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Since I tend not to be overly polemical, sometimes I annoy people on both sides of the polemic. Now, I’m going to say something concerning a CRT/I and the privileged/oppressed rhetoric that is being thrown around in the Messiah’s body.
2/I write this as a Jewish man saved by grace. Whether you are white or black or Latino or Asian or whatever you may be, if you believe on Christ you have been added to our tree (Romans 9). It wasn’t your tree. The tree was Abraham and his descendants through Isaac.
3/The only privilege we Israelites had was we were elected by grace as a nation. That’s not a privilege that was earned, nor was it a privilege built on sinful oppressive structures. It was by grace alone. Physically and politically, however, we have been the most oppressed group
4/ probably in history. Enslaved for centuries, exiled twice, attempted genocides numerous times, and the list could go on and on. Every major nation that surrounded us oppressed us when we had our secure borders. In the diaspora (exile) we also have been consistently oppressed.
5/ Now I want you to think about this with me. In Christ Jesus, God is saving people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. And he is adding them to Israel. He is fastening them to our tree, while at the same time removing Israelites from the tree who don’t believe in Christ.
6/ This means that historically those who have oppressed us since our beginning, now by grace have been added to the tree of Israel which itself was established by grace. And not only have they been added, but they have been added as fully equal citizens of our Commonwealth.
7/ They are co-heirs of the grace of Christ Jesus. They are equal recipients of all the promises of God, and will reign with Christ. Jesus didn’t bring these oppressors into his fold and then through liberation theology put them under our yoke.
8/Instead, he made them fully equal to us in every single way. There’s no rhetoric in the New Testament where we somehow tried to make them feel guilty because they were born from nations who oppressed us. On the contrary they were seen as our full siblings and fellow Israelites.
9/ And the Jewish apostles marveled, celebrated, and delighted in this. Love of brother grew as our Gentile brothers raised funds to help their impoverished Jewish brothers and Judea. This was not because of a reversal of societal structures. This was the love of brother.
10/ This was the result of both Jews and Gentiles being saved by grace. Were their problems in the early church? Absolutely. But the problems stemmed from Jews who had a bad attitude against the Gentiles and wanted them to have to literally walk in the shoes of the Jews
11/ That sounds very familiar to some of the rhetoric that I am hearing from some born to underprivileged groups. I cannot sign on to any of that as if it’s biblical. The Jewish believers that were in error tried to make the Gentiles Jewish.
12/ Likewise, certain supersessionist elements within Christianity now try to make Jewish believers Gentiles. Equally absurd. The bottom line is God has made the two groups one. He has united oppressor and oppressed in a family built on grace and love.
13/ I simply ask everyone to try to put yourselves in Jewish shoes and look at this current mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. If we could be oppressed for thousands of years, but then take joy that our oppressors became our brothers and our equals by grace,
14/ and we sought no retribution, then please understand how incredibly difficult it is for me to sympathize with the rhetoric and attitude in this country displayed towards white evangelicalism. Yes, white evangelicalism has sins and burdens to make right.
15/ But people are tripping if they think it’s going to be any different than Gentiles being added to Israel. No retribution, but forgiveness, grace, unity, and love ofbrother. It will be manifested with weeping with those who weep, for sure. It will be displayed in the voluntary
16/ sharing of monetary resources for our brothers who economically struggle. It will be visibly indicated by all Christians voicing their concerns over injustice that happens to specific groups.
17/ But it will NEVER look like the things I hear from the social justicians. So if you took the time to read all these tweets, please learn from what Christ did by uniting Jew and Gentile together. It’s seriously answers the current dilemma within the American church.
18/ also, maybe some folks will realize how totally insensitive and offensive this SJ rhetoric would seem to Jewish believers in Christ. Remember, Jews who rejected Christ were removed from the tree. Their status as an oppressed people group was irrelevant in terms of salvation.
