Pope Francis has been particularly vocal, especially as of late, in condemning anti-Semitism. This comes on the heels of a concerted effort by the Church since the Second Vatican Council to improve relations with the Jewish people. Motivated not only by humanitarian reasons, this renewed interest stems from theological convictions. In particular, the Church’s condemnation of anti-Semitism is undergirded by her understanding of the Jews as the “Chosen People” so that Pope Francis can truthfully say that “engaging in any form of anti-Semitism is a direct contradiction with the Christian faith.” But because this nuanced understanding of the Jews is commonly mistaken, it is helpful for us to articulate it clearly.
The Chosen People
Since the Church’s understanding of the Jews as the Chosen People forms the foundation of Jewish-Catholic relations, what exactly were they chosen for? God chose them to be a people “peculiarly His own” (c.f. Dt 26:18) for no other reason than that the Messiah was to come into the world through them. So that the world was never without hope of redemption, God told Adam and Eve about His plan of redemption (c.f. Gn 3:15) and then set out to form a people through which the Redeemer would come. We might be tempted to assume that once the Redeemer comes, the mission of the Chosen People would come to an end. They would then need to move with the economy of salvation or be left behind with the pagans. They might even be viewed as somehow worse than the Gentiles because they openly rejected God’s Anointed One , killing Him on the Cross. It was this line of reasoning, founded upon its roots in the Marcionist heresy of the 2nd Century, that has fueled fire of Christian anti-Semitism throughout history.
In response to any heresy, the tendency is to overcorrect. Rather than subscribing to a theory of total repudiation, there are those who propose that the Jews are operating under a parallel covenant. Christianity is for the Gentiles and Judaism for the Jew. Those who subscribe to this view reason that God is faith and His “chosen-ness” cannot be undone. The Jews remain a (as opposed to the) Chosen People and therefore any effort at evangelization is unnecessary and, quite frankly, rude and uncharitable. In an age of religious relativism, especially in the face of widespread anti-Semitism, we should expect to see, and, in fact do see, a rise in the popularity of this view. But this viewpoint is just as erroneous as the first.
Still Chosen?
In order to understand the proper Christian stance towards the Jewish people, it is necessary to ask an important, although often overlooked question. If the Jewish people are no longer God’s Chosen People, then how can we explain the fact that they remain a people. Given their history of suffering and persecution throughout recent history it is nothing short of miraculous that they are still a recognizable people. This is because, in a very real sense they remain a People favored by God. This is for three reasons, summarized by St. Paul in Romans 9 and 11, and can be summarized as past, present and future.
First, the Jewish people remain beloved to God because of the great dignity attached to their spiritual patrimony (c.f. Rom 11:28). Their beloved patriarchs, from Abraham, to Jacob to Moses to David and from “whom according to the flesh is the Christ” (Rom 9:4) came, were faithful to God and His covenant. Likewise, God is also faithful to His promise for the “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). So that while the Old Covenant may have passed away, it remains for God to be faithful to those with whom He made the covenant .
Secondly, the Jews remain as a “motive of credibility” to the truth of the Old Testament. The people that was founded upon the miraculous redemption of the Exodus remains a people even to this day. This miraculous endurance lends credibility to the miraculous revelation contained in the Old Testament. The Jews will always remain distinct from the Gentiles because the revelation upon which their faith is built is true. It may be incomplete, but that makes it no less true. Their continued presence in the world today testifies to this very important truth.
Finally, there is the future. The Jews as a people still have a pivotal role to play in salvation history. They not only testify to the truth of the Second Coming, but also play a role in signaling that coming. Although “a hardening has come upon Israel in part,“(Rom 11:25) this hardening will not be forever. One of the signal events of the End Times is the mass conversion of the Jews. When the anti-Christ is revealed to be the fraud that he is by the two witnesses (c.f. Rev 11:1-14), the Jews will join the ranks of the true Israel. This eschatological reality will not only affect the Jews, but will, according to St. Thomas, be a sign to the Gentiles that have fallen away from the Faith. For them we can properly say that “salvation is from the Jews.”
Cardinal Charles Journet, drawing on Romans 9, makes a very helpful distinction that will help us to adopt the proper stance towards the Jews. This distinction is between “Israel in the flesh” and Israel in the spirit”. The goal must always be for all men to be incorporated into “Israel in the spirit” because it is only in belonging to this body that a man can be saved. In St. Paul’s time, as in our own, the goal was conversion of “Israel in the flesh” to “Israel of the spirit.” But knowing their eschatological purpose when this doesn’t occur through the plans of Divine Providence, Christians must consider “Israel of the flesh” to be a special people worthy of both our respect and our protection.