Christianity and Antisemitism - New Testament Rejection of Judaism

New Testament Rejection of Judaism

A number of passages in the New Testament may be considered as a rejection of Judaism given a certain interpretive approach. Among them are:

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea; for you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all men.

• criticisms of Jewish parochialism or particularism
• criticisms of Jews being children of the devil and the like
• criticisms of the Pharisees
• the assertion that the Jewish covenant with God has been superseded by a New Covenant
• the explication of the Jewish role in the Passion of Jesus. This is exemplified by 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15:

These elements of the New Testament have their origins in 1st-century history. Christianity began as a revision of Judaism. Many of Jesus' followers during his life were Jews, and it was even a matter of confusion, many years after his death, as to whether non-Jews could even be considered Christians at all, according to the way some interpret the Council of Jerusalem.

Although the Gospels offer accounts of confrontations and debates between Jesus and other Jews, such conflicts were common among Jews at the time. Scholars disagree on the historicity of the Gospels, and have offered different interpretations of the complex relationship between Jewish authorities and Christians before and following Jesus' death. These debates hinge on the meaning of the word "messiah," and the claims of Early Christians.