Are Christians the same as Jews?

That is an interesting question because Jesus was born a Jew, wasn’t he? So, if Jesus was Jewish and was even called “King of the Jews,” then it stands to reason that Christians are the same as Jews, right? Well, that’s not true, of course.

While many of the original Christians were probably Jewish, when Christ was crucified and then He was resurrected, they realized that he was the long-awaited Messiah and the early Christians started their own church based on the teachings of Jesus. This is all described in the first two chapters of the Book of Acts. While they still believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the Old Testament, they knew that Jesus was the Son of God and that they didn’t need a Rabbi or any religious leader to perform religious rituals for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus offered them salvation and a personal relationship with God through his sacrifice on the cross.

Peter, one of Jesus’ original disciples, became the first Christian priest. The rest of the disciples followed suit and spread the good news of Jesus throughout the land. Many people during this time converted to this new belief but there were still many who did not convert. Many of the people in Jerusalem refused to convert and sided with the Pharisee’s and continued to practice their Jewish faith.

That’s why, even today, there are Jews in Israel and they don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God.