I=IESVS (Jesus)
N=NAZARENVS (Nazarene)
R=REX (King)
I=IVDAEORVM (of the Jews)
Eleven years ago I taught a Bible study on Luther and the Jews.
I summarized that study in two Youtube videos:
Part One: https://youtu.be/zSswjYepQDY
Part Two: https://youtu.be/kNIDKpCOLDY
If you look at the comments on these videos, you will see that antisemitism is alive and well in this country! I haven't responded to these comments because they are obviously ignorant and show that most of them haven't really watched the videos. They attack me because I say that Luther was in no way a Nazi!
Here are some key points:
1. Luther paved the way for free speech by bringing to light the Bible teaching of the two kingdoms. Yet, true freedom of speech was still a long way off for Europeans. All citizens were required to respect the religion of the king of that country, if not they could be banished. Many Lutherans suffered under these laws and had to move out of a land ruled by a Catholic king or prince.
2. Luther apparently came across a Jewish tract that blasphemed Christ and Mary. He responded with his pamphlet, "On the Jews and Their Lies." Most of this pamphlet is a defense of the Messiahship of Christ. Unlike the Nazis, Luther was not a racist. He vigorously opposed the Jewish misinterpretation of the Bible just as much as the prophets, John the Baptist and Jesus! But he didn't hate them because of their race. Luther welcomed them into the church if they became believers in Jesus! Yet one of the first antisemitic laws of the Nazis was the removal of all believing Jews from the Lutheran Church. Luther would have exploded over a law like this! The Nazis tried to take Luther's theological issues and make them racial issues.
3. Toward the end of "On the Jews and Their Lies" Luther called for harsh measures against Jews that blasphemed against Christianity. Here Luther made an interpretational mistake. He applied passages from Deuteronomy against unbelieving Jews in ancient Israel to modern Jews living in Germany. These passages called for harsh measures against unbelieving Jews. They were valid at the time of Moses and the kings of Israel, but they couldn't be used as laws for Germany. There are three kinds of Laws in the Books of Moses: Moral, Ceremonial, and Civl. Only the moral law applies to all people in the world and is applied to all in the New Testament. The ceremonial and civil laws of Israel are fulfilled in Jesus. These laws are, as Paul said, "a shadow," but "the substance is Christ" (Colossians 2.17).
4. What was Luther's true view of the Jews? It was a mixed bag. In some writings, such as "That Jesus Was Born a Jew," he spoke kindly of Jews and repudiated their mistreatment. But this earlier view began to sour mainly because he expected a large number of Jews to convert to Christianity once they were able to hear the true Gospel of forgiveness. When this didn't happen, Luther's dislike of the Jews grew.
5. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has condemned the false teachings of Luther's harsh measures. Nevertheless, we do not withdraw our firm belief that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior for all, Jews and Gentiles, as the Bible teaches.
