Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Crucified Jew

Chrysostom, an early Church Father of the more literal (common-sense) Antiochian school, opposed Origen's unbridled interpretation of Scripture. Unfortunately, he made one regrettable exception: the literal brethren of our Lord and their nation:
The Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are lecherous, greedy, rapacious. They are perfidious murderers of Christ. The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon. Christians may never cease vengeance, and the Jews must live in servitude forever. God always hated the Jews. It is incumbent upon all Christians to hate the Jews (Chrysostom, Cohn, Sherbok D., The Crucified Jew, Harper Collins, London, 1992, p. 33).
There is a troubling dichotomy between Chrysostom’s words and the words of The Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
Thus saith the LORD; if heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD (Jeremiah 31:37, emphasis added).
Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: if those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever (Jeremiah 31:35-36, emphasis added).
But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:16, emphasis added).
It’s a tragic thing that there are people … who on the basis of their very weak interpretation of Scripture believe that God has no place for the nation of Israel. … And that His covenants are invalid because Israel made the mistake of becoming an apostate nation that God has written them off. Unfortunately they don’t know what the Bible clearly teaches … concerning that covenant but concerning many other things as well. God has made absolute unconditional covenant. But you see that covenant then speaks of the plan for God’s people because God will not break His covenant. … The unconditional covenants with Israel are going to come to pass (The Valley Church, emphasis added).14
14The Valley Church, Conflict of the Ages, 5/11//75, (audio tape).

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