1997 issue 5 - israel and christianity: a review article - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1997 Issue 5 - Israel and Christianity: A Review Article - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/4

David E

Holwerda,jesus

>

Israel:

One

Covenant

or

Two?

(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,

1995), xi, 193pp, indexes.

PeterW. L Walker,jesus

and

the Holy City:

New

Testament

Perspectives onJerusalem


1996) , xiii,

370

pp,

indexes.

Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The

Crucified jew: Twenty

Centuries

o

Christian Anti Semitism


1992), xx, 258

pp,

indexes.

Raymond

C Ordund, Jr.,

Whoredom:

God s

Unfaithful Wife in

requiring these in courses I teach

at

Bahnsen Theological

Seminary.

Another of the books is a very

insightful analysis of the topic

of

spiritual adultery and the people

of

God: Ordund s Whoredom:

God s Unfaithful Wife

in Biblical

Theology.

This might

seem an

odd book to review under the

topic of israeL Nevertheless,

because of my doctoral studies

on the Book

of

Revelation this

tide greatly intrigued me. I

believe Revelation relates God's

divorce of Israel for covenant

adultery (the seven sealed scroll

biblical view

of

Israel, this is the

volume

you have

been looking

for.

Because

of the political

correcmess movement of our day

and the

non-academic

dispensationalist charges of

reformed anti-Semitism,

Holwerda

opens with some

insightful comments about anti

Semitism. He

puts

his finger

squarely

on

the

problem

of such

charges - charges

loudly

proclaimed in Cohn-Sherbok's

book: If evangelical Christianity

persists in claiming

to

be

the

only way to God,

then

it is anti

Biblical Theology (Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996),

200 pp,

indexes.

ISR EL

Semitic to

the

core.

He

cites

Jewish scholar

Lapide's

demand

for

continuing dialogue

between

Jews

and

Any

Christian

with

an

interest in biblical

theology and eschatology

CHRISTI N lY

Christians: He insists

must face the question

of

the role

of

Israel in the plan

of

God. All evangelicals agree:

God's redemptive purpose in the

o d Testament focuses

on

Israel

as his special people. But all

evangelicals

do

not

agree

on

the

answer to the questions; What is

Israel's present role in the new

covenant era?

What

is God's

prophetic purpose for Israel n

the future? These are important

issues, which, if unresolved,

wholly

undermine

one's

understanding of Scripture.

Holwerda's

jesus

>

Israel

and

Walker's

Jesus

and the Holy

City

are among

the

finest theological

analyses I have ever read

on

the

question

of

IsraeL

n

fact, these

books

qUickly established

themselves as among the most

important

theological treatises I

have read

on any

topic. I will

be

( Rev. Kenneth Gentry) that there are three errors

that form

the roots of

is a divorce decree},

her

capital

punishment

(the fiery judgments

on

the

harlot), and Christ's

turning to take a new bride, the

Church

(the

new

Jerusalem from

heaven). This is not

the

view

of

Ortlund, but his helpful study of

spiritual Whoredom throughout

Scripture proved quite beneficial

for

my

research.

The remaining

book

is not

even a Christian book - though

funded, printed

and

distributed

by amajor evangelical publisher.

Colm-Sherbok is a Jewish

theologian

who

sees Christianity

as ittherendy

and

foundationally

anti-Semitic.

Holwerda'sJesus > Israel

ought to

be

in the library

of

every reformed Christian. fyou

want to get a handle on the

Christian animosity

toward the Jews and that

therefore

must be

rejected

by

Christians if dialogue with Jews

is to be possible at all. These

three - errors'

are that

Jesus was

the Messiah of Israel, that he was

rejected by the Jews, and that he

in tum has repudiated

them

(p.9). (I am hoping some classic

dispensationalists such as Dave

Hunt and Tommy Ice and

their

doomsayer friends will

stumble

upon this book. It ought to

correct

their

groundless moral

charges against covenant

theology.)

With careful precision and

clarity of expression Holwerda

shows

that

Christ is the

fulfillment of Israel. His chapters

studyJesus in relation to Israel,

the Land, the Temple, and the

June, 1997 THE COUNSEL

of

Chalcedon 21


2/4

Law. His sixth chapter then

considers the question: "A

FutUre for Jewish Israel?"

He

holds a very postmillennial-like

view as found in Murray's '

commentary

on Romans.

In

his

final chapter he inquires whether

Israel as a nation with a temple

centered worship will rise again

in

fulfillment of the plan of God. '

Though I do not,converse well in

Latin, I do know some Spanish:

his answer to this issue is

effectually: No way, Jose.

By careful theolOgical analysis

Holwerda shows us the

remarkable correspondences

between the history of Israel and

the llle of Christ. These are not

accidents of history,

but

are

indications of Jesus' functioning

as God's true Israel. Page after

page of the GospeJ.record exhibit

Jesus as the fulfillment of IsraeL

For instance, the Old Testament

promises of theregatheting of

Israel to the Land are

fulfilled

in

the gathering of the Jews

in

Christ, i.e., in salvation. With a

wealth of biblical'research we are

brought to a greater appreciation ,

of the depth and glory of the

Scripl;Uralstory of Christ, as well

as to the meaning and purpose

of IsraeL

After reading Holwerda's

book I thought I was confident I

had

stumbled

on

the most

helpful book I could possibly

have

on

the question of Israel.

Then I read Walker's

Jesus and

the

Holy

City

If you want

to

purchase only one book on the

relationship 'bf Israel, Scripture,

and Christianity, I don't know

what to tell you - 1 am in a strait

betwixt two." But ifyou are

deeply intereSted in biblical

theology and Israel, you simply

must buy two books; Holwerda's

and Walker's.

Today

Walker's work is a post

doctoral treatise written lUlder a

fellowship at Tyndale House,

Cambridge. He was urged to

pursue this work after some

lectures he

gave

on

the

New

Testament and Jerusalem in

1984. I am glad he took up the '

challenge; I simply could not put

down the work after I read the

first

few

pages.

n

fact, I

immediately re-worked a debate

book

on the great tribulation

that I ~ doing for Kregal,

incorporating some of Walker's

insights. Eerdmans really should

print the book with yellow pages

so the reader

can

save his yellow '

highlighter for sparing

in

use in

other books.

My

copy now glows

yellow at night.

Questions broached inJestts

and the

Holy City include: What

is the biblical sigumcance of

Jerusalem? What was Jesus'

attirude toward the city and its

temple? Did the New Testament

writers see Jerusalem

as

being

affected by the coming of Jesus?

How

should ChristiilIlS

view

Jerusalem today? His answers

parallel those of Holwerda's, His

research, though, digs even ,

deeper. Being larger (with

smaller print

d m o r e p a g e s

Walker provides more detail

' than Holwerda.

Not only is the book's Content

incredibly insightful

but

its

clearly structured outline and

format are helpful for both the

academic researcher and the

casual reader. Each chapter title

. clearly relates its subject matter.

Each chapter begins with a brief

22

TIlE

COONSEL of Chalcedoll JU1ll , 997

s y n o p s i s d i s t i l l i n g t h ~ ~ e of

his

research. Jbe book is heavily .

foomoted with bibliographical '

references and argum;I).tative '

expansions, I noticed only a fe:n

typos (pp. 120, 132, 135n,141;,

,272"5: A thorough bibliography ,

and a detailed index

are

crOwning

touches for

this

imponant tteatise.

Though the Ihemeof the

book16euses on Jerusalem.

Walker necessarily dealS with the '

three-fold reality 'of Israel: iis '

city, land; and temple. Each '.

chapter,analyzes the biblical-

theolOgical perspectives oLselect

New Testament write:rs on these

three'issues. The New Testament

writeis

c h ~ S ; I .

for analysis are .

those who dea1expressly\vjth

Jerusalem: Mark, Matthew, Luke,

John, 'the riter of Hebrews,and

the writer of Revelation (he

s

' '

not

) . U e

John the Apostle wrote

it).

, ; The conservative

f e f o r m ~ d

Christianwill need to brace

himself for lj.Jew higher Ciitlca :, .

infelicities - although not really .

that

many.

Also

IdjsagreWitIi.

his

iate-dating o f R t ; v e l ~ i j o n { ~ d

' some otherNew Testiment

books), n

fact.

I think

his

chapter on e ~ l a t i o n would ;

'haye

been

strengthene4 had he

accepted an approach like

,

(which I bridly Ill;I).tiOI\ above).

He

does cite frequently frolli

my

efore

Jerusalem Fell,

sometiInes

a g r e e i n g , s o n ( ~ t i m e S

d i s a ~ ~ g

,

Another,oppor:tunity

hi

DiS,Ses is

in his handling of He\>rews '

12:27-28, wherehe sees

th,e

removal of created things" as a

removal of the earth, rather th n

thdewlsh ritual system (cf. Heb, '

9:11,24). '


3/4

I cannot recommend any

books more highly for the

serious student of Scripture than

Holwerda's

Jesus

Israel and

Walker's Jesus

and

the

Holy

City

Now

Cohn-Sherbok's

The

CrucifiedJew is another story.

Upon reading it I was somewhat

taken aback that Eerdmans

would publish this work, for two

reasons: (1) Cohn-Sherbok

chastises evangelical Christian

orthodoxy as irtherendy anti

Semitic. (2) Eerdmans publishes

the two books reviewed above,

books that Cohn-Sherbok would

deem anti-Semitic (it reminds

me

of

the federal government's

SUbsidizing tobacco farming then

making cigarette manufacturers

put

a dea th warning

on

cigarette

packages).

But then I began to realize the

utility

of

Cohn-Sherbok's book:

This is the perfect tool to

demonstrate to classic

dispensationalists (such as Hal

Lindsey in his The

Road

to

Holocaust that the charges of

anti-Semitism levied against

reformed, covenantal theology

are really against evangelical,

conservative Christianity. I

argued

this

in my

Dispensationalism in

Transition newsletter in 1993. I

wish I

had

had The CrucifiedJew

on hand

for proof. Lindsey,

Hunt, Ice, and other

apocalyptists mistakenly assume

that their dispensational system

with a Jewish millennuim .

relieves them of historical

charges

of

anti-Semitism (even

though their view husdes the

Jews

back

into Israel in time for

the great tribulation which wiD

result in the destruction of one-

third of worldwide jewry). But

since reformed theology teaches

that the Church is the new Israel

(the body of Christ, the

fulfillment of Israel), we

must

somehow

be

anti-Semitic.

One blurb on the back cover

will set up my complaint:

Booklist states that Cohn

Sherbok has rendered an

important service .. [He shows]

that anti-Semitism is not a

historical relic. Knowing its

history may enable

contemporary readers to

confront it more effectively

whenever and wherever it show

itself in the present. Now let us

see

how

the author demonstrates

Christian anti-Semitism - an

anti-Semitism conducted

ironically by followers of the

jew, Jesus Christ, who is related

to

the

world by the Jewish

aposdes. just a

few

select quotes

will illustrate the problem.

What

is the seedbed of hatred

of

the jews

and

of anti-Semitism?

Not reformed theology,

but

the

New Testament: The seeds of

anti-Semitism were sown in

Christian sources and nurtured

throughout the history of the

Church (p.xiv) The New

Testament laid the foundations

for later Christian hostility to the

Jewish nation. This New

Testament tradition served as the

basis for the early Church's

vilification of the Jews (p.xv).

The New Testament thus laid

the foundation for the

theological negation ofJl.\daism

and the vilification of the jewish

people (p.12). Matthew

referred to these unbelievers

Dews]

as

hypOCrites, blind fools.

and serpents ..Such a view of the

Church - in opposition to the

official leaders of the nation -

was a starting point for the

tragic history of Christian anti

Jewish vilification and attack

(pp. 14-15).

Thus the Jewish leaders are

depicted as rejecting and killing

jesus, whereas the first believer

was a Roman centurion (Mark

15:39). The Good Samaritan is

contrasted

with

the faithless jew

(Luke 10:33). The Gentiles will

come from all places to sit

at

the

Messianic banquet while the

sons of the Kingdom

w ll

be cast

into outer darkness (p.1S).

What

is the horrendous

immorality that led Christians to

persecute jews? The declarat ion

that Christianity is

the

true

religion that alone can promise

salvation: In

common with

other groups at this time, the

early Christians believed

themselves to

be

the true Israel

in opposition to official Judaism,

and such a conception provided

the basis fot the subsequent

repudiation of

Judaism and

the

vilification

of

the

jews

.. [T]he

Jewish faith was seen as a stage

on the way to Christianity rather

than as

an

authentic religiOUS

experience with its own inherent

validity (p.S).

Cohn-Sherbok contiI).ues:

For the Church, Judaism was

an

obsolete faith rejected

by

God

because

of

its rejection

of

Christ,

and

it

was Christianity which

had now become the spiritual

fulfillment of the Hebrew

Scriptures

p.ll).

After citing

Romans 2:24, Colossians 2:16-

17, Galations 3:6-7, 2

Corinthians 3:7-18, Galations

4:S-10, 2S, 30, and other

Juue, 1997

THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 23


4/4

passages, he states: "The Church

then h s not simply superseded

Judaism; rather the two faiths ,

stand in opposition. judaism. '

belongs to the

realm

of fallen

Adam,

but

Christianity fulfils the

divine promises recorded in

Scripture" (p.22). 'Jewish

law

has thus been

superseded

.fu:oughChrist's death, and it

Is

now

the Christian faith alone

which offers salvation to the

world" (p.2S).

Ofjohn s record of the jews

crying out, "Crucify him,crucify

him :;.We have a law, and

by

that law he ought to die, because

he h s

made

himself the Son

of

God" (John 19:6-7), Cohn

Sherbok comments: "It

is

thus

the Jewish, rather than the

Rom,ljIlauthorities, who are held

responsible for his death ..

Not

surprisingly such a diatribe

against the jews and the jewish

faith has served as a basis

of

Christian persecution

of

the jews

thrOllgh the centuries" (p.2S).

The greatest anti-Seinite

of

all

times was nOri-other thanjesus

Chiist: "The early Church

believed itself to be the authentic

heir to the promises given by

God in Scripture: jesus '

messiahship ushered in a new

era in which the true Israel

would

pecome a light to the

nations .Such a vision of the

christian commuIrity evoked

hostility against the Jewish

people, who were regarded as

apostate

and

umepentant. This

animosity was fueled

by

the

Gospel writers who described

jesus atia-cking the leaders of the

nation whom

he a Use

of

hypocrisy and iniquity" (p.l2). "

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. hank You

declared - 'for you have taken

away the key of knowledge; you

did not enter yourselves, and

you hindered those who were

entering' (Luke 11: 52). This

Challenge

to

the false religion of

Israel became a rallying cry for

christians,

and

jesus'

denunciation

of

the leaders

of

the people served to justify the

Christian denunciation of both

thejews and the jewish

faith

through .the centuries: (p.l?).

I wonder i Arabs have ever

used the Jewish Tanakh (our Old

Testament) as evidence of Jewish

hatred? After all, it says, "jacob

have I loved but Esau have I '

hated: And what of]ewlsh holy

war references made

in

reference'

to the original inhabitants of the

Promised Land? Do these make

judaism per se anti-gentilic? I

think not.

We

must

not deny that '

Christians have too often sinned '

in persecuting the]ews. This is a

sin of great.enormity. But

it

is

not in

a class

by

itself. It is little

different rom Christians

persecuting Christians, such

as

the Roman Catholics the

Protestants, and vice versa. Nor

should we forget that the Jews

also persecuted the Christians

(Acts, Polycarp's death, etc.), and

still do today in Israel (through

legal restrictions, not death). The

tendency in the modem

politically-correct world is to

separate hate crimes from Simple

murders, making murdering a

minority more evil than

murdering a non-mlnority: Sin is

sin, no matter against whom it Is

committed. n

2-4 THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon

June,

1997

1997 issue 5 - israel and christianity: a review article - counsel of chalcedon

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