Posted on 06/01/2014 1:00:10 PM PDT by wmfights
Martin Luther’s views concerning the Jews and Judaism have been the subject of much debate. According to Hans J. Hillerbrand, “There is scholarly agreement that the early Luther spoke thoughtfully and positively about Jews.”[1] Luther (1483–1546) prayed for the Jews and called for their friendly treatment.[2] He said, “We ought, therefore, not to treat the Jews in so unkindly a spirit, for there are future Christians among them, and they are turning every day.”[3] Luther also held to a special distinction for the Jews in God’s plan: “Moreover, they alone, and not we Gentiles, have this promise, that there shall always be Christians among Abraham’s seed, who acknowledge the blessed Seed.”[4]
With his 1523 work, “That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew,” Luther appeared optimistic that many Jews would convert to Christianity. His hope was that “many of them will become genuine Christians and turn again to the faith of their fathers, the prophets and patriarchs.”[5]Hans Küng points out that with dawning of the Reformation, Luther believed that “a new last age had dawned for the Jews as well.”[6]
Luther’s attitude toward the Jews, however, changed dramatically in his later years. As Hillerbrand writes, “From the end of the 1530s onward . . . a different tone can be discerned in Luther’s writings. There is less optimism about the possibility of Jewish conversion.”[7] This decreasing optimism concerning Jewish conversion may have stimulated much of Luther’s harsh rhetoric toward the Jews.[8]
Luther’s strongest statements against the Jews are found in his 1543 tract, “Concerning the Jews and Their Lies.” He referred to the Jews as a “miserable and accursed people.”[9]Luther’s intolerance toward the Jews is also evident in the following statement: “What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming.”[10]
In addition to his anti-Semitic rhetoric, Luther also made statements consistent with a punitive replacement view toward Israel. He viewed the destruction of Jerusalem and theTemple in A.D. 70 as evidence of God’s permanent rejection of the Jews: “‘Listen, Jew, are you aware that Jerusalem and your sovereignty, together with your temple and priesthood, have been destroyed for over 1,460 years?’. . . This work of wrath is proof that the Jews, surely rejected by God, are no longer his people, and neither is he any longer their God.”[11] In reference to the promise of Abraham’s descendants being a ‘great nation’ Luther said, “Therefore the Jews have lost this promise, no matter how much they boast of their father Abraham. . . . They are no longer the people of God.”[12] Luther also argued that the designations “Israel” and “Jew” had undergone a transformation. True Israelites, according to him, were those who now accepted the new covenant:
The Jews make a point of the name Israel and claim that they alone are Israel and we are Gentiles. Now this is true so far as the first part of the prophecy and the old covenant of Moses are concerned. . . . But according to the second part of the prophecy and the new covenant, the Jews are no longer Israel, for all things are to be new, and Israel must become new. Those alone are the true Israel who have accepted the new covenant, which was established and begun at Jerusalem.[13]
Luther also said, “Thus all the Gentiles who are Christians are the true Israelites and new Jews, born of Christ, the noblest Jew.”[14] Summarizing Luther’s later supersessionist views concerning Israel and the Jews, Hillerbrand states, “There is no more promise for Israel. God is silent. Israel experiences the silence of God, which is his wrath. . . . In his later writings Luther appears to have abandoned the notion of the permanence of Israel’s election.”[15]
[1] Hans J. Hillerbrand, “Martin Luther and the Jews,” in Jews and Christians, 129.
[2] See Martin Luther, “That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew,” LW, 45:199–229; WA, 11:314–36.
[3] Luther, “The Magnificat,” LW, 21:354–55; WA, 7:600. See Mark U. Edwards, Jr., “Against the Jews,” in Essential Papers on Judaism and Christianity in Conflict: From Late Antiquity to the Reformation, ed. Jeremy Cohen (New York: New York University Press, 1991), 352.
[4] LW, 21:355; WA, 7:600–01.
[5] LW, 45:200; WA, 11:315.
[6] Küng, Judaism, 181.
[7] Hillerbrand, “Martin Luther and the Jews,” 130.
[8] Hillerbrand also says, “I do believe that there is a change over time in Luther. And the change has to do, first of all, with a clear diminishing of his interest in or optimism about Jewish conversion.” Ibid., 147. See also Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther’s Theology: Its Historical and Systematic Development, trans. Roy A. Harrisville (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 342.
[9] LW, 47:137; WA, 53:417.
[10] LW, 47:268; WA, 53:522.
[11] LW, 47:138–39; WA, 53:418.
[12] LW, 3:113; WA, 42:629.
[13] LW, 35:287–88; WA, DB 11¹:400.
[14] LW, 35:288; WA, DB 11¹:400.
[15] Hillerbrand, “Martin Luther and the Jews,” 136.
It's amazing how one error can lead to so many other errors. The churches that are Supersessionist are mostly Amillennial as well and they don't see the plain words in Romans 11 that Israel has been partially blinded for our benefit.
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Luther is proof of his own concept that no man is perfect, but One.
“My advice, as I said earlier, is: First, that their synagogues be burned down, and that all who are able toss sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire...Second, that all their books-- their prayer books, their Talmudic writings, also the entire Bible-- be taken from them, not leaving them one leaf, and that these be preserved for those who may be converted...Third, that they be forbidden on pain of death to praise God, to give thanks, to pray, and to teach publicly among us and in our country...Fourth, that they be forbidden to utter the name of God within our hearing. For we cannot with a good conscience listen to this or tolerate it…The rulers must act like a good physician who, when gangrene has set in proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins, bone, and marrow. Such a procedure must also be followed in this instance. Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them. If this does not help we must drive them out like mad dogs."
Luther is proof of his own concept that no man is perfect, but One......................... I don’t know about that, my wife thinks I’m one, I feel the same about her.
Pretty much the model for the Final Solution.
I’m not a fan.
I think you're right.
I believe part of Luther's frustration which led to his negative view of Jews was his Amillennial, Supersessionist, beliefs. He failed to understand that mass conversion is unlikely since God is not finished with them. We certainly should seek to share The Gospel because we never know who will be saved now, but it's unlikely we will have huge success.
Don't forget to lump all the other Amillennial, Supersessionist churches in this as well.
If you don't want to lump all the other churches that share the same eschatological views you might want to take a more nuanced approach to identifying how the "final solution" happened.
“Luther is proof of his own concept that no man is perfect, but One......................... I don’t know about that, my wife thinks I’m one, I feel the same about her.”
Wouldn’t that be Two?
I’m just saying. . .
the author omita a crucial point and that is that Luther’s attitude towards others including his own Germans, turned harsher as well, in his old age. i chalk it up to frustration. but he didn’t mince words with his own countrymen. to frame it only as being against jews is just flat-out lying.
The reason the article focuses on Jews is because it is about Luther's Supersessionist views. I've posted a series on the topic because a lot of Christians don't realize their churches are Amillennial and Supersessionist.
When His calendar, the biblical Calendar was revealed to me, I could see how Jews could be blinded..
They see a ‘christian’ church that celebrates different sabbath, different holy days (December 25 and easter) with no linkage to the Feasts in Torah..
And yet then they hear Christians say that the Word (Torah) became flesh and dwelt among us...and His birth, life, death and resurrection have no worship ties to what the Creator gave Israel as rehearsals for the coming king, what would a believer in Torah think?
Then, on top of it see no Jewishness in the name Jesus, and acts 7:45 and hebrews 4:8 confrim that Jesus should be translated to Joshua into English at least they know of a Joshua who led Israel into the promised land..
Not really bagging on you, just saying that it ought to be framed in proper context. Context being he was pretty much frustrated with everyone in his later years, the jews, his own fellow Germans who he also threw scathing criticism at, and others. Frustrated a lot at the legalism that people fell so easily back into, or never left.
To only report he had harsh words to say at the jews is not the full picture. He was equally harsh with others and didn’t spare his own countrymen.
It's amazing how one error can lead to so many other errors.
The dispensational root axiom, for one example.
The churches that are Supersessionist are mostly Amillennial as well and they don't see the plain words in Romans 11 that Israel has been partially blinded for our benefit.
BTW, have you worked through The Church and Israel in the New Testament yet?
There is a lot of history that led to this huge disconnect between recognizing Jesus and seeing he was Jewish. The animus has cut both ways. All we can do is be honest about it and see that it is wrong.
I'm in one of those awful supersessionist "replacementarian" churches. The Jesus -- Joshua connection is the sort of thing I hear all the time.
Are you sure you understand our position?
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