Sunday Sermons

Rock of Offense - Part 1

Mark Dunagan
03/03/02 - Sunday Evening

Rock of Offense

The New Testament describes Jesus in many ways. To many Jews of the First Century Jesus was a “rock of offense” or a stone which they stumbled over: “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:7-8). “For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). In this lesson we want to examine modern Jewish objections to Jesus.

“Jews don’t believe in Jesus”

Actually in the beginning, only Jews believed in Jesus (Acts 2:5,37-41; 5:14; 6:1). All of the apostles were Jewish (Philippians 3:5-6). Most of the New Testament writers were also Jewish. The early congregations had a large Jewish membership, thus we have “The letter of the Hebrews”. The New Testament is filled with illustrations, examples, and passages from the Old Testament (1 Corinthians 10:1ff). Many of the arguments are very Jewish in nature (Romans 7:1ff; The book of Hebrews, Romans 4, James 2:21-26; 5:10-11).

“A person is either born Jewish or Christian---and I’m Jewish”

This argument is confusing ethnicity with religion. A person born “Jewish” will always be a physical descendant of Abraham, but in order to become a Christian one must be born again (John 3:5). No one has ever been physically born a Christian. There are many arguments like this one where Jewish people are afraid that in becoming a Christian they will lose their ethnicity. This is not true, becoming a Christian does not erase one’s ethnic background rather Christianity unites people from all nations into one body (Ephesians 2:11-22). In addition, we need to stress that one’s ethnic background is not sufficient to make one right with God. John the Baptist warned his Jewish contemporaries not to trust in their ethnicity as a means of salvation (Matthew 3:9). Anyone who had read the Old Testament has also been impressed with the same truth. The fact that Israelites were the seed of Abraham did not exempt them from God’s wrath when they failed to obey Him (Numbers 13-14). If Jesus is the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, then believing in Him is what God expects of every faithful Jew.

“You have your religion; I have mine”

The problem with the above argument is that “regardless of what anyone tells us today, no Jew keeps the Torah as it was originally given. It is simply not possible. Changes have had to be made in our relationship to the Law since we have had no temple, no functioning priesthood, and no sacrifices for more than nineteen hundred years, during which time most Jews have been living outside the land of Israel” (Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume One, Michael L. Brown, p. xx). Here the point needs to be made that modern Jews really do not have the religion of the Old Testament, for it is now impossible to observe. The attitude that Judaism is a wonderful, fulfilling, and self-sufficient religion, and that there is no need to look elsewhere, is immediately seen as untrue from the fact that the Judaism of today is not the faith of the Old Testament Law. Something must have changed! Jewish rabbis argue that Jews now have the Talmud and other traditional writings to guide them. Christians counter that now Jews have the New Testament, the inspired Word of God. The real question is, which is faithful to the Old Testament? Jewish traditional writings or the New Testament? Brown notes, “While it is nice to make apparently broad-minded statements such as, ‘Judaism teaches that the righteous of all nations have a place in the world to come’, the fact is that hardly anyone ends up being righteous enough!” (p. 17). The truth, which is even borne out by the Old Testament, is that no one is righteous enough! (Romans 3:9-20). Some have said, “God gave us a written and an unwritten tradition. We interpret everything by means of that oral tradition, without which the Bible makes no sense”. Yet the Law does condemn adding to the Word of God (Deuteronomy 4:2), and cites examples where God condemned people for adding their human opinions above Scripture (Leviticus 10:1-3; 1 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 6:1-8). Where does the Law or the Prophets endorse a human oral tradition?

“If Jesus is the Messiah, why don’t more Jews believe in Him?”

First, many Jews have believed in Him (The book of Acts). Secondly, read the Old Testament and ask yourself this question, “How many Jews believed in God in the Old Testament?” The Old Testament is a record of continual Jewish opposition to God(Numbers 14; Judges 2; 2 Kings 17; 1 Kings 18-19:10; 2 Chronicles 36:15-16). What did Isaiah say concerning Israel, “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people” (65:2). Jewish rejection of Jesus is not that unusual seeing that many of the Jewish people throughout the ages had rejected Moses and many of the prophets. What Stephen said was true from reading the Old Testament record, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One” (Acts 7:52). Even the Pharisees admitted that past generations had treated the prophets horribly (Matthew 23:29-30). In addition, let us add that most Gentiles have not believed in Jesus either. Both Testaments agree that “few” will be saved (1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:1-5).

“I will not betray my ancestors. I will not forsake the faith of my fathers!”

Actually, in becoming a Christian a Jewish person is honoring the faith of their fathers. The father of the Jewish race is Abraham and Abraham was always willing to obey God regardless of the price or consequences (Hebrews 11:8,17). When God wanted Abraham to move away from the land of his forefathers, he obeyed. The person who becomes a Christian is not turning their back on Abraham or other faithful ancestors; rather, they are manifesting the same faith (Galatians 3:26-28). Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to Him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). Jesus is that prophet! (Acts 3:22-24) Jeremiah said, “Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:31-32). The New Testament is that new covenant! (Hebrews 8:6-13)

“No religious or educated Jew would ever believe in Jesus”

This is a falsehood. In the first century many faithful Jewish priests believed in Jesus (Acts 6:7). The apostle Paul had been a very highly educated and spiritual Jewish leader (Galatians 1:13-14). Another faithful Christian by the name of Barnabas was a Levite (Acts 4:36). The trouble with the term “educated” or “religious” is that many educated Jews had completely rejected the concept of God. Many educated and religious non-Jews reject the Old Testament as the Word of God (Acts 17:21-32; 1 Corinthians 1:26). At this point a Jewish person needs to admit the obvious, that many educated and religious, Jewish leaders no longer believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures. Remember there can be a big difference between being educated and religious and being faithful. The Pharisees were very religious, yet they were wrong (Luke 18:9), and even the Talmud speaks of the “plague of the Pharisees”. The Sadducees were very educated and religious, but they were equally wrong (Acts 23:8).

“I’m not a very religious person, but I’m certainly not a bad person. I’m basically a normal, middle-of-the-road, good person”

Brown had a good observation at this point: “Did you know the Hebrew Bible does not even recognize a ‘not too good and not too bad’ class of people? Look in the Torah: There are blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, with nothing in between. Look in the Psalms: There are righteous people and wicked people, with no middle-of-the-road people. Look in the Proverbs: There are fools and there are wise. That’s it! When the flood came in Noah’s day, only eight people were spared. Where were all the middle-of-the-road, basically good people? Throughout the Scriptures, the nonreligious who did not take God and His Word seriously were judged by Him as sinners. Why should you be any different?” (p. 55). In addition, the Old Testament very clearly taught that the Messiah would die for the sins of the Jewish people (Isaiah 53).

“If Jesus is really the Messiah, why isn’t there peace on earth?”

This argument demonstrates that many Jews today reject Jesus for the same exact reason that many Jews rejected Him in the first century. The same mistaken notion of the Messiah being an earthly ruler and bringing a period of utopian peace still prevails. Actually, the Old Testament taught that the Messiah would suffer for our sins (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53). He would bring a kingdom (the church), but only those who submitted themselves to His rule would find peace (Isaiah 2:2-4; 11:9 “They will not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain”). The Old Testament taught that the Messiah would reign, but He would reign during a period of time when there would be opposition to that reign, “Rule in the midst of Thine enemies” (Psalm 110:2). Thus what Luke says is the proper application of the Old Testament view of the Messiah and His mission, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (2:14). Finally, why should there be any peace on earth if we rejected the Messiah?

“Christianity is anti-Semitic”

Nothing could be further from the truth. The first disciples of Jesus were faithful Jews. The New Testament is filled with quotations from the Old Testament and holds up the Old Testament Scriptures in the highest regard (Romans 7:12; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; Romans 15:4). There is a tremendous amount of love expressed in the New Testament for Jewish people (Romans 9:1-6 “that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh”). When the New Testament condemns “the Jews” it is condemning people that the Old Testament prophets would have equally condemned. That is, Jewish people and, or leaders who are acting hypocritical and unbelieving. If the New Testament is anti-Semitic because it speaks of certain Jews in an unfavorable light, then the Old Testament is equally so (Exodus 33:5 “You are a stiff-necked people”; Deuteronomy 9:6 “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people”; 31:27-29; Isaiah 30:8-9 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord”). The fact is that God has never been a respecter of persons, and He will condemn unfaithfulness among His own people as well as unfaithfulness among others.