What Do You Call A Jew Who Believes in Jesus?

I often have readers from the Messianic movement tell me that their movement is from the original Jesus movement in the 1st century. But realistically, that is not so. Messianic "Judaism" is very, very new.

If you think about it, what did you call a Jew who believed in Jesus during the 300's? A Christian. What did you call a Jew who believed in Jesus in the 1200's? A Christian.

Pablo Christiani, a Jewish convert to Christianity who lost a debate to Nachmanides, is one of the most famous from this time period. What did you call a Jew who believed in Jesus in the 1500's. A Christian.

This answer only began to change in the 1860's when the answer to what do you call a Jew who believed in Jesus started to become a "Hebrew-Christian." This answer was created by the Church of England, who founded the idea of Hebrew-Christianity (later called "Messianic Judaism") as a means of evangelizing the Jews. It was not until the late 1960's-early 1970's that the answer to what do you call a Jew who believed in Jesus became "Messianic Jew" as Hebrew Christianity embraced this new terminology.

Messianic "Jews" unfortunately have been misled to think that they have some sort of historical tie to Jesus. The truth is that historically, Messianic "Judaism" has exactly the same ties to Jesus as all other branches of Christianity.