Do Jews go to Heaven?

Let me start off by saying that it is entirely up to God if anybody goes to Heaven. This post is about an often heard thing in many Protestant circles, or at least something I heard about a lot growing up in the Southern Baptist Church and attending Christian schools with a Baptist lean. And that is that the Jews are God's chosen people still.

One question that was always raised in my various Bible classes, and Sunday School classes, was that if the Jews are indeed still God's chosen people then do they go to Heaven? Usually, the answer to the question was some hesitation before the teacher said yes, albeit a little unassuredly. However, this answer raises another question.

If the Jews are still God's chosen people, and they do indeed go to Heaven then what use is there being a Christian? Couldn't we all just become Jewish instead? This question ultimately stems from a horrible understanding of what Judaism teaches, as well as a horrible understanding of what Christianity teaches. This post will hopefully help correct some of those misunderstandings.

The Bible records Christ saying that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no man can come to the Father except through Christ. This was usually presented to us at school (whether Sunday or regular) as one having to make a conscious decision to follow Christ by accepting Him into your heart by the Sinner's Prayer. But this was not necessary if you happened to be Jewish (I'm not kidding, this was seriously taught to me and others by out teachers).

Now, I'll pause here and say that to Jews they still see themselves as God's chosen, which makes sense from their religion. But from an Evangelical perspective it doesn't make sense because it undermines the necessity of Christ's sacrifice - why would Jesus be sent to die so we can go to Heaven if just being Jewish was good enough? Why then would Jesus not try to spread Judaism instead of establishing a new Church? It makes Jesus' suffering and death kind of null and void and turns God into some sadistic entity that sent His Son to die just because. It really does away with the Penal Substitution theory of atonement because it means Jesus didn't have to sacrifice Himself as a scapegoat for our sins to ease the wrath of a vengeful God.

Of course, a proper reading of Scripture will show us the truth of the matter. In 1 Peter 3:19-20 we have what is called the Harrowing of Hades, or Christ's descent into Hell. Verse 19 reads, "by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" (KJV). Traditionally this event has been interpreted as Jesus going to Hades, smashing through the gates, and releasing the captives held therein. Who were these captives? Adam and Eve, and the Jewish Patriarchs. It is through this act - Jesus destroying Death through His own death - coupled with who Jesus is (both man and God) that allows us to go to Heaven.

If Jews go to Heaven then why the need for Jesus to go to Hades/Sheol and pull them out? 

 
Now I understand that there are particular denominations which don't hold to this view of the Harrowing of Hades, but they have to realize that their views are relatively recent and completely contradictory to what the Early Church believed. And the Early Church taught and believed that before Christ trampled down death by death - thereby making it possible for us to go to Heaven - that those faithful who died still went to Hades to await the coming of Christ.

But, let us take another look at this issue.

Looking at Romans 11, specifically verse 17 and on, we see that St. Paul is talking about the Jews having fallen away due to their unbelief, and that the Gentiles who do believe have been grafted on to the tree which is understood to be God's chosen. If we look in Galatians 3 we read that those who are of the faith are the Children of Abraham. Both chapters, Romans 11 and Galatians 3 make it very painfully obvious that those Jews who did not believe in Jesus were no longer the children of Abraham, the Chosen People.

Why are the Jews no longer God's chosen people? Because they chose not to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and thereby deny God. Think about it, if Jesus is truly God, and the Jews do not believe in Him, then it is safe to say that the Jews do not believe in the same God as Christians.

And before there are cries of anti-Semitism, despite me not actually saying anything against the Jews, but misplaced Christian theology, let me say this. If you asked a Jew if Christians and Jews worshiped the same God the answer would most likely be no (I say most likely because there are those ultra-liberal Jews that are similar to those "spiritual but not religious" types). 

"IN SHORT… Jews do not believe in a trinity. The Jewish idea of Gd is that Gd is One and Indivisible. Gd cannot be divided up into separate parts, where each part is unequal to each of the other parts, yet somehow they are all one and the same. The Hebrew Scriptures describe Gd as an absolute One, but the Christian Scriptures describe Gd as divisible into three parts called a trinity."(G-d is one and indivisible)

And

"When the earliest Christians would come into the synagogues and missionize, they would get kicked out; they were not allowed to stay and preach. They were rejected because their message was pagan and was recognized as such by the Jews. Thus, they were removed and separated from the Jewish people. This shows the real reason why Judaism and Christianity parted ways, dating from the very beginnings of Christianity. It also shows that one cannot be a Jew and a Christian at the same time. (Please see Essay #9 ‘Jews’ for Jesus, Messianic ‘Jews’, and ‘Hebrew’ Christians are not Jews’)."(Jesus was not the messiah)

Just like Zoroastrians, Muslims, Pagans, and others don't worship the same god as the Jews, neither do we.

Now, the Jews believe themselves to still be God's chosen, and they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, nor God. This automatically puts them at odds with us, and us with them because our beliefs differ.

So, if we take Protestant theology seriously, then it automatically fails because everybody can just be Jewish and not have to accept Jesus into their hearts. This means that the Church from its very inception by Jesus was an exercise in futility, it was a redundant religion. This tells us that Jesus is not the Way, Truth, and Life, and that we need not even bother with Him to get to the Father. Which also tells us that God had no need to send Jesus to sacrifice Himself for us, since we could have just followed the Old Covenant.

However, if we take a historical look at the issue, and even a Biblical look, we see that the Jews - according to Christianity's Tradition and Scripture - are no longer a part of God's chosen unless they believe in Christ.

We know where Salvation is, which is in Christ Jesus and His Church. But, it is still up to Him who is saved. Not every Jewish person was in Hades awaiting Jesus, the Prophet Elijah was one who was taken bodily to Heaven, and even Enoch - though technically pre-Jewish - was as well. Similarly, not every person who claims to be a Christian will go to Heaven. This isn't to say that some are predestined, or that we can't do anything towards our own Salvation.

So do Jews go to Heaven? That, ultimately, is up to God. The thief on the cross next to Jesus was promised to be in paradise with Jesus just for simply believing - a promise not made elsewhere in the Bible. We can say it is possible for some Jews to go to Heaven.

But isn't this the same thing as what the Protestants claim? No. They claim that the Jews are still God's chosen people, despite what their own Scriptures clearly state. They say that just because the Jews are Jews that they get a free pass to Heaven. They say that there are two covenants enacted right now - the Old Covenant for the Jews, and the New Covenant for everybody else. But Christ's Church claims that Salvation is obtained through Christ, and we - the Church - are the surest way to that Salvation, and if God chooses to have a Buddhist, or a Taoist, or Hindu, or Muslim, or Jew also become saved then that is up to Him just as it was up to Him when He bodily assumed Enoch and Elijah up to Heaven. We state that we are now God's chosen people because that is what our Scriptures and Tradition clearly state. We say that none get a free pass to Heaven just because of who we are. We know where Salvation is, but we don't know where it isn't because it is ultimately up to God.

 

Also of interest is that in some of the Jewish sources that I used to inform this post on their belief on the afterlife, that while they agreed on some things, they also disagreed on others. This is not a knock against them, but it was just something that I noted. Also, of note is that even some Jews believe that non-Jews can go to Heaven as well, as noted in these three quotes below,

1)"The Talmud is somewhat more explicit about an afterlife. The Mishna in Sanhedrin assures us that 'all Israel has a share in Olam Haba, the world to come.' (This, by the way, does not mean that heaven is reserved exclusively for Jews; all people who follow the basic laws of civility and morality will gain entrance, as well.)" (Jerusalem Post - What do Jews believe about the afterlife?)

2)"Many Jews believe that God judges how good or bad people have been in order to decide their destiny in the afterlife. Jewish people who believe in God’s judgement, believe the decision on whether they should be rewarded or punished is based on how well they have followed the mitzvot."(BBC: Key Beliefs in Judaism - Afterlife)

3)"Many Jewish people believe they’ll be reunited with other deceased family members after death. This reunion takes place in heaven, which gives even more incentive for members of the Jewish faith to live righteously and repent. According to Jewish teachings, you don’t have to be Jewish to gain entrance to heaven."(Cake & Kessler, 2022)

This flies in the face of the Sola Fide camp who insist that all we have to do is say a prayer to be saved, and go about living our lives as we did before. And really, that many Protestant sects believe the Jews will go to Heaven merely on the basis of them being Jewish flies in the face of Sola Fide (faith in Christ) as well as the whole of their religion. 

So, do Jews go to Heaven just on the basis of being Jewish? Not even Judaism teaches such, but that those who have lived righteously may be able to go to Heaven.

 

Please pray for me, a sinner.