If Jesus was/is a Jew, then what are we?

After last week's discussion, I realized that one of the things we are going to run into in our discussion is the nature of the current relationship between Judaism and Christianity.  It would not be surprising at all to find that we have differing answers to that question. Various denominations of Christianity have taken different positions on this issue over time.

Some of the discussion we had was in response to ideas drawn from this article: If Jesus Was a Jew, Then Why are We Catholic? Namely:

The term Jew is used in at least two senses in Scripture: to refer to those who are ethnically Jews and to those who are religiously Jews. Jesus was a Jew in both senses. In fact, he completed the Jewish religion by serving as the Messiah (Christ) whom the prophets had long foretold. 

And this:

Christians are those who Paul refers to as being inwardly (religiously) Jewish, while non-Christian Jews are those who he refers to as being outwardly (ethnically) Jewish. The former condition, he stresses, is the more important.

From Hebrew For Christian article "Israel and the Church" by John Parsons:

When studying the Jewish roots of Christianity, certain questions often arise regarding the nature of the "Church," the nature of "Israel," and the relationship between them. Do Gentile Christians become "Jewish" on account of their relationship to Jesus?  Does the "Church" somehow replace the Jewish people in God's plan as the "new Israel"?  Exactly how should we understand the relationship between the Church and Israel today?

I recommend a full reading of the above article (Israel and the Church) to sort through the 3 different theological positions in response to those questions:

1) Replacement/Supercessionism/Fulfillment/Covenant Theology
2) Separation/Dispensationalism Theology
3) Remnant Theology

The article is long and includes a history lesson on Israel and the Church before getting into the relationship between the two. I recommend clicking on the "Printer Friendly PDF" link above the article's title and printing it if you don't like to read on the computer screen. Also note that the article takes a strong position in favor of remnant theology.