Did Jesus Point to Moses?

Exploring the Faith of Jesus Within the Religion of Moses

Who was Jesus—religiously? According to the earliest sources, both canonical and extra-canonical, Jesus of Nazareth continually directed his followers toward “Moses”—not a person alone, but a faith and practice embodied in the Torah. Long before Christianity existed, Jesus lived and taught as a Jew within the diverse Judaisms of the first century, embracing certain Mosaic commandments as foundational while sharply challenging other interpretations of Moses current in his day.

In this class, we will examine how Jesus is portrayed as both appealing to Moses and disputing with those who claimed to represent Moses. How did he understand the path to eternal life? What did he believe was the true “faith of Moses”? And why does he at times condemn the religious leaders who “sit in Moses’ seat” while seemingly affirming their authority?

We will also consider the ancient Ebionite understanding of Jesus—a portrait that preserves early views of a Torah-faithful teacher whose message stood in tension with other forms of emerging Judaism.

Join us as we explore a provocative question: When Jesus pointed his followers to Moses, which Moses did he mean—the Moses of his own reading, or the Moses presented by his religious opponents? And what might this reveal about the message he intended to preserve?

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