“Crucifixion itself, a Roman form of execution, was forbidden by Jewish law because it was torture. Some 50,000 to 100,000 Jews were themselves crucified by the Romans in the first century. How ironic, therefore, that Jews have historically been associated with the cross as the ones who brought about Jesus’ crucifixion (see Christ-killer).

Is there a Jewish consensus on how Jews are to regard Jesus? Perhaps not, but in recent decades many Jewish scholars have tended to view him as one of several first- and second-century Jews who claimed to be the Messiah, and who attempted to rid Judea of its Roman oppressors. However, almost no Jewish scholars believe that Jesus intended to start a new religion. Were Jesus to return today, most Jews believe, he undoubtedly would feel more at home in a synagogue than a church. An increasing number of Jewish scholars believe that Christianity’s real founder was another first-century Jew, Paul.

Most statements attributed to Jesus in the New Testament conform to Jewish teachings. This is, of course, not surprising, since Jesus generally practiced *Pharisaic (rabbinic) Judaism. However, at least three innovative teachings ascribed to Jesus diametrically oppose Jewish teachings.

1. Jesus forgives all sins: “The Son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matthew 9:6). Judaism believes that God Himself only forgives those sins committed against Him. As the *Mishna teaches: “*Yom Kippur [the Day of Atonement] atones for sins against God, not for sins against man, unless the injured party has been appeased” (Yoma 8:9). The belief that Jesus can forgive all sins is fraught with moral peril. Some fifteen hundred years after he lived, Protestant reformer Martin Luther, writing in the spirit of Jesus’ statement, taught: “Be a sinner and sin vigorously; but even more vigorously believe and delight in Christ who is victor over sin, death and the world. … It is sufficient that we recognize through the wealth of God’s glory the lamb who bears the sins of the world; from this sin does not sever us, even if thousands, thousands of times in one day we should fornicate or murder” (letter to Philip Melanchthon, August 1, 1521). Humorist Jules Feiffer has bitingly satirized positions such as Luther’s: “Christ died for our sins. Dare we make his martyrdom meaningless by not committing them?” 2. Jesus’ attitude toward evil people: “Offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well” (Matthew 5:38–39), and “Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors” (Matthew 5:44). The Torah commands that one offer the wicked man powerful resistance: “You shall burn the evil out from your midst” (Deuteronomy 17:7). Elsewhere, the Torah approvingly records *Moses’ killing of a brutal Egyptian slave.

America’s survival in the Second World War came about only because almost all American Christians rejected Jesus’ advice to “resist not evil.” One of the few religious groups to incorporate this principle into their everyday life, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, were used in Nazi concentration camps as barbers. The SS was confident that they would do nothing to harm them or other Nazi mass murderers. Judaism, likewise, does not demand that one love one’s enemies. Jews are not commanded, for example, to love Nazis, as the statement in Matthew demands. 3. Jesus’ claim that people can come to God only through him: “No one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matthew
11:27).

The implication of this statement—and the continuing belief of many fundamentalist Protestants — is that only one who believes in Jesus can come to God. Judaism holds that anyone can come to God; as the Psalmist teaches: “God is near to all who call unto Him” (Psalms 145:18).”