CHICAGO BIBLE STUDY GETS AN UNEXPECTED GUEST
LOOKING BACK AT HISTORY
The Chosen People,
*names changed
Vol. 46 NOVEMBER, 1940 NO. 2
The Chosen People | FEBRUARY 2019 7
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
However, in Jewish circles these stories are well
known. In fact, most Jewish people see Christianity
through a lens of antisemitism, and they characterize
Christianity based on an anti-Jewish medieval
expression that emerged after centuries in Europe.
Jewish people today look back and view those who
persecuted their ancestors as representatives of the
Christian faith.
A recent podcast by Orthodox Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
shared this sentiment: “Jew-hatred is a fundamental,
theological principle of the Christian faith.”10
This is why your Jewish friend might have a negative
response when you share your faith with them!
Fortunately, Rabbi Wolbe is wrong about the true
heart of the Christian faith. Still, centuries of anti-
Jewish actions by Christians have cast a long shadow
and hurt the cause of Jewish evangelism today.
Jewish people generally believe the connection
between Christianity and antisemitism is
unbreakable. They see this trend continuing,
especially among those who are anti-Israel. For the
Jewish person today, an anti-Israel perspective
merges with the long history of Christian
antisemitism and only further supports the negative
way most Jewish people view Christianity.
A major debate among modern evangelicals today is
whether or not those who held these views of the
Jewish people were “real Christians.” Yet, deciding if
they were “real” believers is God’s job, and His alone.
The only antidotes to centuries of bad behavior by
Christians are love and authenticity of faith. When
Jewish people meet Christians who express their
love of Israel and the Jewish people because of their
love for the Jewish Messiah, then the gospel is
elevated, and Jewish people are introduced to the
truth about Jesus. Hopefully, they will see there is a
big difference between historical Christianity and
the true nature of His grace and love toward all
people—especially to the Jew first (Romans 1:16)!
We pray and hope Jewish people will meet followers
of the Jewish Messiah who love Him, behave as true
believers, and love the Jewish people. This is the
light that will dispel centuries of darkness.
8 Jerome, “The Letters of St. Jerome,” in St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works,
ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. W. H. Fremantle, G. Lewis, and W.
G. Martley, vol. 6, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature
Company, 1893), 176.
9 James Stevenson and B. J. Kidd, eds., Creeds, Councils, and Controversies:
Documents Illustrative of the History of the Church A.D. 337-461 (New
York: Seabury Press, 1966), 135.
10 The Jewish History Podcast by Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe, Episode 25: A History of
Christian Anti-Semitism Part 1. Starting circa 11:20. https://rabbiwolbe.com/
history-christian-antisemitism-part-one/.
INCIDENTS IN THE WORK
“It Was Just Like a Marriage”
With faces beaming, six of our Jewish refugees went
down into the baptismal waters and thus made public
confession of their faith in their newly found Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It was on the Lord’s Day morning of
October 6th, and some of these desolated children of the
house of Israel had been looking forward a long time to
this event, as a mountain peak in life’s experiences. They
had been robbed and despoiled of everything which
makes for life’s material comforts; their life savings had
been brutally taken from them, their homes had been
destroyed, their very existence had been outlawed; in
some cases families were separated for months at a time.
But all these things now they counted as dross in the light
of their newfound possession, everlasting peace and joy
through the Lord Jesus Christ.