{"id":282395,"date":"2025-06-08T23:02:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T23:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/early-christians-use-of-scripture-regarding-jews-christians-and-the-people-of-god-an-enquiry-into-the-primary-sources\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T23:02:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T23:02:34","slug":"early-christians-use-of-scripture-regarding-jews-christians-and-the-people-of-god-an-enquiry-into-the-primary-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=282395","title":{"rendered":"Early Christians\u2019 Use of Scripture Regarding Jews, Christians, and the People of God (An Enquiry into the Primary Sources)"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The 1998
\nVatican document presented by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, \u2018We Remember: A
\nReflection on the Shoah,\u2019 observes that <\/span>\u2018the fact that the Shoah <\/i>[Holocaust] <\/span>took place in Europe,
\nthat is, in countries of long-standing Christian civilization, raises the
\nquestion of any relation between the Nazi persecution and the attitudes down
\nthe centuries of Christians towards the Jews\u2019 (n. II).<\/span> <\/span>The document acknowledges that some Christians have, in the history of
\nthe Church in Europe, mistreated and persecuted the Jews, and have not done all
\nthat they could to oppose Antisemitism.\u00a0 <\/span>The \u2018We Remember\u2019 document is intended as an
\nexpression of repentance by the Catholic Church and a resolve \u2018<\/span>to build a new future
\nin which there will be no more anti-Judaism among Christians or anti-Christian
\nsentiment among Jews, but rather a shared mutual respect, as befits those who
\nadore the one Creator and Lord and have a common father in faith, Abraham.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Pope John-Paul II stated in his 1999 Post-Synodal Apostolic
\nExhortation Ecclesia in Europa<\/i> that
\nthe Church and the Jewish people were united in that the covenant God made with
\nIsrael was, as Paul stated in Rom. 11.29, irrevocable, and it is the same
\ncovenant that has reached its fulfillment in Christ (56).\u00a0 <\/span>The same document distinguishes this
\nconviction from religious relativism, which sees religion of one sort to be as
\ngood as another.\u00a0 <\/span>On the contrary, the
\nChurch has a mission to all peoples (55).<\/span><\/p>\n

The present essay begins by noting that western, orthodox, Christian
\nwriters of the second, third, and early fourth centuries held that the Jews had
\nbeen replaced by the Church as God\u2019s people.\u00a0
\n<\/span>This was not the view of New Testament writers.\u00a0 <\/span>First, a hope is held out for the people of Israel
\n(no national statement is made).\u00a0 <\/span>In Mt.
\n23.38-39, Jesus pronounces the same judgement of desolation on Jerusalem or
\nIsrael that the prophets did (Is. 1.7; Jer. 26.9; Ez. 6; 14.15f; Joel 2.3; Mic.
\n6.13; Zech. 7.14) but with the expectation that one day (when it received the
\nLord) the people of Jerusalem would receive Jesus, the Messiah, as they did
\nupon His triumphal entry. \u00a0<\/span>Rom. 11.25-29
\nquotes Is. 59.20 with the hope that, despite her past sinfulness, all Israel
\nwould be saved.\u00a0 <\/span>Given the Old Testament
\nreference, it seems to this interpreter that the meaning of this Romans verse
\nmust involve actual Israel\u2014the Jews (again, no national Israel is in
\nview).\u00a0 <\/span>Luke lets stand the question of
\nthe disciples after the resurrection, \u2018Lord, is this the time when you will
\nrestore the kingdom to Israel?\u2019 (Acts 1.6; cf. Lk. 2.25).\u00a0 <\/span>Second, following the view of the Old
\nTestament, New Testament authors see the righteous as a part of Israel and not
\nthe entire ethnic or covenant group.\u00a0 <\/span>There
\nis a righteous remnant within Israel (Rom. 9.27), an Israel of God (Gal. 6.16).\u00a0 <\/span>While not all Jews believed in Jesus, many
\ndid (Jn. 12.42).\u00a0 <\/span>All the New Testament
\nauthors are Jewish, and the critique of Judaism is one well-known from the Old
\nTestament prophets; it is an internal critique and not an attack on another
\nethnic group.\u00a0 <\/span>To be sure, for
\nChristians, the world comes to be divided between followers of Christ and
\neveryone else, but New Testament writers still see Israel as God\u2019s covenant
\npeople.\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, Paul weeps for them
\nbecause they, as God\u2019s covenant people, are rejecting God\u2019s salvation (Rom.
\n9.1-5).\u00a0 <\/span>The covenant, like the root of a
\ntree, remains, even if branches are to be grafted in (Gentiles) or pruned off
\n(unbelieving Jews) (Rom. 11.16-24).<\/span><\/p>\n

How, then, is it that in the Patristic period we find the
\nthoroughgoing conviction that the Jews were no longer God\u2019s covenant
\npeople?\u00a0 <\/span>This paper will explore this
\nquestion by looking at how these Christian authors used the common Scriptures,
\nthe Old Testament, to make their case (New Testament passages will seldom be
\npresented).\u00a0 <\/span>I will examine this under
\nfive headings:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Proof from Scripture that Israel was no longer the people of God<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Proof from Scripture that Israel was sinful<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Christians rightly understand the Law<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Scripture foretells the demise of Israel<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Proof from Scripture that Israel has been replaced by the Church <\/span><\/p>\n

Argument 1:<\/span><\/b> Proof From Scripture that Israel was No Longer the People of God<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Clement of Alexandria,
\nwriting in the latter part of the 2nd<\/sup> century, might be quoted as
\nrepresentative of the early Christian position that Israel was no longer the
\npeople of God (Instructor<\/i> II.8):<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span>For being hard of heart, they understood not that this very thing,
\nwhich they called the disgrace of the Lord, was a prophecy wisely uttered:
\n“The Lord was not known by the people” [Is. 1.3] which erred, which
\nwas not circumcised in understanding, whose darkness was not enlightened, which
\nknew not God, denied the Lord, forfeited
\nthe place of the true Israel<\/i>, persecuted God, hoped to reduce the Word to
\ndisgrace; and Him whom they crucified as a malefactor they crowned as a king.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tertullian also <\/span>argued from Scripture that Israel
\nwould reject God (Jer. 2.10-12; Is. 65.13-16 LXX; An Answer to the Jews <\/i>III), that God\u2019s blessing or Spirit would be
\ntaken from Israel: Is. 3.1, 3; 5.1ff (XIII), and that Christ asked God to
\ndisperse Israel (Ps. 59.11; XIII).\u00a0 <\/span>He
\nconcludes:<\/span><\/p>\n

Since,
\ntherefore, the Jews were predicted as destined to suffer these calamities on
\nChrist\u2019s account<\/i>, and we find that they have<\/i> suffered them, and see
\nthem sent into dispersion and abiding in it, manifest it is that it is on
\nChrist\u2019s account that these things have<\/i> befallen the Jews, the sense of
\nthe Scriptures harmonizing with the issue of events and of the order of the
\ntimes. Or else, if Christ is not yet come, on whose account they were predicted
\nas destined thus to suffer, when He shall have<\/i> come it follows that they
\nwill<\/i> thus suffer. And where will then be a daughter of Sion to be
\nderelict, who now<\/i> has no existence? where the cities to be exust, which
\nare already exust and in heaps? where the dispersion of a race which is now in
\nexile? Restore to Judea the condition which Christ is to find; and (then, if
\nyou will), contend that some other (Christ) is coming (XIII).<\/span><\/p>\n

Minucius Felix (mid-2nd<\/sup>
\ncentury or early 3rd<\/sup> century) claims that Scripture demonstrates
\nthat Israel deserves her present fortune because of her obstinacy (Octavius <\/i>XXXIII).\u00a0 <\/span>The Jews, he concludes, \u2018<\/span>were given up by God as deserters
\nfrom His discipline.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Commodianus
\n(mid-third century African bishop) references Isaiah 6.10 in his argument that
\nIsrael was hard-hearted and rejected the Law, as also in the time of Moses (Ex.
\n32).\u00a0 <\/span>Thus God rejected her (XXXVIII).<\/span><\/p>\n

Orthodox Christians
\nof this period unequivocally maintained that salvation could only be found in
\nJesus.\u00a0 <\/span>As they did not distinguish
\nelection from salvation, they concluded that those Jews who were not Christians
\nwere no longer the people of God.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nJews who were Christians occupied no position of privilege within the Church,
\nwhich was made up of all peoples confessing Christ, and the Gentiles who became
\nChristians did not need to become Jews to be the people of God.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, the Jewish Scriptures were also the
\nChristian Scriptures and should not be rejected.\u00a0 <\/span>They could, in fact, be used to explain
\nJudaism and the Church in God\u2019s plan of salvation.\u00a0 <\/span>This last point is the one to be pursued momentarily.<\/span><\/p>\n

The criticism of
\nJudaism, of course, does not begin with Christians; it begins within Judaism
\nitself.\u00a0 <\/span>It is a critique found most
\nespecially in the prophets, who separate out the unrighteous, idolatrous Jews
\nfrom the righteous remnant.\u00a0 <\/span>This
\ncentury-old critique of Judaism is found in the first century not least within
\nthe Qumran community, which separated itself from the unrighteous of Israelite
\nsociety, had nothing to do with the Temple, and predicted a coming
\njudgement.\u00a0 <\/span>Such a critique is very
\nsimilar to that of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early Church\u2014all themselves
\nJews.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Yet when such a
\ncritique is voiced by Gentile Christians, when it is voiced within a fairly
\nanti-Jewish Roman Empire,
\nwhen it is stated that the Jews killed Jesus, and when Jewish suffering is said
\nto be the result of the Jews\u2019 crucifying Jesus, it is difficult to distinguish
\na critique of Judaism from Antisemitism.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Still, the careful scholar will distinguish language such as
\n\u2018Christkillers\u2019 (Ignatius, Magnesians <\/i>11.1
\nlong; cf. Philadelphians <\/i>6.1 long),
\n\u2018fighters against God, those murderers of the Lord\u2019 (Ignatius, Thrallians<\/i> 11.2 long; cf. Melito, Peri Pascha <\/i>(73-74, 93), and \u2018Jews
\nfighting against Christ\u2019 (Smyrnaeans <\/i>2.1
\nlong) from an Antisemitism that utters degrading ethnic <\/i>slurs and advocates persecution.\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, for Ignatius himself, the issue was
\nnot ethnicity but Christ versus Jewish law (Philadelphians
\n<\/i>6.1).\u00a0 <\/span>For Cyprian, quoting Is.
\n1.15-20, salvation also comes to the Jews, just as to the Gentiles, albeit
\ntheir repentance is said to include the specific sin of killing Jesus:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 by this alone the Jews could
\nobtain pardon of their sins, if they wash away the blood of Christ slain in His
\nbaptism, and, passing over into the Church, should obey His precepts (Treatise 12.1.24<\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not, however, Antisemitic
\nto insist that a Jew needs to accept Christ as saviour for salvation.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, in the
\nsecond and third centuries, Christians were regularly persecuted, and that
\nsometimes with the involvement of Jews (Martyrdom
\nof Polycarp<\/i>; cf. section 13: the \u2018Jews especially, according to custom,
\neagerly\u2019 assisted in burning bishop Polycarp to death).\u00a0 <\/span>During the Jewish-Roman war of 132-135, the
\nJewish leader, Bar Cocheba, punished Christians who would not deny or blaspheme
\nChrist (Justin, First Apology <\/i>XXXI)\u2014a
\npractice already evident in the first century (Acts 9.2; 26.11; 2 Cor. 11.24;
\nGal. 1.13; 1 Cor. 15.9; 2 Cor. 5.16; Mk. 13.9 (Mt. 10.17; Lk. 12.11; 21.12; cf.
\nMt. 23.34); Jn. 16.2).\u00a0 <\/span>Yet the essential debate between Christians
\nand Jews appears not to be relations between their communities but the
\ninterpretation of the Scriptures.\u00a0 <\/span>Just
\nwhat does Scripture say about the identity of God\u2019s people?\u00a0 <\/span>The mutually accepted premise of all Jewish
\nand Christian dialogue was that Scripture, as God\u2019s Word, was authoritative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Argument 2: Proof From
\nScripture That Israel was Sinful<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

That the Jews have
\nbeen sinful and have therefore lost their status as God\u2019s people is a
\nprevailing view.\u00a0 <\/span>So, for example, <\/span>Justin argued that
\nScripture foretold that the Jews would reject God\u2019s salvation (Is. 1.3f; 66.1;
\n1.11-15; 58.6-7) (First Apology <\/i>38).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Clement of Alexandria
\nillustrated modes of rebuke for the instructor almost wholly from passages
\nwhere God rebukes Israel for her sins (Instructor
\n<\/i>I.9):<\/span><\/p>\n

Admonition: Jer. 3.9; Ez. 2.6-7;
\nIs. 39.13<\/span><\/p>\n

Upbraiding: Jer. 5.8-9; Hos. 4.14<\/span><\/p>\n

Complaint: Is. 1.2-4; Jer. 1.16;
\n2.13 or 19.4 (\u2018they have forsaken me\u2019)<\/span><\/p>\n

Invective: Is. 30.1<\/span><\/p>\n

Reproof: Is. 1.4; Jer. 2.12-13;
\nLam. 1.8<\/span><\/p>\n

Bringing one to one\u2019s senses: Jer.
\n6.10; 9.26; Is. 30.9<\/span><\/p>\n

Denunciation: Is. 1.4<\/span><\/p>\n

Accusation: Jer. 5.11-12 (God
\ndivorces Israel); Jer. 5.11-12<\/span><\/p>\n

Bewailing one\u2019s fate: Lam. 1.1-2<\/span><\/p>\n

Objurgation: Jer. 3.3-4; Nah. 3.4<\/span><\/p>\n

Indignation: Dt. 32.5-6; Is. 1.23<\/span><\/p>\n

While Clement intends by this to
\nillustrate how God inspired fear in order to bring salvation (I.9), in his view
\nthis did not work for Israel, as already noted (II.8). <\/span><\/p>\n

We find the idea that God has rejected Israel due to her
\nsinfulness succinctly stated in Commodianus, a North African bishop writing
\naround AD 240 (XXXVIII):<\/span><\/p>\n

Evil always, and
\nrecalcitrant, with a stiff neck ye [Jews] wish not that ye should be overcome;
\nthus ye will be heirs.\u00a0 Isaiah said that ye were of hardened heart.\u00a0
\nYe look upon the law which Moses in wrath dashed to pieces; and the same Lord
\ngave to him a second law.\u00a0 In that he placed his hope; but ye, half
\nhealed, reject it, and therefore ye shall not be worthy of the kingdom of
\nheaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

Likewise, Minucius
\nFelix writes (XXXIII):<\/span><\/p>\n

For they
\nthemselves also, as long as they worshipped our God–and He is the same God of
\nall–with chastity, innocency, and religion, as long as they obeyed His
\nwholesome precepts, from a few became innumerable, from poor became rich, from
\nbeing servants became kings; a few overwhelmed many; unarmed men overwhelmed
\narmed ones as they fled from them, following them up by God’s command, and with
\nthe elements striving on their behalf. Carefully read over their Scriptures, or
\nif you are better pleased with the Roman writings, inquire concerning the Jews
\nin the books (to say nothing of ancient documents) of Flavius Josephus or
\nAntoninus Julianus, and you shall know that by their wickedness they deserved
\nthis fortune, and that nothing happened which had not before been predicted to
\nthem, if they should persevere in their obstinacy. Therefore you will
\nunderstand that they forsook before they were forsaken, and that they were not,
\nas you impiously say, taken captive with their God, but they were given up by
\nGod as deserters from His discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, on the
\none hand, Minucius Felix affirms that the Jews have worshipped the same God as
\nthe Christians, but, on the other hand, they have rebelled against God\u2019s
\ncommand.\u00a0 <\/span>He argues this latter point
\nwith reference to the manifold testimony of Scripture as well as historical
\nevents.\u00a0 <\/span>This would give some credence to
\nreading Scriptural texts directed at the Jews centuries earlier as though they
\nwere still relevant in the time of the early Church.\u00a0 <\/span>The conclusion of this, for Minucius Felix,
\nis that God only gave up on the Jews after they had forsaken him.\u00a0 <\/span>This could be considered <\/span>Antisemitic<\/span>, since a whole group is spoken of negatively and viewed as
\ndeserving their troubles.\u00a0 <\/span>But it could
\nbe viewed otherwise as well: the issue is not ethnicity but behaviour, and when
\nthey behaved well they were blessed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tertullian
\nreferences various passages in Scripture that demonstrate the sinfulness of
\nIsrael and predict her exile (An Answer
\nto the Jews<\/i>):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Ex. 32: Israel turned to idolatry<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Dt. 28.65ff predicts exile and agony
\nfor Israel<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Is. 1.2, 4, 7-8, 15 predicts
\nIsrael\u2019s sin and destruction<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Is. 33.17 predicts Israel\u2019s exile<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Is. 65.1, 13-16 states that Jews
\nwould forsake the Lord and others will serve Him<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Jer. 2.10-13 states that the Jews
\nhave exchanged their glory for something unprofitable, <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>forsaking
\nGod and pursuing idolatry<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again, the
\ntestimony of Scripture across the centuries of its writing has been that Israel
\nis sinful.\u00a0 <\/span>Tertullian feels no need to
\nlocate these verses in a particular period: rather, Scripture characterizes the
\nJews as forsaking God and foretells, in Is. 65.1-16, that others would serve
\nhim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Origen states
\nunequivocally that the Jews\u2019 sins are paramount:<\/span><\/p>\n

on account of their unbelief, and the other insults
\nwhich they heaped upon Jesus, the Jews will not only suffer more than others in
\nthat judgment which is believed to impend over the world, but have even already
\nendured such sufferings. For what nation is an exile from their own metropolis,
\nand from the place sacred to the worship of their fathers, save the Jews alone?
\nAnd these calamities they have suffered, because they were a most wicked
\nnation, which, although guilty of many other sins, yet has been punished so
\nseverely for none, as for those that were committed against our Jesus (Contra Celsum <\/i>II.8).<\/span><\/p>\n

The sinfulness of the Jews
\nculminates in their attitude towards Jesus Christ, according to Commodianus
\n(XL).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is not an unbelieving people such as yours.\u00a0
\nO evil men! in so many places, and so often rebuked by the law of those who cry
\naloud.\u00a0 And the lofty One despises your Sabbaths, and altogether rejects
\nyour universal monthly feasts according to law, that ye should not make to Him
\nthe commanded sacrifices; who told you to throw a stone for your offence.\u00a0
\nIf any should not believe that He had perished by an unjust death, and that
\nthose who were beloved were saved by other laws, thence that life was suspended
\non the tree, and believe not on Him.\u00a0 God Himself is the life; He Himself
\nwas suspended for us.\u00a0 But ye with indurated heart insult Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

This last quote points to two theological and exegetical problems
\nwith the discussion among the Church fathers.\u00a0
\n<\/span>First, there is the notion that the Jews are more sinful than other
\nnations.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps, however, Paul\u2019s
\npresenting the extreme sinfulness of the Gentiles before the sinfulness of the
\nJews in his argument in Romans sets the proper tone for Christian thinking on
\nthe Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>Rom. 1.18-3.26 makes the
\nargument that Jews and Gentiles are equally culpable for their sins, not that
\nthe Jews are more sinful.\u00a0 <\/span>Second,
\nCommodianus expresses the view that the practices of Judaism that mark them off
\nas a particular people are odious before God.\u00a0
\n<\/span>While this can be argued from Scripture (e.g., Is. 58), this is again
\nnot the New Testament perspective (e.g., 1 Cor. 9.20; Gal. 5.6; 6.15; Rom. 14.1ff;
\netc.).<\/span><\/p>\n

The sinfulness of Israel is a line of argument one meets at
\nnumerous times in the literature.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nScriptural basis for this typically comes from the prophetic writings on Israel\u2019s
\nsin.\u00a0 <\/span>Of interest is the fact that early
\nChristian writers took these writings as though they continued to apply to the
\nJews.\u00a0 <\/span>Also to be noted is the diversity
\nof texts used from author to author\u2014the case was not standardized, but it could
\nbe made from many passages.\u00a0 <\/span>Within
\nthese, however, a few texts do get repeated attention, such as Is. 1.2ff.*\u00a0 <\/span>Finally, note that these Old Testament
\npassages were not read as part of a larger story of God\u2019s ultimate rescue of
\nsinful, exiled Israel, as in the prophets. <\/span><\/p>\n

Argument 3: Christians Rightly Understand the Law<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

On the issue of the
\nLaw, several perspectives can be identified in the patristic sources.\u00a0 <\/span>The primary argument of interest here\u2014one
\nwell attested in the texts\u2014is that the Law needs to be read \u2018spiritually\u2019
\nrather than literally.\u00a0 <\/span>Some argue that
\nthis is a development in light of the movement of salvation history, while
\nothers, more critical of the Jews, argue that the Laws should never have been
\nfollowed literally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in the second
\ncentury, Ignatius advocated that the progression of salvation history meant a
\ndifferent attitude towards the Law:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Old
\nthings are passed away: behold, all things have become new.” For if we
\nstill live according to the Jewish law, and the circumcision of the flesh, we
\ndeny that we have received grace (Magnesians
\n<\/i>8.1 long)<\/span><\/p>\n

The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited
\nfor Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Savior, saying,
\n“He will come and save us.” Let us therefore no longer keep the
\nSabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he
\nthat does not work, let him not eat\u201d (Magnesians
\n<\/i>9.2 long).<\/span><\/p>\n

Also in the early 2nd<\/sup>
\ncentury, Aristides wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

And in their imagination they
\nconceive that it is God they serve; whereas by their mode of observance it is
\nto the angels and not to God that their service is rendered:–as when they
\ncelebrate sabbaths and the beginning of the months, and feasts of unleavened
\nbread, and a great fast; and fasting and circumcision and the purification of
\nmeats, which things, however, they do not observe perfectly (<\/span>Apology*<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Another early 2nd<\/sup>
\ncentury writer, in the Epistle to
\nDiognetus<\/i>, sees Jewish religious practices as virtual idolatry.\u00a0 <\/span>The key to such an argument is thata literal
\ninterpretation is believed to lean in this direction:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But those who imagine that, by means of blood,
\nand the smoke of sacrifices and burnt-offerings they offer sacrifices
\n[acceptable] to Him, and that by such honours they show Him respect: these, by
\nsupposing that they can give anything to Him who stands in need of nothing,
\nappear to me in no respect to differ from those who studiously confer the same
\nhonour on things destitute of sense…. (3).<\/span><\/p>\n

The author of this
\nepistle simply takes Jewish food laws, Sabbaths, boasting, circumcision,
\nfastings, and new moons to be ridiculous (4).\u00a0
\n<\/span>No Scriptural argument is proffered.\u00a0
\n<\/span>The ease with which these are dismissed suggests that the Jews are not
\nthe author’s concern so much as making the argument that Christians ‘are
\ndistinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor customs
\nwhich they observe.\u00a0 <\/span>For they neither
\ninhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech….’ (5).<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet another
\nearly 2nd<\/sup> century author, in the Epistle
\nof Barnabas<\/i>, argued that the Scriptures should not be read literally but
\ntypologically, for we live in the last days (6).\u00a0 <\/span>This argument could be stated in one of two
\nway, and Barnabas employs them both:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>A literal reading is said to be a misreading of Scripture<\/i>, as when Barnabas insists that a
\ncircumcision of the flesh was never <\/span>God\u2019s intent but in fact a deception by an evil angel <\/span>(9)<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>Circumcision was always to be understood
\nspiritually\u2014as a circumcision of the heart (Jer. 4.4; Dt. 10.16).\u00a0 <\/span>Barnabas also argues this point allegorically:
\n<\/span>Abraham’s
\ncircumcision of 318 men (confusing Gen. 17.26f and 14.14) points to Christ,
\nsince ten and eight are written with the first two Greek letters of Jesus\u2019 name
\n(‘<\/span>I<\/span>‘
\nand ‘<\/span>H<\/span>‘) and 300 is the written with the Greek letter ‘<\/span>T<\/span>‘, representing by
\nits shape the cross of Christ.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>V<\/span><\/span>arious foods are
\ninterpreted as characters with whom one should not associate (10).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>A literal reading is said to be no
\nlonger the right reading of Scripture<\/i>, as when Barnabas says that Jewish
\nsacrifices were already abolished by the <\/span>prophets (<\/span>Is. 1.11-14; Jer. 7.22; Zech. 8.17; Ps. 51.19)
\n(2).<\/span><\/p>\n

The spiritual interpretation of the Old
\nTestament in general clarified the distinction between Jews and Christians, as
\nwe find in <\/span>Melito of Sardis\u2019s Paschal Sermon<\/i> (39-45):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Earthly\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Heavenly
\nor Spiritual<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The Jewish people\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nChurch<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The Law\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nGospel<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Sacrifice of sheep\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nlife of the Lord<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Temple\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Christ<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Earthly Jerusalem\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Heavenly
\nJerusalem<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Meagre inheritance in
\none place\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Abundant
\ngrace throughout the world<\/span><\/p>\n

A spiritual interpretation of Israel\u2019s Law was
\nconsidered to be superior:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>It
\nis not that the Church needed <\/i>a spiritual interpretation of the OT in
\norder to \u2018save\u2019 the Scriptures for the Church, although this is a result of the
\nargument.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Rather,
\nit suggests that interpretation is better <\/i>when it uncovers the spiritual
\nmeaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>The
\nJews\u2019 literal following of the Law was therefore an example of bad exegesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

The notion of a hermeneutical progression, from
\nliteral to spiritual, cn be found in various authors of the second and third
\ncenturies: that the spiritual reading should always have been preferred is not
\nthe only argument.\u00a0 <\/span>Justin Martyr, while
\nhe allowed that some Christians hold to the Jewish regulations (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew <\/i>47), argued
\nthat nobody now obeys all the Mosaic Law since one cannot offer the paschal
\nlamb (46).\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, he avers, the
\nMosaic Law was given because of Israel’s hardness of heart–to remind them
\nconstantly of God through the many precepts (19), but Christ replaced the Law,
\nas Is. 51.4-5 and Jer. 31.31f state (11).\u00a0
\n<\/span>The laws on circumcision, foods, sabbaths, sacrifices and oblations were
\ninstituted because of the Jews\u2019 unrighteousness and idolatries, to <\/span>divert them from the practices of
\nthe nations around them<\/span>, not because there was any necessity for such sacrifices
\n(19-22).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Clement of Alexandria actually
\nargues that the Law was good.\u00a0 <\/span>It was
\nbetter than the laws of the Greeks, although something better in Christ has now
\ncome (Stromata <\/i>I.27).<\/span><\/p>\n

Tertullian argued that, on the one hand, the
\nMosaic Law was prefigured in the command that God gave to Adam and Eve while,
\non the other hand, there were righteous persons (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
\nMelchizedek) who were so without the Mosaic Law (An Answer to the Jews <\/i>2).<\/span><\/p>\n

He believed that a shift from a temporal or carnal<\/i> reading of the Law to
\nan eternal or spiritual<\/i> reading has
\ntaken place when, through Jesus, a new covenant was given and the spiritual
\ncame (An Answer to the Jews <\/i>VI).\u00a0 <\/span>Thus he argues that the 10 Commandments were
\nenclosed as seeds in the Adamic Law<\/i>,
\nand natural law<\/i> prevailed until Moses
\n(e.g., Noah was found righteous).\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nMosaic Law also had its place in time, but God ‘reforms the law’s precepts
\nanswerably to the circumstances of the times, with a view to man’s salvation’ (II).\u00a0 <\/span>It was a temporal mirror of the new law in
\nthe new covenant, which is eternal.\u00a0 <\/span>Jer.
\n31.31f promised a new law, a new circumcision.\u00a0
\n<\/span>With the abolition of the old Law and circumcision also went Sabbath
\nobservance (IV).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even so, Tertullian advanced the argument that
\nprior to Jesus Jewish regulations were not acceptable to God.\u00a0 <\/span>The prophets (Is. 1.13) bore witness that God
\nhated the Jews’ Sabbaths, as we already read in Genesis regarding Cain\u2019s
\n(Israel\u2019s) sacrifice and Abel\u2019s (Christian) sacrifice (V).\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Like Justin, Origen acknowledged that some
\nChristians follow the Jewish laws (Contra
\nCelsum <\/i>V.61), but the superior reading of the Scripture is allegorical
\n(IV.49).\u00a0 <\/span>With reference to Jn. 16.12-13
\nand Acts 10.13-15, he argued that the coming of the Spirit after Jesus\u2019 death
\nand resurrection allowed a spiritual understanding of the Law (Contra Celsum<\/i> II.2).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>In true Alexandrian form (cf. Philo), Origen argues that Christians
\npenetrate to a deeper understanding of the Law than the Jewish superficial
\n(literal) reading of it (II.4; V.60, with reference to 2 Cor. 3).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>With Jesus\u2019 coming, Jewish Scriptures could now be clearly
\ninterpreted (IV.42).\u00a0 <\/span>The Law, indeed,
\nhad both a literal and a spiritual understanding (VII.20), but <\/span>the literal interpretation has come
\nto an end with the end of Israel\u2019s governmental authority, Temple, and presence
\nin Jerusalem (VII.26).<\/span><\/p>\n

Origen adds a new piece to the argument: the
\nexpansion of the Gospel beyond Israel\u2019s borders to all nations requires that
\nthe Law no longer be taken literally (VII.26):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026 that it must be impossible for the legislation of
\nMoses, taken literally, to harmonize with the calling of the Gentiles, and with
\ntheir subjection to the Roman government; and on the other hand, it would be
\nimpossible for the Jews to preserve their civil economy unchanged, supposing
\nthat they should embrace the Gospel. For Christians could not slay their
\nenemies, or condemn to be burned or stoned, as Moses commands, those who had
\nbroken the law, and were therefore condemned as deserving of these punishments;
\nsince the Jews themselves, however desirous of carrying out their law, are not
\nable to inflict these punishments. But in the case of the ancient Jews, who had
\na land and a form of government of their own, to take from them the right of
\nmaking war upon their enemies, of fighting for their country, of putting to
\ndeath or otherwise punishing adulterers, murderers, or others who were guilty
\nof similar crimes, would be to subject them to sudden and utter destruction
\nwhenever the enemy fell upon them; for their very laws would in that case
\nrestrain them, and prevent them from resisting the enemy. <\/span><\/p>\n

And that same providence which of old gave the law,
\nand has now given the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not wishing the Jewish state to
\ncontinue longer, has destroyed their city and their temple: it has abolished
\nthe worship which was offered to God in that temple by the sacrifice of
\nvictims, and other ceremonies which He had prescribed. And as it has destroyed
\nthese things, not wishing that they should longer continue, in like manner it
\nhas extended day by day the Christian religion, so that it is now preached
\neverywhere with boldness, and that in spite of the numerous obstacles which
\noppose the spread of Christ’s teaching in the world. But since it was the
\npurpose of God that the nations should receive the benefits of Christ’s
\nteaching, all the devices of men against Christians have been brought to sought
\n[read \u2018naught\u2019]; for the more that kings, and rulers, and peoples have
\npersecuted them everywhere, the more have they increased in number and grown in
\nstrength. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, as the end of this quotation appears to suggest, the Jewish
\nLaw was a device of men (albeit formerly God-given) that could be an opposing
\nforce in the spread of the Gospel in the world.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Thus, as Origen elsewhere states, it was brought to an end for the
\npurpose of universal mission, as Jesus (Mk. 7.18f), Paul (1 Cor. 8.8), and the
\nmeeting of the apostles and elders recorded in Acts 15 declared (Origen, Contra Celsum <\/i>VIII.29).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hippolytus offers another problem with the use of the Law.\u00a0 <\/span>The Ebionites, he comments, live according to
\nthe Jewish Law and believe that in it they, like Jesus, are justified.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus was made the Christ because he
\nfulfilled the Law, and they too might become Christs by fulfilling the Law (Refutation of All Heresies <\/i>VII.22).\u00a0 <\/span>*[move to quote from Ignatius]<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the third century, Novatian wrote three
\ntreatises for Christians against Jewish practices of circumcision, the Sabbath,
\nand food regulations.\u00a0 <\/span>Of these, only that
\non food regulations has survived.\u00a0 <\/span>In it
\nwe encounter the view that Jewish regulations set the Jews apart from <\/span>and above others: the Law leads to
\nboasting and, as a Jewish system, it is seen as a problem for a universal
\nmission.\u00a0 <\/span>So much emphasis on Jewish
\nsinfulness because of the Law runs through the writings of the early Christian
\nauthors that Novatian\u2019s argument is noteworthy: \u2018They consider that they only
\nare holy, and that all others are defiled\u2019 (On
\nJewish Meats, <\/i>1).<\/span><\/p>\n

Like a number of other Christian
\nauthors at the time, Novatian advocated <\/span>a spiritual interpretation of Jewish food laws:
\n\u2018<\/span>Thus in the animals,
\nby the law, as it were, a certain mirror of human life is established\u2026\u2019 (On Jewish Meats <\/i>3).\u00a0 <\/span>For example,<\/span><\/p>\n

what does the law mean when it says, \u201cThou
\nshalt not eat the camel?\u2014except that by the example of that animal it condemns
\na life nerveless <\/sup>and crooked with crimes. Or when it forbids the
\nswine to be taken for food? It assuredly reproves a life filthy and dirty, and
\ndelighting in the garbage of vice, placing its supreme good not in generosity
\nof mind, but in the flesh alone. Or when it forbids the hare? It rebukes men
\ndeformed into women. And who would use the body of the weasel for food? But in
\nthis case it reproves theft (On Jewish
\nMeats <\/i>3).<\/span><\/p>\n

With Novatian, not much is left of
\nthe notion of an unfolding salvation history.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Quite simply, he argues, the Jews failed to see that the Law was meant
\nto be interpreted spiritually (2, with reference to Rom. 7.14\u2014a
\nmisunderstanding of the text).\u00a0 <\/span>Even Rom.
\n10.4 is interpreted as Christ\u2019s coming to disclose the Law\u2019s spiritual meaning
\n(4), although later Novatian argues (with mostly New Testament quotes, but also
\nDt. 8.3 and Zech. 7.6 LXX) that the literal Law no longer<\/i> applies (5).<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most positive assessment of the Law is to be found in Minucius
\nFelix. As we have already noted, he argued against those who saw Jewish laws as
\nsuperstitious customs and stated that God blessed them when they obeyed the Law
\n(Octavius <\/i>XXXIII).<\/span><\/p>\n

Argument 4: Scripture Foretells the Demise of Israel<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Justin
\ntaught that, as a result of the Jews\u2019 rejection of God\u2019s salvation, the land of
\nthe Jews would be devastated (Is. 64.10-12; 1.7) (First Apology <\/i>47).<\/span><\/p>\n

Clement of Alexandria\u2019s interpretation of Daniel\u2019s 70 weeks (Dn.
\n9.25-27) is that Israel was in captivity for one \u2018week,\u2019 after which the temple
\nwas rebuilt, existed until Christ for sixty-two weeks, was ruled by Christ for
\none week, and in the middle of that week <\/span>shall he make
\nthe incense of sacrifice cease, and of the wing of destruction, even till the
\nconsummation, like the destruction of the oblation” (<\/span>Stromata<\/span><\/i> I.21<\/span>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Tertullian also sees Dn. 9.25-27 as a prophesy fulfilled in the
\ndestruction of the Temple AD 70 (An
\nAnswer to the Jews <\/i>VIII).\u00a0 <\/span>And he <\/span>argues that
\ncircumcision was given to the Jews so that they could be identified and not
\nadmitted to Jerusalem (An Answer to the
\nJews <\/i>3).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Isaiah
\npredicted the desolation of the land of Israel, and Tertullian sees in this the
\nprohibition against the Jews\u2019 entry into Jerusalem rather than a prediction of
\nthe exile centuries earlier (Is. 1.7-8).<\/span><\/p>\n

Another argument from Tertullian<\/span> <\/span>is that there is a
\nconnection between Jesus\u2019 death and the suffering of the Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>Amos 8.9 has the prophecy that God would
\ndarken the earth at noon on the day of judgement for sinful Israel.\u00a0 <\/span>Since the Passover lambs were to be
\nslaughtered at twilight (Ex. 12.6), the darkness during Jesus\u2019 sacrificial
\ndeath (Mt. 27.45 with Jn. 19.14) can be said to fulfil the passage in
\nAmos.\u00a0 <\/span>But Amos 8.10 immediately adds, \u2018<\/span>I
\nwill turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation,\u2019 and Tertullian
\ninterprets this as the Holy Spirit\u2019s foretelling Israel\u2019s captivity and
\ndispersion after Jesus\u2019 passion (An
\nAnswer to the Jews <\/i>X).\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus\u2019
\nsacrificial suffering and Israel\u2019s suffering in judgement are therefore
\nrelated, and both took place in the first century.<\/span><\/p>\n

Origen offers a charismatic
\nproof of Christianity over against the myths of the Greeks.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Proof of Jesus\u2019 power
\nlies in the spread of the Church throughout the habitable world, conversions
\nfrom sins, casting out of demons and removing diseases in Jesus\u2019 name, and a
\nchange of character in true followers of Him (Contra Celsum <\/i>LXVII).\u00a0
\n<\/span>Similarly, since Jesus\u2019 coming, <\/span><\/p>\n

the Jews were altogether abandoned, and possess now
\nnone of what were considered their ancient glories, so that there is no
\nindication of any Divinity abiding amongst them. For they have no longer
\nprophets nor miracles, traces of which to a considerable extent are still found
\namong Christians, and some of them more remarkable than any that existed among
\nthe Jews; and these we ourselves have witnessed, if our testimony may be
\nreceived? (II.8; cf. VII.8).<\/span><\/p>\n

Argument 5: Proof From Scripture That Israel Has Been Replaced by
\nthe Church<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

In the early fourth century, Lactantius states that, in the last
\ntimes, the \u2018religion of the true God and righteousness\u2019 was made known to the
\nnations but taken away from a \u2018perfidious and ungrateful people\u2019 (<\/span>The Divine Institutes<\/span><\/i> IV.2).\u00a0 <\/span>This perspective runs throughout the Church
\nFathers of the second through early fourth centuries.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Epistle of Barnabas <\/i>(4), the Jewish loss
\nof the covenant was foreshadowed when Moses’ first covenant, written by the
\nfinger of God, was destroyed due to Israel’s idolatry and had to be rewritten
\nby Moses himself (Ex. 31.18; 34.28).\u00a0 <\/span>Towards the end of ch. 4, the author states
\nthat Israel was abandoned, with a quotation from Mt. 20.16 or 22.14
\n(‘many are called, but few are chosen’).\u00a0
\n<\/span>Barnabas also argues analogically and typologically from Scripture that
\nthe Jews have been abandoned by God, for in Rebecca\u2019s womb were two \u2018nations,\u2019
\nJews and Christians, and the elder served the younger (Gen. 25) (13).<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>Also, the younger of Joseph\u2019s two sons
\nreceived the blessing that the elder should have received (Gen. 48), and
\nAbraham was imputed righteousness and became the father of nations through
\nbelief in the Lord while uncircumcised (13).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Justin argued that
\nthe Gentile mission was foretold in Scripture (Is. 2.3; Ps. 19.3-6; 1.1-6;
\n2.1-13; 96.1-13 (First Apology <\/i>39,
\n40, 41)).\u00a0 <\/span>However, while the Gentiles
\nwould worship the Messiah, the Jews would not (Is. 65.1-3; 5.20 (First Apology <\/i>39)).<\/span><\/p>\n

Clement of Alexandria\u2019s
\nreplacement theology involves a communally appropriate rather than exegetical
\nreading of Isaiah 54.\u00a0 <\/span>This passage is
\nactually about God\u2019s restoration of Israel, but Clement chooses to read
\n\u2018Israelites\u2019 as Christians.\u00a0 <\/span>The result
\nis that a text meant to assure Israel of God\u2019s continued covenant faithfulness
\ntowards her is used to dispossess her: , Stromata
\n<\/i>II.6<\/span><\/p>\n

For we are
\nIsraelites, who are convinced not by signs, but by hearing. Wherefore it is
\nsaid, “Rejoice, O barren, that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that
\ndidst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than of
\nher who hath an husband.”[Is. 54.1]\u00a0
\n<\/span>\u2026 Accordingly it is added more clearly, “Thou hast inherited the
\ncovenant of Israel,” [an interpretation rather than a quote; v. 3 actually
\nsays that Israel\u2019s descendents will possess the nations] speaking to those
\ncalled from among the nations that were once barren, being formerly destitute
\nof this husband, who is the Word, — desolate formerly, — of the bridegroom.
\n“Now the just shall live by faith,” [Rom. 1.17] which is according to
\nthe covenant and the commandments; since these, which are two in name and time,
\ngiven in accordance with the [divine] economy — being in power one — the old
\nand the new, are dispensed through the Son by one God (Stromata <\/i>II.6).<\/span><\/p>\n

Tertullian argued that the
\nScripture speaks of a people who would obey God (Ps. 18.43-44; cf. 2 Sam.
\n22.44, 45 and Rom. 10.14-17; Hos. 1.10.), once they were brought out of error
\nto the Lord God and Jesus Christ (Ps. 2.7-8 and Is. 42.6-7) (An Answer to the Jews <\/i>XII).<\/span><\/p>\n

He further argued
\nthat, if the Messiah is, as Jews maintained, still to come, who is left in
\nIsrael to suffer?\u00a0 <\/span>The Romans had
\nexpelled the Jews from Israel. Similarly, while Mic. 5.2 predicted that the
\nMessiah would come from Bethlehem, no Jews are now in Bethlehem due to their
\nremoval by the Romans.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover,
\nanointing needed to be with a particular oil and at the Temple (Ex. 30.22-33),
\nsomething no longer possible since the Jews had been expelled from the region
\nand the Temple destroyed.\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, as
\npredicted (Dn. 9.26), the city of Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed at
\nthe same time.\u00a0 <\/span>Thus, the destruction of
\nJerusalem and the Temple meant a fulfilment of prophecies and the impossibility
\nof any future fulfilment concerning them.\u00a0
\n<\/span>To Tertullian, and other 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> century
\nChristians, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the removal of Jews
\nfrom Israel were predictions within Scripture, and the reason, Israel\u2019s
\nforsaking the Lord, was also found in Scripture.\u00a0 <\/span>That all this applied to the rejection of
\nJesus and the events from A.D. 70 seemed patently obvious.\u00a0 <\/span>The result was a \u2018replacement theology\u2019: the
\nChurch had replaced Israel in God\u2019s salvation history.\u00a0 <\/span>No special covenant relationship remained
\nbetween God and Israel, and no salvation could be found apart from Christ
\nJesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Origen offers several
\narguments to demonstrate that the Jews are no longer the people of God.\u00a0 <\/span>First, Origen offers what we might call a
\ncharismatic argument.\u00a0 <\/span>He argues that the
\nHoly Spirit has abandoned the Jews in that they no longer have prophets or
\nexperience miraculous signs, except, on occasion, among Jewish Christians (Contra Celsum <\/i>VII.8).\u00a0 <\/span>Christians, on the other hand, do experience
\nthese (II.8).\u00a0 <\/span>He states,<\/span><\/p>\n

And the name of Jesus can still remove distractions from the minds
\nof men, and expel demons, and also take away diseases; and produce a marvellous
\nmeekness of spirit and complete change of character, and a humanity, and
\ngoodness, and gentleness\u2026 (I.67).<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, the whole
\nJewish nation was overthrown within a generation after Jesus (IV.22):<\/span><\/p>\n

One fact, then, which proves that Jesus was
\nsomething divine and sacred, is this, that Jews should have suffered on His
\naccount now for a lengthened time calamities of such severity. And we say with
\nconfidence that they will never be restored to their former condition. For they
\ncommitted a crime of the most unhallowed kind, in conspiring against the
\nSaviour of the human race in that city where they offered up to God a worship
\ncontaining the symbols of mighty mysteries. It accordingly behoved that city
\nwhere Jesus underwent these sufferings to perish utterly, and the Jewish nation
\nto be overthrown, and the invitation to happiness offered them by God to pass
\nto others,–the Christians, I mean, to whom has come the doctrine of a pure and
\nholy worship, and who have obtained new laws, in harmony with the established
\nconstitution in all countries; seeing those which were formerly imposed, as on
\na single nation which was ruled by princes of its own race and of similar
\nmanners, could not now be observed in all their entireness.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jews\u2019 rejection
\nof Jesus, moreover, was predicted by Isaiah (6.10).\u00a0 <\/span>This passage already featured in Jesus\u2019
\nexplanation of his teaching in parables (Mk. 4.12; Mt. 13.13-15), the rejection
\nof Jesus by the Jews (Jn. 12.40), and Paul\u2019s dialogue with Jews in Rome (Acts
\n28.25-27)\u2014it was a significant passage early on for Christians in the dialogue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian\u2019s Treatise 12<\/i> (book 1) is devoted to the
\nquestion of the Jews as God\u2019s people.\u00a0 <\/span>He
\nargues that the Jews have been rejected by God and that this was foretold in
\nthe Scriptures.\u00a0 <\/span>His approach in the
\ntreatise is simply to quote passages of Scripture (references alone will be
\ngiven) under certain heads, as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God,
\nbecause they have departed from the Lord, and have followed idols: Ex. 32; Jdg. 2.11-13; 4.1; Mal. 2.11<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Also because they did not believe the prophets, and put
\nthem to death: Jer. 7.25; 25.4, 6-7; 1
\nKgs. 19.10; Neh. 9.26.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That it was previously foretold that they would neither
\nknow the Lord, nor understand nor receive Him: Is. 1.2-4; 6.9-10; Jer. 2.13; 6.10; 8.7-9; Prov. 1.28-29; Ps. 28.4-5;
\n82.5; Jn. 1.11-12.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scriptures,
\nbut that they would be intelligible in the last times, after Christ had come.<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\npoint is made with respect to the Jews prior to Christ\u2019s first coming from Is.
\n29.11-18; Jer. 23.20; and Dn. 12.4-7.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Then New Testament passages are cited to make the point that the Jews
\ncontinue in their lack of understanding (1 Cor. 10.1; 2 Cor. 3.14-16).\u00a0 <\/span>Christ opened the understanding of the
\ndisciples after his resurrection (Lk. 24.44-47).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scriptures
\nunless they first believed on Christ: Is.
\n7.9; Jn. 8.24; Hab. 2.4; Gen. 15.6; Gal. 3.6-9.\u00a0
\n<\/span>The quotations relate specifically to believing or trusting in God,
\nalthough the passage from Jn. 8.24 emphasizes the need for the Jews to have
\nfaith in Jesus.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That they would lose Jerusalem, and leave the land which
\nthey had received: Is. 1.7-9 and Mt.
\n23.37-39.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That they would also lose the Light of the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This
\npoint is made with reference to three texts using the word \u2018light\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>The first says that God has sent away his
\npeople (Is. 2.5-6).\u00a0 <\/span>The second two texts
\ncome from John and have all people, not just the Jews, in focus: Cyprian is
\napplying these passages to any, including the Jews, who reject the light of
\nChrist: Jn. 1.9-10; 3.18-19.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God,
\nbecause they have departed from the Lord, and have followed idols: Ex. 32; Jdg. 2.11-13; 4.1; Mal. 2.11<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>Also because they did not believe the prophets, and put
\nthem to death: Jer. 7.25; 25.4, 6-7; 1
\nKgs. 19.10; Neh. 9.26.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That it was previously foretold that they would neither
\nknow the Lord, nor understand nor receive Him: Is. 1.2-4; 6.9-10; Jer. 2.13; 6.10; 8.7-9; Prov. 1.28-29; Ps. 28.4-5;
\n82.5; Jn. 1.11-12.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scriptures,
\nbut that they would be intelligible in the last times, after Christ had come.<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\npoint is made with respect to the Jews prior to Christ\u2019s first coming from Is.
\n29.11-18; Jer. 23.20; and Dn. 12.4-7.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Then New Testament passages are cited to make the point that the Jews
\ncontinue in their lack of understanding (1 Cor. 10.1; 2 Cor. 3.14-16).\u00a0 <\/span>Christ opened the understanding of the
\ndisciples after his resurrection (Lk. 24.44-47).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

12.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scriptures
\nunless they first believed on Christ: Is.
\n7.9; Jn. 8.24; Hab. 2.4; Gen. 15.6; Gal. 3.6-9.\u00a0
\n<\/span>The quotations relate specifically to believing or trusting in God,
\nalthough the passage from Jn. 8.24 emphasizes the need for the Jews to have
\nfaith in Jesus.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

13.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That they would lose Jerusalem, and leave the land which
\nthey had received: Is. 1.7-9 and Mt.
\n23.37-39.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

14.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That they would also lose the Light of the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This
\npoint is made with reference to three texts using the word \u2018light\u2019.\u00a0 <\/span>The first says that God has sent away his
\npeople (Is. 2.5-6).\u00a0 <\/span>The second two texts
\ncome from John and have all people, not just the Jews, in focus: Cyprian is
\napplying these passages to any, including the Jews, who reject the light of
\nChrist: Jn. 1.9-10; 3.18-19.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

15.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That Christ should be God\u2019s house and temple, and that
\nthe old temple should pass away, and a new one should begin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian quotes God\u2019s
\nword through Nathan to David about his seed building God\u2019s house\u20142 Sam. 7.4, 5,
\n12-16.\u00a0 <\/span>He also quotes Mt. 24.2 and Mk.
\n14.58.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

16.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the old sacrifice should be made void, and a new
\none should be celebrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian quotes Is.
\n1.11-12; Ps. 50.13-15; Ps. 50.23; Ps. 4.5; Mal. 1.10-11.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

17.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the old priesthood should cease, and a new priest
\nshould come who should be for ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ps. 110.3
\n(Melchizedek) and 1 Sam. 2.35-36 (a prophecy about the end of Eli\u2019s line of
\npriests) are quoted.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

18.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That another prophet, such as Moses, was promised, to
\nwit, who should give a new testament, and who was rather to be listened to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian cites Dt.
\n18.18-19 and Jn. 5.39, 40, 45-47.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

19.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That two peoples were foretold, the elder and the
\nyounger; that is, the ancient people of the Jews, and the new one which should
\nbe of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian cites the
\nprophecy to Rebecca, that she had two nations in her womb (Gen. 25.23) and Hos.
\n2.23; 1.10.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

20.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Church, which had previously been barren,
\nshould have more sons from among the Gentiles than the synagogue had had
\nbefore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian cites Is.
\n54.1-4 with reference to Abraham, Jacob, Elkanah; 1 Sam. 2.5, etc.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

21.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Gentiles should rather [than the Jews] believe
\nin Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian cites God\u2019s
\ncovenant with Abraham, which says that all nations will be blessed in him (Gen.
\n12.1-3).\u00a0 <\/span>He also quotes passages about
\nthe father\u2019s blessing the younger son: Isaac\u2019s blessing Jacob (Gen. 27.27-29)
\nand Joseph\u2019s blessing Ephraim (Gen. 48.17-19).\u00a0
\n<\/span>Several other passages are cited: Gen. 49.8-12; Num. 23.14; Dt. 28.43-44;
\nJer. 6.18; Jer. 1.5; Is. 55.4; Is. 55.5; Is. 11.10; Is. 11.1-2; Is. 45.1; Is.
\n66.18-19; Is. 5.25-26; Is. 52.15; Is. 65.1; and Acts 13.46-47.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

22.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>That the Jews
\nshould lose the bread and the cup of Christ, and all His grace; while we should
\nreceive them, and that the new name of Christians should be blessed in the
\nearth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian
\ncites Is. 65.13-15; Is. 5.26-27; Is. 3.1-2; Jn. 6.35; Jn. 7.37-38; Jn.
\n6.53.\u00a0 <\/span>All these passages refer to food
\nand drink and most to a replacement of one group by another.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

23.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That rather the Gentiles than the Jews should attain to
\nthe kingdom of heaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only
\nMt. 8.11-12 is quoted.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

24.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>That the Gentiles should rather [than the Jews] believe
\nin Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian
\ncites God\u2019s covenant with Abraham, which says that all nations will be blessed
\nin him (Gen. 12.1-3).\u00a0 <\/span>He also quotes
\npassages about the father\u2019s blessing the younger son: Isaac\u2019s blessing Jacob
\n(Gen. 27.27-29) and Joseph\u2019s blessing Ephraim (Gen. 48.17-19).\u00a0 <\/span>Several other passages are cited: Gen.
\n49.8-12; Num. 23.14; Dt. 28.43-44; Jer. 6.18; Jer. 1.5; Is. 55.4; Is. 55.5; Is.
\n11.10; Is. 11.1-2; Is. 45.1; Is. 66.18-19; Is. 5.25-26; Is. 52.15; Is. 65.1;
\nand Acts 13.46-47.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One key argument that
\nappears in several authors is that certain Old Testament narratives show that
\nthe younger of two ended up being preferred.\u00a0
\n<\/span>These texts are then interpreted as referring to Israel and the Church, the
\nlatter being preferred by God and replacing Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cyprian argued that Scripture
\npredicted two peoples, the Jews and the Christians (Treatise 12.1.19<\/i>).\u00a0 <\/span>The \u2018two
\npeoples\u2019 argument can be found in Hos. 2.25 and 1.10, and both Paul (Rom. 9.25)
\nand Peter (1 Peter 2.10) make use of it.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Cyprian also notes that there were two nations in Rebecca\u2019s womb (Treatise 12.1.19<\/i>).\u00a0 <\/span>Similarly, Is. 54.1-4 speaks of the desolate
\nwoman (the Gentiles) having more sons than the married woman (Israel).\u00a0 <\/span>Also, <\/span>Abraham had two sons, the
\nolder from the slave woman, Hagar, and the other seen as a type of Christ
\n(similarly Paul in Gal. 4.21ff).\u00a0
\n<\/span>Moreover, Jacob had two wives, one, Leah, who had weak eyes (the
\nsynagogue), and the more beautiful, Rachel, who was long barren and then gave
\nbirth to Joseph, a type of Christ.\u00a0 <\/span>(so
\nalso <\/span>Commodianus,
\nXXXIX).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Also, Cyprian
\ncontinues, Elkanah had two wives, with Samuel coming from the barren wife,
\nHannah, by God\u2019s mercy and promise.\u00a0 <\/span>Then
\nCyprian quotes 1 Sam. 2.5, which states that the barren woman has given birth
\nto seven, while the mother of many has grown weak.\u00a0 <\/span>He interpreted the seven children
\nallegorically as the church.<\/span><\/p>\n

Commodianus also mentions
\nJacob\u2019s two wives, Leah and Rachel.\u00a0 <\/span>But
\nhe offers other Old Testament types of Israel and the Church in Tamar\u2019s twins
\n(Gen. 38.27ff) and Abel offering a better sacrifice than his older brother,
\nCain (Gen. ) (XXXIX).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples of
\nallegorical interpretations that the people of God are no longer the Jews but
\nnow the Church are also found in the Church fathers.\u00a0 <\/span>Barnabas, for example, argued that Abraham’s
\ncircumcision of 318 men (confusing Gen. 17.26f and 14.14) points to Christ,
\nsince ten and eight are written with the Greek letters \u2018<\/span>I<\/span>\u2019 and \u2018<\/span>H<\/span>\u2019, that are also the
\nfirst two letters of Jesus\u2019 name, and 300 is the written with the Greek letter
\n‘<\/span>T<\/span>‘,
\nrepresenting by its shape the cross of Christ (9).\u00a0 <\/span>A similar use of Scripture is found in
\nTertullian, who combines an exegetical with an allegorical reading of Ez.
\n8.12-9.6.\u00a0 <\/span>This text, he states, prophesies
\nthe slaughter of idolatrous Israelites and the sealing of a remnant who groan
\nover Israel\u2019s abominations.\u00a0 <\/span>Then
\nTertullian adds, with reference to his Latin text Ezekiel, that the seal was
\nwith a ‘T’, taken as a sign of the cross.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tertullian also reads
\nII Kings 6.1-7 (where Elisha throws a piece of wood into the Jordan to retrieve
\nan iron axe) allegorically: \u2018wood\u2019 is understood as Christ and \u2018iron\u2019 as the
\nprophets and Christians suffering from the Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>The Jews, then, are distinguished from the
\nrighteous.\u00a0 <\/span>Gen. 34.25-31 is taken
\nallegorically: the sin of Levi and Simeon is interpreted as the scribes\u2019 and
\nPharisees\u2019 slaughter of the prophets and the crucifixion of Jesus (X).\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, as Joseph was sold by his brothers,
\nso Christ was sold by Israel (X).<\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

One result of this survey of literature is that
\nevery source surveyed sees a \u2018parting of the ways\u2019 between Judaism and
\nChristianity.\u00a0 <\/span>There is tantalizing evidence of a whole
\nvariety of relationships between Christians and Jews in the second and third
\ncenturies, and there are groups (e.g., Ebionites) that sought to incorporate
\ncertain Christian teachings within Judaism or to remain within the synagogues
\nand follow the Mosaic law, but these do not overturn the evidence of a parting
\nof the ways between Jews and Christians that was already set in the first
\ncentury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another result of this research is that the Contra Iudaeos <\/i>literature is uncomfortably
\nadversarial.\u00a0 <\/span>Despite a measure of
\npoliteness in some of this literature (e.g., Justin\u2019s Dialogue with Trypho the Jew<\/i>), and despite occasional affirmations
\nof what is held in common (e.g., Origen\u2019s Contra
\nCelsum<\/i>), what remains in print for later generations such as ourselves to
\nperuse is largely negative.\u00a0 <\/span>One approach
\nto remedy this is to engage in fanciful reconstructions of history that say far
\nmore about a politically correct bias in contemporary scholarship and\/or an
\nattempt to undermine orthodox Christianity.\u00a0
\n<\/span>But these approaches are merely a fad of contemporary, Western
\nscholarship that will pass with the times they represent.\u00a0 <\/span>There are, however, alternatives, and with
\nthese I close.<\/span><\/p>\n

One might first revisit the hermeneutics that
\nallowed for so impassable an interpretation of the Scriptures.\u00a0 <\/span>From quotations offered above, the
\nsignificance of a \u2018spiritual\u2019 reading of the Law and of allegory was a major
\npart of the argument for orthodox Christian authors.\u00a0 <\/span>While this fits within methods of interpretation
\nwithin Judaism (cf. Philo of Alexandria), and while rules of interpretation
\nsuch as constructed by Hillel in the 1st<\/sup> century or Ishmael in the 2nd<\/sup>
\ncentury permitted equally innovative readings of Scripture, contemporary
\nJewish-Christian dialogue needs to revisit the Scriptures afresh and with a
\nliteral hermeneutic rather than base itself on these earlier arguments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, one might look afresh at the
\ninterpretation of particular texts.\u00a0 <\/span>In
\nthe above references, by no means all Scripture references are taken
\nallegorically or spiritually, and patristic exegesis needs to be engaged by
\nBiblical scholars and around the topic of the people of God, among others.\u00a0 <\/span>An even more significant topic than the
\npeople of God figures in the Jewish \u2013 Christian dialogue in texts such as those
\nsurveyed here: Christology.\u00a0 <\/span>Space has
\nnot permitted presenting this material as well.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Yet the most crucial question in the Jewish \u2013 Christian dialogue is
\nexegetical: how do we interpret the pertinent Scriptural passages in the
\ndialogue, particularly those on the topics of the people of God and Jesus\u2019
\nidentity, life, and work?\u00a0 <\/span>Fresh
\nexegetical work needs to contribute to this dialogue, usually conducted by
\nnon-Biblical scholars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Third, a narrative reading of the Bible offers
\nnew hope for interpreting the Old Testament on an issue such as who are the
\npeople of God.\u00a0 <\/span>For example, time and
\nagain, the Church fathers cited above were satisfied to quote passages that
\nshowed God\u2019s punishment of the Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>They
\ndid not look at the relationship between such texts and promises of
\nrestoration.\u00a0 <\/span>And the passages referring
\nto the Gentiles in Scripture do not suggest a replacement of Israel but an
\nincorporation of Gentiles into a \u2018new Israel\u2019, a remnant of the righteous.\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, God\u2019s mercy and covenant
\nfaithfulness are Scriptural themes that apply to both Jews and Gentiles within
\nthe (Old Testament) Scriptures.\u00a0 <\/span>There is
\na narrative unity that must be understood within the Scriptures, and the
\nliterary turn in hermeneutics is helpful beyond exegesis for exploring this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fourth, charges of Antisemitism
\nactually seem, to this author, to be on occasion appropriate, including certain
\nChristian authors from the fourth century and later.\u00a0 <\/span>However, even when Christian writers accused
\nthe Jews as a nation of deicide, spoke of their suffering as well deserved, and
\nsaw the Church as a replacement of Israel as God\u2019s people, the same authors
\ncould write that God\u2019s covenant with the Jews had not been revoked and that the
\nJews would experience God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 <\/span>This
\nevidence has not been noted above as it applies more to the fourth century, but
\nthe point needs to be expressed in conclusion lest the material presented here
\nis misunderstood.\u00a0 <\/span>The following authors
\n(5th<\/sup> and 6th<\/sup> c.), in commenting on Romans 11.23-31, all
\naccept that God\u2019s grace will yet extend to the Jews: Chrysostom (later 4th<\/sup>
\ncentury), Diodore (later 4th<\/sup> century), Ambrosiaster (later 4th<\/sup>
\ncentury), Cyril of Alexandria (early 5th<\/sup> century),
\nPseudo-Constantius (5th<\/sup> c.), Pelagius (5th<\/sup> c.), Gennadius
\nof Constantinople (5th<\/sup> c.), and Theodore of Cyr (5th<\/sup>
\ncentury).
\n\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Thus what often sounds like a
\nreplacement theology in the Church fathers is not wholly so once God\u2019s future<\/i> plan is in view (cf. Matthew
\n23.39; Romans 11.26-27).While this
\ncannot be explored here, the hope of a future incorporation of the Jews
\n(always, it seems, through faith in Christ) is related to a general patristic
\nbelief in the mercy of God and in the freedom of choice (not just divine
\nsovereignty).<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, Antisemitism
\nin our own time is deeply troubling.\u00a0 It is not at all Christian.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We
\nmight believe that the Jews were punished and rejected by God for their
\nrejection of the Messiah (so Romans 11.20), but, when Jesus prophesied the coming destruction of
\nJerusalem some forty years later, He wept (Luke 19.41).\u00a0 <\/span>When Paul considered the Jews being cut off
\nfrom Christ, he had great sorrow and anguish (Romans 9.1-5).\u00a0 <\/span>He also held out the hope of Isaiah 59.20-21
\nand 27.9 that all Israel would be saved when their sin is taken away (Romans
\n11.25-27).\u00a0 He said that the Jews could be grafted into the tree (of God’s people) once again if they discontinue their unbelief (in Christ) (Romans 11.23).\u00a0 The New Testament authors’ criticism of Judaism was thoroughly in line with criticism of Israel in the Old Testament for not obeying but rejecting God.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>While Romans 11 has various
\ninterpretations, I believe Paul\u2019s eschatology expected a time of salvation for
\nthe Jews as they turn to Christ Jesus for the removal of their sins.\u00a0 Christianity is missional, offering the world salvation in Christ.\u00a0 It is not about dismissing or violently opposing others; it would be contradictory to be Antisemitic.<\/span><\/p>\n

This has nothing to
\ndo with Israel as a geographical place and nation.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet, if any people have a claim on the land,
\nit is the Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>Not only do they win any
\nargument of historical legitimacy, they also win any argument of ethnic
\nidentity for possession of the land.\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nland is full of Israelite history; it is a living geography.\u00a0 <\/span>They also win the argument of a right to the
\nland because of their persecution over centuries.\u00a0 <\/span>They deserve a land of their own where they
\ncan live freely as Jews.\u00a0 <\/span>This does not
\nmean exclusion of others who hold some historical claim to presence in the
\nland, and we might also note that there are a number of both Palestinian
\nChristians and Messianic Jews in Israel.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Christians should not argue that Jews have a right to the land based on
\ntheir religion\u2014they have rejected Christ\u2014but they have other reasons to be
\npresent in the land of Israel and be a nation.\u00a0
\n<\/span>One thing the Bible affirms is that Jews have a religious right to the
\nland if they live righteously before God, otherwise they will be removed.\u00a0 <\/span>Christians might say to the Jews that we pray
\nfor the day that they accept Jesus as Messiah.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Far be it from us to be Antisemitic, and we should repent for any moment
\nin history when we were swept along with the culture and bad Biblical
\ninterpretation to be unjust in our relations with them. \u00a0<\/span>As Paul says, God has the power to graft them back
\ninto the olive tree of God\u2019s people by grace, not works, and by their acceptance
\nof the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 11).<\/span><\/p>\n

[This is a slightly emended version of a previously published essay: \u2018\u2018Not My People?\u2019
\nIsrael and the People of God in Early Christianity.\u2019\u00a0 In First the Kingdom of God: A\u00a0<\/i><\/span>Festschrift in Honor of Professor Dr. Peter Kuzmic.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Ed. <\/span>Miroslav Volf, Corneliu Constantineanu, Marcel V. M\u0103celaru,
\nKre\u0161imir \u0160imi\u0107. Regnum Press
\nand Wipf & Stock, 2011.\u00a0 I<\/span>SBN:
\n978-953-6110-14-8.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n

<\/p>\n

\n

For example, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew,<\/i> Justin speaks of<\/span> the ‘Holy Spirit of prophecy’
\n(ch. 32) and ‘a psalm, dictated to David by the Holy Spirit’ (ch. 34).\u00a0 <\/span>Moreover, no Scripture contradicts another (ch.
\n65).\u00a0 <\/span>He states, however, that Scripture
\nbelongs to the Christians, not the Jews, ‘for we believe them’ (ch. 29).\u00a0 <\/span>And he does accuse Jews of removing
\ninconvenient Scriptures that Christians read in reference to Christ (ch. 72):
\nJer. 11.19, as well as one from Esdras and one or more Jeremiah that cannot be
\nidentified.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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