The Importance of Jewish Evangelism for the Church
By Hartmut Renz, LCJE Coordinator for Europe
It has often been emphasized how important Jewish Evangelism is for the salvation of the Jewish people. But few Christians realize how important Jewish Evangelism is for the church as well. There are at least seven reasons why the church should preach the gospel to the Jews too.
1) Jewish Evangelism is a touch-stone for the soundness of our Christology. Refusing to preach the gospel to the Jews or denying the appropriateness of this task is always a sign of a departure from the biblical doctrine. Therefore Jewish Evangelism can function as an early-warning system indicating that a church is in danger of drifting away from biblical standards.
2) Jewish Evangelism is a touch-stone for the soundness of our understanding and evaluation of the scripture. Denying the appropriateness of this task means denying at least some parts of the word of God and thus not obeying the whole word of God.
3) By preaching the gospel to the Jews the church proclaims both the holiness of God and his faithfulness. By proclaiming that no-one, whether Jewish or not, can stand before God on the grounds of his own righteousness and that everyone is in need of salvation the church proclaims God as the holy one. By proclaiming the gospel to the Jews, the church is also proclaiming the faithfulness of God who, for Jesus’ sake, still loves the Jewish people and other sinners despite their guilt and unfaithfulness.
4) By witnessing to Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews the church is also witnessing to the indissoluble interrelationship between the Old and New Testaments. She thereby bears testimony to the continuity of salvation history and the enduring role of Israel in God’s plan and guards against the corruptive pride and error of thinking that she has replaced Israel as the chosen people of God.
5) Only by proclaiming the gospel to the Jews can the church fulfill her God-given task in this world. Without Jewish members the body of Christ is not complete, but rather disabled. Only the entire body of Christ is possessing all gifts to fulfill the tasks God has assigned to it.
6) Witnessing to Jesus as the Messiah to the Jews can guard church against anti-Semitism on the one hand and against unbiblical enthusiasm for Israel on the other. You cannot preach the gospel to the Jews and hate them at the same time. But neither can you uncritically admire them. Those who love the Jews only out of sympathy will be disappointed soon or later, because Jews are sinners too. Our love for the Jews will only remain steadfast if it is an expression of the love of God who seeks the lost precisely because they are sinful and therefore lost. Preaching the gospel to the Jews can only be done properly from the wellspring of this love.
7) By sharing the gospel with the Jews the church is returning thanks for the salvation she has received from Israel. As Christians we are indebted to Israel because we have received from them the best we ever could get in our lives: God’s word and Jesus, our saviour. The best we can give Israel in return is the gospel of the Messiah Jesus, who has borne the sins of Israel as well as ours, who has been resurrected for Israel’s sake as well as ours, and who will come back for the salvation of Israel and the whole world.
Hartmut Renz
hrenz@evangeliumsdienst.de