Enemies Yet Beloved

Joseph Spurgeon on the Jewish Paradox

“When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul” (Acts 23:12).

More than forty Jews bound themselves with an oath, vowing not to eat or drink until they had killed the Apostle Paul. The Bible does not blush at this. The Jews conspired against Christ, stirred up the crowd against Stephen, and schemed to destroy Paul. And yet Scripture does not stop there. The Apostle Paul, himself a Jew, says in Romans 9 that he had “great sorrow and unceasing grief” for his kinsmen according to the flesh. He even says that he could wish himself accursed if it meant their salvation. Paul saw both realities: the Jews as enemies of the gospel, and the Jews as beloved for the sake of God’s promises.

That is the paradox. The Jews have been enemies of the gospel, and yet they are not beyond God’s mercy. They are people made in His image, heirs of promises that will one day be fulfilled in Christ. That is where we must begin. Christians cannot ignore Jewish opposition to Christ. But neither may we indulge in ethnic hatred. Our Lord Jesus was born of Jewish flesh. The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.” So we must tell the truth about the Jews, in all its biblical tension.