The Reformation and the Jewish People: Part I

by Jeffrey Gutterman

I. Introduction

     This article is intended to illustrate the relationship and impact that the Reformation had on the Jewish people of the world. All Scripture is NASB.  

     Regardless of your theology or your personal opinion, it is obvious that the Jewish people have played a major role in the history of the world. Today there are approximately 14 ½ million Jews in the world. This is only 2.2 % of the world’s population. (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/jewpop.html) 

      The Jewish people never militarily conquered large geographic areas, nor have they ever been a world power for extended periods of time. Yet in every chapter of history and in almost every corner of the world, the Jews show themselves. 

     The Jewish people did not have a settled time in their own nation for more than a few centuries. Their homeland was conquered and their population dispersed and yet they survive as a distinct people. Christianity grew out of the Jewish faith, which was then seen by the world as a Jewish sect. 

     The Jewish people were without a homeland for a large portion of the years that they existed as a distinct people / nation in the dispersion, also known as the Diaspora. They were constantly on the move as a result of being expelled from their adopted lands. Often they were forced to move on to avoid anti-Semitic persecution.  

     Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes in his personal testimony, “ One of the great tragedies of Jewish persecution is that from about the fourth century onwards virtually all persecution was committed in the name of Jesus Christ, the Church and the Cross. 

     It is because so much Jewish suffering has been inflicted in the name of Jesus and in the name of the Cross that a major barrier has arisen in the minds of Jewish people, between “us” and “them”: the “them” being the Gentiles or Christians (these terms being synonymous to most Jews) who worship a God called Jesus in whose name they kill and persecute Jews.”  

     A good way to characterize this is to point out that when a believer sees a Cross, they see “salvation.” However, when a Jew sees a Cross they see a “sword.” 

     At the time that Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg in 1517, the Jews had already experienced more than their fair share of persecution. 

II. Biblical Background   

From the time of Genesis 3:15, satan knew that God would send one to crush his head, the Messiah. It was only when God chose the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to send Messiah into the world, that satan targeted the descendants of Jacob. He has not let up since then. The trials and tribulations of the Jewish people should come as a shock to no one familiar with the Scriptures.  

Before the nation of Israel was established, God shared with Moses the future happenings, if the people did not follow God’s Law.

Deuteronomy 28:58  If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD;  

Deuteronomy 28:64- 66  64 “Moreover, the Lord  will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. 65 “Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord  will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.  66 “So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.  

Abba Eban, the late Israeli Member of the Kinesset and Ambassador wrote: “We might say of the Jews what a Greek historian said about the Greeks, ‘This people was born to have no rest itself, and to give none to others.’” 

III. History- The Persecution of the Jews 

A good place to start is with a bit of Jewish history. First and foremost persecution is not a Jewish or a Christian issue—It is a human issue.   To be sure there have been, is presently and will be in the future peoples all over the world that will be persecuted. What we will focus on here is the fact that the persecution of the Jews is unique in its severity, (not that there is any good persecution), unique in its violence and unique in its almost constant occurrence in all time periods of history. The fact that the Jews were chosen by God to be His people and that the Messiah would come through them, in no small way marked them for persecution.   In Genesis 3:15 - The Messiah is prophesied by God.

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity  Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

It is in Genesis 12:3 c that the lineage through which the Messiah will come to earth is designated.  

Genesis 12:3c And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. We see that Abraham is the Patriarch of the Jewish people. The lineage is refined through Isaac and Jacob, then through David. Matthew 1 and Luke 3 give the complete lineage of Messiah.

It is no wonder that the Jewish people are a target. Satan thinks that if the Jews can be destroyed Messiah cannot come to defeat him. Well, Messiah came and died and was Resurrected. The devil was defeated on Calvary’s Cross.  

It is clear Satan couldn’t and didn’t stop Jesus from coming to fulfill God’s Plan at Calvary. So why have the Jews been a target since the crucifixion of Christ?  Why would satan keep targeting the Jewish people. For the answer we look to Matthew 23:37-39 (restated in Luke 13:34-35). 

Matthew 23:37   37“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!  39“For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” Baruch haba B’Shem Adonai. 

In Matthew 23:37  we read that the Second Coming of Jesus will be preceded by the Jewish people having first come to faith and then they will call their Moshiach, Yeshua, back. That is when He will return. And—when He returns, the devil is done as prophesied in Revelation 20. 

Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 

Revelation 20: 7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.10And the devil who  deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

In the next article we examine the early days of the church to see the foundations that were laid that affected the relationship of the Jews and the people of the Reformation.