Teaching of contempt

[Bonhoffer]

Whilst researching for an essay I discovered the following stupid teaching which many Protestant and Catholic churches preached up until the 1960's.

Not only do I find it morally abhorant but it is logically stupid and biblically incorrect.

The Teaching of Contempt is the charge levelled by many Church fathers that the Jews were responsible for killing Christ and so will be punished by eternal damnation as a result, even if they convert to Christianity.

1: If all Jews are automatically condemned to eternal damnation for being Jews even if they become a Christian; then this basically means that all the twelve disciples, St Paul and even Mary and Joseph are all right now in Hell.

2: Why should we feel angry with the Jews for killing Jesus? Afterall if they had'nt of killed him then no one would be saved. We should thank the Jews for what they did, and afterall it was Gods plan for Jesus to die.

3: Time and time again in the New Testament it is stated that salvation is open to both Jew and Gentile. St Paul especially makes this point clear. Therefore unless Paul was wrong, to teach that all Jews are condemned to Hell is sheer blasphamy as it contradicts the Bible!!

 

[1John5:3]

Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

1 John 2:22
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1 John 2:23
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

 

[Bonhoffer]

Matthew 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

1 John 2:22
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

1 John 2:23
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

I wasnt saying that all Jews will be saved. Obviously those who reject Jesus are unlikely to go to Heaven. As far as I understand it the 'Teaching of Contempt' meant that ALL Jews (as an ethnic group) will go to Hell. This teaching is unbiblical where letters of St Paul teach that salvation is open to both Jew and Gentile.

Romans 1:16 "salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."

You have to remember that some Jews are Christians, take St Paul and all of the apostles for example. According to this old teaching even Mary and Joseph would be in Hell.

 

[reformedfan]

similar to that ridiculous charge that Jews are under eternal condemnation is the even more ridiculous assertion that one day Christ will preside over animal sacrifices again when He shed His blood once, the Just for the unjust...etc.
Not all churches believe such lies, fortunately. The ones with the correct, Biblical view of Matt 24, Revelation, etc, the Preterist ones you'll find have less antisemitic theology in them than the premill type churches.
During WW2, f'rinstance, it was the premills that were happy about Hitler's genocide, sure these things 'had to happen' in order for Christ to come back. It was the Reformed Ten Booms that didn't go along with such a defeatist eschatology.
(like that all has so much to do with the teaching of contempt, sorry! )
Anyway, Christ is King now.