# Rabbinic Judaism vs the Christian God ## Intro This comparison is different from every other one in the codex. Christians do not believe Jews worship a different God. **The God of Israel is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Christians worship that same God.** Jesus was a Jew, his first followers were Jews, and the whole Christian faith grows out of Israel's Scriptures. Paul, a Jew, wrote that God's gifts and calling to Israel are not taken back ([Romans 11:29](/codex/romans-11-29/)). So the question is not "which God?" It is **"how fully has the one God shown Himself?"** Christians believe He has shown Himself most fully in Jesus the Messiah. Rabbinic Judaism, the form of Judaism shaped by the rabbis after the Temple was destroyed in AD 70, does not. Where the two agree, they agree deeply: - **One God**, Creator of everything, holy and just. - **A God who loves**, who chose Israel and keeps His promises. - **A moral law** given by God, and a coming **resurrection** and judgment. Where they differ, the differences come down to a few questions: - **Is God's oneness simple, or does the Hebrew Bible itself show distinctions within the one God?** - **How is sin atoned for now that the Temple and its sacrifices are gone?** - **Who is the Messiah, and has he already come?** - **Who is the suffering servant of [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/)?** This page argues that the Christian answers fit Israel's own Scriptures better and offer a better hope: a God who is love within Himself, who **came Himself** as the Messiah, who provided the **final atonement** the Torah pointed to, and who lets His people **know** they are forgiven. Quick reply for a live conversation: *"I believe in the God of Abraham too. The question between us isn't which God, it's whether He has come. Your Torah says atonement is by blood on the altar, and there hasn't been an altar since AD 70. Isaiah says a servant would bear the sins of many. I believe that servant came before the Temple fell, and his name is Yeshua."* ## Cheatsheet **The 30-second reply:** > Christians and Jews worship the God of Abraham. The difference is whether that God has fully shown Himself in Jesus the Messiah. The Hebrew Bible already shows distinctions within the one God: YHWH raining fire "from Jehovah out of heaven" ([Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/)), "Jehovah saith unto my Lord" ([Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/)), a son of man on the clouds served by all nations ([Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/)). Early rabbinic literature had to rule out "two powers in heaven," which shows Jews were reading those texts that way. The Torah says "it is the blood that maketh atonement" ([Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/)), and since AD 70 there has been no altar. [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/) describes one man bearing "the sin of many." The Christian God is the God of Israel, come as Israel's Messiah, giving the atonement the Torah required. **The fast facts:** 1. **Same God.** Christianity claims the God of Israel. Jesus: "salvation is from the Jews" ([John 4:22](/codex/john-4-22/), ASV). See [Judaism](/codex/judaism/) and [Israel and the Church](/codex/israel-and-the-church/). 2. **Distinctions within the one God are in the Hebrew Bible.** [Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/); [Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/); [Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/); the Angel who carries God's name ([Exodus 23:21](/codex/exodus-23-21/)). See [Two Powers in Heaven](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven/) and [Angel of the LORD](/codex/angel-of-the-lord/). 3. **The rabbis knew it.** Alan Segal, *Two Powers in Heaven* (1977), showed that the rabbis condemned a "two powers" reading held by Jews. B. Sanhedrin 38b has Rabbi Akiva proposing that one of the thrones of [Daniel 7:9](/codex/daniel-7-9/) was for David. See [Two Powers in Heaven Argument](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven-argument/). 4. **Atonement since AD 70.** [Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/) ties atonement to blood on the altar. Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4 records Yochanan ben Zakkai, after the Temple fell, telling his student that deeds of loving-kindness would now atone, citing [Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/). Maimonides wrote that with no Temple and no altar, nothing remains but repentance (Laws of Repentance 1:3). See [Blood Atonement Not Required Objection Defeater](/codex/blood-atonement-not-required-objection-defeater/). 5. **[Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/) is about an individual.** Every reference to the servant is singular; he is "cut off... for the transgression of my people" (53:8); his soul is made an *asham*, a guilt offering (53:10). Targum Jonathan opens the passage "my servant the Messiah." See [Isaiah 53 Is About Israel Objection Defeater](/codex/isaiah-53-is-about-israel-objection-defeater/). 6. **The timing.** [Daniel 9:26](/codex/daniel-9-26/) places the cutting off of an anointed one before the city and sanctuary are destroyed. [Malachi 3:1](/codex/malachi-3-1/) has the Lord coming to His temple. Both require someone before AD 70. See [Daniel 9 Seventy Weeks Objection Defeater](/codex/daniel-9-seventy-weeks-objection-defeater/). 7. **Assurance.** B. Berakhot 28b has Yochanan ben Zakkai weeping on his deathbed because he did not know whether he was going to the Garden of Eden or to Gehinnom. [1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/): "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (ASV). **The 4 strongest counter-moves:** - *"Who is the 'my Lord' David's Lord says to sit at His right hand ([Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/))?"* Jesus asked it ([Mark 12:35-37](/codex/mark-12-35-37/)), and the answer has to be someone greater than David who shares God's throne. - *"Since AD 70, which Torah verse authorizes replacing the altar with prayer?"* None. The rabbinic answer is historical and honest, not textual. See [Blood Atonement Not Required Objection Defeater](/codex/blood-atonement-not-required-objection-defeater/). - *"Why did the rabbis need a heresy called 'two powers in heaven'?"* Because Jews were reading their own Scriptures that way. - *"Who does Targum Jonathan say the servant is?"* The Messiah. The collective reading became dominant later. **Reciprocal concessions (grant the small point, then collect a bigger one):** - *Grant:* *echad* in the Shema is the ordinary word for "one" and does not prove the Trinity. *Now collect:* then it does not disprove it either, and the question moves to the texts that show more than one divine figure, which the rabbis themselves had to address. See [Trinity Violates the Shema Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-violates-the-shema-objection-defeater/). - *Grant:* God forgave repentant people without a sacrifice in particular cases (Nineveh, David in [Psalm 51](/codex/psalms-51/)). *Now collect:* the same Psalm ends with bullocks on the altar (51:19), and Yom Kippur still required blood in the Holy of Holies. Exceptions inside a sacrificial system are not a replacement for it. - *Grant:* Christians have treated Jews with terrible cruelty, and that history must be owned. *Now collect:* that is an argument against Christians, not against Jesus, who was a Jew and wept over Jerusalem. - *Grant:* the Messiah must be a son of David who brings peace. *Now collect:* the Hebrew Bible also says he will be cut off ([Daniel 9:26](/codex/daniel-9-26/)), pierced ([Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/)) and bear sin ([Isaiah 53:12](/codex/isaiah-53-12/)). A Messiah who comes twice fits all the texts; a Messiah who comes once fits only half. **The closing line:** > Christianity is not another God. It is the God of Abraham, keeping His word in person. ## In full Rabbinic Judaism is the form of Judaism that took shape after the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70, organized around the Torah as interpreted by the rabbis, the Mishnah (compiled about AD 200), and the Talmuds (compiled over the following centuries). It is the ancestor of nearly all Judaism practiced today. Its understanding of God was summarized in the twelfth century by Maimonides' Thirteen Principles, which include: - **God's unity**, a oneness unlike any other unity (the second principle). - **God's incorporeality**, without body or form (the third principle). - **The coming of the Messiah**, a human king of David's line (the twelfth principle; see also *Mishneh Torah*, Laws of Kings 11). - **The resurrection of the dead** (the thirteenth principle). The Christian doctrine of God claims to be the same God's fuller self-disclosure: the one God of Israel exists eternally as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the Son became man as Israel's Messiah, died as the atoning sacrifice the Torah foreshadowed, rose, and will return to complete what the prophets promised. Paul states the claim in Jewish terms: "one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ" ([1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/), ASV), a restatement of the Shema. Jews today are diverse: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, secular and others hold very different views of God, Torah and the afterlife. This page compares the **classical rabbinic** understanding, from the Mishnah, the Talmud and Maimonides, because it is the most developed and the most widely recognized. The comparison is between two readings of the same Scriptures. For the full Christian engagement, see [The Jewish Defense](/codex/the-jewish-defense/), which begins, rightly, with the history of Christian cruelty toward Jews. ## Side by side | Question | Rabbinic Judaism | The Christian God | |---|---|---| | **Who is God?** | The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, one in a oneness unlike any other | The same God of Abraham, revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit | | **Is there plurality within God?** | No; the "two powers" reading was ruled out as heresy | Yes: the Hebrew Bible's second divine figure is the Son | | **Can God take a body?** | No; God has no body or form | The Son took a human nature without ceasing to be God (John 1:14) | | **How does God love?** | Deeply and covenantally; Israel is His beloved (Deuteronomy 7:7-8) | The same love, eternal within God (John 17:24) and shown to the uttermost at the cross | | **What is the human problem?** | The evil inclination, which Torah helps master; no inherited guilt in the Christian sense | A heart "deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9) that needs to be made new (Ezekiel 36:26) | | **How is sin atoned for?** | Since AD 70, repentance, prayer and charity; Yom Kippur with repentance (Mishnah Yoma 8:8) | Blood on the altar (Leviticus 17:11), fulfilled once for all in the Messiah (Isaiah 53:10) | | **Who is the Messiah?** | A human son of David, still to come | Jesus of Nazareth, son of David and Son of God, who came before AD 70 and will return | | **Who is Isaiah 53's servant?** | Israel, in Rashi and most later commentators; the Messiah, in Targum Jonathan and some earlier sources | The Messiah, an individual who bears "the sin of many" | | **Can you know where you stand?** | Hoped for; a great sage wept not knowing (b. Berakhot 28b) | Yes (1 John 5:13) | | **What happens at the end?** | The world to come and the resurrection (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1); details left open | Resurrection and seeing God's face (Revelation 22:4) | ## Argument structure | | Premise | Notes | |---|---|---| | **P1** | **The Hebrew Bible itself shows distinctions within the one God.** The Trinity explains those texts; strict unitarian oneness has to explain them away. | Revelatory | | **P2** | **God's covenant love reaches its fullest depth when God comes Himself.** The prophets promised that God would come; the Christian God did. | Relational | | **P3** | **The Torah ties atonement to blood on the altar, and the altar has been gone since AD 70.** The Messiah's once-for-all sacrifice explains both the Torah and the history better than a substitute the Torah never authorized. | Atonement | | **P4** | **The Hebrew Bible's Messiah suffers, dies and is exalted, and must come before the Temple falls.** Jesus fits; a Messiah still to come does not fit the timing. | Messianic | | **P5** | **The resurrection of Jesus vindicates his claims.** Jews and Christians share the hope of resurrection; in Jesus it has already begun. | Historical | | **P6** | **The Christian God gives assurance and a fuller ending.** Knowing you are forgiven now, through a finished atonement, is a better hope than an open question. | Eschatological | | **C** | Christianity and rabbinic Judaism worship the God of Abraham, but the Christian understanding explains more of Israel's own Scriptures (the divine figures, the sacrifices, the servant, the timing) and offers more (a finished atonement, assurance, God with us). | | ## Master objections to the whole argument **MO1: "The Trinity breaks the Shema and is idolatry."** - The Shema says the LORD is one, and Christians confess it ([Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/)). The question is whether "one" excludes distinctions within God, and the Hebrew does not settle that. Paul places Jesus inside the Shema in [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/). See [Trinity Violates the Shema Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-violates-the-shema-objection-defeater/), [Christianity Is Idolatry Objection Defeater](/codex/christianity-is-idolatry-objection-defeater/) and [Monotheism](/codex/monotheism/). **MO2: "Christianity is a Gentile religion that persecuted the Jews."** - The persecution is real and indefensible, and Christians should say so before anything else. But Jesus, the apostles and the first church were Jews, and for years the movement was entirely Jewish. The question is not what some Christians did, but whether Jesus is Israel's Messiah. See [The Jewish Defense](/codex/the-jewish-defense/). **MO3: "Judaism is about deeds, not doctrines. Comparing 'Gods' misrepresents it."** - Judaism does emphasize practice, and Jewish views vary widely. But classical Judaism also has clear teachings about God, atonement, the Messiah and the world to come, set out in the Mishnah and in Maimonides. Those are what is compared here. **MO4: "Jews already have a covenant with God. We do not need Jesus."** - Christians agree the covenant stands: "the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of" ([Romans 11:29](/codex/romans-11-29/), ASV). The claim is that Jesus is that covenant's fulfilment, and that the Hebrew prophets promised a new covenant with forgiveness written on the heart ([Jeremiah 31:31-34](/codex/jeremiah-31-31-34/)). See [Jews Do Not Need Jesus Objection Defeater](/codex/jews-do-not-need-jesus-objection-defeater/) and [New Covenant](/codex/new-covenant/). ## Premise 1, The Hebrew Bible itself shows distinctions within the one God ### Affirmative case 1. **Two YHWHs in one sentence.** "Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven" ([Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/), ASV). 2. **The Angel who bears the Name.** God says of His angel, "provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgression: for my name is in him" ([Exodus 23:21](/codex/exodus-23-21/), ASV). Jacob blesses in the name of "the God who hath fed me... the angel who hath redeemed me" ([Genesis 48:15-16](/codex/genesis-48-15-16/), ASV). Manoah says, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God" ([Judges 13:22](/codex/judges-13-22/), ASV). See [Angel of the LORD](/codex/angel-of-the-lord/). 3. **Seen and unseen.** God says "man shall not see me and live" ([Exodus 33:20](/codex/exodus-33-20/), ASV), yet the elders "saw the God of Israel" ([Exodus 24:10](/codex/exodus-24-10/), ASV) and Jacob says "I have seen God face to face" ([Genesis 32:30](/codex/genesis-32-30/), ASV). Christians read this as the unseen Father and the Son who makes Him visible: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him" ([John 1:18](/codex/john-1-18/), ASV). 4. **A Lord at God's right hand.** "Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand" ([Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/), ASV). 5. **A son of man served by all nations.** "There came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man... that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him" ([Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/), ASV). 6. **The rabbis knew these readings.** B. Sanhedrin 38b records Rabbi Akiva proposing that the plural thrones of [Daniel 7:9](/codex/daniel-7-9/) were one for God and one for David, and being rebuked. B. Hagigah 15a has Elisha ben Abuyah seeing Metatron seated and concluding there might be two powers. Alan Segal argued in *Two Powers in Heaven* (1977) that these condemnations describe a reading held by Jews. See [Two Powers in Heaven Argument](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven-argument/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"These texts have ordinary explanations: [Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/) repeats the name for style, the angel is a messenger, [Psalm 110](/codex/psalms-110/) is about David or a king."* 2. *"Judaism never taught the Trinity."* ### Rebuttals 1. Each text has an alternative reading, and the Christian case does not rest on any one of them. It rests on the pattern: a figure who speaks as God, bears God's name, is seen as God, sits at God's right hand, and receives the service due to God. One text can be explained away; a pattern is harder. And the rabbis' own effort to close the "two powers" reading is evidence the pattern was noticed. 2. Agreed. The claim is not that Judaism taught the Trinity, but that the Trinity is the best explanation of texts Judaism shares with Christianity. Daniel Boyarin's *Border Lines* (2004) argues more strongly that the line between Jewish and Christian views of God's Word was drawn later than is often assumed; that thesis is debated and should be cited as an argued position. See [Two Powers in Heaven](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven/). ## Premise 2, God's covenant love reaches its fullest depth when God comes Himself ### Affirmative case 1. The God of Israel loves His people with a covenant love that does not depend on their merit: "Jehovah did not set his love upon you... because ye were more in number... but because Jehovah loveth you" ([Deuteronomy 7:7-8](/codex/deuteronomy-7-7-8/), ASV). "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?... my compassions are kindled together" ([Hosea 11:8](/codex/hosea-11-8/), ASV). Rabbinic tradition treasures this: Mishnah Avot 3 has Rabbi Akiva say Israel is beloved, for they are called children of God. 2. The prophets promise that God will come in person: "behold, your God will come... he will come and save you" ([Isaiah 35:4](/codex/isaiah-35-4/), ASV); "the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple" ([Malachi 3:1](/codex/malachi-3-1/), ASV). 3. The Christian God fulfils this literally. "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" ([John 1:14](/codex/john-1-14/), ASV), and "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" ([Romans 5:8](/codex/romans-5-8/), ASV). 4. Behind that act is love eternal in God: the Father loved the Son "before the foundation of the world" ([John 17:24](/codex/john-17-24/), ASV). The covenant love of the Hebrew Bible is the outward face of a love that God is. See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/) and [Argument from Love](/codex/argument-from-love/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"God has no body. 'God is not a man' ([Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/)). An incarnation is impossible."* 2. *"God's love for Israel needs no incarnation. He is near to all who call on Him."* ### Rebuttals 1. [Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/) says God is not a man "that he should lie," a statement about God's faithfulness, not a rule about what God may take on. The Christian claim is not that God turned into a man and stopped being God, but that the Son took a human nature. See [God Is Not a Man Objection Defeater](/codex/god-is-not-a-man-objection-defeater/) and [Incarnation](/codex/incarnation/). 2. Agreed that God is near. The question is how far love goes. A God who is near enough to hear prayer is good; a God who comes near enough to suffer with and for His people is the fullest form of the same love, and the prophets themselves promised it. ## Premise 3, The Torah ties atonement to blood, and the altar has been gone since AD 70 ### Affirmative case 1. The Torah states the mechanism: "the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls" ([Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/), ASV). 2. Yom Kippur required the high priest to bring blood "within the veil" ([Leviticus 16:15](/codex/leviticus-16-15/), ASV), "for on this day shall atonement be made for you" ([Leviticus 16:30](/codex/leviticus-16-30/), ASV). 3. Since AD 70 there has been no Temple and no altar. Rabbinic Judaism responded honestly: Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4 has Yochanan ben Zakkai tell Rabbi Joshua in the ruins that acts of loving-kindness are an atonement as effective, citing [Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/). Maimonides later wrote that, with no Temple and no altar of atonement, nothing remains but repentance (*Mishneh Torah*, Laws of Repentance 1:3). 4. Hosea foresaw a long period "without sacrifice" before Israel returns to "David their king" ([Hosea 3:4-5](/codex/hosea-3-4-5/), ASV). 5. Isaiah describes a servant whose soul is made "an offering for sin" ([Isaiah 53:10](/codex/isaiah-53-10/), ASV; Hebrew *asham*, the guilt offering of [Leviticus 5](/codex/leviticus-5/) and 7), who "bare the sin of many" (53:12). 6. The Christian claim explains both the Torah and the history: the sacrifices pointed to a final sacrifice, which was made before the Temple fell. "He, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" ([Hebrews 10:12](/codex/hebrews-10-12/), ASV). See [Atonement](/codex/atonement/) and [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"Atonement never depended only on blood: the poor could bring flour ([Leviticus 5:11](/codex/leviticus-5-11/)), God desires mercy not sacrifice ([Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/)), Nineveh repented and was spared, and [Hosea 14:2](/codex/hosea-14-2/) says we will render the offering of our lips."* 2. *"No one can die for another. 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' ([Ezekiel 18:20](/codex/ezekiel-18-20/))."* ### Rebuttals 1. The flour offering is a concession for the poor, burned on the same altar. [Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/) uses the Hebrew "not X but Y" idiom of priority, the same idiom as "it was not you that sent me hither, but God" ([Genesis 45:8](/codex/genesis-45-8/), ASV), where the brothers certainly did send Joseph. [Psalm 51](/codex/psalms-51/), often cited, ends: "Then will they offer bullocks upon thine altar" (51:19, ASV). These texts show that sacrifice without repentance is worthless, not that repentance replaces sacrifice. See [Blood Atonement Not Required Objection Defeater](/codex/blood-atonement-not-required-objection-defeater/). 2. [Ezekiel 18](/codex/ezekiel-18/) is about a son not being punished for his father's sins in court, not about whether God may accept a willing substitute. The same Torah built its whole sacrificial system on substitution, and [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/) says "Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (53:6, ASV). See [No One Can Die For Another Objection Defeater](/codex/no-one-can-die-for-another-objection-defeater/). ## Premise 4, The Hebrew Bible's Messiah suffers and must come before the Temple falls ### Affirmative case 1. Isaiah's servant is an individual who suffers for others and is then exalted: "he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high" ([Isaiah 52:13](/codex/isaiah-52-13/), ASV); "he was wounded for our transgressions" (53:5). 2. Jewish tradition read the passage of the Messiah before the collective reading became dominant. Targum Jonathan opens it "Behold, my servant the Messiah shall prosper"; b. Sanhedrin 98b names the Messiah from [Isaiah 53:4](/codex/isaiah-53-4/). See [Rabbinic Sources Attest a Suffering Messiah Argument](/codex/rabbinic-sources-attest-a-suffering-messiah-argument/). 3. [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) has God say Israel will "look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son" (ASV). B. Sukkah 52a applies the mourning to Messiah son of Joseph, who is slain. See [Zechariah 12 Pierced One Objection Defeater](/codex/zechariah-12-pierced-one-objection-defeater/). 4. [Daniel 9:26](/codex/daniel-9-26/) says an anointed one will "be cut off," and afterward "the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary" (ASV). [Malachi 3:1](/codex/malachi-3-1/) has the Lord coming "to his temple." [Haggai 2:9](/codex/haggai-2-9/) says of the rebuilt Temple, "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former" (ASV). These require someone before AD 70. See [Daniel 9 Seventy Weeks Objection Defeater](/codex/daniel-9-seventy-weeks-objection-defeater/) and [Talmud Attests the Temple Signs Ceased Argument](/codex/talmud-attests-the-temple-signs-ceased-argument/). 5. Jesus of Nazareth, a son of David, was cut off about four decades before the Temple fell, was pierced, and was proclaimed as the servant who bore sin. ### Anticipated objections 1. *"[Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/) is about Israel, who suffered among the nations."* 2. *"Jesus did not do what the Messiah must do: rebuild the Temple, gather the exiles, bring world peace (Maimonides, Laws of Kings 11)."* ### Rebuttals 1. The servant is distinguished from "my people" (53:8), is innocent where Isaiah's Israel is guilty (53:9; compare 1:4), and dies as a guilt offering. The collective reading is ancient (Origen reports a Jew arguing it in the third century, *Contra Celsum* 1.55), but it was not the only Jewish reading. See [Isaiah 53 Is About Israel Objection Defeater](/codex/isaiah-53-is-about-israel-objection-defeater/). 2. Those tasks belong to the Messiah's reign, which Christians believe begins fully at his return. The Hebrew Bible gives the Messiah both a suffering and a reigning role, and the rabbis themselves sometimes divided them between two figures (Messiah son of Joseph and Messiah son of David). Christians see one Messiah coming twice. See [Jesus Failed the Messianic Job Description Objection Defeater](/codex/jesus-failed-the-messianic-job-description-objection-defeater/) and [Messianic Prophecy](/codex/messianic-prophecy/). ## Premise 5, The resurrection of Jesus vindicates his claims ### Affirmative case 1. Jews and Christians share the hope of resurrection: "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life" ([Daniel 12:2](/codex/daniel-12-2/), ASV). The Mishnah treats denial of the resurrection as losing one's share in the world to come (Sanhedrin 10:1). 2. The earliest Christian creed, which Paul "received" ([1 Corinthians 15:3-4](/codex/1-corinthians-15-3-4/)), says the Messiah died for sins, was buried and was raised on the third day. Its first preachers were Jews in Jerusalem. 3. If Jesus was raised, God vindicated a man condemned for blasphemy after he claimed to be the Son of man who would sit at God's right hand ([Mark 14:61-62](/codex/mark-14-61-62/)). See [Resurrection of Jesus](/codex/resurrection-of-jesus/) and [Minimal Facts Argument](/codex/minimal-facts-argument/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"The resurrection is a Christian story; Jews did not believe it."* ### Rebuttals 1. Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem believed it within weeks, including priests ([Acts 6:7](/codex/acts-6-7/)) and later the Pharisee Paul. The question is the evidence, not the label. See [Argument from the Resurrection](/codex/argument-from-the-resurrection/) and [Talmud Confirms the Execution of Jesus Argument](/codex/talmud-confirms-the-execution-of-jesus-argument/). ## Premise 6, The Christian God gives assurance and a fuller ending ### Affirmative case 1. Rabbinic Judaism holds a real hope: "All Israel has a share in the world to come" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1), and the Tosefta extends a share to the righteous of the nations (Tosefta Sanhedrin 13:2). Mishnah Yoma 8:8 says that death and the Day of Atonement atone together with repentance. 2. Yet the tradition is honest about uncertainty. B. Berakhot 28b records Yochanan ben Zakkai weeping before his death, saying that two paths lay before him, one to the Garden of Eden and one to Gehinnom, and he did not know on which he would be led. 3. The Christian God gives assurance because the atonement is finished and does not depend on the measure of the believer's repentance: "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life" ([1 John 5:13](/codex/1-john-5-13/), ASV). See [Justification by Faith](/codex/justification-by-faith/). 4. The Christian ending fulfils the prophets: "He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces" ([Isaiah 25:8](/codex/isaiah-25-8/), ASV), and "they shall see his face" ([Revelation 22:4](/codex/revelation-22-4/), ASV). See [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/) and [Resurrection of the Body](/codex/resurrection-of-the-body/). ### Anticipated objections 1. *"A Jew trusts in God's mercy. That is enough; certainty is presumption."* ### Rebuttals 1. Trust in God's mercy is right, and the Hebrew Bible says "there is forgiveness with thee" ([Psalm 130:4](/codex/psalms-130-4/), ASV). The question is the ground of the mercy. The prophets promised a covenant in which God says "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" ([Jeremiah 31:34](/codex/jeremiah-31-34/), ASV). Christians believe that covenant has come, and it is not presumption to believe God when He says it. ## Grammar and hermeneutics The whole disagreement runs through the Hebrew Bible, and much of it can be settled, or honestly left open, on grammar and genre before any New Testament claim is made. - ***Echad* settles nothing, for either side.** The Shema, *YHWH eloheinu YHWH echad* ([Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/)), uses the ordinary cardinal numeral. *Echad* is used of composite things ("one flesh," [Genesis 2:24](/codex/genesis-2-24/)) and of a man utterly alone ([Ecclesiastes 4:8](/codex/ecclesiastes-4-8/), "there is one, and there is not a second"), so the number takes its sense from what it counts. The popular Christian argument that *echad* means "compound unity" is not sound and should not be used. The verse also has no verb, so translations differ on whether it says "the LORD is one" or "the LORD alone." See [H0259 - echad](/codex/h0259-echad/) and [Trinity Violates the Shema Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-violates-the-shema-objection-defeater/). - ***Elohim* is plural in form and singular in agreement, and that proves nothing about persons.** When it names Israel's God it takes singular verbs, as a plural of majesty or abstraction does. Concede it. See [H0430 - elohim](/codex/h0430-elohim/). - **[Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/) names YHWH twice.** "Jehovah rained... from Jehovah out of heaven." Hebrew sometimes repeats a noun where English would use a pronoun, so this alone does not prove two persons. What the text does show is that the narrator could speak of YHWH on earth acting and YHWH in heaven as the source, without strain. It belongs with the Angel texts, not on its own. - **[Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/): concede the vowels, keep the point.** The Hebrew is *neum YHWH la-adoni*. The Masoretic pointing *adoni* ("my lord") is the form used of human superiors, not *Adonai*, the form reserved for God. The Christian argument does not need the vowel. It rests on what the verse says: David's lord is invited to sit at YHWH's right hand, and verse 4 makes him "a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek" (ASV), a priest-king outside Aaron's line. That is the question Jesus put in [Mark 12:35-37](/codex/mark-12-35-37/). See [Melchizedek](/codex/melchizedek/). - **[Isaiah 9:6](/codex/isaiah-9-6/): *El Gibbor* is "Mighty God."** It is the noun *el* with the adjective *gibbor*, and Isaiah uses the identical phrase of YHWH one chapter later: "unto the mighty God" ([Isaiah 10:21](/codex/isaiah-10-21/), ASV). The four titles stand in one naming clause applied to the child, and the Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran, copied before Christ, has the same reading. Some Jewish translations render the names as a sentence about God, on the model of names such as Isaiah's own ("YHWH saves"); that is a real alternative and should be acknowledged, but the phrase itself is a divine title everywhere else it occurs. See [El Gibbor LXX Translation Problem Defeater](/codex/el-gibbor-lxx-translation-problem-defeater/). - **[Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/): the son of man receives what belongs to God.** He comes "with the clouds of heaven," and riding the clouds is elsewhere what God does ("Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud," [Isaiah 19:1](/codex/isaiah-19-1/), ASV; "Who maketh the clouds his chariot," [Psalm 104:3](/codex/psalms-104-3/), ASV). All nations "serve" him, and the Aramaic verb (*pelach*) is used everywhere else in [Daniel 3](/codex/daniel-3/) and 6 for serving a god: "we will not serve thy gods" ([Daniel 3:18](/codex/daniel-3-18/), ASV). The phrase *kebar enash* means "one like a human being." The figure is human in appearance and divine in honor. See [Son of Man Title](/codex/son-of-man-title/). - **[Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/): singular, distinguished, sacrificial.** Every verb, pronoun and suffix for the servant is third person masculine singular. The servant is struck "for the transgression of my people" (53:8), so he is not "my people." His soul is made an *asham* (53:10), the technical word for the guilt offering. The unit begins at 52:13, where God speaks of "my servant" before kings and nations. The plural forms counter-missionaries cite (*lamo* in 53:8, *bemotav* in 53:9) are a poetic byform and an intensive plural that occur with single individuals elsewhere ([Isaiah 44:15](/codex/isaiah-44-15/); [Ezekiel 28:10](/codex/ezekiel-28-10/)). See [Isaiah 53 Is About Israel Objection Defeater](/codex/isaiah-53-is-about-israel-objection-defeater/). - **[Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/): "me" and "him."** The speaker is YHWH (12:1). The Masoretic text reads "unto me (*elai*) whom they have pierced," and some manuscripts read "unto him." The verb *daqar* means to run through with a weapon. The shift from "me" to "him" in one sentence is real on any reading, and it is exactly the shift a Father-and-Son reading expects. See [Zechariah 12 Pierced One Objection Defeater](/codex/zechariah-12-pierced-one-objection-defeater/). - **[Numbers 23:19](/codex/numbers-23-19/) is about God's faithfulness, not about incarnation.** "God is not a man, that he should lie" names the respect in which God is unlike man: He does not lie or change His mind. The next line confirms it: "Hath he said, and will he not do it?" (ASV). See [God Is Not a Man Objection Defeater](/codex/god-is-not-a-man-objection-defeater/). - **[Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/) gives the reason, not just the rule.** "It is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life" (ASV). The verb is *kipper*, and the ground is the life given. A law that states its own rationale is not easily set aside by a later practice. - **[Daniel 9:26](/codex/daniel-9-26/): the order of events is in the consonants.** The anointed one is "cut off," and then the city and the sanctuary are destroyed. The verse's details are disputed (the word *mashiach* is indefinite, "an anointed one," and the Masoretic accents in 9:25 are a later interpretive layer), but the sequence is not. On grammar alone, the Hebrew Bible does not say that God is internally undifferentiated, does present a second figure who shares God's name, throne and honor, ties atonement to the life given in blood, and describes an individual servant who dies as a guilt offering before he is exalted. ## Live-cite kit **Scripture:** - [Genesis 19:24](/codex/genesis-19-24/), "brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven" (ASV). - [Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/), "Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand" (ASV). - [Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/), one like a son of man, "that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him" (ASV). - [Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/), "it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life" (ASV). - [Isaiah 53:5](/codex/isaiah-53-5/), "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities" (ASV). - [Daniel 9:26](/codex/daniel-9-26/), the anointed one cut off, then "the city and the sanctuary" destroyed (ASV). - [Jeremiah 31:34](/codex/jeremiah-31-34/), "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more" (ASV). - [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/), "one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (ASV). **Rabbinic sources (locators; wording paraphrased):** - Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1, all Israel has a share in the world to come. - Mishnah Yoma 8:8-9, what atones, and that Yom Kippur does not atone for wrongs against a neighbor until he is appeased. - Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4, Yochanan ben Zakkai in the ruins: loving-kindness as atonement ([Hosea 6:6](/codex/hosea-6-6/)). - B. Berakhot 28b, Yochanan ben Zakkai weeping, not knowing his path. - B. Sanhedrin 38b and b. Hagigah 15a, the "two powers" passages. - Targum Jonathan on [Isaiah 52:13](/codex/isaiah-52-13/), "my servant the Messiah." - Maimonides, *Mishneh Torah*, Laws of Repentance 1:3, only repentance remains without the Temple. **Scholarly:** - **Alan Segal**, *Two Powers in Heaven* (Brill, 1977): the rabbis condemned a binitarian reading held by Jews. - **Daniel Boyarin**, *Border Lines* (Penn, 2004): the late drawing of the line between Jewish and Christian views of the divine Word (an argued, debated thesis). - **Richard Bauckham**, *Jesus and the God of Israel* (2008): [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) as a Christian Shema. - **Michael L. Brown**, *Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus*, vol. 3 (Baker, 2003): the messianic texts. **Aphorisms:** - *"Not another God. The same God, come in person."* - *"The Torah says blood. The rabbis said prayer. The prophets said a servant."* - *"One Messiah, two comings, every text fulfilled."* - *"The question is not whether God is one. It is whether He has come."* ## Tactical notes - **Begin with history and humility.** Acknowledge Christian persecution of Jews before any argument, and mean it. See [The Jewish Defense](/codex/the-jewish-defense/). - **Say "same God" early.** Many Jews expect Christians to call their faith false worship. Make clear you believe they know the God of Abraham, and that the question is His Messiah. - **Argue from the Hebrew Bible, not the New Testament.** A Jewish friend does not accept Matthew's authority. Leviticus, Isaiah, Daniel and Psalms are shared ground, and so are the Targum and the Talmud. - **Concede the weak arguments first.** Drop *echad* as compound unity, plural *Elohim* and the vowel of [Psalm 110](/codex/psalms-110/). Conceding them earns a hearing for the strong ones. - **Ask about the altar.** "What atones for you now that there is no Temple?" is a respectful, serious question, and the rabbinic answer is itself evidence. - **Read [Isaiah 52:13](/codex/isaiah-52-13/) to 53:12 together, aloud.** Let the text do the work, then ask who it describes. - **Remember the person.** For a Jew, coming to faith in Jesus can cost family and community. Patience matters more than winning the exchange. ## See also - [Judaism](/codex/judaism/), the religion in full - [The Jewish Defense](/codex/the-jewish-defense/), the map of every Jewish-engagement page in the codex - [Two Powers in Heaven](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven/), the pre-Christian Jewish reading of a second divine figure - [Two Powers in Heaven Argument](/codex/two-powers-in-heaven-argument/), the rabbinic sources in debate-prep form - [Trinity Violates the Shema Objection Defeater](/codex/trinity-violates-the-shema-objection-defeater/), the Shema and the Trinity - [Isaiah 53 Is About Israel Objection Defeater](/codex/isaiah-53-is-about-israel-objection-defeater/), the servant as an individual - [Blood Atonement Not Required Objection Defeater](/codex/blood-atonement-not-required-objection-defeater/), atonement since AD 70 - [Daniel 9 Seventy Weeks Objection Defeater](/codex/daniel-9-seventy-weeks-objection-defeater/), the timing of the anointed one - [Rabbinic Sources Attest a Suffering Messiah Argument](/codex/rabbinic-sources-attest-a-suffering-messiah-argument/), the suffering Messiah in Jewish tradition - [Angel of the LORD](/codex/angel-of-the-lord/), the divine messenger who bears the Name - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), one God in three persons - [Christian God is the Only True God](/codex/christian-god-is-the-only-true-god/), the cumulative case across religions - [World Religions Compared by Their Ultimate Ending](/codex/world-religions-compared-by-their-ultimate-ending/), every worldview's ending side by side - [Islam vs the Christian God](/codex/islam-vs-the-christian-god/), the parallel comparison with Islam ## Common questions this page answers **Q: Do Jews and Christians worship the same God?** Christians believe so: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God Christians worship, and Jesus said "salvation is from the Jews" ([John 4:22](/codex/john-4-22/), ASV). The disagreement is about how fully that God has revealed Himself, especially whether Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God. **Q: Does the Trinity contradict the Jewish belief that God is one?** Christians confess the Shema too. The Hebrew word *echad* does not decide whether there are distinctions within God, and the Hebrew Bible itself shows a second figure who bears God's name and shares His throne ([Psalm 110:1](/codex/psalms-110-1/); [Daniel 7:13-14](/codex/daniel-7-13-14/)). Early rabbinic literature had to rule out a "two powers in heaven" reading, which shows Jews were already reading these texts that way. **Q: How do Jews atone for sin without the Temple?** Since the Temple was destroyed in AD 70, rabbinic Judaism has taught that repentance, prayer and charity take the place of sacrifice; Maimonides wrote that without the Temple only repentance remains. Christians point out that the Torah grounds atonement in blood on the altar ([Leviticus 17:11](/codex/leviticus-17-11/)) and believe the Messiah's once-for-all sacrifice, made before the Temple fell, is the atonement the sacrifices pointed to. **Q: Is [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/) about Israel or the Messiah?** Since the medieval commentator Rashi, most Jewish interpreters have read it of Israel, though the collective reading is older. But the servant is singular throughout, suffers "for the transgression of my people" (53:8), is innocent, and dies as a guilt offering. Targum Jonathan opens the passage "my servant the Messiah," and the Talmud names the Messiah from verse 4. **Q: Why don't most Jews believe Jesus is the Messiah?** Mainly because the Messiah is expected to rebuild the Temple, gather the exiles and bring world peace, which Jesus has not yet done. Christians answer that the Hebrew Bible also describes a Messiah who is cut off, pierced and bears sin before the Temple is destroyed, and that Jesus fulfils the suffering role now and will fulfil the reigning role at his return. **Q: What does Judaism believe happens after death?** Classical rabbinic Judaism affirms the world to come and the resurrection of the dead, and the Mishnah says all Israel has a share in the world to come; the Tosefta extends a share to the righteous of the nations. Jewish views vary widely, and the details are left open. Christianity shares the hope of resurrection and adds assurance through a finished atonement.