“For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their minds and write them in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” — Hebrews 8:10
One of the biggest barriers to Jewish-Christian relationships is the belief that Jews must convert to Christianity. This view misunderstands God’s covenant with His chosen people. This error, stemming from replacement theology, has hurt interfaith relations for generations. We need to address this issue directly.
A Personal Connection
My father claimed to be a Jewish American war veteran in WWII. As a B-17 tail gunner, he was shot down over Germany, parachuting behind enemy lines with a bullet in his liver. After hiding by a river for three days, he captured a German officer and brought him back across friendly lines. The bullet stayed in his body for twenty years until doctors removed it in the 1960s during gallbladder surgery.
This story works as a metaphor for our mission: to bring those who oppose Israel back to friendly lines, turning them into allies who will stand with God’s chosen people.
The Christian Misunderstanding of Covenant
Recently, a Jewish author asked me, “Do you believe Jews must go through Jesus to enter heaven?” This question shows the core misunderstanding many Christians have about God’s covenant with the Jewish people.
The apostle Paul addressed this in Romans 11:1-3, asking, “Did God cast away His people Israel?” His answer: “Certainly not! He has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” Paul states that “The gifts and calling of God for the Jews are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). The Jewish people remain in covenant with God.
Paul concludes: “All Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). He warns Christians against “boasting against the root,” saying, “You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18). His message is clear: Christians are grafted into the covenant promises God made to Abraham and the Jewish people—not the other way around. Jews aren’t meant to leave their covenant to join the Christian Church; instead, Christians join with the Jews, grafted into God’s covenant with them.
Clarifying Jesus’s Words
What about Jesus’s statement in John 14:6 that “no one comes to the Father except through Me”? The context shows Jesus was talking about revealing the Father, not limiting access to Him. When Philip asks, “Show us the Father,” Jesus answers, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” This exchange is about showing the Father’s nature, not creating exclusive paths to God.
Repentance and Baptism in Jewish Context
When the disciples baptized Jews in Acts 2:38, calling for repentance and the Spirit, they weren’t bringing something new to Jewish faith. The water mikvah (ritual immersion) was already a Jewish practice. John the Baptist wasn’t calling for a change of faith but a renewal of faith.
Ezekiel 36:24 said that when the scattered tribes returned to Israel, God would “give them a new heart, put His Spirit in them, and cause them to walk in His laws.” The events in Acts fulfill promises made to the Jewish people, not conversion to a new religion. For Gentiles, it did represent a new faith—one that included being grafted into the promises made to the Jewish people (Ephesians 2:12).
The Renewed Covenant Promise
Christians often cite the “New Testament covenant” in Hebrews 8:8-10, which quotes Jeremiah 31:31: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… I will write My laws on their heart and mind. They will be My people, and I will be their God.”
This isn’t a new covenant but a renewed one. The Hebrew word “Chadash” means “renew” rather than “new.” This promise was made to the “House of Israel”—to the Jewish people. Christians don’t replace Israel but join with them in this covenant.
Paul tells Christians we were “once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promises” (Ephesians 2:12). Now, we are “no longer strangers but fellow citizens in the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19)—a household that is Jewish.
When Christians claim this renewed covenant while excluding Jews, they push replacement theology, “boasting against the root” that Paul warned against. God states in Psalms 89:34-36: “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips (to David)… his seed shall endure forever.”
The Main Barrier to Jewish-Christian Relationships
Many Jews fear that Christian interest in relationship hides an agenda to convert them, instead of honoring them as God’s chosen people. A rabbi friend told me how Christian vendors at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention asked if he was a “completed Jew”—suggesting he needed Jesus to complete his faith and secure salvation.
These attitudes fail to recognize Jews as God’s covenant people and are antisemitic. You can’t claim the renewed covenant of Hebrews 8:10 while excluding the very people to whom God first promised it.
The Prophetic Recognition of Jews in God’s Covenant
The prophet Zechariah wrote that in the last days, Gentiles will recognize Jews as God’s chosen people:
“Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one of the sleeves of a Jewish man, saying ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.'” (Zechariah 8:23)
Today, Christians are rediscovering their Hebrew roots and history. They’re learning the meaning of types and shadows in the Hebrew Scriptures that add depth to the Bible. They’re seeing that Jews and Christians gain more by standing together than apart.
In this better understanding, we stand on the right side of faith—not trying to convert, but to honor and learn from the people God has never abandoned.
