[10-6-04]

One issue in the current debates about the Presbyterian General Assembly's actions in relation to Israel and Palestine is the congregation Avodat Yisrael in Philadelphia - a congregation founded with the purpose of reaching Jews in Philadelphia with a presentation of the Gospel that would be familiar and congenial to them.

For a background paper on this issue from the Interfaith Relations Office of the PC(USA), click here.

 

Concerning Avodat Yisrael

by the Rev. Dr. Arch Taylor

The very existence of the Presbyterian congregation, Avodat Yisrael, in Philadelphia impels us to consider some questions long forgotten or ignored in church history and Scripture interpretation.

First we have the question of supersession. For centuries most Christians have assumed that God rejected the Jews in retaliation for their rejection of Jesus as Messiah. In this view, the Church has superseded the Jews as the true people of God. Christians fastened on the cry of the people at Jesus' trial, as stated solely in Matthew 27:25, "His blood be on us and on our children," citing this as the excuse for all sorts of violent and outrageous acts against Jews, climaxing in the Holocaust.

The interpretation of Scripture used to justify supersession in general and such criminal acts in particular flies in the face of Paul's teaching: "I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means! . . . God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew" (Rom 11:1a, 2a). In the Institutes Book IV, Ch. XIV, Calvin, citing Paul further, concludes that we should not despise the Jews, "if we consider that for the sake of the promise, the blessing of God still remains among them: 'for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.' (Rom. 11:29)."

Second, in view of God's maintaining faithful covenant with Israel, we have to question the assumption that the only way of salvation for Jews is to confess Jesus as Savior. This assumption also contradicts Scripture. In Romans Paul was addressing Gentile believers who apparently had begun to look down on Jewish brothers and sisters as "weak" or over scrupulous about food and days. He reminded them that Israel is root and trunk of the olive tree, and Gentiles only unnatural branches grafted in.

In Ephesians Paul makes the same sort of argument, evidently addressing a similar problem of Gentile superiority complex. He reminds Gentiles that at one time they were "without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world" (2:12). Now, Christ has made it possible for Gentiles to participate fully in the covenants, promises, and commonwealth of Israel, to which they were strangers, without becoming proselytes to Judaism. Christ "has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, making peace" (2:15). By faith, we Gentiles now share with Jews the blessings of God. Paul says Christ broke down the wall dividing Jew and Gentile. Yet Christians turned right around and rebuilt the wall to seal out the Jews, opening up a narrow door for them to enter by denying their Jewishness and accepting Gentiles' exclusivist interpretation of Christ.

God's plan is "to reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, putting to death the hostility through it" (2:16). Sad to say, through tragic errors on both sides, Jews and Christians rejected the divine purpose of oneness and went their separate ways. Instead of putting to death the hostility, we seem more willing to put each other to death.

In addressing Jewish leaders hostile to followers of the new Way of Jesus, Gamaliel counseled to let them alone and see whether or not it was truly of God (Acts 5:38-9). Isn't that good advice with regard to Avodat Yisrael Presbyterian congregation? It may be they can show us a way toward realization of that one new humanity, which our world so desperately needs.