Is Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 antisemitic?

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This is sort of moving from “Are these verses antisemitic? I hope not! Whew! Thanks for the reassurance!” to “Are these verses antisemitic? I really want them to be, no matter what y’all think!”

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Speaking as a Jew…

Some Jews feel this way, and some Christians feel this way. And some Jews and Christians do not. But I gather it depends on the Scriptural education of those who look into the text itself.

First of all, what does Jewish academia have to say on the subject?

While in the past there have been claims that the writer was being anti-Semitic, current Jewish thought is that the author was referring to an assembly of people who were in fact not Jews at all but merely claiming to be Jews.

In the author’s mind, those who were truly Jews were those who claimed affiliation with Judaism and Jesus. In fact the author may have belonged to a congregation of Jewish Christians and Gentile converts to Judaism who had accepted Jesus as the Messiah. There was a time were Jews and Jewish converts kept the Mosaic Law but new Gentile converts to Christianity did not.–See Acts 21:15-26.

The book of Revelation here might be reflecting this type of circumstance, either in symbolic language by comparing Christianity itself to pagan Rome or an actual Jewish Christian congregation with a Gentile Congregation that was demanding Gentile members to adhere to the Mosaic Law as a means to salvation, which was improper for Gentiles as Jews never follow the Law to gain salvation in the first place. Such a demand might be the “blasphemy” which Jesus speaks of.

Of course, for generations these texts have been abused by people who have twisted these verses to teach hatred for the Jews. So some people will always identify them with anti-Semitic propaganda. But the texts themselves are not against Jewish people themselves. The author, who may or may not be John the Apostle, is likely Jewish according to tradition. Therefore it is unreasonable to believe that an anti-Semitic message is at the root of the original meaning. It is also sad that people have twisted the Christian texts to use as weapons of hate against the Jews or any other people in particular.
 
There are Christian pastors like Steven Anderson that exploit some verses in the bible that are supposedly antisemitic for example, John 8:44, Matthew 27:24-25, Acts 7:51-52, 1 Thess 2:14-16, Rev 2:9, Rev 3:9, and Titus 1:10-16. These Christian pastors like Steven Anderson exploit these verses to promote antisemitism against Jews. There are people who hate Catholics who are Fundamentalist Christians and they use Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 to say that the Great Whore of Babylon is the Catholic Church and they use those chapters to promate hate against Catholics.
 
artortega said:
There are Christian pastors like Steven Anderson that exploit some verses in the bible that are supposedly antisemitic
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OK… so, like we said earlier, yes, there are some Christians who are anti-Semites. That doesn’t mean that the Bible advocates for anti-Semitism.
 
This presents the problem of imposing current understandings and current biases on texts that were written by someone else in a different age, in a specific culture.

When it says in Scripture “the Jews”, what does that mean?
Does it mean all Jews of all time?
All the Jews at that time?
Some of those Jews?
Or just those specific Jews the writer is, in fact, referring to specifically?

This makes all the difference in the meaning of these passages for us.
 
Probably some those Jews because those Jews are persecuting Christians.
 
You’ve said before it was the last time. Please be telling the truth this time.
 
How can a book written by a Semite, about a Jew, mainly for other Semites, be anti-Semitic?

This question is nonsensical.

Anti-Rabbinic Judaism… Possibly.

Anti-Semite? Are you kidding me?

Being opposed to the rabbinic Jewish religion is not the same as being opposed to the Semitic ethnicity. There is some overlap, but there’s also a clear distinction.

All anti-Semites are also anti-Jewish religion.

However, not all anti-Jewish religion people are anti-Semitic.
 
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Those who called themselves Jews and yet seeked out and killed Christians for believing in the Messiah they reject doesn’t strike me as exceedingly holy activity.
 
“Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.”
 
mythbuster1 said:
“Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.”
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This was the ancient Christian creed that Paul quoted. He did not say Jesus was God himself.
 
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I know almost a week has passed, but you’re arguing in circles, Curious. Gorgias was very kind and broke down the Greek for everyone in post 42.
Gorgias said:
Actually, it does state it. Perhaps you need to take a look at the original Greek in order to see it:

ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων

literally, it’s “who, in [the] form [of] God subsisting”.

The word “subsisting” is what you want to pay attention to, here. To say that Jesus “subsists in the form of God” is what gives it away. His existence is God’s existence, according to Paul here. And, of course, you’ve got the fact that Paul is talking about form, rather than spirit or body.

This statement doesn’t “hint” at Jesus being God – it literally screams it from the rooftops! 😉
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Doesn’t the fact that Paul quoted this film mean that he believed its contents?
 
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