Editing Christianity and Judaism (section)

===The Messiah===
{{Main|Messiah}}
Jews believe that a descendant of [[King David]] will one day appear to restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher in an era of peace, prosperity, and spiritual understanding for Israel and all the nations of the world. Jews refer to this person as [[Jewish eschatology|Moshiach]] or "anointed one", translated as messiah in English. The traditional Jewish understanding of the messiah is that he is fully human and born of human parents without any supernatural element. The messiah is expected to have a relationship with God similar to that of the [[Nevi'im|prophets]] of the Tanakh. In his commentary on the Talmud, Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) wrote:

:All of the people Israel will come back to Torah; The people of Israel will be gathered back to the land of Israel; The Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt; Israel will live among the nations as an equal, and will be strong enough to defend herself; Eventually, war, hatred and famine will end, and an era of peace and prosperity will come upon the Earth.

He adds:
:"And if a king shall stand up from among the House of David, studying Torah and indulging in commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, and he will coerce all Israel to follow it and to strengthen its weak points, and will fight The Lord's wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded [and won all nations surrounding him. Old prints and mss.] and built a Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the strayed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together ... But if he did not succeed until now, or if he was killed, it becomes known that he is not this one of whom the Torah had promised us, and he is indeed like all [other] proper and wholesome kings of the House of David who died."

He also clarified the nature of the Messiah:
:"Do not imagine that the anointed King must perform miracles and signs and create new things in the world or resurrect the dead and so on. The matter is not so: For Rabbi Akiba was a great scholar of the sages of the Mishnah, and he was the assistant-warrior of the king Ben Coziba Simon bar Kokhba... He and all the Sages of his generation deemed him the anointed king, until he was killed by sins; only since he was killed, they knew that he was not. The Sages asked him neither a miracle nor a sign..."

The Christian view of Jesus as Messiah goes beyond such claims and is the fulfillment and union of three anointed offices; a prophet like Moses who delivers God's commands and covenant and frees people from bondage, a High Priest in the order of [[Melchizedek]] overshadowing the [[Levite priesthood]] and a king like King David ruling over Jews, and like God ruling over the whole world and coming from the line of David.

For Christians, Jesus is also [[hypostatic union|fully human and fully divine]] as the [[Logos|Word of God]] who sacrifices himself so that humans can receive salvation. Jesus [[Session of Christ|sits]] in [[Heaven (Christianity)|Heaven]] at the [[Right Hand of God]] and will [[Last Judgment|judge humanity]] in the [[Eschatology|end times]] when he [[Second Coming of Christ|returns to earth]].

Christian readings of the Hebrew Bible find many references to Jesus. This can take the form of specific prophesy, and in other cases of foreshadowing by [[Typology (theology)|types]] or forerunners. Traditionally, most Christian readings of the Bible maintained that almost every prophecy was actually about the coming of Jesus, and that the entire Old Testament of the Bible is a prophecy about the [[Ministry of Jesus|coming of Jesus]].

====Catholic views====
Catholicism teaches ''[[Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus]]'' ("Outside the Church there is no salvation"), which some, like Fr. [[Leonard Feeney]], interpreted as limiting salvation to Catholics only. At the same time, it does not deny the possibility that those not visibly members of the Church may attain salvation as well. In recent times, its teaching has been most notably expressed in the Vatican II council documents ''[[Unitatis Redintegratio]]'' (1964), ''[[Lumen gentium]]'' (1964), ''[[Nostra aetate]]'' (1965), an encyclical issued by Pope John Paul II: ''[[Ut unum sint]]'' (1995), and in a document issued by the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], ''[[Dominus Iesus]]'' in 2000. The latter document has been criticised for claiming that non-Christians are in a "gravely deficient situation" as compared to Catholics, but also adds that "for those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation."

[[Pope John Paul II]] on 2 October 2000 emphasized that this document did not say that non-Christians were actively denied salvation: "...this confession does not deny salvation to non-Christians, but points to its ultimate source in Christ, in whom man and God are united". On 6 December the Pope issued a statement to further emphasize that the Church continued to support its traditional stance that salvation was available to believers of other faiths: "The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance with the Beatitudes—the poor in spirit, the pure of heart, those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life—will enter God's kingdom." He further added, "All who seek God with a sincere heart, including those who do not know Christ and his church, contribute under the influence of Grace to the building of this Kingdom." On 13 August 2002 American Catholic bishops issued a joint statement with leaders of [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Conservative Judaism]], called "Reflections on Covenant and Mission", which affirmed that Christians should not target Jews for conversion. The document stated: "Jews already dwell in a saving covenant with God" and "Jews are also called by God to prepare the world for God's Kingdom." However, many Christian denominations still believe it is their duty to reach out to "unbelieving" Jews.

In December 2015, the [[Holy See|Vatican]] released a 10,000-word document that, among other things, stated that Jews do not need to be converted to find salvation, and that Catholics should work with Jews to fight antisemitism.<ref name="NPR.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/10/459223058/catholics-should-not-try-to-convert-jews-vatican-commission-says|title=Catholics Should Not Try To Convert Jews, Vatican Commission Says|date=10 December 2015|publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref name="Philip Pullella">{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-jews-idUSKBN0TT1BK20151210#bdz0KPLr1Y8xfUAR.97|title=Vatican says Catholics should not try to convert Jews, should fight anti-semitism|author=Philip Pullella|date=10 December 2015|work=Reuters}}</ref><ref name="news.va">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html|title=News from the Vatican - News about the Church - Vatican News|website=www.vaticannews.va}}</ref>

====Eastern Orthodox views====
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2019}}
Eastern Orthodox Christianity emphasizes a continuing life of repentance or ''metanoia'', which includes an increasing improvement in thought, belief and action. Regarding the salvation of Jews, [[Muslims]], and other non-Christians, the Orthodox have traditionally taught that there is no salvation outside the church. Orthodoxy recognizes that other religions may contain truth, to the extent that they are in agreement with Christianity.

God is thought to be good, just, and merciful; it would not seem just to condemn someone because they never heard the Gospel message, or were taught a distorted version of the Gospel by [[Heresy|heretics]]. Therefore, the reasoning goes, they must at some point have an opportunity to make a genuine informed decision.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} Ultimately, those who persist in rejecting God condemn themselves, by cutting themselves off from the ultimate source of all Life, and from the God who is Love embodied. Jews, Muslims, and members of other faiths, then, are expected to convert to Christianity in the afterlife.