Friday Faithfuls Two: Romans

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I love Romans.  So much richness.  Such beautiful logical arguments.

I need to spend more time in Romans.

Likely because we were in a conference last weekend about the Jewish origins of the Christian faith, the verse that stood out to me the most (among several that resonated) this week is 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:  first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  (NIV 84)

All of the folks who spoke at the conference were Messianic Jews, and one of them commented in telling his story:

"When someone would begin to speak to me about Jesus, I would reply, 'Oh, I'm Jewish.'  And they would apologize, saying something like 'Oh, I'm so sorry.  I wouldn't have said anything if I had known.'.  So I definitely felt that Christianity and Judaism were not at all compatible.  If just one had replied something along the lines of, 'Oh, man, that's awesome!  Salvation belongs to you first!' It would have changed everything for me."

I have never understood Christian based antisemitism.  In the beginning, Christianity (the folks back then referred to it as 'The Way'...'Christian' was a derogatory term most akin to 'Jesus Freak' now) was considered a sect of Judaism.  Jesus was Jewish, as were all of his disciples.  The foundation of the Christian faith is Judaism...the radical idea that God is one, and he actually cares about and is involved in the lives of his people. A holy God, who is completely 'other than' humans, not a host of squabbling deities who were just immortal human types with supernatural powers.

People who want to cite the verse about the guilt of Jesus' death falling on the Jews missed the point entirely...it wasn't the Jewish PEOPLE who rejected him...it was their LEADERS.   To blame the Jews of that day would be to blame Andrew, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, John the Revelator, John Mark, and all the others who followed him...who had the Jewish leaders so alarmed that they had to turn the execution of Jesus over to the Romans, lest there be a riot...for Jesus' death.  They were not to blame. Nor are their children.  We owe our faith to those very folks who told others who told others who told others; without those Jewish followers of Jesus, non of us non-Jewish folks would have the hope of the gospel.

So what sense does it make for believers to reject, harass, abuse, steal from, marginalize, disenfranchise and ultimately kill folks who are Jewish?   None at all.  

The power of God for the salvation of everyone is, first and foremost, for them.