Righteous Condemnation of the Jews in Christian History

by Stuart DiNenno

Read through the following quotes and consider how much harsher Jesus Christ, the apostles, the early post-apostolic church elders, and the Protestant reformers were toward the wicked, Christ-hating, apostate Jews as compared to 21st century milquetoast evangelical church leaders. It is difficult to imagine any man in the modern American church having the backbone to say these things.

Jesus Christ and the Apostles

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews…”

— Jesus Christ

“…the Jews: who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

— Paul the Apostle

“For they [the Jews] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

— Paul the Apostle

“For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.”

— Paul the Apostle

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father.”

— John the Apostle

The Early Church Elders

“What is your iniquity, O daughter of Jacob, that your chastisement is so severe? You have dishonored the King and the King’s Son, you shameless one, you harlot!”

— Ephrem (306-373)

“If someone should kill the beloved son of a man, and then stretch forth their hands still stained with blood to the afflicted father, asking for fellowship, would not the blood of his son, visible on the hand of his murderer, provoke him to just anger instead? And such are the prayers of the Jews, for when they stretch forth their hands in prayer, they only remind God-the-Father of their sin against His Son. And at every stretching forth of their hands, they only make it obvious that they are stained with the blood of Christ. For they who persevere in their blindness inherit the blood-guilt of their fathers; for they cried out: “His blood be upon us, and upon our children” (Matthew 27:25).”

— Basil of Caesarea (329-379)

“For, raging against the Gentiles as unclean, Israel became in very truth unclean themselves; while the Gentiles have become clean, the justice of Israel has become like the rag of a menstruous woman.”

— Basil of Caesarea (329-379)

“If anyone does not worship the Crucified One, let him be anathema and numbered among the deicides.”

— Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390)

“Jews are slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies and haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, a brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, the leaven of Pharisees, a congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, haters of goodness!”

— Gregory of Nyssa (335 -395)

“When the offspring of the Jews abandoned the customs of their fathers, the truth abandoned them and took refuge in the Church. It abandoned them when they said of the Lord Jesus: “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” for they gave up truth and chose iniquity.”

— Ambrose (340-397)

“Well should the Jew mourn who, not believing in Christ, has assigned his soul to perdition. The Jews have crucified the Son and rejected the Holy Ghost, and their souls are the abode of the devil.”

— John Chrysostom (349-407)

“The Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are lecherous, rapacious, greedy. They are perfidious murderers of Christ. They worship the Devil. Their religion is a sickness. The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon. Christians may never cease vengeance, and the Jew must live in servitude forever. God always hated the Jews. It is essential that all Christians hate them.”

— John Chrysostom (349-407)

“The Jews sacrifice their children to Satan. They are worse than wild beasts. The Synagogue is a brothel, a den of scoundrels, the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults, a criminal assembly of Jews, a place of meeting for the assassins of Christ, a house of ill fame, a dwelling of iniquity, a gulf and abyss of perdition.”

— John Chrysostom (349-407)

“The Jews have fallen into a condition lower than the vilest animal. Debauchery and drunkenness have brought them to a level of the lusty goat and the pig. They know only one thing: to satisfy their stomachs, to get drunk, to kill, and beat each other up like stage villains and coachmen. The Synagogue is a curse, obstinate in her error, she refuses to see or hear, she has deliberately perverted her judgment; she has extinguished with herself the light of the Holy Spirit.’ He elaborated further on God’s punishment of the Jews: ‘But it was men, says the Jew, who brought these misfortunes upon us, not God.’ On the contrary, it was in fact God who brought them about. If you attribute them to men, reflect again that even supposing men had dared, they could not have had the power to accomplish them, unless it had been God’s will. Men would certainly not have made war unless God had permitted them. Is it not obvious that it was because God hated you [Jews] and rejected you once for all?”

— John Chrysostom (349-407)

“You dishonor [Christ] so much that you pay honor to those who slew him on the cross, that you observe with them the fellowship of the festivals, that you go to their profane places, enter their unclean doors, and share in the tables of demons. For I am persuaded to call the fasting of the Jews a table of demons because they slew God. If the Jews are acting against God, must they not be serving the demons? Are you looking for demons to cure you?”

— John Chrysostom (349-407)

“Whence the Gospel says: “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken and the other left” (Matthew xxiv.42). The Holy Church shall be taken up into eternal rest: she who has ground the food of holiness unto the Lord. The Synagogue, stained with blood, shall be left at the mill, to endure its own unfaithfulness forever.”

— Maximus of Turin (4th-5th century)

“It has come to pass that the last condition of Israel is worse than the first for, as the Savior’s disciple says (2 Peter 2:21-22), it would be better for them not to have known the way of justice than, after they have known it, to turn back from that holy commandment which was delivered to them. For the true Proverb has happened to them: the dog has returned to his vomit, and the sow that had washed has returned to her wallowing in the mire (Proverbs 26:11). And from what they afterwards dared to do, it is plain to see that the Jews have swallowed their vomit and turned again to wallow in their ancient mire and relapsed into the errors of Egypt, for the Evil Spirit has again entered into them, and their last state has become worse than their first.”

— Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)

“Jews are cursed and covered with malediction as by a cloak. The curse has penetrated them like water in their bowels and oil in their bones. They are cursed in the city and cursed in the country, cursed in their coming in and cursed in their going out. Cursed are the fruits of their loins, of their lands, of their flocks; cursed are their cellars, their granaries, their shops, their food, the very crumbs off their tables!”

— Agobard of Lyon (779-840)

“Yes, you Jews. I say, do I address you; you, who till this very day, deny the Son of God. How long, poor wretches, will ye not believe the truth? Truly I doubt whether a Jew can be really human… I lead out from its den a monstrous animal, and show it as a laughing stock in the amphitheater of the world, in the sight of all the people. I bring thee forward, thou Jew, thou brute beast, in the sight of all men.“

— Peter the Venerable (1092 – 1156)

The Protestant Reformers

“I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But since I learned that those miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews and who warned the Christians to be on their guard against them. … Where you see or hear a Jew teaching, remember that you are hearing nothing but a venomous basilisk who poisons and kills people merrily, … and with all this, they claim to be doing right. Be on your guard against them!”

— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“Perhaps, one of the merciful saints among us Christians may think I am behaving too crudely and disdainfully against the poor, miserable Jews in that I deal with them so sarcastically and insultingly. But, good God, I am much too mild in insulting such devils.”

— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“But the Jews are so hardened that they listen to nothing; though overcome by testimonies they yield not an inch. It is a pernicious race, oppressing all men by their usury and rapine. If they give a prince or magistrate a thousand florins, they extort twenty thousand from the subjects in payment. We must ever keep on guard against them.”

— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Know, dear Christian, and have no doubts about it, that next to the Devil you have no more bitter, poisonous and determined enemy than a genuine Jew… If they do something good for you, it is not because they love you, but because they need room to live with us, so they have to do something. But their heart remains as I have said.”

— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we can not tolerate them if we do not wish to share in their lies, curses, and blasphemy. In this way we cannot quench the inextinguishable fire of divine rage nor convert the Jews. We must prayerfully and reverentially practice a merciful severity. Perhaps we may save a few from the fire and flames [of hell]. We must not seek vengeance. They are surely being punished a thousand times more than we might wish them. Let me give you my honest advice.

First, their synagogues should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder or stone of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and of Christianity in order that God may see that we are Christians, and that we have not wittingly tolerated or approved of such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of His Son and His Christians.

Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. For they perpetrate the same things there that they do in their synagogues. For this reason they ought to be put under one roof or in a stable, like gypsies, in order that they may realize that they are not masters in our land, as they boast, but miserable captives, as they complain of incessantly before God with bitter wailing.

Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught.

Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more…

Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews. For they have no business in the rural districts since they are not nobles, nor officials, nor merchants, nor the like. Let them stay at home…If you princes and nobles do not close the road legally to such exploiters, then some troop ought to ride against them, for they will learn from this pamphlet what the Jews are and how to handle them and that they ought not to be protected. You ought not, you cannot protect them, unless in the eyes of God you want to share all their abomination…

To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden – the Jews…”

— Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“It ought to be observed that the Jews, when they had treacherously set aside the covenant of eternal life which God had made with their fathers, were deprived of the treasure which they had till that time enjoyed; for they had not yet been driven out of the Church of God. Now that they deny the Son, they have nothing in common with the Father; for whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father.”

— John Calvin (1509-1564)

“I have had much conversation with many Jews—I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness—nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.”

— John Calvin (1509-1564)

“The Jews’ rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end, and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.”

— John Calvin (1509-1564)

“And ye shall leave your name as a curse unto my chosen; for the Lord shall slay you, and call his servants by another name.”~Isaiah 65:15

Geneva Bible (1599) commentary on this verse:”Meaning, that he would call the Gentiles, who should abhor even the very name of the Jews for their infidelities’ sake.”

“Will it follow that the Jews should be tolerated still, and perpetually to circumcise and keep the ceremonial law, and to teach others so to do? Libertines contend for a constant and perpetual toleration of all Jewish and sinful practices.”

— Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)

“To tolerate Jews openly blaspheming Christ, or to receive them in the Common-Wealth, cannot be allowed, or to suffer them to have Synagogues, in regard they blaspheme the God we are in Covenant with, and do no less deny him, than Goliath and Sennacherib did.”

— Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661)