One of the most important things Jesus accomplished on the cross was to abolish the Jews slavery to the Law!
Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Why the Jews Reject Jesus: Jesus’ Reputation Immediately after His Resurrection
Initial Success and Mutual Proliferation of “The Way”:
Continuing from our previous post, imagine being a disciple of Jesus and going from the total devastation of Jesus’ crucifixion and death to the elation of Him coming back from the dead! Instead of having your hopes and beliefs crushed, a living Jesus was the greatest boost a new religion could get. Further, once He returned, Jesus “presented himself to them (the disciples) and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3 NIV) And, if that wasn’t enough, Jesus commanded them to “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:4-5 NIV)
As we all know, Pentecost made a huge difference with Jesus’ followers (initially called “The Way”) as over 3,000 were added to their number on the first day! But let’s examine for a moment who was Peter’s audience at the first sermon he preached after being filled with the Holy Spirit:
- Verse 14: “Fellow Jews”
- Verse 22: “Fellow Israelites”
- Verse 29: “Fellow Israelites”
Then Peter concludes with, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” Notice how Peter combines “whom you crucified” with “made this Jesus both Lord and Messiah” to an audience of Jews! Yet, his message is not one of condemnation of them but of hope. The Holy Spirit came to demonstrate God’s power and forgiveness through Jesus for both the Jews and the Gentiles. Many people (although mostly Jews at first) accepted Peter’s admonition to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38 NIV). There was such a feeling of unity brought about by the Holy Spirit that the new followers (both Jews and Gentiles) “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2: 42-47 NIV. And, in the midst of all this excitement, the disciples reminded all the new converts of the admonition Jesus gave in His Great Commission, as stated in Mark 16:15-16 (NIV):
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
This commission was given to 12 Jews, and contrary to what Jesus said in Matthew 10:5, they were now instructed to preach the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles (“all creation”). Unfortunately, that was a message that would soon sow dissension in the ranks of the young church.
From Unity to Dissension
The first thorn in the side of a new Jewish convert to Jesus was the fact that Jews were unaccustomed to the idea of being evangelists. In Leviticus 11:44 (NIV), God commissioned Moses and the Jews to “consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” For all their history, the Jews were instructed to “BE” something, not to “DO” something. No Jew was ever asked to convert anyone to become a Jew. But now, Jesus was asking them to do something that was very foreign to them. For the disciples, it was different. They had just spent three years under the wing of Jesus, and they knew that Jesus preached that God loved all people and wanted all people to know Him. Thus, spreading the good news of the Gospel message was second nature to them. But, to the average Jew, this was a foreign concept.
The second thorn that began to dig into the side of the Jews was – they could not just leave their “Jewishness” behind. Not only did they want to preserve their traditions and honor the Patriarchs they also wanted to impose them on new Gentile converts. They never understood that a central part of Jesus’ message was that God sent Him (Jesus) to free them (the Jews) from the things that didn’t matter. Yet, in Acts 15: 1-2 (NCV), we read, “Then some people came to Antioch from Judea and began teaching the non-Jewish believers: “You cannot be saved if you are not circumcised as Moses taught us.” 2 Paul and Barnabas were against this teaching and argued with them about it.” Later, in Romans 2:25 (NCV), Paul wrote, “Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised.” Circumcision was only one of many areas of dispute among new converts. But most focused on whether or not either a Jew or a Gentile – as a Christian – would be bound by the Law of Moses. Jesus answered this question in Matthew 5:17 – NCV where He said:
17 “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to bring about what they said. (Because these words are presented in scripture as a direct quote from Jesus, they are in RED type).
And what did they say? That if you wanted to “be holy,” you had to follow all the Law – something no Jew could do. So, Jesus came to do that for them. He literally nailed the Law to His cross to release the Jews from their call to “BE Holy.” Unfortunately, many of the early Jewish converts to “The Way” did not understand this. Their guilt and traditions held them firmly to the Law (because they were taught to worship the Law), and that made it increasingly impossible for them to engage with Gentiles in a religion that had differing requirements for the two groups.
Another portrayal of Jesus symbolically nailing the Law to His cross
After Years of Disagreements — Separation
It took until the 4th Century, but eventually, the Jews and Christians fully separated.
“It wasn’t until the beginning of the 4th Century, when Rome recognized Christianity, first as a permitted religion and then as the Empire’s official religion, that the Church became known as a Gentile organization. At that point, there was a concerted effort on the part of Church leaders to distance themselves from Christianity’s Jewish heritage.” [1] (These words are in RED type because they are being quoted from an outside source.)
How did a movement that was started by a Jew and initially propagated by Jews end up separating from the Jews? Contrary to what some think, the reason had nothing to do with the Gentiles accusing the Jews of killing Jesus. But it was also not as simple as basic differences in the traditions and beliefs of the Jews and Gentiles. The hidden truth (and the third thorn) was – God planned it that way! Paul explained it this way in Romans 11: 25-26 (NCV)
25 I want you to understand this secret, brothers and sisters, so you will understand that you do not know everything: Part of Israel has been made stubborn, but that will change when many who are not Jews have come to God. 26 And that is how all Israel will be saved.
Most Biblical scholars interpret this verse to mean that, prior to Jesus, it was the “Time of the Jews,” where the Jews were to “try” and BE an example to the world of how God wanted His people to behave. They were not able to fulfill that mission, so God sent Jesus to “BE” the holy example the Jews could not. Thus, after Jesus completed that mission, the “Time of the Jews” ended as that part of their job was done. The completion of the Time of the Jews then triggered the start of the “Time of the Gentiles.” Their mission was to evangelize the world “until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.” (GNT) Most scholars think that this time will end at the Rapture – when all the Christians are removed from the Earth. What is interesting about this verse is – that the reason for the switch in roles was that “part of Israel has been made stubborn.” So, what were the Jews being “stubborn” about? This is a pivotal part of my book, and it is far too complex to fully explain here, but suffice it to say that the contributing reasons were:
- The Jews inability let go of the long-standing interpretations of the teachings of the Patriarchs and the Law and to accept what Christ taught.
- The “spiritual blindness” that prevented them from seeing the true message of Jesus, as noted by Paul in Romans 11: 7-8 (NCV)
7 So this is what has happened: Although the Israelites tried to be right with God, they did not succeed, but the ones God chose did become right with him. The others were made stubborn and refused to listen to God. 8 As it is written in the Scriptures:
“God gave the people a dull mind so they could not understand.” Isaiah 29:10
“He closed their eyes so they could not see
and their ears so they could not hear.
This continues until today.” Deuteronomy 29:4
This is a difficult concept to grasp because it appears that Paul is saying that God deliberately interfered with the Jew’s ability to “see” Jesus so He could use the Gentiles to bring the Gospel message to the rest of the world. Yet, this is necessary so that “all Israel will be saved.” The mystery is – How?
- Finally, there were some basic jealousies existing between the Jews and the Gentiles that caused dissension among them (e.g., when Rome recognized Christianity as its official religion, it was then considered a religion of the Gentiles, not of the Jews).
So, it would appear that God has traded the Jews for the Gentiles! But, considering that God has called the Jews “His Chosen People” – Is this trade permanent? Absolutely Not! If we go back and look at the Good News Translation (GNT) of Romans 11: 25 it reads: “the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.” That, to me, says very clearly that the Jews will get another shot at redemption! – that there will be a “2nd Time of the Jews.”
If you believe that God has big plans to save the Jews, then you might want to see how He plans on doing it by reading my book, “God (still) has BIG plans for the Jews.” (I know, this is an obvious plug, but I couldn’t help it). Check it out on this site.
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[1] https://www.jewishboston.com/read/do-you-think-its-possible-for-someone-to-be-both-jewish-and-christian-in-some-real-sense/
