Is it antisemitic to say Jews killed Jesus?
Antisemitism is why thousands of students in America and Canada have set up tents in protests at university campuses. Some people are calling the students pro-Palestinian protestors, but that’s not true.
If they were pro-Palestinians, they would protest Hamas using their citizens (including children) as a human shield and a human sacrifice in their terrorist and genocidal war against Israel.
The students are not pro-Palestinians, they are anti-Jews. Through critical theory, particularly postcolonial theory, the education system has trained them to become anti-white and antisemitic.
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However, these ignorant students aren’t the only loud antisemitic people in our culture. Shamefully, antisemitism has become acceptable to some Christless conservatives and foolish Christians who have been bewitched by partiality.
In overreaction to this, America’s House of Representatives passed a bill earlier this week that expands the definition of antisemitism to include “claims of Jews killing Jesus.”
That, therefore, prompts the question: is it antisemitic to say Jews killed Jesus?
No, the truth isn’t antisemitic.
It’s a historical and biblical fact that Jews killed Jesus. Yet, the Bible says we should speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Which means it’s possible to speak the truth with hate. In other words, it’s possible to speak the truth about Jews killing Jesus with hate for Jews.
Church history is filled with many instances of Christians showing partiality against Jews because of the sins of their ancestors. So it’s important to remember that just as white people today aren’t responsible for their ancestors’ role in slavery, Jews today aren’t responsible for their ancestor’s role in Jesus’ crucifixion.
With that said, people who say it’s antisemitic to say Jews killed Jesus are calling God antisemitic.
God says the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus because they were secretly plotting to kill him (Matthew 26:3-4). God also says they persuaded the Jewish crowd to demand the Romans to crucify him (Matthew 27:15-23). Later, the Apostle Peter said to a crowd in Jerusalem:
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know — this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,you crucified and killedby the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:22-23).”
So when a person says it’s wrong to say Jews killed Jesus, they’re saying what God says in the Bible is wrong.
However, as the Apostle Peter suggests, Jews aren’t the only people who killed Jesus. Jesus was killed by both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews demanded his crucifixion, but it was Rome that crucified him.
If the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate, had decided not to execute Jesus, the Jews wouldn’t have had the power to kill him.
That brings me to the most important thing about this topic. Just as Rome had a greater authority over the Jews in Jesus’ death, God the Father had a greater authority over Rome in Jesus’ death. As Peter said to the Jewish crowd, it’s God who ultimately ordained Jesus’ death.
God the Father killed Jesus. Jesus was killed by Jews and Romans according to his definite plan. Why? Because of sinners like you and me.
The Bible says, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).”
That means the Jews killed Jesus and the Romans killed Jesus because God ordained that Jesus would be crushed on the cross because of our transgressions.
So you and I are no less guilty than the Jews (and Romans) who killed Jesus. We all bear responsibility for his crucifixion.
So if you’re the type of professing Christian who uses the precious cross of Christ to attack Jews, you don’t understand the weight of your sin.
Some of the Jews who killed Jesus are in Heaven, but some of the people who shame and mock them are going to Hell.
So speak the truth, but speak it in love. Don’t say it because you hate Jews, say it because you love Jesus.
Originally published at Slow to Write.
Samuel Sey is a Ghanaian-Canadian who lives in Brampton, a city just outside of Toronto. He is committed to addressing racial, cultural, and political issues with biblical theology, and always attempts to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
