What Christians Should Think of Jews

What Christians Should Think of JewsHeath LambertThe Jewish People and the Nation of IsraelLast week, I talked about the biblical and political reasons to support the nation of Israel. This week, I want to talk about what a Christian view of Jewish people should be, whether those Jews reside in the nation of Israel or not. It is an important question in our contemporary context for surprising reasons.It has become increasingly popular in our contemporary culture to adopt suspicious views of Jewish people that range from ignorance to the blatantly anti-Semitic. Hatred of the Jewish people, exaltation of the legacy of Adolf Hitler, holocaust-denial, holocaust minimization, and conspiracy theories regarding economic control by “organized Jewry” are shockingly and increasingly common.Such talk is spread by those who confuse information consumption with true knowledge and spend more time watching TikTok than they do reading history. Social media celebrities like Nick Fuentes masquerade as authorities and take advantage of the gullible.I get a surprising number of requests to address what Christians should think of Jewish people from parents and grandparents whose children and grandchildren are being confused by conspiracy theories spread by the ignorant and the hateful.Explaining what Christians are to think of the Jewish people ultimately requires an examination of history and a rebuttal to the many factual errors that often get repeated on the Internet. I will save a discussion of those matters for another time. In this article, I want to examine what the Bible says about how Christians should think of Jews. Christians will agree that the principal reality controlling our evaluation of Jewish people is the teaching of Scripture. I will emphasize three responses to Jewish people required of Christians by Scripture.CompassionThe first response is compassion that flows from the truth that the Jewish people are lost, apart from Christ, and, therefore, devoid of salvation. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in dramatically personal terms in Romans 9:2-3, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”The Israelites are cut off from Christ. Paul knows this because he has come to faith in Jesus and has been enlisted as one of his choice missionaries. Paul is utterly convinced that the way to eternal life is not through a relationship with God based on ethnicity or observance of the law but through a relationship with God based on faith in Jesus alone. He says in Galatians 6:14-15, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”Because they have not been made new in Jesus Christ, the Jewish people are, in the words of Ephesians 2:1, “Dead in trespasses and sins.” Whenever you see real guilt and sin in the life of a Jewish person, it is not the evidence of some conspiracy theory you heard about online. It is the fruit of sin. Ephesians 2:3 says of those who are dead in trespasses and sins that they are “Children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” The Jewish people are sinners like everyone else on planet earth, whose only hope of salvation is found in Christ alone.It is true that a crowd of mostly Jewish people played a unique role in the crucifixion of Jesus and bears moral responsibility for their involvement. Matthew 27:22-23 says, “Pilate said to them, ‘Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?’ They all said, ‘Let him be crucified!’ And he said, ‘Why? What evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Let him be crucified!’” When Pilate tried washing his hands of the whole nasty affair the crowd said, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25).It is also true that 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” The crowd that demanded Jesus’s blood on that day 2000 years ago included a limited number of people. The mass of unrighteous humanity that required the death of Jesus on the cross includes every sinner who has ever lived. The Bible teaches that all of us are sinners responsible for the death of Jesus.When a person, by faith, comes to realize they are guilty of sin and deserving of infinite punishment that they will never receive because of the blood of Jesus, they will be full of compassion for other sinners who yet remain under judgment. This was the profound compassion the Apostle Paul displayed in Romans 9:2-3 when he revealed his broken heart over the lost state of the Jewish people.Jewish people are separated from the grace of God just like every other person who has not come to faith in Jesus. Christians must have compassion for them and seek to win them to Christ, not grow in hatred toward them, and must never be involved in spreading any hatred to others.GratitudeThe second response Christians must have toward Jews is gratitude that flows from the rich theological heritage we have received from the Jewish people. Paul also makes this clear in Romans 9. Having talked about his heart of compassion for the Jewish people who are apart from Christ, he says in Romans 9:4-5, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”These words indicate that we have received at least two realities of inestimable worth from the Jewish people. The first are the Scriptures. This is what Paul means when he talks about the covenants, the law, and the promises. All these are recorded in God’s Word, the Bible. And we are not only talking about the Old Testament, but of the New Testament as well. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter—all the authors of the New Testament books were Jewish men. Christians today would have no access to God’s revealed Word had he not chosen to speak through the Jewish people.The second precious reality that Christians possess because of the Jews is Jesus himself. Paul says the patriarchs were Jewish and that “from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and the Lord and Master of the entire universe, is Jewish.Christians cannot be anything other than grateful for this. God used the Jewish race to create the human ancestry of our Savior. When Christians confess that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, we are proclaiming that our hope of everlasting life is based on Jewish blood.Christians—God’s New Covenant people—have a unique relationship and camaraderie with Jews—God’s Old Covenant people—that we share with no one else on earth. We should be very grateful.HopeFinally, Christians should look on the Jewish people and have great hope. In Romans 9:2-3, Paul expressed his heartbreak over the separation of the Jewish people from Christ. But this is only the beginning of a larger section where Paul expresses his great hope for the Jewish people. He makes clear in Romans 11:1 that God has not rejected the Jewish people. He teaches in Romans 11:11-15 that we are living in a unique moment of redemptive history where the Jewish rejection of Jesus is allowing for Gentile salvation. In Romans 11:18, he urges Gentiles not to use this as an occasion for pride but for humility.Then in Romans 11:26, Paul proclaims that, “All Israel will be saved.” Paul promises that one great day in the future, the Jewish rejection of Israel will end, and an overwhelming number of Jewish people will repent and believe in Jesus Christ.This is a reality that must fill every Christian with hope. We must long for the future salvation of Israel because of our profound gratitude for all we have received from their race. We must long for the future salvation of Israel because we know what it was to be dead in our own sins, and we do not want this for anyone else. We must long for the future salvation of Israel because everyone who loves God desires to see his victory over all opposition and the fulfillment of all his promises.This kind of hope for the future salvation of Israel eradicates any desire to cherish any hatred in our hearts. It will instead lead us to pray, to thank God for all we have received, to plead with God to bring these precious people to faith in Jesus, and to ask God to use our compassion and our testimony to bring this about.