The Bible, Israel, and Antisemitism: Part 6: "Salvation is from the Jews"
Despite the horrific lessons we should have learned from the Holocaust, antisemitism is once again rearing its ugly head, this time among people who should know better: political and religious conservatives.
In earlier blogs, I explained that believers in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, are part of a new covenant. Israel of the old covenant was destroyed by the Romans for rejecting Christ (as Jesus predicted). But Romans 11 entertains the possibility that the Jews could come to faith in Christ and be grafted back into the new covenant, the continuation of God’s promises to Abraham. It is also not impossible, in accordance with God’s ancient promises, that the Jews, “beloved for the sake of their forefathers” (Romans 11.28), could be restored to their homeland.
Why, then, has antisemitism been so prominent in the history of the Christian church? I’d like to take a few posts to trace that development.
Antisemites have historically interpreted the failures of the Jews – breaches of the law of Moses, the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, and the persecution of the early church – as proof that all Jews (and all things Jewish) are evil, opposed to God, and therefore to be hated.
But we dare not forget that Jesus was a Jew! So were all the apostles and earliest disciples, including a few influential Jewish leaders like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Jesus said that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4.22), indicating that the foundation of Judaism was trustworthy. Paul agrees, saying that the advantage of the Jews was that they were “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3.1-2).
Jesus said He was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15.24). He initially commanded His apostles to avoid Gentiles and Samaritans and “go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10.6). Despite their failures, the Jews could be called to repentance and restored to the right path. That was the mission of both John the Baptist and Jesus!
Though we think of scribes and Pharisees as “the bad guys”, they were actually the best of the Jews. Jesus came to bring them, not a total revolution, but necessary reforms, and said on at least one occasion, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12.34). Jesus discouraged the imitation of Pharisaic practice but instructed the Jewish people to obey Pharisaic teaching (Matthew 23.1-3), most likely because Pharisaic ideas were the best understanding of Judaism at the time.
Many Jews rejected Jesus, but many believed in Him (e.g. John 12.9-11) and thousands believed the preaching of the apostles (Acts 2.41 cf. Acts 21.20). In every city Paul presented the gospel first in the synagogue, living out his motto “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1.16, 2.9-10). The followers of Jesus were initially seen as a sect within Judaism – the sect of the Nazarene (Acts 24.5,14) – not a completely new religion.
With such a close relationship between Jews and Christians, how did antisemitism ever develop within Christianity?
More on that in the next blog…
In earlier blogs, I explained that believers in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, are part of a new covenant. Israel of the old covenant was destroyed by the Romans for rejecting Christ (as Jesus predicted). But Romans 11 entertains the possibility that the Jews could come to faith in Christ and be grafted back into the new covenant, the continuation of God’s promises to Abraham. It is also not impossible, in accordance with God’s ancient promises, that the Jews, “beloved for the sake of their forefathers” (Romans 11.28), could be restored to their homeland.
Why, then, has antisemitism been so prominent in the history of the Christian church? I’d like to take a few posts to trace that development.
Antisemites have historically interpreted the failures of the Jews – breaches of the law of Moses, the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus, and the persecution of the early church – as proof that all Jews (and all things Jewish) are evil, opposed to God, and therefore to be hated.
But we dare not forget that Jesus was a Jew! So were all the apostles and earliest disciples, including a few influential Jewish leaders like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Jesus said that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4.22), indicating that the foundation of Judaism was trustworthy. Paul agrees, saying that the advantage of the Jews was that they were “entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3.1-2).
Jesus said He was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15.24). He initially commanded His apostles to avoid Gentiles and Samaritans and “go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10.6). Despite their failures, the Jews could be called to repentance and restored to the right path. That was the mission of both John the Baptist and Jesus!
Though we think of scribes and Pharisees as “the bad guys”, they were actually the best of the Jews. Jesus came to bring them, not a total revolution, but necessary reforms, and said on at least one occasion, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12.34). Jesus discouraged the imitation of Pharisaic practice but instructed the Jewish people to obey Pharisaic teaching (Matthew 23.1-3), most likely because Pharisaic ideas were the best understanding of Judaism at the time.
Many Jews rejected Jesus, but many believed in Him (e.g. John 12.9-11) and thousands believed the preaching of the apostles (Acts 2.41 cf. Acts 21.20). In every city Paul presented the gospel first in the synagogue, living out his motto “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1.16, 2.9-10). The followers of Jesus were initially seen as a sect within Judaism – the sect of the Nazarene (Acts 24.5,14) – not a completely new religion.
With such a close relationship between Jews and Christians, how did antisemitism ever develop within Christianity?
More on that in the next blog…