My Turn: No, Mr. Highland, the New Testament is not anti-Semitic

In his most recent article (“Crucify the rotted roots of religious bigotry,” Dec. 15), Chris Highland claims that religious bigotry among Christians can be traced to the Christian Scriptures themselves. “True antisemitism, at least in Christianity, is based on a persistent and pernicious suspicion of the Jewish people deeply rooted in the Gospels.”

I would like to offer three counterpoints that challenge Mr. Highland’s claim, as well as a plea for him to reconsider Christianity’s supposed ties to anti-Semitic prejudices.

Beginning with the most obvious, Mr. Highland suggests that the authors of the four gospels have suppressed Jesus’ Jewishness in order to justify their own anti-Semitism. However, the simple historical fact is that Jesus of Nazareth was in fact Jewish, and the four gospels emphasize this rather than downplay it.

For one thing, the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry anchor Jesus firmly within the Jewish world. The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy that traces Jesus’ birth back to the Jewish King David all the way to the Jewish patriarch Abraham. The gospel of Luke portrays Jesus being born into an Israelite family, firmly anchored in OT history. Joseph, Jesus’ adoptive father, was “of the house and lineage of David.” At his birth, Jesus’ parents scrupulously observed Jewish laws concerning ritual purification and the consecration of the firstborn to God. The early Christian preaching recorded in the book of Acts underscores Jesus’ Jewishness.

For another thing, the letters of the apostles show that they were not in the thrall of anti-Semitism. The apostle Paul heralded the dawn of a new age when he wrote that “there is neither Jew, nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” To churches composed largely of non-Jews, the apostle Peter wrote explicitly, “now you are God's people.” If the New Testament authors harbored anti-Semitic prejudices, they certainly hide them well.

Finally, though Mr. Highland implies otherwise, the historicity of Jewish and Roman leaders in orchestrating the death of Jesus of Nazareth is not up for debate. Even the first-century historian Josephus, himself a Jew, confirms this, writing that Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus to death “at the suggestion of the principled men amongst us.” Christians are not so hopelessly prejudiced that they are unable to separate the actions of people in the past from their conduct in the present. Mr. Highland certainly seems to believe that he is able to do that.

Despite all of this, I respect Mr. Highland. He is articulate, well-versed in his subject matter, and has the commendable gift of being able to distill complex thoughts into manageable units for his readers. And yet, one can have all of these abilities and still fail to summarize other people’s viewpoints fairly.

For example, at the end of his article, he concludes with a sentence that can only be taken to mean that the God of Christianity is an anti-Semitic bigot. The sentence is so outrageous that it bears stating here: “Jesus of Nazareth, a Palestinian Jew, is transformed into a hero of hatred, as he is torn from his own Jewish roots and branches to be magically and tragically transfigured into the ultimate Bigot God incarnate.” I suspect Mr. Highland used such strong language to provoke his readers to think independently. But besides being offensive, it is also proof that none of us is entirely free from the religious bigotry about which Mr. Highlands writes. Too often, we see only what we expect or want to see.

Mr. Highland writes, “Bigotry must be crucified.” I could not agree with him more! I only wish he knew what countless Christians have come to know: we stand together at the foot of the cross, where bigotry and racism go to die! The cross and resurrection of Christ is the death sentence of all forms of bigotry. As Jesus suffered, he said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” These words apply more to us than we realize. Can any of us claim never to have found bigotry in our own hearts? And yet, at the cross we find that God is willing to forgive us, to clean us up, and help us start afresh, as we allow Him to root out the prejudice in our hearts.

No, Mr. HIghland, the New Testament is not inherently anti-Semitic. A Christian who is truly anti-Semitic is so not because of the teachings of the New Testament but in spite of them.

Dustin Mace is the senior pastor at Buffalo Baptist Church of Shelby.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: My Turn: No, Mr. Highland, the New Testament is not anti-Semitic