Consequently, you [Jew and Gentile] are no longer foreigners and strangers,
but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
Ephesians 2:19-21
It is safe to say that the Christian World believes Jesus was a Jew and His literal ministry was exclusively to the Jews during His time on earth. Further, there is no dispute that the Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day were the instigators in having Him crucified. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, a transition was declared. Jesus declared His love for the world (John 3:16). He announced that disciples should be made from all nations (Matthew 28:19) and that we should be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
The Apostle Paul was one of the initial evangelists to the Gentile world (Romans 1:16). Salvation was offered “first to the Jew, then to the Gentile”. The majority of the New Testament was written by him to both Jew and Gentile.
Where there is disagreement in the Christian world is whether the Jewish people and the nation of Israel have permanently fallen out of God’s favor and been replaced by the Gentile Church. This is called “replacement theology” or “supersessionism”. In other words, the Church superseded the Jews as God’s chosen people to carry out His plan in the world. So, from Pentecost forward, any reference to Israel is interpreted as the Church by those who believe in replacement theology.
Since the Jews have been blamed as the people who rejected the Messiah and crucified Him, an intense hatred has boiled over from time to time against them. It is important to remember that this act of sacrifice for us was prophesied hundreds of years earlier in numerous Old Testament verses and passages (Psalm 22:1, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 53, and Micah 5:2, just to name a few).
Still, the Jewish religious leaders didn’t recognize Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. Subsequently, there has been two thousand years of anti-Semitism, even by some individuals we call “church fathers”. More recently, the Nazis succeeded in nearly wiping them out, executing six million in the most despicable and horrible ways.
Amazingly, through millennia of persecution and no homeland, the Jews have returned to part of the land promised to Abraham (we’ll look at this tomorrow). Replacement theologians would not find this fact to be a miracle or a fulfillment of prophecy. Those opposed to replacement theology believe this is a miracle and was prophesied in many places, including Ezekiel 37 and Matthew 24:32-35. What do you think?
