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What happened to the Jewish "Assumption"?

Every man sees the world through colored glasses. Because we perceive reality from a particular time and cultural background, it is easy to assume (in my case) that the apostles were American protestants or that Jesus was a "hippie" with blond hair and blue eyes. We might readily admit that this was not the case but much of our theology has its root in a world view foriegn to the original gospel.

If we were to attempt to perceive the Gospel message in its original context we would have to put on "Jewish glasses". An intellectualized Gospel of Europe and North America or a Social Justice Gospel of the Third World may miss much of the message found in a 1st century "Messianic fulfillment" Gospel.

An example of this error is found in John 3:22. The Samaritans worshipped the God of Abraham, but were in error over God's chosen place of worship. Jesus was very blunt with the Samaritan woman.

"You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." John 3:22

The Gospel has become many things in the name of "spirit and truth" (John 3:23) yet God chose to bring forth salvation from within a Jewish context. Jesus cannot be properly understood apart from Old Testament Judaism.

Despite this reality, history shows us that the Christian world quickly abandoned the Jewish culture in which the Gospel was born. Gentile believers, in a reaction against Jewish "traditionalism", threw the Jewish baby out with the Jewish bathwater and developed a version of faith which made sense within their own culture and traditions. Many pagan practices were "christianized" and assimilated. For a further discussion see:

Messiah to Christ - A Paradigm Shift

The fact that Judaism often seems at odds with our modern Christian way of thinking may only illustrate how far we have strayed from a Biblical perspective. If we really want a church as Jesus established it, we must put ourselves in the Apostle's shoes. We may not be comfortable with accepting that they were all Jews, but I firmly believe it is in our interest to do so. We should take pride in the fact that this Jewish heritage is ours as well, through Yashua Messiah (Jesus Christ).

It is good to remember that the foundation for "Jewish" culture was established directly by God himself. Judaism is the original "language" of the Gospel story.

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem (tzit zit) of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'" Zech 8:23

Rick Joyner has an interesting perspective on this in his book "Epic Battles of the Last Days." He says,"Until we have a Gospel that will make the Jew jealous, we do not really have the goods yet. That is why we are exhorted to preach the Gospel to the Jew first. When we preach to the Jew we will quickly find out the quality of our message."