Dr Paul Allen

Auschwitz concentration camp, arrival of Hungarian Jews, Summer 1944 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) If anyone wishes to know whether or not the God of the Bible exists, one of the strongest reasons he can examine is the Jewish people . An honest inquiry into this question will provide more than an adequate answer to the truthfulness of the Christian faith.  About 4,000 years ago, God called a man named Abram out of the country where he was living and gave him these promises, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those that bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2, 3, NASB).  “And the Lord said to Abram…  Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever” (Genesi

English: Roman Triumphal arch panel copy from Beth Hatefutsoth, showing spoils of Jerusalem temple. עברית: העתק של שער הניצחון של טיטוס (מוצב במוזיאון התפוצות) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Gessius Florus loved money and hated Jews. As Roman procurator , he ruled Judea, caring little for their religious sensibilities. When tax revenues were low, he seized silver from the Temple. In 66, as the uproar against him grew, he sent troops into Jerursalem to crucify and massacre some of the Jews. Florus’s action sparked the explosion of a rebellion that had been sizzling for some time. For the previous century, Rome had not handled the Jews very well. First Rome had propped up the hated usurper Herod the Great. For all the beautiful public buildings he erected, Herod could not buy his way into the people’s hearts. Herod’s son and successor, Archelaus, was so bad that the people cried to Rome for relief. Rome obliged by sending a series of governors—Pontius Pilate, Felix, Festus, and Flo

Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur. (1878 painting by Maurycy Gottlieb) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) From one perspective the law was intended to give life to Israel . Paul says in Romans 7:10 that “the commandment was intended for life” (my translation). If one kept the law, then the law would be a vehicle for life. If one looks at the law from this restricted perspective, then the law was given to grant life for those who observed it.  Nevertheless, what Paul emphasizes repeatedly is that God sovereignly intended the law to reveal transgressions and to bring about death. Are these two perspectives contradictory? Not at all. It is simply a matter of looking at the purpose of the law from two different perspectives. From an immanent perspective, the law was intended to give life; but from a transcendent perspective, it was given to increase sin. The former is not falsified or trivialized by the latter. The promise of life through the law was frustrated by human sin, no

English: The Flight of the Prisoners, c. 1896-1902 , gouache on board, 8 15/16 x 11 5/8 in. (22.7 x 29.7 cm), Jewish Museum, New York, NY. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the most divisive issues in the early church was whether non-Jews could become Christians, and if so, to what extent they had to adopt Jewish practices. The church began, of course, among Jews. Since the earliest Christians shared much of the same religious, ethnic, and cultural background, there was little conflict over inclusiveness. But as the gospel spread to other groups, such as the Hellenists (Jews born outside of Palestine who spoke Greek), or the Jews’ despised cousins the Samaritans, or Gentiles, tensions rose and conflicts broke out (for example, Acts 6:1; 11:1–2; 15:1–2). In the case of Gentiles, some Jewish believers stridently opposed their inclusion. The only way that Gentiles could be acceptable to God, they argued, was by satisfying a precondition: they would have to be circumcised according