According to the Catholic Church, are Jews still God's chosen people?

[Robert_Sock]

Are Jews able to be saved through their adherence to Judaism?

 

[Robert_Sock]

There is a phrase from the Second Vatican Council that is essential: it says that God showed Himself to all men and rescues, first of all, the Chosen People. Since God is faithful to His promises, He did not reject them. The Church officially recognizes that the People of Israel continue to be the Chosen People. Nowhere does it say: “You lost the game, now it is our turn.” It is a recognition of the People of Israel. That, I think, is the most courageous thing from Vatican II on the subject.

(Jorge M. Bergoglio and Abraham Skorka, On Heaven and Earth [New York: Image, 2013], p. 188)

 

[meltzerboy]

Are Jews able to be saved through their adherence to Judaism?

My understanding is that the Church believes that all salvation is through the Church and ultimately through Jesus Christ, not by means of following the tenets of Judaism. It does not say that Jews (or anyone else, for that matter) are unable to be saved, but rather that salvation is by means of the Church’s beliefs.

The Jewish response to this is thanks, but no thanks. Judaism believes that salvation is an individual matter based primarily on one’s behaviors and secondarily on one’s intentions in this life. The “goal” in Judaism is not to achieve salvation in the World to Come but to lead the best possible life one can here on earth, which means doing good for others, with the Torah as one’s guide if one is Jewish or with one’s own Scriptures or moral conscience as the guide if one is not Jewish.

 

[Della]

Are Jews able to be saved through their adherence to Judaism?

From the CCC:

Possible salvation of non-Christians: #s 846-848.

“Outside the Church there is no salvation”
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336

847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.337
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men."338

 

[oldcatholicguy]

My understanding is that the Church believes that all salvation is through the Church and ultimately through Jesus Christ, not by means of following the tenets of Judaism. It does not say that Jews (or anyone else, for that matter) are unable to be saved, but rather that salvation is by means of the Church’s beliefs.

The Jewish response to this is thanks, but no thanks. Judaism believes that salvation is an individual matter based primarily on one’s behaviors and secondarily on one’s intentions in this life. The “goal” in Judaism is not to achieve salvation in the World to Come but to lead the best possible life one can here on earth, which means doing good for others, with the Torah as one’s guide if one is Jewish or with one’s own Scripture or moral conscience as the guide if one is not Jewish.

Partly correct. Jews post Christ who are ignorant of Christ and are faithful to Judaism are still covered under what we call the Old Covenant because it is still valid. Since Christ fulfilled it instead of invalidating it (which would be impossible because that would mean God changed His mind; the theology behind this is above my head so hopefully someone with more knowledge will provide more about this), Jews who are ignorant of Christ but remain faithful to Judaism are saved through Christ and His Church. They just don’t know it. At least according to Catholicism. This is why Judaism and Jews are treated differently in the CCC than all the other non-Christians.

 

[POJIUJH]

It needs to be said also that there is a difference in meaning between the words “Jew” and “Judaism”. Likewise between the Judaism of the Old Covenant and the modern Judaism that formed after Christ.

So although their race was the chosen race (and I think their race is still particularly special because of this - and the devil seems to think so as well, given the things they have suffered throughout the centuries) their religion is still highly incomplete and the same principle of salvation would apply to them just the same as it would apply to any pagan faith. They just so happen to have a little bit more truth than most pagans.

 

[meltzerboy]

Partly correct. Jews post Christ who are ignorant of Christ and are faithful to Judaism are still covered under what we call the Old Covenant because it is still valid. Since Christ fulfilled it instead of invalidating it (which would be impossible because that would mean God changed His mind; the theology behind this is above my head so hopefully someone with more knowledge will provide more about this), Jews who are ignorant of Christ but remain faithful to Judaism are saved through Christ and His Church. They just don’t know it. At least according to Catholicism. This is why Judaism and Jews are treated differently in the CCC than all the other non-Christians.

I think the key phrase is “ignorant of Christ.” Does invincible ignorance mean that one has never heard of Christ, never heard His message, or does it mean that one is familiar with the message but decides to reject it and follow one’s own non-Christian religion instead? My understanding is that even if invincible ignorance is the latter, more shaky definition, it is still possible to be saved through the Church if one has led a moral life and truly believes in the teachings of one’s own religion. But I am not certain that following Judaism has any advantage in this instance despite the apparent theological and historical link between Christianity and Judaism. Of course, I may be wrong.

 

[Della]

The CCC addresses this issue directly, as well:

674 The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel”, for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles”, will enable the People of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, in which “God may be all in all”.

Some may take umbarge at this, but it shows that the Church regards the Jewish people as still chosen by God. They, and we, are awaiting the fulfillment of all prophecy when they accept Jesus as their Messiah. There are strains of modern Judaism that no longer looks forward to a Messiah but to an age of peace in this world, which they believe will fulfill their hopes. But there are Jews who do believe in the personifcation of the Messiah as a man who will usher in the time of peace and perhaps Jewish rule. In a way, we’re all in a situation similar to those before Christ because we cannnot know exactly how the prophecies will be fulfilled, but we can evangelize as Jesus commanded us to do and love one another so that all will be attracted to him and to his salvation, thus aiding in the reconciliation of the Jewish people with Jesus Christ.

 

[Robert_Sock]

My understanding is that the Church believes that all salvation is through the Church and ultimately through Jesus Christ, not by means of following the tenets of Judaism. It does not say that Jews (or anyone else, for that matter) are unable to be saved, but rather that salvation is by means of the Church’s beliefs.

The Jewish response to this is thanks, but no thanks. Judaism believes that salvation is an individual matter based primarily on one’s behaviors and secondarily on one’s intentions in this life. The “goal” in Judaism is not to achieve salvation in the World to Come but to lead the best possible life one can here on earth, which means doing good for others, with the Torah as one’s guide if one is Jewish or with one’s own Scriptures or moral conscience as the guide if one is not Jewish.

I have my share of wishes, and one of them is for religious unity. This seems to be taking root at my old church in that the church took an active part in a Jewish service, then a week later they came to our church and too an active part in the Mass. We were both encouraged to study each others faith in an attempt to foster religious understanding.

 

[CalCatholic]

**CCC 839: ** The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People.
When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish people, the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews “belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ”(328); “for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”(329)

328: Rom 9:4-5
329: Rom 11:29

 

[Robert_Sock]

Priest and Rabbi “sharing” the same Jewish altar. The priest also ate the bread from on the altar, and did all the members of my old church.

 

[Usagi]

At least since Vatican II (and really, going all the way back to St. Paul, though the message was definitely different for a large part of the middle there), the Church has emphasized that the Jewish people are still chosen and preserved for something and that God has not entirely abrogated His covenant with them.

On the other hand, the form that Judaism, the religion, is supposed to take in the post-Messianic era is the one we call the Catholic Church. Faithful Jews are undoubtedly a very good example of those non-Christians who might be saved after sincerely walking by the light God has given them (since their religion is in fact the only other revealed religion of the true God), but as far as I know Judaism is not per se salvific. St. Paul spends a great deal of his writing making the point that circumcision and the other marks of the Jewish people do not avail any more than the lack of them when it comes to the salvation offered by Jesus.

As meltzerboy points out, God’s covenant with Israel was never particularly about the afterlife, so it is not necessarily a contradiction to say that that covenant is in some sense still operational but also that it is not an independent means of salvation.

Usagi

 

[Robert_Sock]

This happened about 15-20 years ago. I guess it was not an altar, but maybe some sort of table. I know we shared the bread and that the priests did take an active role in the service.