Jesus was a Jew. ... To say they never heard of him is like saying Jews did not exist.
Jesus was a Jew by descent, and He lived a Jewish life in the first century. Jesus was born in Judah to a
Jewish mother, raised in Galilee in a Jewish home, and taught in Jerusalem, the Jewish capital.
He ministered throughout Israel: “He came to His own [the Jewish people], and
His own [the Jews] did not receive Him” (
John 1:11, NKJV). Speaking to a Samaritan, Jesus said, “You [Gentiles] worship what you do not know; we [Jews] know what we [Jews] worship, for salvation is of the Jews” (
John 4:22). In His use of first- and second-person pronouns,
Jesus identified Himself as being among the Jewish population.
Jesus identified with the religion of the Jews and was
considered a rabbi (
John 1:38;
6:25), although
He strongly rejected the pharisaical reinterpretation of that religion.