Why did the Jews of Paul’s day reject his claim about Jesus being the promised messiah? (2021-02-14) #

0:00:01 why did the jews of paul's day in the first century reject the christian claims about 0:00:07 Jesus being the promised Messiah ? in the book of acts in the new testament , we read of paul
0:00:13 going to synagogue after synagogue proclaiming his gospel about Jesus being the Messiah and he
0:00:19 references many texts in the jewish bible but the jews mostly react very negatively ,
0:00:25 some even took up stones to stone him and they cast him out of their synagogues. why is this ?
0:00:31 why would the jews reject their own messiah when he is apparently so clearly prophesied
0:00:37 in the jewish scriptures ? this is an intriguing question and to solve this mystery i turn to
0:00:45 "THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY : How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World" by Bart Ehrman . i
0:00:51 think it's his most recent book and he addresses this very question on page 47. where he writes :
0:00:59 to make sense of the early jewish outrage over claims concerning the messiahship of Jesus ,
0:01:06 we need to cut through many centuries of christian thinking , mountains of subsequent 0:01:11 christian theological speculation and masses of christian common sense about how jesus came as
0:01:18 the fulfillment of scripture . many christians today have serious difficulty understanding how jews in 0:01:25 antiquity and throughout history down till today have rejected the claim that Jesus was the messiah .
0:01:34 in this traditional christian view , it is very simple and clear-cut . the jewish scriptures
0:01:40 themselves predicted the messiah would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem . that he would be a great
0:01:46 healer and teacher and that he would suffer an excruciating death for the sins of others
0:01:53 and then be raised from the dead .all that is in the jews own bible , why can't they see that
0:02:00 can't they read ? not all christians have thought this way of course , those who have done so have 0:02:08 been trained to read the old testament in certain ways to see references to a future messiah
0:02:15 where jews themselves have never detected any messianic prophecies . throughout history when
0:02:23 christians have pointed to predictions of jesus in the old testament , jews have denied the passages
0:02:30 involve messianic prophecies . christians have long maintained for example that the ancient prophet 0:02:37 Isaiah was looking ahead to Jesus when he declared centuries before the crucifixion ,
0:02:45 he was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities , the chastisement
0:02:51 that our peace was upon him and by his wounds we were healed . that's in isaiah 53 verses 5 to 6.
0:03:02 in response , jewish readers have pointed out that Isaiah never indicates , he is referring
0:03:09 to a messiah figure . on the contrary , he speaks of someone who has already suffered in the past tense .
0:03:17 he does not call that one messiah . more than that , earlier in his account he explicitly indicates
0:03:25 who this suffering servant of the lord is , it is the nation of israel itself which has suffered 0:03:33 because of the sins of the people . see isaiah 49 verse 3. so if i go to my bible and look at isaiah 0:03:43 49 verse 3 it says : and he said to me you are my servant israel in whom i will be glorified you are 0:03:54 my servant israel . so the sermon in this passage now isaiah 49 50 51 52 53 all part of the same 0:04:01 narrative , the same dialogue if you like the same story the four servant songs of israel .
0:04:08 and so this is clearly identifying the servant as israel itself . but Ehrman continues : in the days
0:04:17 of paul among jews who had expectations of what the messiah would be , there was never 0:04:24 an expectation that the messiah would suffer for the sins of others and then be raged from the dead .
0:04:31 in fact , the expectations were quite the opposite . that's the end quote from Bart Ehrman .
0:04:38 and i would go further than this and i would say if you look at all the jewish prophets in 0:04:43 the jewish bible whether it be Moses or Jeremiah , Isaiah , Micah , Hosea etc never do they mention 0:04:52 that the messiah would be Yahweh , would be god incarnate come to earth it never says that ever 0:04:59 which is peculiar if this was so central to the salvation of the world . do you think the prophets 0:05:04 would actually mention this amazing fact . the other thing they don't mention (as far as i'm
0:05:10 aware and i have read the jewish bible cover to cover many times) no jewish prophet Moses , Jeremiah
0:05:19 Micah , Isaiah , all the great prophets not a single one ever says that god was three persons in one 0:05:26 god . they never say that god is the father , the son and the holy spirit . three persons each fully god .
0:05:34 but in some mysterious way i don't quite understand but nevertheless one god .
0:05:38 no jewish prophet when they talk endlessly about god . particularly Isaiah there's a great passage 0:05:43 chapter after chapter about the oneness of god it never mentions the threeness of
0:05:49 god which is absolutely central to christian theology . so surely if this was essential to belief
0:05:56 it would be mentioned by the prophets and it never is . so on these key christian doctrines of the 0:06:03 messiah to come being crucified and killed for the sins of the world and rising again 0:06:11 on the third day from the dead , the prophets are silent on the key doctrine of the trinity
0:06:18 god , father , son and holy spirit , the prophets are silent . now this is really serious , paul in his
0:06:26 letters particularly 1 corinthians chapter 15 verse 3 says that this is the gospel that the
0:06:34 messiah would die according to the scriptures that he would rise again on the third day
0:06:41 in accordance with the scriptures , he explicitly references the scriptures 0:06:45 as to substantiate and validate his own gospel and yet the scriptures do not say this anywhere .
0:06:54 this is very peculiar , this is indeed a christian mystery , a mystery perhaps we're invited to believe 0:07:00 in but we surely must have some evidence for this mysterious belief particularly when it 0:07:05 claims to be based on evidence that the scriptures themselves say that the messiah would die and be 0:07:11 raised again on the third day accordance with the scriptures , the scriptures don't say that .
0:07:17 so there's no meant to be an attack on christianity but just an honest appraisal of 0:07:21 the facts , the facts simply do not back up the claim . there is no trinity in the jewish bible , 0:07:29 there is no messiah who will be who was to come , who will die for the sins of the world and rise on 0:07:36 the third day . i can find no reference to a third day anywhere in the jewish bible where it says 0:07:41 the messiah would rise on the third day . so i just wanted to share that with you , this is why i think 0:07:47 the jews of paul's day rejected the christian claims about jesus being the promised messiah 0:07:53 because they knew their scriptures when paul went into their synagogues and said look believe this 0:07:58 and they said this belief is unknown to us it is not attested in our torah , Moses never 0:08:04 mentioned this belief , why should we believe you paul ? away with you out you're preaching bid'ah (Innovation)
0:08:11 what you're saying is unknown to Moses and to the prophets of israel . therefore , we are 0:08:16 not required to believe in your gospel , away with you . and that remains the jewish position 0:08:22 today . now there are other understandings of the messiah which are not objectionable 0:08:27 in terms of the jewish scriptures , the islamic understanding the messiah is much more in accord 0:08:33 with the jewish understanding , that can be a subject for another video . but i just wanted to 0:08:38 share with you here why the jews of paul's day understandably rejected the christian claims 0:08:45 about jesus being prophesied and promised in the torah because he simply isn't . till next time