JEWS DON’T NEED JESUS (& other misconceptions)
Avi Snyder
It is unfortunate that it has to be said and said often: Jewish people need the gospel; they need to hear the gospel; they need to be told the gospel.
One of the most anti-semitic heresies that sadly abounds in the USA (yes even within American evangelicalism) is the belief that the Jewish people are ‘chosen’ and destined for heaven, no matter what. The largest pro-Israel ministry in the USA (boasting 3 million followers) deliberately speaks of a Dual Covenant by which only Gentiles need Jesus. This is something that cannot be ignored and must be spoken against, loudly, clearly, intentionally.
Jewish believer and ‘Jews for Jesus’ missionary Avi Snyder provocatively entitles his book: ‘Jews don’t need Jesus’, but then quickly adds a subtitle, ‘& other misconceptions’. He very capably and simply debunks the dual covenant notion and makes it clear that Jewish evangelism is not only necessary but mandated and was engaged in by the first century Jewish believing church.
Right off the bat in the ‘Introduction’ he titles it, ‘One is right, one is wrong’ and tells the story of a meeting with a well-meaning but misguided philo-semite (lover of Jews) who wanted to help Jewish people make Aliyah to Israel. After some conversation Avi stated things as clearly as he could, ‘A Jewish person who dies… without knowing Yeshua enters eternity separated from God’. The well meaning evangelical responded that he had signed a document stating he would have ‘nothing to do with missionary activity’ and ‘Despite what you say, the spirit tells me you’re wrong.’ After an awkward handshake and a farewell, Avi was convinced, one of them was right and the other was wrong – and the Bible was on his side.
Through the book he helpfully poses ‘awkward’ questions for those who think Jewish people don’t need Jesus. In his chapter, ‘…Then Why?’ he opens up a variety of clear and simple Scriptures such as John 8:24 ‘Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins’ And John 14:6, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father but through me’. Then he further speaks of Jesus’ own Jewish evangelism, and that of the Apostles, even in front of the Sanhedrin where it was made clear, ‘there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’. (Acts 4:12)
A forgotten aspect of early Christianity, writes Snyder, is the fact that ‘during the early days of the church, Gentile evangelism was the controversial issue (Acts 11:1-3). Jewish evangelism was taken for granted. It was the norm, and no one contested either the activity or the need’.
In many respects it is a simple book, easily accessible to the casual reader yet with a deeply needed message for evangelical America. Jews do need Jesus! He even takes issue with those Gentiles who think they should leave evangelism to Jewish believers to do as they have more affinity with their own people. However, Jewish believers are often seen as traitors to their own ethnicity. Instead he speaks of his own personal journey where Gentiles provoked him to jealousy because they had a relationship with the God of Israel that he hadn’t.
He concludes with a couple of chapters on the real reason people do not share the gospel with Jewish people – the fear of offending, the fear of rejection, and the fear of man. And of course that is true of all forms of non-witness. I often say that Jewish people are just like everyone else, only more so. So, too with Jewish evangelism and all evangelism. Maybe we are not sharing the gospel because deep down we do not believe anyone needs Jesus? That is a deeper problem needing more radical work than this book can bring, but this can at least rekindle an evangelistic burden for all lost souls.
