Dual-covenant theology

Christians consider Jesus to be the mediator of the New Covenant.^[1] Depicted is his famous Sermon on the Mount in which he commented on the Law.

Dual-covenant theology is a Christian view of the Old Covenant which holds that Jews may simply keep the "Law of Moses", because of the "everlasting covenant" (Genesis 17:13) between Abraham and God expressed in the Hebrew Bible, whereas Gentiles (those not Jews or Jewish proselytes) must convert to Christianity or alternatively accept the Seven Laws of Noah to be assured of a place in the World to Come.

Many forms of Christianity, especially Conservative Protestants, consider this view to be heresy. Alternative Christian views are that the "Law of Moses" has been superseded or abrogated. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1967, "The Law of the Gospel "fulfills," refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection."

Jewish background

Judaism maintains that in the post-diluvian era there is a universally binding covenant between God and man in the form of the Noahide Laws^[1] (a code of law based on seven basic principles) and that there is additionally a unique Sinaitic covenant that was made between God and the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. In this respect Judaism can be said to espouse a sort of “dual-covenant theology.” However Judaism has not historically maintained that there is a separate covenant for gentiles wherein they should convert to Christianity. Indeed from the Maimonidean perspective, belief in the divinity of Jesus would be a breach of the universally binding covenant of Noahide Law,^[2] see also Shituf.

The esteemed 18th century rabbinic thinker Rabbi Yaakov Emden has even opined that “the original intention of Jesus, and especially of Paul, was to convert only the Gentiles to the seven moral laws of Noah and to let the Jews follow the Mosaic law — which explains the apparent contradictions in the New Testament regarding the laws of Moses and the Sabbath.”^[3]

Later on the 20th century unorthodox Jewish theologian Franz Rosenzweig consequent to his flirtations with Christianity advanced the idea in his work the Star of Redemption that “Christianity acknowledges the God of the Jews, not as God but as “the Father of Jesus Christ.” Christianity itself cleaves to the “Lord” because it knows that the Father can be reached only through him....We are all wholly agreed as to what Christ and his church mean to the world: no one can reach the Father save through him. No one can reach the Father! But the situation is quite different for one who does not have to reach the Father because he is already with him. And this is true of the people of Israel.”^[4]

Daniel Goldhagen, former Associate Professor of Political Science at Harvard University, also suggested in his book A Moral Reckoning that the Roman Catholic Church should change its doctrine and the accepted Biblical canon to excise statements he labels as anti-Semitic, to indicate that "The Jews' way to God is as legitimate as the Christian way".^[5]

Other views

Messianic

David H. Stern, a Messianic Jewish theologian, wrote Dual-Covenant theology is said to originate with R. Moshe Ben-Maimon (“The RaMBaM,” Maimonides, 1135–1204). It was proffered in the 20th century by the Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929), and was elaborated upon by such theologians as Reinhold Niebuhr and James Parkes.

These founders believe that Jesus' message is not for Jews but for Gentiles and, for example, John 14:6 is to be understood thusly: "I am the way, the truth and the life; and no Gentile comes to the father except through me."^[6] See also Olive Tree Theology. However, asserts Dr. Stern, the very problem of Dual-Covenant Theology is that "replacing Yeshua’s 'No one comes to the Father except through me' with 'No Gentile comes...' does unacceptable violence to the plain sense of the text and to the whole New Testament." (see also Acts 4:12).^[7]

The Apostolic Decree

James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of Acts 15:19-29, c. 50 AD: "...we should write to them [Gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood..." (NRSV)

The Apostolic Decree in the Book of Acts (15:19-29) has sometimes been read as a form of dual-covenant theology and as parallel to Noahide Law. Though the Apostolic Decree is no longer observed by many Christian denominations today, it is still observed in full by the Greek Orthodox.^[8]

An alternative interpretation^{[citation needed]} is that the text refers to converted Jews and converted Gentiles, meaning that it is an intra-Church debate that doesn't necessarily include Jews who did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Traditionally, the decree has been understood as a response to, and denial of, the claim made by a certain sect of Jewish converts that Gentile converts had to follow the Mosaic Law for salvation, and not to have referred to those Jews who were outside the Church either positively or negatively.

Opinion of Pope John Paul II

On November 17, 1980, Pope John Paul II delivered a speech to the Jews of Berlin in which he discussed his views of Catholic-Jewish relations. In it, John Paul II asserted that God's Old Covenant with the Jewish people was never revoked which meant, as Darcy O'Brien wrote, that the pope had indicated that the Catholic Church had abandoned its mission to proselytize the Jews and has embraced the Jews' salvation. O'Brien writes that this put John Paul II's stance at odds with that of many Christian denominations that see baptism as a prerequisite of salvation. During the speech, John Paul II also claimed that Catholics must embrace the Hebrew Bible as being equally valid as the New Testament.^[9]

Criticism of Dual-Covenant Theology

A major theme of Paul's Epistle to the Romans is said to be that, so far as salvation is concerned, Jews and Gentiles are equal before God (2:7-12;  3:9-31;  4:9-12;  5:12,17-19;  9:24;  10:12-13;  11:30-32). Romans 1:16, by stating that the Gospel is the same for Jew and Gentile, may present a serious problem for Dual-covenant theology.^[10]

Galatians 5:3 is sometimes cited as a verse supporting Dual-covenant theology. A problem with this argument, however, is the context of Galatians 5.^[11] Galatians 5:4^[12] in particular, says, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." Line this up with Galatians 2,^[13] Galatians 2:21^[14] in particular, which says “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Scholars still debate the meaning of the Pauline phrase "Works of the Law" (see New Perspective on Paul and Federal Vision).

A similar challenge is presented by Galatians 2:15^[15] and 16,^[16] just after the Incident at Antioch, in which Paul says (speaking to Peter, a fellow Jew), “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified."

The same exclusive claims for the Christian message are also made by other writers. John 14:6^[17] states, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.'" Peter, speaking to fellow Jews about Jesus in Acts 4:12,^[18] says: "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

The First Epistle of John states, "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also."^[19] This does not differentiate between Jews or Gentiles, giving an argument of evidence of absence.

Catholic criticism

Cardinal Avery Dulles was critical of dual-covenant theology, especially as understood in the USCCB's document Reflections on Covenant and Mission.^[20] In the article All in the Family: Christians, Jews and God, evidence has also been compiled from Scripture, the Church Fathers and official Church documents that the Catholic Church does not support dual covenant theology.^[21]

Though it is to be removed from the next edition (at order of the Vatican, as misrepresenting the editio typica) the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults (2006) states:^[22]

"The covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them."

In June 2008 the bishops decided by a vote of 231-14 to remove this from the next printing of the Catechism, because it could be construed to mean that Jews have their own path to salvation and do not need Christ or the Church.^[23] In August 2009, the Vatican approved the change, and the revised text states (in conformity with the editio typica):^[24]

"To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his Word, '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.'"

Evangelical criticism

In 2006, Evangelical Protestant Jerry Falwell denied a report in the Jerusalem Post that he supported dual-covenant theology:^[25]

"I have been on record all 54 years of my ministry as being opposed to dual covenant theology... I simply cannot alter my deeply held belief in the exclusivity of salvation through the Gospel of Christ for the sake of political or theological expediency. Like the Apostle Paul, I pray daily for the salvation of everyone, including the Jewish people."

See also

• Pope John Paul II's relations with Judaism
• Biblical law in Christianity
• Apostolic Decree
• Covenant (Biblical)
• Covenant theology
• John Hagee
• Supersessionism
• Antinomianism
• B'nei Noah
• Christian–Jewish reconciliation
• Legalism (theology)
• Liberal Christianity
• Hebrew Catholics
• Jewish Christians
• Gamaliel

References

External links

• All in the Family: Christians, Jews and God
• Jerusalem Post: Mar 2, 2006: Hagee, Falwell deny endorsing 'dual covenant'
• Journal of Lutheran Ethics: Jewish-Christian Difficulties in Challenging Christian Zionism by Robert O. Smith: "...sometimes referred to as “dual covenant” theology. Any other understanding of the relationship, Christian Zionists argue, is a variation of supersessionism."
• Ignatius Insight interview of Roy H. Schoeman: "This "dual covenant" theology seems to have been adopted to avoid the intrinsic, basic conflict at the heart of the Jewish-Catholic dialog. That is that either the Catholic Church is itself the continuation of Judaism after the coming of the Jewish Messiah – i.e., the Church is post-Messianic Judaism – or it is nothing at all."
• What is dual-covenant theology: An article by 'Catholics for Israel' opposing dual-covenant theology and comparing it to supersessionism and to the Catholic position.
• THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION: THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE
• Jewish Tribune: 23 September 2009: A precarious moment in Catholic-Jewish relations