The Words We Use

One of the many things that some people find strange about Messianic believers in Yeshua is that we use different words. These include Messianic (why not Christian?), Yeshua (what’s wrong with Jesus?), congregation (can’t you just say “church”?), and Messiah (so you are anti- “Christ”?). Often people think that we are simply trying to cover up what we believe, but in fact the opposite is the case. Perhaps this story will help explain.

I have been sharing Messiah with some Israeli friends, Gil* and Roni. Gil was rather curious, having had a friend who was a believer while in the Israeli army. So, he seemed almost excited to find out I and some friends were also believers. Roni is less so. She does not believe in God, is secular, and in general wary of and confused by believers. But God has given us favor in that she is still listening.

One night at a casual gathering at my house, Gil wanted an explanation of Messianic beliefs. I tried to give some biblical context, starting with Bereshit (Genesis) and showing him a couple of prophecies like Isaiah 53. Roni arrived in the middle of the conversation, and though I was responding to Gil’s question, to her it looked like I was trying to “start things”! She interrupted and said, “I just don’t get it! What makes you any different than the Christians?”

With a quick prayer for wisdom, I said, “When you go to the texts, you see that these followers of Yeshua are called a lot of things, including ‘Christians’. Well, that just means follower of ‘Christ’.” They both nodded like they understood.

“But” I continued, “’Christ’ is from the Greek, and this is the exact same word as Mashiach (Hebrew for “Messiah”). Meshichim (Messianics) are followers of Yeshua, the Mashiach.” 

“Oh,” said Gil, “so the difference is that you believe that Christ is also the Mashiach?”

“No,” I said, “they are just the exact same word. So, when people proclaim that Yeshua is Christ, what they mean is that He is Mashiach.”

“Wow,” Gil said, lighting up. “I never knew this. I never knew that “Christ” really means “Mashiach.”

It’s simple, right? Later he was very thankful for the conversation, describing it as profound. But I do not believe that Gil is unusual. In fact, most pre-believing Jewish people are in a similar place as Gil. Yeshua has been turned into something foreign and the boundaries of that ‘foreign land’ are marked by words and symbols. Thus, the very words used to share Him can serve either to reveal or obscure. Please pray for these individuals to whom we are reaching out regularly. (Individuals’ names changed to protect their privacy).