# To The Jew First—Part 3

- Link: https://fontlife.com/jew-firstpart-3/
- Published: 2013-10-13T01:27:14-04:00
- Author: Victor Font

[⌊To The Jew First—Part 3⌉⌊To The Jew First—Part 3⌉[

Image Courtesy of [Peter Mazurek](http://www.sxc.hu/profile/mazwebs)

## Jewish Writers on the Two Covenant Theory

Today, many Jewish people widely believe in two separate covenants. In _The Mission
of the Jewish People in History and in the Modern World_, Arthur Gilbert states:

> Judaism allows for religious pluralism and does not consider it scandalous. …We
> do not believe that God’s plan for salvation requires your conversion to Judaism
> nor mine to Christianity. But it does require our cooperation, our concern for,
> our joint effort to repair the world.

Former associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Department of Interfaith
Affairs, Leon Klenicki, expands on this in an essay discussing Jewish-Christian 
dialogue:

> The dialogue involves a process of meeting and recognition between two faith communities,
> two experiences of God: Christianity and Judaism. It is an encounter of subjects,
> not faith, not objects of contempt, two equal testimonies to God. For each partner
> it means the recognition of the other as a constituent in God’s design, the acceptance
> of a different approach to the Eternal, a different though not conflicting spirituality.

In _The Resurrection of Jesus_, Orthodox Rabbi Pinchas Lapide summarizes the view
of co-existing, co-equal, and complementary faiths:

> We Jews and Christians are joined in brotherhood at the deepest level. …We are
> brothers in a manifold ‘elective affinity.’

## Christians and the Two-Covenant Theory

There are also many Christians that believe in a two-covenant theology. These views
generally extend from certain mainline denominations. None of which have retained
a full belief in the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. For example in _The Resurrection
in Jewish-Christian Dialogue_, Lutheran theologian Carl Braaten writes:

> Christianity is the Judaizing of the pagans. The task of Christianity is to preach
> the gospel among the Gentiles. …The task of Judaism meanwhile is to remind Christianity
> of its original biblical roots.

Similarly, a number of Roman Catholic theologians have taken the pronouncements 
of Vatican II and Pope John Paul II’s 1991 _Redemptoris Missio_ to their logical
conclusion, namely, that religious dialogue with members of other religions is to
replace actual missionary efforts:

> Former Christian considerations of Judaism (as well as of other religions) encouraged
> proselytism. That is, Christians believed it not only legitimate but praiseworthy
> to exert economic, psychological, or spiritual pressure on non-Christians in order
> to gain new members for the Church. The dialogical position, however, is one in
> which the parties accept one another as mutually equal partners.

Christians who accept and believe in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God are increasingly
being found to accept the two-covenant theology. To illustrate, at the time George
Sheridan was the East Coast Regional Director for the Southern Baptist department
of Interfaith Witness, he asserted in _Critique of the Two-Covenant Theory_ that
God’s bond with the Jewish people was never superseded by the first coming of Jesus:

> The Jews of today, as ever, receive salvation through their having been chosen
> by God in covenant with Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. …My position is that
> the Jews do not require evangelization.

<= [To The Jew First—Part 2](https://fontlife.com/blog/jew-firstpart-2/)

[To the Jew First—Part 4](https://fontlife.com/blog/jew-firstpart-4/) =>