By Rev. Ted Pike
"What few of these people mention explicitly is that they encourage the settlers because they believe it will more swiftly bring on the End Times, in which one-third of Jews will be converted to Christianity and the rest will be slaughtered and then eternally condemned to Hell. This veiled wish for a new Holocaust, one condoned and directed by God, must be the most virulent manifestation of anti-Semitism to be found in all the dark history of Christianity."
The State Department's 40-page Report on Global Anti-Semitism cites a recent example of "anti-Semitism" in Poland. "...the pastor of St. Brigid Church in Gdansk told parishioners during services that Jews killed Jesus and the prophets." (p.22) What's wrong with that? According to Jewish leadership: plenty. Jewish leaders say it was this millennia-old accusation that ultimately led to the Holocaust: to millions of Jewish "Christ killers" being herded into the prison camps and gas chambers of Auschwitz, Dachau, etc. "You can't get any more anti-Semitic than that!" they protest.
IS THE NEW TESTAMENT "HATE LITERATURE?"
Yet, think about it. Isn't that accusation exactly what Mel Gibson portrayed in "The Passion of the Christ?" Isn't that exactly what the New Testament teaches in passages too numerous to list here? Scripture says evil Jewish leaders, helped by Jews gathered at the Feast of the Passover, collectively pressured the Romans to crucify Christ.
From the Book of Acts alone come powerful indictments of the Jews. "...let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified." Acts 2:36. "Men of Israel...this man...you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death." Acts 2:22,3. "Men of Israel...Jesus, the one whom you delivered up...you disowned...put to death the Prince of Peace" Acts 3:12-15. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye had put to death by hanging him on a cross." Acts 8:30.
These words - that the Jews killed Jesus - were spoken by the pastor of St. Brigid Church in Gdansk, Poland. If he is anti-Semitic according to the US State Department, then so is the New Testament! So are you as a Bible-believing Christian!
NO CHRISTIANS ARE SAFE
Most Christians "spiritualize" the above Scriptures, saying we are "all" guilty for the crucifixion. Yet it is clear that as long as any Christians believes the "anti-Semitic" New Testament to be the inspired word of God, he, also, is not safe from being labeled "anti-Semitic" by our government. Christians can also expect such derision from Jewish "civil liberties" organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, which is always eager to marginalize Christians into those our "tolerant" society should disapprove of.
Even Mel Gibson, who believes personally that we are all guilty of the crucifixion, was not immune from attack by ADL as anti-Semitic.
This is ominous for Christians because in countries dominated by hate laws, such as Canada, public criticism of matters Jewish, or "anti-Semitism," is a hate crime punishable by harsh fines and imprisonment.
IS PERSECUTION COMING FROM ADL/B'nai B'rith?
The State Department's Report on Global Anti-Semitism was not written by the State Department. It was "ghosted" by the international Jewish religious, educational, fraternal and charitable organization, B'nai B'rith and its Anti-defamation League. Only they could marshal such an extensively detailed report from 50 countries, utilizing their worldwide "hate crimes" statistics-gathering capacities.
Far from being a "far left" kooky Jewish minority, not representing mainstream Jewish attitudes, B'nai B'rith International describes itself as the "body and soul" of organized Jewry. Its half million Jewish members constitute a powerful lobbying base, setting up anti-hate bureaucracies (and ending free speech) in many of the more than 50 countries in which B'nai B'rith is established. This anti-Christian, international Jewish religious organization, uniting synagogue and state, is creating a federal hate-crimes Gestapo. Its "Department of Global Anti-Semitism" is laying down outrageous definitions of the "hate crime" of anti-Semitism that make Bible-believing Christians into anti-Semitic "haters."
MAKING LOVERS OF ISRAEL INTO ANTI-SEMITES
Why is ADL/B'nai Brith putting the noose of anti-Semitism around tens of millions of Christians? Present actions by B'nai B'rith worldwide indicate that persecution of Christians tops their agenda. In fact, the history of modern, international, evil Jewish leadership is one of just such persecution. In my 345-page book, "Israel: Our DutyOur Dilemma," I document how in 1917 international Jewish financiers, including Jacob Shiff (head of what later became Chase Manhattan Bank), the English Rothschilds, and the German Warburgs, along with a host of Jewish Bolshevik leaders, toppled the Csar and established communism in Russia. Eventual death toll from Soviet communism: 66,000,000, millions of whom were Christians.
Last October 10th, ADL/B'nai B'rith lashed out in unprecedented fury against eleven Christians in Philadelphia for the "hate crime" of witnessing to homosexuals. Through ADL national board member, Philadelphia D.A. Lynne Abraham, ADL/B'nai B'rith attempted to incarcerate those Christians for 47 years in prison with fines of $80,000.00 each.
Throughout the western world and Europe, ADL/B'nai Brith hate laws are now indicting evangelical Christians. Cases against Christians in Canada, Sweden, England, Italy, Germany, Australia and New Zealand have taken place or are in progress. In dozens of other countries under ADL/B'nai B'rith hate laws, Christian testimony is now intimidated.
OMINOUS SIGNS
In Canada, B'nai B'rith's federal anti-hate law was passed by Parliament in 1971 after at least five years of B'nai B'rith lobbying the law was designed to end Christian truth-telling and evangelism, as well as criticism of matters Jewish. The same is true of provincial hate laws, also orchestrated by B'nai B'rith Canada and the Canadian Jewish Congress.
A pastor in northern Canada recently told me that as he handed out gospel tracts in his town, a policeman informed him that such "proselytizing" is now a hate crime under provincial law. If he continued, he would be arrested.
I asked a Christian friend in Toronto what would happen if he said publicly that the Jews had Christ crucified. He replied, "Up here, everybody understands that to do so would be playing with fire. If someone complained, the police would come and you might be charged."
As Rabbi Daniel Lapin recently warned, evangelical Christians are "under relentless attack" by "secular Judaism" (i.e. ADL/B'nai B'rith). This cannot but increase as B'nai B'rith continues rapidly to establish anti-hate bureaucracies with the help of its 2,100 lodges and chapters worldwide.
THE WAY OF ESCAPE
How can Christians escape persecution as anti-Semitic hate criminals in the years ahead? One way is to deny Christ: remove yourself as far as possible from any association with Christianity.
The other way is to affirm Christ to the limit. We can trust His guidance and protection so completely that we no longer fear man. When we do that, we become a force for truth-telling and righteousness such as the world has seldom seen - just like the apostles in the Book of Acts. They shook the Roman Empire.
We can shake the New World Order.
As Congress reconvenes, members of the House and Senate will give full consideration to ADL/B'nai B'rith's federal anti-hate bill, "The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005," HR 2662, S 1145. It is now before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Note: Passed signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009.
Although H.R. 1913 prosecutes only “crime of violence” and does not prosecute expressions or opinions, it opens the door to examining the thoughts of not only a criminal, but everyone with whom he or she may have come into contact. An overzealous prosecutor could turn a criminal prosecution into a political correctness prosecution. Broadly written hate crimes bills in other states and countries have been used to restrict the freedom of politically incorrect and unpopular speech. This bill could be used to advance the politically correct agenda in this country by providing greater protections for certain classes of people. Future legislation could expand these protections and place restrictions on religious liberty and free speech.
Lovers of freedom must protest this Orwellian legislation to their members of Congress. It will create a vast federal anti-hate bureaucracy in America identical to Canada's, ending free speech.
18 USC § 249 - Hate crime acts
H.R. 1913—Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009
H.R. 1913 was passed as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill (S. 1390) with a 63–28 vote in the Senate on July 15, 2009, and a 281–146 vote in the House on October 8, 2009. It was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009.
liturgical collections in their regular church services, it is not surprising that antiSemitism has flourished within "The Church" and Christendom. The New Testament
has been very effective in poisoning the minds of those who study it and accept it as
"the breathed word of G-d", or as being "inspired by G-d""
The Anti-Semitism of the New Testament
By
The history of anti-Semitism in the Christian church is a long, sad story. Ironically, this faith which began as a sect within Judaism has been responsible for many more atrocities against the Jewish people than any of their other enemies.
For centuries, Christian Europe reviled Jewish believers as Christ-killers, and Jews were accused of ludicrous crimes like “host nailing” (stealing consecrated communion wafers and driving nails through them, to crucify Jesus anew) or draining the blood of Christian children to bake in matzoh. Throughout the Middle Ages, thousands of Jews were tried and executed, or simply murdered by mobs, after wild accusations such as these incited Christian communities to frenzy. One of the most notable Christian anti-Semites was Martin Luther, who wrote a book titled On the Jews and Their Lies which argued that Judaism should be outlawed, synagogues should be burned down and Jews should be enslaved for forced labor.
At the root of all this anti-Semitic hatred and bloodshed lies a matter of first-century politics. At the time of Christianity’s origin, there was a necessity to blame someone for Jesus’ death. But blaming the Romans would not have been wise – Christians existed at Rome’s sufferance in any case, and depicting their founder as a criminal executed by the Romans for treason would have been inviting far worse persecution. The natural alternative was to cast blame on the Jews, whom the gospels depict as conspiring to murder Jesus with, at worst, the reluctant cooperation of the Roman authorities.
As Christianity cast off its Jewish origins, this story was found useful to serve other purposes. Finding few converts among the Jews, Christianity’s evangelists began targeting Gentiles for conversion. The depiction of the Jews as a stubborn, hardhearted people, cursed by God with blindness and unbelief as punishment for their sins, was readily integrated with the Gospel story and used to explain why these people had so widely rejected the faith that was born among them.
Consider some specific examples of biblical anti-Semitism. While all the gospels record Jesus as engaging in debate with the scribes and Pharisees, only the Gospel of John elevates these disputes to an accusation of corporate guilt against “the Jews” in general: “And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him” (5:16). The fourth gospel also says of Jesus: “He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him” (7:1) and adds darkly that “no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews” (7:13). In the crowning accusation, John depicts Jesus as accusing “the Jews” as follows:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”—John 8:44
When Jesus is tried before Pilate, John writes: “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die” (19:7), and adds: “Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend” (19:12).
Ironically, the single most anti-Semitic verse of the gospels comes in the book that otherwise shows the most understanding and sympathy for the Jewish viewpoint, the Gospel of Matthew. In this bloodcurdling verse, the Jewish spectators demand that responsibility for Jesus’ death be placed on themselves and on all their descendants:
“When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”—Matthew 27:24-25
The anti-Semitism continues in the Book of Acts, where the apostle Stephen is made to say what would become a common Christian refrain against the Jews – that they had always been a sinful and stubborn people with a history of killing prophets, culminating in the supreme atrocity of their killing God’s only son:
“Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.”—Acts 7:51-52
The epistle of Titus adds another pervasive element of anti-Semitic lore, the Jews’ supposed obsession with money, and adds threateningly that “[their] mouths must be stopped”.
“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.”—Titus 1:10-11
The first epistle of Thessalonians, in what may be a later interpolation, alludes to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem as a deserved punishment from God:
“For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”—1 Thessalonians 2:14-16
And the Book of Revelation repeats John’s accusation that the Jews were secret demon-worshippers:
“Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.”—Revelation 3:9
Rivers of innocent Jewish blood have been spilled through the ages because of verses like these. Today, to their credit, the mainstream Protestant churches have gone a long way toward banishing anti-Semitism to the shadows – but it is far from dead. It still has some prominent backers, such as John Hagee (as well as Mr. “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” himself), and the Catholic church is intently moving backward.
However, Christian anti-Semitism has taken on a more subtle form: the so-called “Christian Zionist” movement, which encourages militant Jewish settlers to further expand their settlements in the occupied territory of the West Bank. What few of these people mention explicitly is that they encourage the settlers because they believe it will more swiftly bring on the End Times, in which one-third of Jews will be converted to Christianity and the rest will be slaughtered and then eternally condemned to Hell. This veiled wish for a new Holocaust, one condoned and directed by God, must be the most virulent manifestation of anti-Semitism to be found in all the dark history of Christianity.
About Adam Lee
Adam Lee is an atheist writer and speaker living in New York City. His first book, Daylight Atheism, is available in paperback and e-book. Read his full bio, or follow him on Twitter.
THE ANTI-JEWISH NEW TESTAMENT
I. INTRODUCTION
Jewish people, who have read the New Testament throughout the history of
Christianity, became well aware of the numerous passages of vicious and
defamatory anti-Jewish polemic within it. On the other hand, Christians, in general,
have been insensitive to the offensive nature of these texts and to the damage that
their usage has done to the Jewish people throughout the Common Era. When the
Emperor Constantine became a Christian in the fourth century C.E. and installed
Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, Jewish people became a
primary target of persecution by "The Church".
Although the Holocaust, which caused the murderous annihilation of two-thirds of
Europe's Jewish population, was in some ways different from previous historical acts
of mass persecution and genocide of the Jewish people, it shared the motive of its
precursors, the Crusades and Inquisitions, and the many pogroms and expulsions.
Each of these events was fueled by anti-Semitism, the hatred of Jewish people, and
was aimed at their murder and plunder. The Holocaust distinguished itself from the
other events in the scope of its genocidal goals and the fact that it did not offer its
victims the "option" of conversion to Christianity – there was no escape from death.
An increasing number of Christian scholars and clergy have concluded that the root
of anti-Semitism in the Christian world community is ultimately found within the New
Testament.
In his book, Elder and Younger Brothers: The Encounter of Jews and Christians, the
late Professor A. Roy Eckhardt [former Professor of Religion at both Lehigh
University (PA) and Oxford University (UK), and an ordained minister] asserts that
the foundation of anti-Semitism and the responsibility for the Holocaust lie ultimately
in the New Testament.
In another book, Your People, My People: The Meeting of
Jews and Christians, Professor Eckhardt insists that Christian repentance must
include a reexamination of basic theological attitudes toward Jewry and the New
Testament in order to deal effectively with the problem of anti-Semitism and its
prevention.
The general message scholars such as Professor Eckhardt are trying
to convey is that, using the New Testament as its authoritative source, "The Church"
has stereotyped the Jewish people as an icon of unredeemed humanity; they
became an image of a blind, stubborn, carnal, and perverse people. This
dehumanization is the vehicle that formed the psychological prerequisite to the
atrocities that followed.
In one of his sermons, the Reverend Dr. Frank G. Kirkpatrick, Pastor of the Trinity
Episcopal Church and Professor of Religion at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut,
describes how anti-Semitism grew out of a passage in the New Testament (Acts
13:44-52) that was to be read on that particular Sunday, as well as others like it.3
This passage proclaims that the Jews have brought damnation on themselves by
rejecting Jesus as their Messiah, a belief that has caused Jews throughout the
centuries to be persecuted, exiled, and which eventually brought on the Holocaust.
Rather than speculate about and explore the reasons as to why the New Testament
contains the racist defamatory anti-Jewish rhetoric, this essay considers some
examples of such New Testament passages that appear in Christian lectionaries.
Lectionaries are collections of Scriptural passages from Christian Bibles that are
read during regular weekly Catholic and Protestant church services, and which are
repeated on some cyclical schedule. As such, these lectionaries are widely used by
many millions of Church-going Christians, and they are somewhat similar to Jewish
prayer books, such as a Siddur.
The material found in the lectionaries is, of course, only the "tip of the iceberg", but it
suffices to demonstrate the plausibility of the assertion that the anti-Semitism among
Christians is rooted in the New Testament.
II. ANTI-JEWISH POLEMIC IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Much of the information in this essay has been extracted from an article by
Professor Norman A. Beck, a New Testament scholar and Professor of Theology
and Classical Languages at Texas Lutheran University.
In his article, Professor Beck deals with texts found in six of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament, to which he refers as "… the specific texts identified as most problematic …" in some of his published works. Professor Beck identifies the offensive passages in the New
Testament and indicates the instances in which all or portions of these texts are
included in major lectionary series. Read More: http://thejewishhome.org/counter/AntiJewishNT.pdf
In one of his sermons, the Reverend Dr. Frank G. Kirkpatrick, Pastor of the Trinity
Episcopal Church and Professor of Religion at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut,
describes how anti-Semitism grew out of a passage in the New Testament (Acts
13:44-52) that was to be read on that particular Sunday, as well as others like it.3
This passage proclaims that the Jews have brought damnation on themselves by
rejecting Jesus as their Messiah, a belief that has caused Jews throughout the
centuries to be persecuted, exiled, and which eventually brought on the Holocaust.
Rather than speculate about and explore the reasons as to why the New Testament
contains the racist defamatory anti-Jewish rhetoric, this essay considers some
examples of such New Testament passages that appear in Christian lectionaries.
Lectionaries are collections of Scriptural passages from Christian Bibles that are
read during regular weekly Catholic and Protestant church services, and which are
repeated on some cyclical schedule. As such, these lectionaries are widely used by
many millions of Church-going Christians, and they are somewhat similar to Jewish
prayer books, such as a Siddur.
The material found in the lectionaries is, of course, only the "tip of the iceberg", but it
suffices to demonstrate the plausibility of the assertion that the anti-Semitism among
Christians is rooted in the New Testament.
II. ANTI-JEWISH POLEMIC IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Much of the information in this essay has been extracted from an article by
Professor Norman A. Beck, a New Testament scholar and Professor of Theology
and Classical Languages at Texas Lutheran University.
In his article, Professor Beck deals with texts found in six of the 27 books that comprise the New Testament, to which he refers as "… the specific texts identified as most problematic …" in some of his published works. Professor Beck identifies the offensive passages in the New
Testament and indicates the instances in which all or portions of these texts are
included in major lectionary series. Read More: http://thejewishhome.org/counter/AntiJewishNT.pdf
Surely the Word of God can’t be Anti-Semitic! (or to use a more accurate terminology; Anti Jew and Anti-Israel)
No; but.... The writing of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and must be read in a similar manner in order for God to communicate to us. Man can get in the way of this process, if we allow a translator or expositor to colour what the original revelation said.
The translation you are reading might have been influenced by the prejudices of those brought up in traditions of Replacement Theology and dislike of Jews. You might also be reading your Bible through cultural spectacles. Our friend Amnon observes that, "Reading the scriptures in a translation (from Hebrew) is like kissing your bride through a handkerchief." Strive to get as close to the original as you can.
There are several possible areas to consider. Remember, most of the Bible (Old and New Testament) was written originally in Hebrew. Even that which was written in Greek was written by Jews (and one proselyte) who thought in Hebrew idioms and word patterns (which can still be discerned in the Greek).
Church History shows that the Church wilfully rejected its Jewish roots and adopted Replacement Theology and Greek philosophy.
Here are a few problems which you may find in your Bible if you do not use it wisely.
"Palestine in the time of Christ"
map from an RSV Bible – published in 1971.
This was relatively harmless nonsense when it was published, since there was no Palestine in Jesus’ time. Jesus lived in Galilee, Judea and Samaria.
The land was not given that name until the Romans coined it in 138CE, in order to deny the Jews’ roots in the land.
But, sadly, this error slips easily into belief in the present day myth created by the Palestine Authority, that the land historically belongs to the Arabs who, since 1967, have branded themselves "Palestinians.
The names of people and places
The first people to translate the Bible into English chose to change the Hebrew names of people and places into names which sounded English. (the same is probably true for other languages) This might sound harmless, but tends to mask the Jewish identity of the people in the Bible, and the location of the events in Jewish territory. It certainly obscures the connection between the Bible narrative and the people and places of present day Israel. Most unfortunate is the the conversion of Yeshua to Jesus, which hides his Jewish identity and takes the meaning out of Matthew 1 v21 and Luke 2 v30 .
When you read a Bible which uses transliterations of the Hebrew names, you will notice the continuity between the Bible and present day Israelis, who still use the same names. The characters in your Bible were Israelites; not Englishmen!
The same is true of the place names. It is much easier to deny the Jews’ connection to the land of the Bible if the place names have all been modified.
The name of Paul / Saul / Sha’ul
You may well have been taught that Saul of Tarsus changed his Hebrew name to the Greek name Paul. This fits conveniently with replacement theology viewpoint that Paul ceased to be Jewish when he became a "Christian" and enables people to interpret Paul’s teachings in terms of Christ having done away with "the Law".
The truth, as explained by Dr David Stern, in his notes on the Complete Jewish Bible, is that Sha’ul (Hebrew name usually known as Saul) would have had two names, as did many Jews living outside Israel then as now. He had a Greek name for use in his Gentile home town, but he also had the Hebrew name which he received at his circumcision. Sha’ul never ceased to be a Jew – he merely became fulfilled in Yeshua.( a follower of "the Way"; not a Gentile Christian)
Acts 18 v18 tells of Paul/Shaul fulfilling a Nazirite (Jewish) vow. He had not cast off the Torah!
Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.
James, the disciple of Jesus
If you look at the Greek text where James is mentioned, it is clear that he actually had the Hebrew name Jacob ( Jaakov ). His name was translated as James to flatter King James, the patron of the translation. James has been accepted since then.
"The Jews" opposing Jesus in John’s Gospel
A casual reading of John’s gospel will suggest that life was continual confrontation between Jesus and the Jews. Because Jesus is so clearly and approachably presented in the Gospels, and possibly because of Sunday School representations, we may feel Jesus is one of us, in conflict with "alien" or "foreign" Jews. Anti-Semites can read this gospel whilst maintaining their identification with a Gentile Jesus who is battling against those wicked Jews. But this is nonsense, since Jesus and his followers were all Jews. All the disputes in these gospels are between Jews and Jews, but they are between those open to God and the religious who were locked in legalism. John’s labels (as we receive them in English) might not be very helpful to us, but would not have been an issue until his readership had been exposed to hellenisation and antipathy to Jews. David Stern devotes several pages to this issue in his Jewish New Testament Commentary. (pages 157-161)
You might hear people who can read Greek referring to "the original Greek texts", but actually they are referring to the oldest surviving manuscripts. Nehemiah Gordon’s researches suggest that much of the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew. Unfortunately it is possible that a Greek bias and prejudice had already crept in to this first translation. Translators can only do their best to recapture the full meaning as penned by the (Jewish) author. David Stern’s Complete Jewish Bible captures so much better the Jewish flavour and meaning, as well as steering clear of the anti-Jewish biases of many translators and expositors.
"The Jews" in the book of Acts
The same can easily be thought of Acts if verses are taken out of context. There are references to "the Jews" where Luke must be referring to the Jews who rejected the Gospel, since nearby verses indicate that other Jews accepted the message. See Acts 18 v6-8 for instance.
But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.
Surely the synagogue ruler and his family were Jews!
Synagogue of Satan
Revelation 2 v9 says,
I know your afflictions and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Many Christians have assumed over the years that Jesus is condemning the Jews in general as a "synagogue of Satan" and this has led to the use of the phrase “synagogue of Satan” as an anti-Jewish slander.
There is no justification for this idea as David Stern discussed in JNTC ( p795 ). Unbelieving Jews are never called non Jews in the New Testament.
The most sensible understanding of this verse is the obvious one; Jesus is referring to Gentiles who were claiming to be Jews and trying to persuade Jesus’ followers to join them.
Paul had to write to the Galatians to warn against such people (The Judaizers and their adherents) and remind the Galatians of the truth of the Gospel. Even today there are Gentiles who are pretending to be Jews. Anyone doing this and leading Christians away from true faith in Jesus merits Jesus’ description in Revelation 2 v9. (See JNTC page 560-563 in Galatians 5)
Just a comma
David Stern points out (Page 97 of his Jewish New Testament Commentary) that Mark 12 v38 is usually translated into English in a way that makes it appear that Jesus is condemning all teachers ot the Law.
KJV - Beware of the scribes, which......
RSV - "Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes....."
NIV - As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,
That comma after the word scribes makes the warning apply to all teachers, but if it was not there it would be clear that Jesus was only warning against the scribes that do these things. The construction of the Greek text does not support that comma! The NIV appears to have taken the error one step further by using a full stop and a new sentence.
Notice how David Stern translates it. See the difference!
CJB - As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the kind of Torah teachers who like to walk....."
The same problem arises with 1 Thessalonians 2 v14-15 (NIV)
You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.
David Stern explained in JNTC p 618 that the original Greek text has no comma and there are no grounds for inserting a comma.
With the comma it reads that it was the Jews (all of them) that killed Jesus, while without the comma it reads that the Jews being referred to are only those who killed Jesus. The usual translation is thus anti-Semitic. Just read the sentence aloud with and then without the comma.
Anti "Law"
Some argue that Christ had done away with the Law, the Jewish Torah, quoting, "Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Romans 10 v4 NIV. This argument comes close to Anti-Semitism and demeans the first five books of our Bible - Jesus' scriptures!
This is due to the rendering of the Greek word "Teleos" as "end", in the sense of termination. Teleos is used 42 times in the New Testament, and in the great majority of cases it means, "aim, purpose or goal to which a movement is directed" (Teleology is the branch of philosophy dealing with goals and purposes)
The original reader of the KJV might have understood "end" in the sense of goal (as in "the end justifies the means") but it understood by today's reader as termination. All major English translations follow the KJV, but David Stern translates teleos as "the goal at which the Torah aims."
N.I.V. biases
John 19 v19 & 20 in the NIV read,
Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
Nearly all the european language translations render the Greek word Hebraistias Hebrew. This seems the obvious translation, so why do the NIV, ESV, NIVRR and TNIV translations opt for Aramaic? Does someone have a problem with acknowledging the Jewish language?
While we are looking at the NIV, let's consider at its translation using "envy" and "envious" in Romans 11 vs11 and 14
Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israelenvious.
.....in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
David Pawson points out that if I look longingly at someone elses wife I am guilty of envy. But if someone stole away my wife I would be jealous. It is good to be jealous for what is my own but bad to be envious of what is someone elses. ( God is jealous )
Paul is speaking of making the Jews jealous because we Gentiles have now received the blessing that was originally theirs alone! To suggest the Jews will be envious of some special Gentile blessing that we have is arogant, and not what Paul was suggesting at all!
In "WHY CARE ABOUT ISRAEL" Sandra Teplinsky points out another issue with the NIV; the Greek word pleroma. Pleroma appears seventeen times in the New Testament and the King James Version translates every occurence asfulness. The NIV translates it the same way every time except for Romans 11v25 where it translates pleroma as "full number".
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, ..............NIV
For brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't imagine that you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra'el until the Gentile world enters its fulness; and that it is in this way that all Isra'el will be saved. ..............CJB
Why the odd translation to change the meaning to purely numerical?
Man Made Additions
We all know we are not to add to God's word or subtract from it but .....
What about the section headings added in many translations? They can be useful for finding a section but some folk read the headings as part of "the Word" in church services. If these reflect prejudices held by the publishers they can seriously influence our understanding. It is said that one early translation of Romans 11, which says, "I ask then: Did God reject his people?", was headed "Israel rejected."
David Pawson points out the problems with having a commentary built into your Bible in parallel with the text (or at the foot of the page). He found that some people quoted from commentaries, but didn't realise they were only quoting the opinions of a man; they thought they were quoting scripture.
This author prefers not to even underline in his Bible, since this action connects a passage to a truth revealed on one particular occasion. What if God wanted to reveal something else nearby at some future occasion? [1]
[1] Your Bible against Israel/the Jews ?
References for further study
[Selected material from some of these sources was used in preparing this essay]
Internet Websites:
The New Testament & Anti-Semitism (http://www.messianicracism.mcmail.com/ca/antisem/idx.htm) - Several relevant articles may be found at this website.
Jewish-Christian Relations (http://www.jcrelations.net/) - This website contains a
wealth of scholarly materials that deal with all aspects of Jewish-Christian relations.
Books:
Elder and Younger Brothers: The Encounter of Jews and Christians, by A. Roy
Eckhardt, Schocken Books (1973)
Your People, My People: The Meeting of Christians and Jews, by A. Roy Eckhardt,
Crown Publishing Group (1974); ISBN 0-81290-4125
Antisemitism in the New Testament , by Lillian C. Freudmann, University Press of
America (1994); ISBN: 0819192953
Removing the Anti-Judaism from the New Testament, by Howard Clark Kee and
Irvin J. Borowsky, American Interfaith Institute, Philadelphia, PA
[Selected material from some of these sources was used in preparing this essay]
Internet Websites:
The New Testament & Anti-Semitism (http://www.messianicracism.mcmail.com/ca/antisem/idx.htm) - Several relevant articles may be found at this website.
Jewish-Christian Relations (http://www.jcrelations.net/) - This website contains a
wealth of scholarly materials that deal with all aspects of Jewish-Christian relations.
Books:
Elder and Younger Brothers: The Encounter of Jews and Christians, by A. Roy
Eckhardt, Schocken Books (1973)
Your People, My People: The Meeting of Christians and Jews, by A. Roy Eckhardt,
Crown Publishing Group (1974); ISBN 0-81290-4125
Antisemitism in the New Testament , by Lillian C. Freudmann, University Press of
America (1994); ISBN: 0819192953
Removing the Anti-Judaism from the New Testament, by Howard Clark Kee and
Irvin J. Borowsky, American Interfaith Institute, Philadelphia, PA
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