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Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph.D.*
W E do not imply by our question that no Jews believe in Christ. Prom the very beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel, He had Jewish followers. In John 1:40, 41 R. V., we read: “ One of the two that heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ).” At Pen tecost, which is the Feast of Weeks, the great ingathering into the body of be lievers was from the Jews. The text states (Acts 2:5 R. V.) “Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” Every succeeding century has seen Jews de voted to the Lord Jesus Christ as Sav iour, and this our day is no exception. But manifestly there are many Jews who do not believe in Christ. In fact, the majority come under this category. Let us be reminded, however, that this is true of every other nation under Heaven. But with Israel we expect it to be differ ent, because the Christian faith began in their midst, and is rooted and ground ed in the Old Testament Scriptures. Why, then, don’t the Jews as a nation believe in Christ? The reasons are several and the situa tion is a complex one. But a primary reason why the Jews don’t trust and believe in Christ is Prejudice Prejudice is an unreasonable objection against anything or any person; it is an opinion against anything without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge. It is that same state of mind which makes some dislike or hate the Jews when they scarcely know them. Many Jews do not believe in Christ because they are prejudiced against Him and the gospel. They know that their parents, their friends, and especially their leaders do not follow the faith of the Messiah, so they do not have any desire to do so. How this works out can be seen from one of the incidents which took place while Christ was ministering among His own people, Israel. We read (John 7:45- 48 R. V.) “ The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? The officers answered, Never * Director; Professor of Semitics & 0. T., Talbot Theological Seminary, af filiated with The Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc. D E C E M B E R , 1 9 5 2
They refused to look. They were con vinced that the earth did not revolve around the sun, and no evidence could convince them otherwise. A second reason why Jews don’t be lieve in Christ is Persecution The persecution of Jews by so-called Christians through the centuries cannot be easily erased from the memory. It is vivid in the thinking of the Jews of every generation, and especially this. How does one blot out of his memory the atrocities of the Kishineff pogroms in Russia? What method is to be sug gested to obliterate from the memory the satanic destruction of some 6,000,000 precious Jewish lives by Hitler and his followers? No wonder an aged Jew is reported to have said: “ He cannot be our Messiah whose followers persecute us so.” But they are not Christians in this: they are not following the Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves Israel, wept over them, and has died for them. The prophet Zechariah indicated cen turies ago the attitude of our God toward those who persecute His people. Said he (1:14,15 R. V.) “ Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am j ealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.” And the day has passed when we can blame it all on the dominant churches of Europe, or Hitler, or the Kremlin. Men in high repute in fundamental circles are viciously and devilishly per secuting the Jews with their vile tongues. There is the amazing example of a fundamentalist leader who contended that Jesus was not a Jew at all. Some Jews, if not many, know also that they will not be welcome in all churches. I am thinking of a prominent leader and educator of ministers who wrote recently concerning the commercialism of Christ mas: “ The whole country is in the grip of a commercial effort, largely in the hands of Jewish merchants who at heart hate the name of Jesus and who use the name and the coming of the Saviour into the world, which Saviour they personally reject, to promote a spasm of commercial sales.” We ought to know who it was that promoted the “ spasm of commercial sales” by med dling with the holiday calendar, and he was not a Jew. For all persecutions of the Jew, be assured, God will hold the perpetrators responsible. Page Thirteen
man so spake. The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray? Hath any of the rulers believed on Him, or of the Pharisees?” Some people are always looking at what the next person believes, or what the majority thinks, or what the influential ones hold. This is to be ensnared in many hurtful de lusions. How often we hear the voice of
Dr. Charles L. Feinberg
prejudice say, “ The religion that was good enough for my ancestors is good enough for me.” If the Jewish objector were to carry this argument through to its logical conclusion, he would wind up in idolatry. For if Abraham had followed the religion of his father, Terah, he would have been an idolater, and not the ancestor of the chosen people. It is so easy to hear derogatory remarks about the Messiah and to accept these pro nouncements without question. Often many do not take the time or the pains to investigate the question of the wonder ful claims of Christ at all. In this, Jews are like many unbelieving Gentiles. Too, the Christian faith with its distinctive theology, worship, and outlook on the world, is strange to the Jew of our day. Men easily form prejudices against that which is strange to them. Prejudices die hard, if at all. When Galileo was summoned before the Inquisition to be tried for the so- called heresy of affirming the revolution of the earth around the sun, he said to the judges: “ I can convince you. Here is my telescope; look through it and you shall see the moons of Jupiter.”
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