The standard definition of anti-Semitism in the dictionary is “hostility or prejudice against Jews”. There is a long history of mistreatment of Jews (some horrible) by Christians by profession. Is the purpose of this article to show that these Christians were acting against the Bible?Scripture themselves that they said they believed. The cumulative effect of these twelve observations is to show that the Christian scriptures do not support anti-Semitism, but forbid it.
God freely and kindly chose the Jewish people among all the peoples of the world to be the beneficiary of a covenant with them that would give Israel unique blessings and be the means by which all the families of the earth would be blessed.
- Now.
- Did the Lord tell Abram? I will make you a great nation.
- Bless you.
- And magnify your name.
- Be a blessing! I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; Will all the families of the earth be blessed in you?(Genesis 12: 1-3).
“Are they Israelis?Do they belong to the Israelis?Adoption and glory, alliances, legislation, worship and promises belong to them?”(Rom 9. 4).
Jesus, whose scriptures they teach, is the incarnation of the eternal and divine Son of God, was this incarnation the means by which God imposed his covenant with Abraham?Jesus is the seed by which all the families of the earth are blessed. .
Because it is obvious that our Lord came from Judah?(Heb 7:14)
“From them [the Israelites] are the patriarchs, and christ also descends from them, according to the flesh, which is above all, God blessed for ever and ever. Amen?! (Rom 9. 5).
“Now the promises were made to Abraham and his offspring. He did not say, And unto the seed, as if to speak of several, but as one: And unto thy seed, who is Christ?(Gal 3:16).
3. The twelve apostles chosen by the Lord Jesus were Jews
“Jesus sent these twelve, giving them the following instructions: Do not go to the Gentiles, and do not enter the city of the Samaritans; but, preferably, seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel”; (Mt 10. 5. 6).
The fact that the Jewish people rejected (and generally still rejects) Jesus as their Messiah, and was an instrument, along with Pilate and other Gentiles, for their crucifixion, does not justify their persecution. dying, he set an example for his disciples as they prayed that the Jews and Gentiles responsible for their death would be forgiven, which many of them were when the Apostles offered them the grace of the gospel, not punishment.
However, Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do (Lk 23:3).
“Then Peter, raising his voice, warns them in these terms: Jewish men?Jesus, the Nazarene? You killed him, crucified him in the hands of the wicked; But who did God wake up to?When you heard these things, did your Peter respond, “Repent and be baptized each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins,” so those who accepted the word were baptized, with an increase that day of nearly three thousand people. (AT 2:14, 23-24, 37. 38, 41).
5. Paul described the painful short-term implications and encouraging long-term implications of the Jewish rejection of the gospel, explaining that Jewish hostility to Jesus as Messiah was due to the salvation of the Gentiles, which in turn would be due to salvation . In other words, God’s plan for the temporary disobedience of the Gentiles and the Jews was for the good of both.
As for the gospel, they are enemies because of you; as for the election, however, loved by the patriarchs; because God’s gifts and vocation are irrevocable; because just as in a time you were disobedient to God, but now you have obtained mercy for your disobedience, you too have now been disobedient, so that they too may obtain mercy from what has been yours. . For God has ended all with disobedience, to give mercy to all (Romans 11:28-32).
God chose to save the Jews and Gentiles in such a way that the root of their pride would be destroyed. He particularly warned the Gentiles not to brag about the Jews simply because some of them did not believe while the Gentiles did.
However, if some of the branches were broken and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted into them and became partakers of the root and sap of the olive tree, do not boast of the branches; But if you boast, you must know that it is not you who holds the root, but the root, you (Romans 11:17-18).
7. To support Paul’s rejection of the Gentiles’ ostentation of the Jews (with this kind of contempt and persecution that accompanied them), he reminds the Gentiles that even in those days, the salvation of the Gentiles depended on God’s fidelity to the covenant with the Jewish Ancestors Abraham.
Don’t brag about the branches, but if you brag, you know it’s not you who holds the root, it’s the root, you?(Rom. 11: 18).
? You like what you don’t know; we worship what we know, because salvation comes from the Jews?(Jo 4. 22).
Paul’s other argument that the Gentiles should not boast of the Jews is that God can not only, but one day attract Israel as a whole Jesus as Messiah, so that all Israel may be saved.
For if [pagan] were entrenched from what was, by nature, a wild, unnatural olive tree grafted into a good olive tree [the alliance with Abraham], how much more these [Jews] who are natural branches!The plan is mercy for all, because I do not want, brethren, to ignore this mystery (so that they may not be presumptuous in themselves): this part of Israel came to harden until the fulness of the Gentiles arrived, and all Israel will be saved. ? (Romans 11: 24-26).
9. The almost exclusive priority that Jesus gave to the Jews in his ministry (Mt 10. 6; 15. 24) was expanded to include all nations in the offer of salvation (Mt 21. 43; 28. 19-20) , but this was not completely abandoned, as we can see from the fact that the apostles, even in their mission to the Gentiles, considered it appropriate that God’s first covenant people should receive the gospel first.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe, first of the Jew and also of the Greek”; (Romans 1, 16; see also 3. 26; 18 5. 6).
10. Paul gave an example of how Christians should have relations with the Jews until the last day of salvation for all the chosen ones of God, Israel, and the Gentiles: he did all they could to make them willing to suffer instead.
“Brothers, the good will of my heart, and my call to God to be saved” (Rom 10:1).
“I address you others, who are gentle! Therefore, as an Apostle of the Gentiles, do I glorify my ministry, to see if I can somehow incite my people to emulate and save some of them?(Rom 11, 13. 14).
“I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie, enduring in myself, in the Holy Spirit, my own conscience: I have great sadness and incessant pain in my heart; 3 Why would I want to be anathema, separated from Christ?For the love of my brothers, my countrymen, according to the flesh?(Romans 9: 1-3).
11 Paul also gave us an example (Phil 3:17; 1 Co 4:16-17), when he was persecuted by the Jews and did not respond to evil with evil, as far as we know, Paul and the other Apostles, who spread the gospel after the resurrection of Jesus, never lifted up the finger of hostility against the Jewish people.
“I have received five times forty whips minus one of the Jews”; (2C 11. 24).
“When we are insulted, we bless; when we are prosecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we seek conciliation; until now, we have come to be seen as the world’s garbage, everyone’s waste” (1Co 4; 12. 13).
12. Jesus taught his disciples to treat others as they would like to be treated and to respond with mercy to the mistreatment inflicted upon their enemies; and his apostles continued to teach this after him.
Whatever you want men to do to you, do it to them too; Why is it the law and the prophets?(Mt 7. 12)
?? Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you, pray for those who slander you. The one who hits you on one cheek also offers you the other; and when he takes off his robe, let him also put on his robe; But love your enemies, do good and lend, without waiting for payment; Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he is benevolent even with the ungrateful and the wicked; be compassionate, as is your Father (Lk 6. 27-29; 35. 36; see also Mt 5. 44). -48).
“You owe nothing to anyone except the love with which you love each other; because everyone who loves others has kept the law. Love does not harm others, so that the forces of order may be love?”(Rom. 13: 8- 10).
However, if when you do good, you are also afflicted and bear it patiently, that is grateful to God, because that is precisely why you have been called, because Christ has also suffered in your place, leaving you an example to follow in his footsteps, who has not committed sin, and no fraud has been found in his mouth; for he, indignantly, did not respond with indignation; abused, did not make any threat, but gave himself to the judge fairly?(1P 2. 20-23).
Therefore, the full scope of the scriptures, the Spirit of Jesus, the example of the Apostles, the explicit commandments on the love and future destiny of nations, including Israel, show that hostility towards the Jews, in thoughts and actions, is forbidden by the scriptures. .