Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus was a Jew?

Answer 1

Jesus is described throughout the four New Testament gospels as being a Jew.

Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38 give the genealogy of Jesus, with King David and Abraham as ancestors. Luke's version is slightly different, possibly because it contains some of the forefathers of Mary. This is important, as in the oldest code used in Judaism to religiously define a Jew, the Jewish faith can only be derived from a Jewish mother.

If we accept the historicity of Jesus, then he was a Jew descended from some of the most important Jews of Israel, living in the then Jewish land of Judea / Palestine, who studied Jewish law closely enough to be called Rabbi (Master/Teacher) (John 3:2, 4:31 & 6:25). He claimed to have come to fulfill "the Law" (Matthew 5:17). He worshipped in the Temple from the first time his parents took him to Jerusalem at Passover (Luke 2:39-41).

Even his Last Supper was celebrating the Jewish festival of Passover.

There are, however, some that claim, for various reasons, that Jesus was not a Jew. This is often because he sought to change the strict, codified, "Old Testament" version of Judaism. Unfortunately, there are also some that seem to take offence, for outwardly religious or racial reasons, that the basis of "their" Christian faith was Jewish: they seem to take the vehement opinion that he was not Jewish. It is difficult to see how history, geography and the Gospels could lead one to the same conclusion.

See also:

Luke 6:1-5, in which the Pharisees are outraged that Jesus and his Jewish followers appear to be breaking the rules of the Sabbath.

Matthew 21:8-9, in which the people of Jerusalem acclaim Jesus as the "Son of David" ( the King of Israel) on Palm Sunday

.

John 2:15 (and similar accounts in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke), when Jesus objects strongly to the presence of moneychangers in the Temple, which, he points out, should be "a house of prayer".

Luke 4:16, in which Jesus goes to the synagogue on the Sabbath "as His custom was" and got up to read there.