Can the Jew today be saved apart from Jesus Christ as Dual Covenant Theology teaches?
I asked this question and many others on the television program Christ in Prophecy of Dr. David Reagan, author of one of his newer books titled The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved? Join us as Dr. Reagan dispels many of the myths surrounding God’s ongoing plan for the Jewish people.
The Tragedy of Dual Covenant Theology
Nathan Jones: Dr. Reagan, Chapter 6 of your book is titled, “The Tragedy of Dual Covenant Theology.” Most people do not understand what Dual Covenant Theology is. Can you explain this theology, and also tell us why you use the word tragedy to describe it?
Dr. Reagan: Right, most people have never even heard of Dual Covenant Theology, even though it’s been around for a long time. It originally was a theology taught in the most liberal denominations in the United States. These denominations have adopted the position more and more that Jesus isn’t the only way to the Father, rather there are many roads to God. There is the Muslim road and the Jewish road and the Christian road and the Hindu road, and so on.
Nathan Jones: This is the false teaching called Universalism then.
Dr. Reagan: These Universalists counter, “Who are we to say that Christianity is the only way to God?” Well, Jesus Christ said so! He declared in John 14:6 that He was the only way to salvation and the Father.
So, basically, these liberal denominations also claim that the Jews then do not really need Jesus because they have their own way to God. Their way is by following the Torah, meaning following the laws of Moses. If they are faithful to those laws and have placed their faith in God, then the Jews have their own way to Heaven.
These false teachers go so far as claiming it’s really an insult to the Jews to try and share Jesus with them. It’s an insult to their culture, or whatever nonsense.
This false teaching really upsets me. Therefore, one of the fundamental reasons I wrote my book was because this unofficial view unbelievably has infiltrated the Evangelical movement. In fact, one of the best known pastors in America today, one who is on television constantly and is a household name, has been one of the major advocates of Dual Covenant Theology. He says that the Jews do not need Jesus. He says it is a waste of time to even preach to the Jews, or to share the Gospel with them. And yet, as you well know, how does Romans 1 start out? The Gospel is to be preached to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.
Nathan Jones: The Bible is pretty explicit about Jesus Christ being necessary for salvation. Just look at Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, there is no other name under heaven given to me by which we might be saved.” And, look again what Jesus declared in John 14:6 by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” The Bible appears crystal clear that every person needs Jesus in order to be saved and go to Heaven.
The #Bible is pretty explicit about #JesusChrist being necessary for #salvation. Just look at Acts 4:12 and John 14:6. Click To TweetDr. Reagan: Yes, it is! The really tragic thing about this false teaching, and something I’ve noticed over the years, is that when people discover the Jewish roots of Christianity they get more excited about the Bible, because most people don’t know our faith’s Jewish roots. It is exciting to discover Christianity’s Jewish roots. When Christians begin to study these Jewish roots, they begin to develop a love for the Jewish people and a love for the Hebrew Scriptures that they have never had before.
But, they can take this interest too far. What I find is Dual Covenant Theology ultimately morphs into a belief that runs like this. “Surely, if the Jews still are the chosen people of God, and if God loves them so much, and if they contributed so much to Christianity, then surely they have some other way to get to God other than Jesus Christ. Therefore, we just must be loving of them by letting them come to God through the Mosaic Law.” The tragedy of Dual Covenant Theology is that people end up loving the Jewish people straight into Hell.
Nathan Jones: I’ve heard you say that before, and the push back from people who adhere to Dual Covenant Theology is often to rage at the notion they’re helping send the Jews to Hell. And yet, by depriving the Jews of Jesus and Gospel, they are indeed depriving them of the only way to salvation, and so thus are sending them to Hell.
Dr. Reagan: Sadly, some of my best friends fall into this category, because they are what’s called Christian Zionists. A Christian Zionist is a Christian who believes that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people, that they have a right to it, and that we need to stand firmly behind Israel and support their rights. But, many of the Christian Zionist that I have met, not most but many, have moved too far into this situation where they think there must be some alternative way for the Jewish people to be saved apart from Jesus Christ, because the Jewish people overwhelmingly continue to reject Jesus as their Messiah. They know that the Jews remain God’s chosen people, and so believe there must be a way for them to be saved apart from Christ.
Unfortunately, they do not understand what “chosen” actually means. Chosen does not mean the same as it does for the Church. “Chose people” does not mean that the Jews are automatically saved. Chosen means that they have been set aside by God to be a witness of Him in the world; and they are a witness, even in their unbelief. The Jews remain a witness to what it means to have a relationship with God — when you are faithful to God He blesses, and when you are unfaithful He disciplines. And, God has them under discipline right now. The Christian therefore learns that when you repent God forgives, He forgets, and He blesses again.
We are told in the Bible that at the end of seven-year time period known as the Tribulation, some two-thirds of the Jewish people are going to die at the hands of the Antichrist.
Nathan Jones: A second Holocaust has been prophesied then?
Dr. Reagan: Tragically, yes, and only one-third of the Jews alive before the Tribulation will live until its end. This massacre is going to become a greater Holocaust than the Nazi Holocaust. But, the Bible prophesies that at the very end of the Tribulation, when the Jews have finally come to the end of themselves, they will look upon Him whom they have pierced and weep and wail and mourn as if they were weeping over the loss of an only son. At that moment, upon Christ’s return, they will finally accept Jesus as their Messiah. In fact, Jesus Himself said He would not return until the Jewish people are willing to say, “Baruch Haba Bashem Adonai,” meaning “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Those Scriptures make it crystal clear that the Jews have no hope apart from Jesus Christ. And yet, these teachers of Dual Covenant Theology say, “Oh, no, it’s not proper to share the Gospel with a Jew.” In fact, I have even known of situations where people were sharing the Gospel with a Jew and some of these Christian leaders would find out about it and interject themselves and tell their people, “You don’t need to tell the Jews about Jesus.”
Nathan Jones: Aren’t Jews getting saved today?
Dr. Reagan: Oh, yes, indeed! When these people say it’s a waste of time to share the Gospel with a Jew, they are ignoring the fact that since 1967 and the Six Day War, more Jews have come to Jesus in salvation, accepted Yeshua as their Messiah, more than ever before in all the history of Christianity. This event holds tremendous significance, for there was not one Messianic Synagogue — not one — in 1967 when the Six Day War occurred. Today there are hundreds of Messianic synagogues in the United States, and even all over the world, because Jews are coming to Jesus as never before. And yet, these Dual Covenant people are teaching, “Don’t share the Gospel with Jews because it is a waste of time.”
Nathan Jones: Rather sounds like a satanic deception to say such a thing.
Dr. Reagan: I believe it is. The only thing it can be really is a satanic deception. It breaks my heart, because I know these people actually love the Jewish people, but they are loving them straight into Hell.
Talk about a deception! Let me tell you, everybody needs Jesus. I don’t care whether you’re a Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Pagan, Atheist, whatever — they need Jesus Christ, because He is the only hope for this world. Jesus Christ is the only hope for our salvation. There is no salvation apart from Jesus. You can’t earn salvation on your own works.
Everybody needs Jesus. He is the only hope for this world. #JesusChrist is the only hope for our #salvation. There is no salvation apart from Jesus. Click To TweetYou certainly can’t earn salvation by following the Law of Moses, because no one was ever able to do that. The Law was given to convince us that we need a Savior. The Prophet Jeremiah himself even foretold that one day the old covenant would be replaced by a new covenant. The old Law of Moses is not even in effect now because the New Covenant has come into effect by the death of Jesus Christ. Jesus remains our one and only hope for salvation and Heaven.
In the fourth and final part of my interview of Dr. David Reagan concerning dispelling various myths and blatant falsehoods concerning the Jewish people, we will look at the prophetic miracle of the regathering of the Jews back to Israel.
Resource
Order your copy of The Jewish People: Rejected or Beloved? from our Bible Prophecy Resources website!
Thank you Nathan. Until I read your article, I was confused about people criticising the Christian Zionist movement. Now I am in the clear and think criticism of Christian Zionism is not anti-Semitic.
Thank you Lord Jesus for Nathan and co.