What religion was Jesus?

So when the Lord came on earth, His problem was not with the law God had given; He was a perfect Jew, He lived His life according to the law God had given through Moses. He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil”(Matt.5:17). He was a law-keeping Jew, the only One who ever kept the law. His conflict was with the Jews’interpretations of the law and man-made traditions as recorded in the Mishna, the Talmud, and in other rabbinical writings. The conflict the Lord had was with rabbinic Judaism, not with the Law of Moses with which He was always in disagreement. Before his conversion, Paul was promoting rabbinic Judaism and was therefore, by definition, in conflict with the Lord, as he was “exceedingly zealous of the doctrines of my fathers.”

As being brought up in a godly Jewish home, where the law was adhered to and loved, the child Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. We are reminded of the words of the apostle Paul here: “ … made of a woman, made under the law” (Gal. 4:4). How wonderful it is to consider the Son of God becoming so lowly, found in obscure circumstances, and submitting to the law as a godly Israelite. It must be so if redemption is to be found for Jew and Gentile alike.

It has often been said that the Lord Jesus was, in all His life, what man ought to have been for God. It is equally true to say that He was all that a godly Israelite should have been.

B.C.G. — That passage, “as His custom was,” is instructive. He was accustomed to attend the synagogue service on the Sabbath day, He was a regular attendant, as we say; thus honouring the law of Moses.

1913 308 It was the practice of the Lord to teach and to preach the word in the synagogues where the Jews habitually assembled (John 18:20) upon the sabbath. The fact of the people coming together in this manner afforded an opportunity of placing the truth before many at once, and of this opportunity the Lord continually availed Himself (Matt. 4:23; Matt. 12:9; Mark 1:39; Luke 4:44). It was His "custom" to do so (Luke 4:16).

The Jewish Christians all had the greatest reverence for the temple, and for everything connected with it, including the Jewish feasts, the law, and the various ceremonies of the Jewish religion. When they became Christians, they did not leave these things behind, but they still circumcised their children, they still kept the feasts, and were still "zealous of the law." There were many thousands of Jewish believers in Jerusalem who were like this. (See Acts 21:20.)

Observe too the consistency of the system, so far as regards its idea of an earthly priesthood, and of sacramental ordinances as the only means of salvation — for this is the doctrine. When our Lord Jesus Christ was here below, when He, the Son, became incarnate, before His death and resurrection, He carefully acknowledged priesthood according to the law — a priesthood vested in Aaron and his sons, which in no way belonged to Himself. And as He respected the Jewish priesthood, so He maintained all the shadows of the law. In other words He threw His own divine weight into the support of the ritual system till the cross closed it. The time was not yet come for God's grace and glory to displace it. It would have been contrary to God's mind to have overthrown it then, and the Lord Jesus, in word and deed as in person, was the expression of God and of His ways. Consequently, as long as the Lord was on the earth, we see His adhesion to the temple, feasts, sacrifices, everything. Nay, in the case of His own person we know it was so from the first, as we find in Luke 2. The Lord observed the times and seasons, and owned fully that earthly system of ritual which God had brought in by Moses.

We are taken in thought to a sheepfold, in which the sheep are kept all night, a porter watching at the door. In due time on a new day the shepherd comes to lead out his own sheep, for there may be more than one flock in the fold. The shepherd seeking his own flock enters in by the door, the only recognised way of getting in. A thief, or a robber, would climb up some other way, to get in surreptitiously for his own ends, and not for the welfare of the sheep. Now the Lord is the Shepherd here intended. He entered the fold, which is here Judaism, and entered by the door — that is, He conformed to all the rites and ordinances of that day, which God appointed for Israel. Born under the law, He was circumcised the eighth day; and subsequently at the purification of His mother was presented to God in the Temple. Then He was baptized of John in Jordan, the only one so baptized who had no sins to confess. After that He began His ministry in Israel. So His word to John the Baptist, when challenged by the latter, "Thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness," had a meaning in it not then understood by men. For, to enter in by the door into the fold, to that rite, i.e. John's baptism, He must conform.

We have referred to the transition from Judaism to Christianity, as having gradually taken place. Of this fact, the New Testament itself affords abundant evidence. Were this evidence to be carefully examined, other facts would be educed — facts overlooked by Mr. W. and by those generally with whom he symbolizes, but which have a most direct and important bearing on the questions at issue. In the introduction to his Epistle to the Romans, Paul speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ under two distinct aspects: as "made of the seed of David according to the flesh;" and "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1:3-4.) As "made of the seed of David according to the flesh" he had special links of connexion with Israel. Where the apostle is enumerating Israel's distinctive privileges, such as the adoption, the glory, etc., that by which he crowns the catalogue is, "and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." (Rom. 9:5.) It is from the same apostle's pen that we have the words, "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." (Rom. 15:8.) "Made of a woman, made under the law." (Gal. 4:4.) Let any one read the gospels in the light of these apostolic statements, and how evident it must be to him, that innumerable links with Israel and Judaism, having no place in Christianity as existing in Paul's day, were maintained by our blessed Lord during his sojourn on earth. Circumcised the eighth day, and duly presented by his mother according to the law, he afterwards accompanied her and Joseph to the annual feasts in the city of solemnities. It was in the synagogue that he commenced his ministry at Nazareth, and often is it noticed afterwards that he taught in their synagogues. How frequently were those whom he healed or cleansed directed by him to go and show themselves to the priests; and how did he charge the twelve not to go into the way of the Gentiles, or enter any city of the Samaritans, but to go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "The Scribes and the Pharisees," said he, "sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsover they bid you observe, that observe and do." (Matt. 23:2-3.) It was on the night of the passover, and after he had faithfully observed it with his disciples, that he was betrayed into the hands of men.

The child receives the name of Jesus on the day of His circumcision, according to Jewish custom (see Luke 1:59), but according to the counsels and revelations of God, communicated by the angels of His power. Moreover everything was performed according to the law; for historically we find ourselves still in connection with Israel. He who was born of a woman was born under the law. The condition of poverty in which Jesus was born is also shown by the sacrifice offered for the purification of His mother.

We return for a moment to the thought of the law enshrined in His heart. Under His divine control it was carried out for Him as a Babe; the only One who never needed sacrifice for purification was brought to the temple by the parents "to do for Him after the custom of the law" (Luke 2:27); and twelve years later, according to the custom of the Jews, He was again brought to the temple to be presented to God. How far beyond all that He goes, as He tells them, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" And so it was throughout His entire life. They might accuse Him impliedly of violating "the tradition of the elders" (Matt. 15:2), but never truly of the slightest violation of a command of God; so in all the consciousness of perfect rectitude, He answers: "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (Matt. 15:3). He could ask, "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" (John 8:46) and declare, "I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29). The Jews had so mingled their traditions with the law of the Sabbath that they mistook the one for the other. This brought our Lord into frequent collision with them regarding alleged violations of the command. But He showed how their so-called Sabbath-keeping was but an empty, lifeless thing, which violated the first principle of the divine rest, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. 12:7). Neither Satan's nor man's malignity could ever find in Him a single violation of that holy law. His heart was the chosen shrine for it.