Knowing God

Insights from Judaism

One of the people I met and talked with during a recent weekend designed to facilitate deep conversation was a Jewish Israeli who used to be an atheist but now is a theist. As such, he’s actively exploring and studying his Jewish faith, and very much enjoys discussing it.

One of the most profound things he told me in our hours long conversation is that the concept of “belief” in God in the Jewish tradition is very different than the Christian tradition. Our Christian concept of “belief” implies, to him, an assent to something without evidence. We “take a leap of faith.” We decide, or we choose, to believe. He pointed to God appearing to over 600,000 men (plus women and children) on Mount Sinai after the exodus of the nation of Israel from Egypt as a historic event about which, according to eyewitness accounts, we can know. In Judaism, you don’t come to “belief.” You come to “knowing.”

I challenged him then about similarly witnessed supernatural events in the life of Jesus Christ about which we can “know.” God spoke from heaven concerning His Son three different times: at His baptism, at His transfiguration, and before His crucifixion (Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, and John 12:28). Jesus appeared to over 500 men after His resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). When I mentioned God talking about His “Son,” he questioned me about what “son” could mean. I told him the apostle Matthew wrote specifically to his Jewish brethren, demonstrating to them how Jesus Christ fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, in order to prove to them He was the Messiah. Jesus Himself, “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets,” explained “the things concerning Himself in all the [Old Testament] Scriptures,” after His resurrection with two of His followers on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27). The apostle Paul “powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:28). These are things about which my new friend can read so that he may “know.”

Another difference he explained to me about the idea of Jewish versus Christian “belief” is that belief should actually be action in keeping with belief. I did not disagree with him. Abraham is the model of such belief to both Jews and Christians. Abraham “believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was pleasing to God, which is righteousness, because he acted, very consequentially, as if He believed what God said. We, as Christians, should do the same.

Another topic we discussed is the symbolic importance of the relationship between brothers in the Old Testament. Cain killed Abel. Esau wanted to kill Jacob, but ultimately forgave him. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but Judah was ultimately willing to lay down his life for his brothers (see Genesis 43:8-10 and Genesis 44:32-33). Finally, Moses and Aaron cooperated in the roles God called them to. This evolution in brotherly relationship demonstrates how we should grow and strive in our own relationships with one another. It is profound symbolism in which I also learned something else important: Judaism is called Judaism because Judah is the model. He was willing to lay his life down for his brothers. Jesus Christ, who did lay His life down for us, came from the tribe of Judah.

God is amazing. There is so much intentionality in His story. As Christians, we cannot divorce our faith or understanding from the Jewish scriptures. The Jewish understanding of their faith enhances our Christian understanding. Ultimately, as a Messianic Jewish friend of mine taught me, there is only one Bible, containing the testaments we call old and new. I’m so grateful for this conversation with a new friend that enhanced my appreciation of what I can know of it and its Author.