Re: "the jews are anti-Semitic, Jews should be proselytized" There is no requirement in the New Testamant that a Jew must convert and become non-Jewish to be saved. That is why Paul says things like "to the Jew first and also the Greek." That is why Paul circumcized Timothy. That is why the Book of Hebrews appeals to Jews to recognize that their Missiah had come. That a Jew must acknowledge that Yeshua is the saving Messiah and trust him for salvation is necessary, but not the abandonment of their Jewishness.
Don Curtis | Homepage | 02.20.04 - 11:35 am | #

Don, I don't believe David said anything about abandoning Jewishness and becoming non-Jewish.

Jews should be proselytized because they need the gospel, as Paul makes clear in Romans 1-3. You used Romans 1:16, "to the Jew first and also the Greek," but if you keep reading through Romans 3, you'll find Paul's message is precisely that "righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe" and mere Jewishness is not enough. That is why some Messianic Jews call themselves "completed Jews."

I had trouble reconciling your first sentence about "no requirement to convert" with your last sentence that "a Jew must acknowledge that Yeshua is the saving Messiah." If your only concern is retaining cultural Jewishness, there is no disagreement here. Could you explain which sentence I understood properly?
Randy Brandt | Homepage | 02.20.04 - 2:14 pm | #

Unfortunately, yes, I think it could happen. Not that it should -- just as Christ was crucified by some specific Jews, not "the Jews", Christianity today is being attacked by some specific Jews, not every Jew.

Here's a link to an article by a Jewish rabbi making much the same point. http://www.towardtradition.org/ a...on_Feb_2004.htm. Closing para:

"A ferocious Rottweiler dog in your suburban home will quickly estrange your family from the neighborhood. For those of us in the Jewish community who cherish friendship with our neighbors, some Jewish organizations have become our Rottweilers. God help us."
Jim Price | 02.20.04 - 3:02 pm | #

Seems like another segment of being politically correct run amok.
Ed Yong | 02.20.04 - 5:02 pm | #

I would like to comment on the necessity of "saving faith". I would argue that a person is saved because Christ saved them, "not through human will or effort", with the result of faith becoming evidenced in that person's life. So, this leads to the question, "can a person be elect without them knowing it?" (i.e. such that "saving faith" is not evident to observers other than Jesus)? From the article on infant baptism, I think the conclusion would have to be yes. Can it be true of adults, as well as infants?

Having asked that, I would still affirm that Jews (as well as everyone), needs to be evangelized and discipled, and there is absolutely no other way to salvation than through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. But I sometimes wonder if He doesn't save more people than we think He does?
wrf3 | 02.20.04 - 9:18 pm | #

By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves...
- Ephesians
Matt | 02.20.04 - 10:30 pm | #

I've got a simpler question. When are we going to quit wimping out and tell it like it is? That is, Jesus is not yet another path to Spiritual fulfillment, but rather the fulfillment of the Jewish faith.

I wouldn't mind a world at all that had Christians who observed passover and/or prayed five times a day.
Mean Dean | Homepage | 02.21.04 - 9:20 pm | #

Can a person be saved, and actively deny Christ? Shouldn't a necessary fruit of faith be the confession of the mouth?
Josh S | Homepage | 02.22.04 - 1:12 am | #

It irritates me that "anti-Semite" means "Jew-hater." A semitic person is someone who has descended from Shem - he could be Arabian or Punic or Hebrew or whatever; but the religion of the Pharisees is a separate issue.
John | Homepage | 02.22.04 - 5:17 am | #

Josh S hits the point--Jews can remain Jews and be saved, so long as they realized that their messiah has come--Jesus! If they reject that messiah, then how can we say they will still be saved through Him? They have rejected Him, and thus rejected God's faithfulness to them, and thus have, in the most significant of senses, broken their covenant with God and are now under God's covenant curses.
David Talcott | Homepage | 02.23.04 - 2:37 am | #

I think all the anti-Semitism charges are really just anti-Christianity in disguise.

Yes?
Matt O | 02.23.04 - 11:54 am | #

What truly concerns me looking forward, is the possible future combination of:
(a) the claim that the New Testament itself is inherently anti-semitic and hateful because it incites hatred against Jews;
(b) anti-hate speech legislation. These two things could combine to outlaw Christian Bibles, or to outlaw Christian churches and organizations who fail to sign some waiver saying they don't take the Bible too seriously and have no intention of preaching the Gospel to the Jews. And yes, such action would of course be anti-Christian; arguably the steps leading towards that end are at least as anti-Christian as anything in the New Testament is anti-semitic.

What really confuses this issue is that Jewishness is primarily understood today as an ethnic identity, and only secondarily as a religious identity. Christianity is "opposed" to the Jewish religion in that it calls on that religion's followers to become Christians... just as it does the followers of every other non-Christian religion. What I think happens sometimes is a reporter or whoever can take some Christian statements about the Jewish religion, construe them as anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic, and all of a sudden it sounds like Christians are racists. All because anti-semitism and Judaism have such fluid definitions.
sockmonk | Homepage | 02.23.04 - 12:40 pm | #

This is why it is critical that Christianity embrace the Messianic Jewish movement. The recent furor over the alleged anti-Semetism in "Passion" displays just how far Christianity has moved from it's origin as a Jewish sect. The last 50+ years has seen a rise in Messianic Judaism that has been nothing short of miraculous. The next step, in my opinion, is for Gentile Christians to acknowledge the Judaic heritage of Christianity (indeed, I believe they are inseparable) and begin incorporating Jewish tradition back into Christian worship (Passover and the other feasts, for example). The more Christianity looks like it's original Jewish form, the less likely scenarios like the one mentioned above will occur.
J.C. | 02.25.04 - 11:15 am | #

Peter, Stephen and Paul clearly laid the blame for Jesus' death on the Jews, while acknowledging the role of the Romans. Acts 2:23 "this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death" is representative.
With regard to the Jews calling down the blood of Christ on themselves and their children, there is plenty of room to suggest that this judgment was not limited to the destruction of Jerusalem. I know of nowhere where the "blessings and cursings" promises of Leviticus and Deuteronomy were ever abrogated. The Jews in Jesus generation were still receiving judgment for their forefathers treatment of the prophets. Why would succeeding generations of Jews still not be reaping the tragedies of the "cursings" passages? There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that post-70AD persecution is the result of Satanic anti-Semitism rather than the judgment of a Holy God who fulfills His promises. Jack Van Impe says that God doesn't hold a grudge against the Jews for Christ's crucifixion. What childish, emotion based heretical trash!!
stan | 10.25.04 - 4:02 pm | #