why did the jews of paul's day in the first century reject the christian claims about
Jesus being the promised Messiah ? in the book of acts in the new testament , we read of paul
going to synagogue after synagogue proclaiming his gospel about Jesus being the Messiah and he
references many texts in the jewish bible but the jews mostly react very negatively ,
some even took up stones to stone him and they cast him out of their synagogues. why is this ?
why would the jews reject their own messiah when he is apparently so clearly prophesied
in the jewish scriptures ? this is an intriguing question and to solve this mystery i turn to
"THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY : How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World" by Bart Ehrman . i
think it's his most recent book and he addresses this very question on page 47. where he writes :
to make sense of the early jewish outrage over claims concerning the messiahship of Jesus ,
we need to cut through many centuries of christian thinking , mountains of subsequent
christian theological speculation and masses of christian common sense about how jesus came as
the fulfillment of scripture . many christians today have serious difficulty understanding how jews in
antiquity and throughout history down till today have rejected the claim that Jesus was the messiah .
in this traditional christian view , it is very simple and clear-cut . the jewish scriptures
themselves predicted the messiah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem . that he would be a great
healer and teacher and that he would suffer an excruciating death for the sins of others
and then be raised from the dead .all that is in the jews own bible , why can't they see that
can't they read ? not all christians have thought this way of course , those who have done so have
been trained to read the old testament in certain ways to see references to a future messiah
where jews themselves have never detected any messianic prophecies . throughout history when
christians have pointed to predictions of jesus in the old testament , jews have denied the passages
involve messianic prophecies . christians have long maintained for example that the ancient prophet
Isaiah was looking ahead to Jesus when he declared centuries before the crucifixion ,
he was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities , the chastisement
that our peace was upon him and by his wounds we were healed . that's in isaiah 53 verses 5 to 6.
in response , jewish readers have pointed out that Isaiah never indicates , he is referring
to a messiah figure . on the contrary , he speaks of someone who has already suffered in the past tense .
he does not call that one messiah . more than that , earlier in his account he explicitly indicates
who this suffering servant of the lord is , it is the nation of israel itself which has suffered
because of the sins of the people . see isaiah 49 verse 3. so if i go to my bible and look at isaiah
49 verse 3 it says : and he said to me you are my servant israel in whom i will be glorified you are
my servant israel . so the sermon in this passage now isaiah 49 50 51 52 53 all part of the same
narrative , the same dialogue if you like the same story the four servant songs of israel .
and so this is clearly identifying the servant as israel itself . but Ehrman continues : in the days
of paul among jews who had expectations of what the messiah would be , there was never
an expectation that the messiah would suffer for the sins of others and then be raged from the dead .
in fact , the expectations were quite the opposite . that's the end quote from Bart Ehrman .
and i would go further than this and i would say if you look at all the jewish prophets in
the jewish bible whether it be Moses or Jeremiah , Isaiah , Micah , Hosea etc never do they mention
that the messiah would be Yahweh , would be god incarnate come to earth it never says that ever
which is peculiar if this was so central to the salvation of the world . do you think the prophets
would actually mention this amazing fact . the other thing they don't mention (as far as i'm
aware and i have read the jewish bible cover to cover many times) no jewish prophet Moses , Jeremiah
Micah , Isaiah , all the great prophets not a single one ever says that god was three persons in one
god . they never say that god is the father , the son and the holy spirit . three persons each fully god .
but in some mysterious way i don't quite understand but nevertheless one god .
no jewish prophet when they talk endlessly about god . particularly Isaiah there's a great passage
chapter after chapter about the oneness of god it never mentions the threeness of
god which is absolutely central to christian theology . so surely if this was essential to belief
it would be mentioned by the prophets and it never is . so on these key christian doctrines of the
messiah to come being crucified and killed for the sins of the world and rising again
on the third day from the dead , the prophets are silent on the key doctrine of the trinity
god , father , son and holy spirit , the prophets are silent . now this is really serious , paul in his
letters particularly 1 corinthians chapter 15 verse 3 says that this is the gospel that the
messiah would die according to the scriptures that he would rise again on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures , he explicitly references the scriptures
as to substantiate and validate his own gospel and yet the scriptures do not say this anywhere .
this is very peculiar , this is indeed a christian mystery , a mystery perhaps we're invited to believe
in but we surely must have some evidence for this mysterious belief particularly when it
claims to be based on evidence that the scriptures themselves say that the messiah would die and be
raised again on the third day accordance with the scriptures , the scriptures don't say that .
so there's no meant to be an attack on christianity but just an honest appraisal of
the facts , the facts simply do not back up the claim . there is no trinity in the jewish bible ,
there is no messiah who will be who was to come , who will die for the sins of the world and rise on
the third day . i can find no reference to a third day anywhere in the jewish bible where it says
the messiah would rise on the third day . so i just wanted to share that with you , this is why i think
the jews of paul's day rejected the christian claims about jesus being the promised messiah
because they knew their scriptures when paul went into their synagogues and said look believe this
and they said this belief is unknown to us it is not attested in our torah , Moses never
mentioned this belief , why should we believe you paul ? away with you out you're preaching bid'ah (Innovation)
what you're saying is unknown to Moses and to the prophets of israel . therefore , we are
not required to believe in your gospel , away with you . and that remains the jewish position
today . now there are other understandings of the messiah which are not objectionable
in terms of the jewish scriptures , the islamic understanding the messiah is much more in accord
with the jewish understanding , that can be a subject for another video . but i just wanted to
share with you here why the jews of paul's day understandably rejected the christian claims
about jesus being prophesied and promised in the torah because he simply isn't . till next time