Rev. Doug Wilson
Pope of the CREC
*It is true that white Romans were the instrumental cause of Christ’s death.
Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man [u]attested to you by God with [v]miracles and wonders and [w]signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of [x]godless men and put Him to death.
And again,I Thessalonians 2:14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and [r]drove us out. [s]They are not pleasing to God, [t]but hostile to all people, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always [u]reach the limit of their sins. But wrath has come upon them [v]fully.
* This looks to me like Doug Wilson is trying to lessen the responsibility that the Scripture squarely places on the Jews for crucifying their Messiah by seeking to broaden the blame so that the Jews are seen as not being any more culpable than the “White Romans for murdering Jesus, the Christ.
While it is true, and must be preached, that it was the sin of all God’s elect of all races that crucified the Lord of glory, that fact does not make it less true that the Scripture records as a matter of historical fact that the Jews are the ones who God held culpable for crucifying their Messiah.
The good news of the Gospel is that this generational sin can be forgiven of all men, inclusive of Jew and Gentile, who sue for peace with God, in faith, by agreeing with and believing God’s record that Jesus can forgive their sin — both personal and corporate. Jesus has said… “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” This is true for both Jew and Gentile.
Now, having said that, why does Doug Wilson continue to seek to diminish the guilt and responsibility of the Jews for crucifying their Messiah — and this in the face of the Scripture’s clear testimony to the contrary?
And let’s keep in mind that there are at least some Jews who pass all this off as a matter of their stand up comedy routine;
It is interesting here that Sarah Silverman says that “many people try to pass it (the crucifixion of Christ) off on the Romans.” This is exactly what Doug Wilson is trying to do.
One could make the theological-philosophical point that OWNING UP deicide is worse than the actual deed itself – for did not Christ pray, “Forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
But the stiff-necked Talmudic Jews then decided to “own up” this deed, essentially saying, “hell yeah, he was a false messiah who deserved to die, and we would do it again if needed!”
In this sense, the Romans are indeed clearly more innocent than Christ-rejecting Jews.
BUT, there is also a way in which pagan Romans, too, could “own up” deicide, and it would be with this kind of attitude: “hell yeah, he was nothing more than a subversive troublemaker, and imperial power has full authority to put such pretenders to death!”
This kind of mentality – which we could call “Antichrist monarchism,” or explicitly declaring that Caesar is the Lord, and Christ is not – was depicted by Marquis de Sade in his short story “Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man.” It was written in the 1780s, before the French Revolution, when the Marquis himself was still a monarchist (he later on became a rabid republican – showing faithful loyalty to the fallen, and therefore powerless, king Louis XVI would have indeed been against his might-makes-right principles).
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/marquis-de-sade-dialogue-between-a-priest-and-a-dying-man
“DYING MAN: Yes, He who deserved it most. He was a seditious influence, an agitator, a bearer of false witness, a scoundrel, a lecher, a showman who performed crude tricks, a wicked and dangerous man. He knew exactly how to set about hoodwinking the public and was therefore eminently punishable in the type of kingdom and state of which Jerusalem was then a part. It was a very sound decision to remove Him and it is perhaps the only case in which my principles, which are incidentally very mild and tolerant, could ever admit the application of the full rigour of Themis. I forgive all errors save those which may imperil the government under which we live; kings and their majesty are the only things that I take on trust and respect. The man who does not love his country and his King does not deserve to live.”
This is a fine specimen of Antichrist Caesarism, and those Romans who shared such views were no better than Antichrist Talmudists.
And those who think that God goes easy on pagan Rome have clearly not read the Book of Revelation, where one can see what He thinks about those agents of Caesar who try to make God’s people bow down to the image of beast.
Types like Pilate or Gallio (or converts like Sergius Paulus) might give almost deceptively positive image to Christian readers of what pagan Roman magistrates might be like. It would seem that Roman officials would be more tolerant towards Christians as long as they “did not know what they were doing,” or were not fully aware of the claims of Christ over Caesar. But once they became aware of that, and began acting accordingly (or in Van Tilian terms, became more consistent with their presuppositions), they became instruments of Satan.
Although White Romans where the instrumental cause, it seemed pretty clear to me that the gospels pronounced them free of guilt and responsibility (Pilate’s hands are clean of blood, which the jews take upon themselves) or forgiven (the soldiers Luke 23:34). Despite this, evangelicals are falling over themselves to lay the guilt on the Romans and apply Luke 23:34 to the Jews.
It’s interesting how evangelicals insist on literalism over historical Christian categories, but wont even concede that there is anything antisemitic about the gospels. James White said the Gospels where written by Jews so they cant be antisemitic. End of story. Exegesis btfo’d.
Excellent points in this post. The scripture is clear here. Doug’s argument is somewhat akin to prosecuting a hit man, but not charging the man who contracted the hit. And unlike a professional hitman, Pilate was under some duress from the angry mob, though that does not expiate his guilt in giving in to their demand. It is amazing the mental gymnastics that some will use in order to not address the Jews.
The Jews during the time of Christ KNEW exactly who He was and they killed Him by design and with intent.
This is the clear teaching of Christ in Matt 21:38 “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.”
AMERICAN CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS ARE ENABLING ISRAEL’S GAZA GENOCIDE
It will come as news to many American Christians, but modern Israelis are overwhelmingly and fervently anti-Christian. As Israeli historian Ilan Pappe ironically generalized: Israelis don’t believe in God, but they do believe God gave them Palestine.
Sadly, tragically, American Christians are now enabling a genocide by Israel of Palestinians in Gaza. The mindless and counter-Scriptural support – both material and moral – of anti-Christian Israel by 20-30 million American fundamentalists – pitifully ignorant of Biblical Israel in its various Providential dispensations – must surely delight Satan and be answered for at the Judgment, as Palestinian civilian deaths surpass 35,000.
Russia has defeated the United States Empire and NATO in Ukraine, and Muslim groups and nations are now checking and defeating expansionist and imperial Israel. Zelensky is now being targeted by the Russians and by his own people since he has stayed in office beyond his term, as un-reelected usurper, and Netanyahu’s Jewish supremacism is not playing well in the Middle East or worldwide. So, to survive, America and Israel need to pivot from bigoted liberal and Zionist imperialism to sane and rational and peaceful non-interventionism.
[Winston McCuen is a metaphysician and political philosopher and Christian apologist. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Furman University, he holds a Ph.D. and an MA. in philosophy from Emory University. He has served recently as a Senior Metallurgical Welding Engineer for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (US Dept. of Energy).]
Thoughts…There is absolutely NO life, wisdom, power or goodnes apart from God!! Contrary to the devil’s lies
Jesus represents and gives life… holy spirit represents and gives wisdom…God represents and gives power …and they all represent and give goodness
Christ bore all of our sicknesses and sin and as he was dying God withdrew jhis presence from him and he died hence the “My God why hast though forsaken me”…and that is what the second death and hell is… The Jews and Romans didn’t kill him although they are guilty of wanting and trying!!