Communicating the Gospel to Jewish People

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Romans 10:14-15

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

"How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

NKJV

Jewish people are very resistant to the Gospel due to their upbringing and almost 2000 years of teaching that Jesus is the God of Christians and not the God of the Jews.  However, this is no different from secular resistance to the Gospel by people seeing Jesus as someone depriving them of enjoying the pleasures of this world.  Therefore, reaching Jewish people with the Gospel is not impossible but does require different methods.

Some things to avoid when sharing the Gospel with a Jewish person are to

1)      Not to speak of convert or conversion (1)  – Many of the common terms Christians use when speaking of their faith, what I like to call Christianeze can mean something totally different to the person with whom we are speaking.  This is a fact not only for when we are sharing the Gospel with a Jewish person but for also when we are sharing with a Gentile.  For a Jewish person, the mention of convert or conversion means stop being a Jew and become a Christian.  God never intended Judaism and Christianity to become separate religions.  When we are sharing the Gospel with a Jew, we are not asking them to quit being a Jew for that is the nationality into which they were born.  Instead, we know that Jesus or Yeshua is their Messiah and we simply want to introduce them to Him.

2)      Not to speak of the Church (1)  – To a Jew, the Church is another religious institution, an institution that unfortunately has a history of oppression of the Jews.  Parents teach Jewish children how the church oppressed them during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition and more recently signs in Nazi concentration camps telling Jews they were being murdered in the name of Christ.  We must assure them that true Christians, like ourselves, love the Jewish people and want to introduce them to their Messiah.  We also demonstrate our love for them by supporting them and Israel’s right to exist as a nation.  

3)      Not to speak of Baptize (1)  – To a Jew, baptize or baptism speaks of conversion to Christianity and ceasing being a Jew.  When in Israel in 2008, we had a church service on the south steps of the Temple area.  Located in this area are several mikvahs.  A mikvah looks similar to the baptisteries in many Christian churches today and has a similar purpose for the mikvah was a place where someone would immerse themselves in water prior to entering the Temple area as a way of ritually cleansing themselves.  We can tell our Jewish friends that Christian baptism is like the mikvah and is how we identify with the work of cleansing by Messiah in our lives. 

4)      Not to speak of Christ (1)  – As Christians, we understand the power in the name of Jesus.  As such, we hold the word Christ in high esteem.  However, once again, when a Jewish person hears the word Christ they think of the God of Christianity and having to stop being a Jew.  The word Christ comes from the Greek word Christos and means anointed one.  The Hebrew equivalent of this word is Maschiach or Messiah.  When sharing the Gospel with a Jewish person refer to Maschiach or Messiah instead of Christ remembering that we are not asking them to convert to another religion and cease being a Jew but are introducing them to their Messiah, Yeshua.

5)      Not to speak of the symbol of the cross (1)  – The cross was not always a positive symbol in the Church for many early Christians were martyred by crucifixion on a cross.  It was not until later in Church history that the cross became a positive symbol of salvation.  To Jewish people, the cross remains a negative symbol for it reminds them of crusaders who carried a banner with a cross.  Jews remember how they were also forced to convert to Christianity or die during the Spanish Inquisition in the name of the Cross.  They also remember Nazi soldiers having a cross, all be it a broken cross, on their uniforms.  Instead of mentioning the work of Jesus on the cross, when speaking to a Jewish person, mention the atoning work of the Messiah who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and yet shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of humanity. 

Language is how we as human beings communicate with each other.  However, sometimes the listener does not interpret well-meaning words we use with the same meaning we intended.  We therefore must avoid using convert, church, baptism, Christ, or the cross when sharing with Jewish people.  Instead, speak of introducing them to Messiah, and accepting the atoning sacrifice of Messiah’s shed blood for their sins. 

Next Saturday we will look at what we can do when sharing the Gospel with Jewish people. 

1. Bernis, Jonathan. A Rabbi Looks at theLast Days. Bloomington MN 55438 : Chosen Books, 2013.