Judaism defines that God transmitted the main truths through the prophets to his chosen Jewish people, as the teaching of the Old Testament. Considering it an unshakable foundation of their faith, Jews do not recognize the sacredness of the New Testament, which contains the teachings of Jesus Christ directed to people of all nationalities.
The basis of Judaism is the teaching accumulated in the Old Testament. The Orthodox Jewish religion does not recognize the sacredness of the New Testament, which contains the teachings of Jesus Christ. The religion of Christians, both Catholics and Orthodox, is based on the entire Bible as a whole, containing both the Old and New Testaments. Only Protestantism (one of the branches of Christianity) does not recognize the Old Testament.
Judaism's Arguments Against Christ
Jewish religious literature gives some arguments, allegedly testifying that Christ was not the Messiah (prophet, messenger of God) and could not be a God-man, and his teaching, therefore, cannot be true.
According to the predictions of ancient Jewish prophets such as Isaiah and Hosea, the true Messiah, whose appearance the Jews are waiting for, must create many significant events. Return divine harmony to the world, raise the dead, gather all the Jews scattered around the world to heavenly Jerusalem, stop all wars and even make animals live in peace. The coming of the Messiah should bring enormous interethnic and social changes: "And all peoples will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles." The main signs of the appearance of the Messiah are the coming of peace and universal brotherhood and the end of violence.
The doctrine of the divine nature of Christ is denied on the grounds that God cannot be embodied in man, just as the infinite cannot be contained in the finite. The invisible God cannot have a visible image.
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit) allegedly contradicts the revelation of the Old Testament about the One God.
Jesus Christ allegedly violated the laws of the Torah (an integral part of the Old Testament). For example, Christ healed a sick woman on the Jewish holy day, Saturday. He did not stop his disciples when on the Sabbath day they plucked ears of wheat and grinded them for their food. He allowed his disciples not to wash their hands before eating food (the Torah contains a huge set of rules concerning the entire way of life of the Jews). Finally, the Christian religion has elevated Sunday to the detriment of the Sabbath, which is inconsistent with Jewish law.
Judaism's Arguments for Christ
There are, however, many prophecies from the same venerated Jewish prophets that confirm the divine nature of Christ.
So, for example, the predicted place of birth of the anointed of God - Bethlehem of Judea, i.e. the very place that we remember at Christmas.
The predicted time of birth also coincides: in the period when Judea will lose political independence; in the days of the Second Temple; shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem (70) and the dispersal of the Jews among all nations.
The various details predicted in the fate of the Messiah and what happened to Christ coincide, for example, that he will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. Details of the persecution, suffering and execution of Jesus, predicted by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before the event.
One of many or the only one?
The skepticism of representatives of the orthodox Jewish religion in relation to Jesus Christ is partly explained by the existence of a series of preacher-teachers who called themselves true messiahs. Over the past 2 thousand years, there have been about 60 applicants for the title of God's anointed one.
The expectations of the Jewish people were not fulfilled by Christ in the literal sense, in accordance with the predictions of the ancient Jewish prophets. Therefore, there is no reason to expect Jews to believe in Christ as Savior, at least until his Second Coming.
