Reminder: The First Followers of Jesus Were Jewish
The first followers of Jesus were indeed Jewish. They went to the synagogue first and concluded from the Scriptures that the Messiah had come as promised in the Law and the Prophets. It was the norm to be involved first in Jewish culture and then to follow the Jewish Messiah. It was outside the norm for a gentile to follow Jesus.
The missiological hot-button of the day was "Can a gentile follow Jesus without first becoming Jewish?"
Many Christian theologians today, as well as many different and disparate Christian denominations, question the need to share the gospel with Jewish people. In fact, many consider attempts to do this as being insensitive and judgmental. Indicative of this is a quote from Eric Gritsch in a publication of the Lutheran Council in the USA, distributed by the ELCA. In it Gritsch states: [T]here really is no need for any Christian mission to the Jews. They are and remain the people of God, even if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Why this is so only God knows. Christians should concentrate their missionary activities on those who do not yet belong to the people of God, and they should court them with a holistic witness in word and deed rather than with polemical argument and cultural legislation.
The long history of Christian anti-Semitism calls for repentance, not triumphalist claims of spiritual superiority.
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. – Romans 10:1
Paul's Burning Question in Romans 9–11
Paul wrote Romans 9–11 to answer this question:
If Israel is God's chosen people, and if he gave to them the sonship and the glory and the covenants (9:4), and yet by and large they have rejected the Messiah and are cut off from Christ (9:3), then has not the word of God fallen? And if the surety of God's word to Israel has fallen, how does it stand with us who hope in the promise that those whom he called he will also glorify?
This was a burning question for Paul. All his hope as a Christian, all the purpose of his apostleship, hung on this question: has God's word to Israel fallen? Have all the glorious purposes of God for this people aborted because of their unbelief?
There is an old saying, “Ask three Jewish people a question on one issue and you will get five opinions!” This one question brings much heat and sometimes little light because of historic positions, attitudes and sadly, anti-Semitism.
Israel
Perhaps to untangle this question it would be best to go back a bit in history. Israel, the people, are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the twelve tribes.
Israel is not defined by religious practices (i.e. today that would be Reform, Conservative or Orthodox Judaism) but by the covenant God established: Genesis 12:1-3 and Jeremiah 31:35-37.
