Many, if not a majority of Jewish people, believe the New Testament to be anti-Semitic.

Jewish scholars teach that some New Testament verses show hatred towards Jews and accuse them of deicide--the killing of God.

Though previously we have dealt with the question of who killed Yeshua, we now want to deal directly with the question of anti-Semitism in the New Testament itself. The question arises over Scriptures such as these when Peter preached on the Holiday of Shavuot in Jerusalem:

This man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death (Acts 2:23).

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up, and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

But put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead--a fact to which we are witnesses (Acts 3:13-15).

The answer to these accusations is not difficult at all. Firstly, fact is fact and truth is truth.

The Jewish people physically delivered one of their brethren (Yeshua) to the Romans and asked for his death. No one can argue with this fact of history. When the apostles spoke these words to fellow Jews, no one accused them of being anti-Semitic, any more than today a Jewish citizen witnessing in court of a crime he saw another Jew commit would be considered anti-Semitic.

If others later used these Scriptures against the Jewish people, it cannot be blamed on the disciples who witnessed the crucifixion themselves.

The Old Testament relates in detail the rejection of Joseph by his brothers, the sons of Israel. But that does not make the Old Testament anti-Semitic. Indeed, Joseph explained that God was in control all the time. "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." (Gen. 50:20). And through the sinful acts of the sons of Israel, Joseph became a type of the Savior of both Israel and the Gentiles.

However, if one wants to be anti-Semitic, he really has no need to look to the New Testament. The Old Testament has hundreds of verses much harsher against Israel than New Testament portions. Here are the words of Moses:

For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands (Deut. 31:29).

So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you.

And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever (Deut. 28:45-46).

The words of Isaiah:

...For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people... (Isa. 5:24-25).

But they rebelled And grieve His Holy Spirit; Therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them (Isa. 63:10).

Thus I shall judge you, like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I shall bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy (Ezek. 16:38).

From Daniel and Hosea:

Indeed all Israel has transgressed Thy law and turned aside, not obeying Thy voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him (Dan 9:11).

Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land.

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed (Hos. 4:1-2).

And on and on and on. Believe me, no anti-Semite ever needed the New Testament if he meant to build a case against Israel. But the anti-Semite shows himself a fool by leaving out the other "half" of the Old and New Testaments. True, Israel has sinned, and sinned greatly (just like the rest of humanity), but God has promised to redeem her from her sins hundreds of times.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel...

"...For they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them...for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jer. 31:31,34).

This message is repeated from Genesis to Malachi. In fact, it is the theme of the Bible. To miss this great central truth of the Tanach means that one must be spiritually blind and rebellious toward the Word of God.

Likewise, the New Testament is not by any stretch of the imagination anti-Semitic. It, too, preaches that God loves Israel and will restore her. Remember the verses we quoted from Peter's sermon to his Jewish brethren on the day of Shavuot (Pentecost)?

The anti-Semite forgets to quote the rest of the sermon.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"

And Peter said to them, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself" (Acts 2:37-39).

Note that the 3,000 Jews who listened to Peter and ultimately repented were not offended by Peter's preaching. Rather, they were brought to repentance.

Secondly, Peter told them that God's promise of salvation is first to them--the Jewish nation. Perhaps one could make a case for Peter being anti-Gentile!

Again, we see Peter repeating the same theme in Acts 3. He explains the sin of Israel concerning Yeshua but then says,

And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Messiah should suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord...

For you first, God raised up His Servant, and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways (Acts 3:17-19,26).

Paul, who has been accused of being against the Jews, gave as clear a promise of redemption as is found in the entire Bible.

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

And thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."

"And this is My Covenant with them, When I take away their sins."

From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable (Rom. 11:25-29).

These verses, which reveal Israel's sins and punishment, are not anti-Semitic because they were spoken and written by men of Israel who passionately loved their people. It was Paul who said:

I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

That I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,

Who are Israelites...(Rom. 9:1-4).

What kind of anti-Semite is that? Besides Paul, the only other man in the Bible who offered to be cut off from God for the sake of His people was Moses (Ex. 32:32). What love could be so great as to even entertain the thought of being eternally separated from God for someone else?

Only ignorance would cause a Gentile to think that the Old Testament is anti-Semitic or a Jew to believe that the New Testament is anti-Semitic. Both were written by Israelites (with the possible exceptions of Job, Esther and Luke) who, inspired by God, wrote the words of warning and of a glorious solution for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

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