Many atheists and agnostics, as well as many who profess Christ, will object to Christians' efforts to "convert Jews". I wanted to quickly address these concerns. Each of these answers could be expanded and elaborated, but hopefully this will be understandable to you if you weren't sure on this issue.

Why do Christians target Jews for conversion?

First of all, let me affirm that "targeting" any person or group for conversion out of malice, envy, arrogance, fear, or superiority is a wrong motivation for evangelism. Christians choose particular people to talk with regarding Christ for many different reasons. Some feel a burden for certain people; others think their talents work better with certain people. Whatever the particular reason for seeking certain people, all people are sinners, having broken God's law (such as the Ten Commandments) many times over. They will die in their sin and receive God's just punishment unless God intervenes--unless someone shows them the truth and they repent of their sins, trusting in Christ, who died to take the punishment that all people deserve. Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) alike are in the same situation.

Jews know God's Ten Commandments, often better than professing Christians do. However, attempting to earn God's favor by going to the synagogue, obeying the commandments, or simply being a good person is an insult to God because our good works can never make up for our sins (Heb 9:22). This was true for Jews of all time--Old Testament (called the "Tanakh" in Hebrew) Jews who sought God's favor through obedience and not humility were judged to have neither, and so they were condemned by God. The stories of Noah, David, and Solomon make it clear that the disobedient yet repentant sinners were the ones who had God's favor. And so it is with today's Jews--they must repent of their sins and trust in the Hebrew Messiah, who is Y'shua (Hebrew for Jesus) of Nazareth.

But aren't the Jews God's chosen people?

Yes, most definitely! But the question is: chosen for what? The Bible reveals many promises given to the Jews: land (Gen 15:18), a influential nation (Gen 17:6), blessings from God when obedient (Deu 7:11-14), a big role in God's plan (Gen 22:18), etc. And God has fulfilled or will fulfill all of these. However, the Bible never promises eternal salvation for all ethnic Jews, nor for all religious Jews. Instead, the Bible emphasizes that there is no other name by which men might be saved but that of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah (Acts 4:10-12).

Doesn't God save Jews differently than Christians

No--in fact, they are saved in the same way. Christians and Jews are saved if they repent of their sins and trust in Christ. Any Jew or professing Christian who does not believe in Christ are still in their sins, regardless of ethnic or religious background.

But the Old Testament Jews didn't know about Christ!

Yes, they did--the promise to save sinners through the saving offspring of Eve (and the offspring of Abraham) is revealed very early (Gen 3:15, Gen 12:3). A Jew needed not know the exact details of who the Messiah was and how atonement would occur to cry out in repentance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--to put ones faith in God's plan to save them was what God was seeking (Gal 3:6).

Aren't the blessings due the Jews now given to the church?

No. The Jews are God's chosen people forever. God has many blessings and promises to the church as well, and some of them are in common with the Jews. It would be a mistake to say that the church takes the place of the Jews, for God deals with people differently throughout history to accomplish the same plan with the same truth. Further study of Romans 9-11 and Revelation reveals that many passages regarding the Jews in the New Testament make no sense if the church is substituted there. Instead, Paul tells us that Jews are like the olive tree of God's people, and non-Jewish Christians are "grafted in" to share in the blessings of the Jews--namely, salvation by the Jewish Messiah. By contrast, the group of Jews who never believe are "cut off" from the olive tree. Remember that salvation is for both Jews and non-Jews (Rom 2:10), so some ethnic Jews are saved in Christ, and thus are in the church and receive the blessings God gives the church.

Isn't it hateful to seek to convert Jews?

Antisemitism is a gross offense--to hate Jews, to persecute them, or to blame them for the world's problems or for killing Christ should never be taught, practiced or tolerated (Romans 11:18). However, to seek to save lost Jewish sinners is the most pro-semitic act a Christian could do. The claim that evangelism toward Jews is hateful or unnecessary reveals a lack of trust in what the Bible teaches. Christians are not "better" than Jews--Christians are sinners just as deserving of hell as any Jew. Instead, the Bible makes clear that Jews cannot be saved by following the Torah; Christians are to strive to be a part of God's plan for saving them by spreading the good news of Christ to them.

Will all Jews be saved?

God promised that in some sense "all Israel will be saved" and grafted back into their own olive tree (Romans 11:23-26). Some interpret this to mean that, at some future point, all alive Jews will be saved by faith and trust in Christ; others interpret it to mean that all kinds of Jews will be saved in Christ; others say that this refers to the nation of Israel but not every Jew; still others believe that God plans to save Jews in a special, unspecified situation by the same means of faith in Christ. Regardless, Jews are not saved merely because they are Jews. Clearly God wants Jews to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth in Christ.

So what about the present-day Nation of Israel?

Many say that today's state of Israel does indeed have many of the characteristics of the state of Israel in Bible prophecy, and as such Christians should automatically favor Israel as a nation on Earth. Others say that today's state of Israel is not the same as the nation of Israel in the Bible, which is comprised of all Jews everywhere--a nation of people, not a political state. In this view, Israel ceased to be God's chosen political state when God ceased sending prophets to guide her, and will not become God's chosen political state until God sets up his Kingdom as described in Revelation. Even in that viewpoint, we may choose to support the state of Israel for many other reasons--political, moral, social, and biblical. For example, Israel a stable democracy in the Middle East, and Christians (as well as Jews and Muslims) may worship and exercise their faith freely there, unlike the other nations in the region. One thing is clear--we must pray and work for the salvation of Jews inside and outside Israel.

Labels: article, jews, theology