. The Rabbis explained key passages in the New Testament from a Hebraic point of view that changed my understanding of those Scriptures. I’ve written on this in past articles. It also became obvious why they missed seeing Yeshua as their Messiah.
I learned, and am still learning, that to understand the roles of the apostles and prophets, or any Scriptural principle — we need to learn to think like Jesus. The Apostle Paul did, but most of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day did not. In fact, there are at least 25 to 30 unique confrontations recorded in the four Gospels between Jesus and the religious leaders. These leaders were primarily the Pharisees and the scribes who served as the forerunners of what later became Rabbinic Judaism. The Sadducees are a separate issue.
Scripture is clear: we are called to think like Jesus and be like Jesus. We are to be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29), to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), and to walk as He walked (1 John 2:3–6). But to truly understand what that means, we must recover an often-overlooked foundational truth: Jesus (Yeshua), Paul, and the apostles were all Jewish. They lived, taught, prayed, and ministered within a first-century Jewish worldview—not a Greek, Roman, or modern Western one.
Jesus didn’t act independently or according to cultural norms. His life was wholly centered on the will of the Father. This is why so often the majority of leaders of: Judaism during Jesus’ earthly ministry, leaders of the past 1700 years of Christianity, and even Messianic Jewish leaders today struggle to think and act like Yeshua.
As He Himself said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” — John 5:19 “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.” — John 8:28
His mindset, His teachings, and His actions were all in perfect alignment with the Father’s will—rooted in the covenantal, prophetic, and Torah-based understanding of Scripture that shaped Jewish life. As leaders and teachers in the Body of Christ we have to learn to teach the commandments of the Father and not the traditions of man. — Matthew 15:1–9, Mark 7:6–9
Likewise, the apostle Paul, though called to be a light to the Gentiles, never abandoned his Jewish identity or worldview. He described himself as a “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5) and a Pharisee, trained under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), one of the leading Torah scholars of the era. Paul interpreted the mission of Jesus through the lens of Israel’s story, fulfilling the promises made to the patriarchs and prophets.
If we are to follow Jesus faithfully—to think like Him, to act like Him, and to explain what the Father means, as He did—we must begin to view Scripture through the lens that shaped Jesus Himself: the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish mindset, and the context of covenantal relationship with his Father. Without this lens, much of the richness, precision, and depth of Jesus’ words and mission are lost—or worse, misinterpreted, therefore misapplied.
This is not a call for Christians to become Jewish, but a call to recover the Jewish roots of our faith, so that we may more accurately reflect the One we are called to imitate.
The Pharisees and scribes were highly influential in Jesus’ time, they were experts in the law, well versed in Scripture and oral tradition. Yet Jesus confronted them about their misunderstanding and misapplication of Scripture. Jesus repeatedly said to them, as in Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43, “You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…”
Here’s what Jesus was doing: 1. “You have heard that it was said…” This phrase references traditional Jewish teaching—often the oral interpretation of the Law taught by scribes and Pharisees, not just the written Torah. Jesus is not abolishing the Law but confronting the shallow or distorted applications or the hypocrisy of do as I say, not as I do.
2. “But I say to you…” This is a bold assertion of divine authority. He doesn’t say, “Thus says the Lord,” as prophets did—He speaks on His own authority as the Son. He is not adding to the Law but revealing its true intent—what His Father meant all along.
Rabbinic Judaism developed after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. It is not only still relevant today—it is the dominant and foundational form of Judaism practiced worldwide. The distinction between Rabbinic Judaism and Messianic Judaism is both complex and nuanced. While Messianic Judaism shares certain forms and practices with Rabbinic Judaism, it does not base its authority on the rabbinic tradition. Instead, it attempts to reclaim the Jewish identity of faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah, using both the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the New Testament (Brit Hadashah) as Scripture.
Christianity, for its part—with a few exceptions—has almost completely lost its connection to its Jewish roots.
What began as a deeply Jewish movement, centered around Yeshua (Jesus) gradually severed its ties with Judaism. This separation was officially codified at the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine exactly 1700 years ago, in 325 AD.
There, decisions were made that intentionally distanced the Church from its Jewish heritage—most notably the change from observing Passover (Pesach) to celebrating Easter, and the formal discouragement (or outright banning) of Jewish customs among Christians. This created a deep theological and cultural divide between the Church and the people and practices from which it had originally emerged. As a result, a theological and cultural divide was firmly established.
Since then, Christianity has largely approached Scripture through a Greek and Western worldview, rather than the Jewish lens through which it was written. This is evident even in how we study the Bible: When conducting word studies in the New Testament, we typically default to Greek definitions—consulting lexicons, grammar rules, and classical usage—often without considering the Hebrew behind the words. The Hebrew idioms, Hebraic syntax, thought patterns, and covenantal themes that shaped how Jesus and the apostles communicated and understood Scripture has fallen out of use.
With the possible exception of Luke, all of the New Testament writers were Jewish. And even Luke—if he was a Gentile—was a devoted companion of Paul, the Jewish apostle to the Gentiles, and he carefully investigated everything through Jewish sources (Luke 1:1–4). His writings reflect the influence of Jewish thought, history, and Scripture throughout.
The New Testament was written primarily for a Jewish audience and a Jewish-aware audience of Gentile believers. The earliest followers of Yeshua (Jesus) were Jewish, and the message of the Gospel was first proclaimed in a Jewish context: in Jerusalem, Judea, and Galilee, among people who were deeply familiar with the Torah, the Prophets, the Temple system, the covenants, and the Messianic expectations rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Even as the Gospel spread to the Gentile world, the earliest Gentile believers were often God-fearers—non-Jews who already worshiped the God of Israel and attended synagogue services (Acts 13:16, 26, 43). These Gentiles were not unfamiliar with Jewish thought, Scripture, or customs. Thus, the New Testament writers assumed a shared knowledge of Jewish worldview, language, and biblical themes.
Whether writing to Jewish believers or to Gentiles being grafted into the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2:12–13), the apostles framed their message in covenantal, prophetic, and Hebraic terms. Concepts like Messiah (Mashiach), righteousness (tzedakah), faith (emunah), repentance (teshuvah), and kingdom (malkhut) carry deep meaning in a Jewish context—meaning that is often flattened or misunderstood when interpreted solely through a Western or Greek lens.
Therefore, to rightly understand the message of the New Testament, we must recover the original Jewish context in which it was written and the audience to whom it was addressed. This is not about cultural nostalgia; it’s about faithful interpretation and a deeper, more accurate understanding of God’s redemptive plan.
This is precisely where much of the Body of Christ struggles. Few leaders today can explain the deeper intent and covenantal meaning of God’s Word as Yeshua did, because we have lost the interpretive lens that shaped His—and the apostles’—understanding. We’ve traded the Hebrew worldview of covenant, community, and calling for abstract Greek categories and individualistic interpretations.
It is time we return to that foundation—not to become Jewish, but to become more like Jesus. He is the Jewish Messiah, the fulfillment of the Torah and the Prophets, the living embodiment of God’s Word. If we are to follow Him faithfully, we must learn to think as He thought, see as He saw, and teach what the Father means.