On November 28, 2007, the Executive Committee of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations issued the following statement concerning certain doctrinal positions espoused in the recently published book, In Defense of Israel, by Pastor John Hagee:
As Messianic Jews we appreciate the support for Israel and the Jewish community that many Christians have shown in recent years. This remarkable change in Jewish-Christian relations corrects centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and promises to bear much fruit in the coming years. In particular, we recognize the important work that Pastor John Hagee has accomplished in rallying thousands of Christians to this cause. At the same time, we must note serious concerns about some of Pastor Hagee's doctrinal positions, particularly as expressed in his recent book, In Defense of Israel. These teachings contradict biblical doctrine, undermine the testimony of Jewish followers of Jesus, and weaken the cause of Christian supporters of the Jewish people.
Hagee argues that Jesus is not the Messiah of the Jews, but rather the Savior of the world. The premise that Jesus is not Messiah not only ignores numerous passages in the New Testament, but also undermines the very claim that Jesus is Savior. The New Testament opens with the words, "An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Matthew 1:1, NRSV). (John 1:41 and 4:25 state that the words Messiah and Christ are equivalent, respectively the Hebrew and Greek terms for "anointed one.") If Messiah, son of David, is not Israel's king, then whose king is he? Matthew connects the Messiahship of Jesus to his descent from Israel's greatest king, David, and the father of the Jewish people, Abraham. At the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost) Peter proclaimed to "Jews from every nation," "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah . . ." (Acts 2:5, 36). As a result, thousands of Jewish people acknowledged Jesus as Messiah that day. By the end of the 1st century there were multiple thousands of Jews who acknowledged Jesus as Messiah. Were they wrong?
Paul speaks of the Jews who accepted Jesus in his own day as a remnant that served as a reminder and anticipation of God's unchanging purposes for all Israel (Romans 11:1-6, 16). How about today? There are hundreds of Messianic Jewish congregations around the world, comprising thousands of Jews who acknowledge Jesus as Messiah. We represent Paul's great statement regarding the return of the Jewish people to the Messiah: "What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Yet, Hagee ignores these realities and the foundational Biblical truths they reflect.
Hagee's book also weakens the cause of Christian Zionism to which he has devoted so much of his life's work. If his theology is so clearly aberrant on the Messiahship of Jesus, why should thinking Christians accept anything he says in support of the Jewish state? But the extreme interpretations that he advocates are not necessary to build the case for support for Israel and the Jewish people. We affirm that Christians can proclaim faith in Jesus as Messiah and also support for Israel without diminishing either.
To teach that Jesus did not come as the Messiah for the Jews is ultimately anti-Jewish. Jesus becomes the savior of the world, but with no particular relationship to the Jewish people. If Jews want to respond to him as savior they have to leave Israel and its messianic hope and become part of something universal. In contrast, when we declare Jesus to be the Messiah of Israel, we do not invalidate Israel or the Jewish people. Yes, Jews need to respond to Jesus, as do all people, yet in this response they discover that he is distinctly Jewish, distinctly relevant to them, and very much part of the Jewish story.
