Jewish persons can be saved without converting to Christianity. Salvation is offered to all human persons. Not all persons accept that offer. But salvation is certainly not limited to Christians only.

The Jews before Christ

All persons who lived before the time of Christ, before Christianity and the Sacraments were established by Him, could possibly be saved. For it is the teaching of the Church that God offers salvation to all human persons.

Pope John Paul II: “The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all.”222

But the one salvation offered to all is solely from Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches that all are saved by Jesus, the Son of God, who became Incarnate as a man, in order to reconcile God and mankind.

[Acts]
{4:12} And there is no salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which it is necessary for us to be saved.

[Colossians]
{1:18} And he is the head of his body, the Church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that in all things he may hold primacy.
{1:19} For the Father is well-pleased that all fullness reside in him,
{1:20} and that, through him, all things be reconciled to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, for the things that are on earth, as well as the things that are in heaven.
{1:21} And you, though you had been, in times past, understood to be foreigners and enemies, with works of evil,
{1:22} yet now he has reconciled you, by his body of flesh, through death, so as to offer you, holy and immaculate and blameless, before him.

Of all who lived before Christ, the case for the salvation of the Jews is stronger than for other human persons. For they had explicit belief in one personal God, who created Heaven and earth, and they received the beginnings of Divine Revelation with the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Bible), and later the rest of the Old Testament.

But since all are saved only through Jesus Christ, how is anyone saved before His Incarnation, Birth, Life and Ministry, Death and Resurrection? The answer is simple, yet profound. As man, Jesus died on the Cross for our salvation. But because He is not merely a man, but God-made-man, our Divine Lord is able to pour out the graces needed for salvation to all persons in all places at all times.

For time and place are no obstacle to God. As the Catechism says: “To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy.”223 God is not stuck in Today, remembering Yesterday, and foreseeing Tomorrow. God is Eternal, in the fullest sense of the word. He is entirely unrestricted by Time. To God, the past and present and future are essentially the same. God is present within Time and Place, but He is also beyond all Time and all Place. The Almighty God is in no way restricted by Time or Place.

But then how do those weak and mortal sinners attain this offered salvation, if they lived before Christ? They did not have access to the Sacrament of Baptism at all, since Christ established all Seven Sacraments. And yet baptism, in some form, is absolutely necessary for the salvation of fallen sinners. Therefore, all who died before Christ, Jews and non-Jews alike, either received a baptism of blood or a baptism of desire. And their baptism of desire was necessarily implicit, since they could not have explicitly desired Baptism prior to its establishment by Christ.

[1 Corinthians]
{10:1} For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and they all went across the sea.
{10:2} And in Moses, they all were baptized, in the cloud and in the sea.
{10:3} And they all ate of the same spiritual food.
{10:4} And they all drank of the same spiritual drink. And so, they all were drinking of the spiritual rock seeking to obtain them; and that rock was Christ.

All Jews and non-Jews, who lived before Christ, were offered salvation through Christ. They were able to enter the state of sanctifying grace through a non-formal (mystical) baptism of desire or of blood. If any sinned gravely, they were able to be forgiven by perfect contrition. For the Jews in ancient times, perfect contrition could easily take the form of explicit sorrow for sins out of love for God. For non-Jews and unbelievers before Christ, perfect contrition could be attained by sorrow for sin out of love for neighbor. For the true selfless love of neighbor always includes, at least implicitly, the love of God.

Jews after Christ

There is a noteworthy example of a type of baptism of blood, obtained without dying, in the deeds of a group of devout Jews — men, women, and children — in the first century A.D. Near the end of his reign, the Roman emperor Gaius (also known as “Caligula”) decided that he was a god and that his gold statue should be placed inside the Sanctuary of the Temple of Jerusalem. He sent his general, Petronius, with an army to carry out this purpose.

Devout and faithful Jews were greatly alarmed at this event. A large number of Jewish men, with their wives and children, gathered in the plain of Ptolemais (in Galilee, near the Mediterranean Sea) and there they confronted the army sent by the Roman emperor. They camped out in the plain, blocking the path of the army with their bodies and risking death. They pleaded with the Roman general Petronius, and they refused to be dissuaded by the threat of force against them and their families. This dispute ended happily for the Jews, when Petronius received word that the emperor Gaius was dead.224

These Jews risked death, but did not die at that time, in order to oppose the installation of an idolatrous statue in the Temple of the one true God. They did so about 5 or 10 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These were Jews who did not convert to Christianity. And yet their actions show an unmistakable love for God — selfless and sincere to the point of risking death — thereby indicating a full cooperation with grace.

These Jews, if they were not previously in a state of grace by an implicit baptism of desire, obtained at that time a baptism of blood. They received a mystical baptism from Christ, despite having declined to convert to Christianity. No devout Jew living in that region would have been ignorant of the deeds of Jesus and the controversy about Him. They knew of Christ, did not convert, and yet obtained a baptism of blood (or, some might argue, a baptism of desire) and so they entered the state of sanctifying grace.

This example proves that a baptism of blood need not include death and need not be based on the heroic choice to die rather than abandon the Christian Faith. The example of these faithful Jews shows that even those persons who choose (incorrectly from an objective point of view) not to become Christian can still obtain a mystical baptism of desire or of blood.

Can a Jew, who is well aware of Christianity and its teachings and who does not choose to believe in Jesus Christ, possibly die in a state of grace and be saved? Yes, this is possible. Since the time of Christ, many Jews have died in a state of grace and were given eternal life in Heaven. For whenever an objectively grave sin is committed — such as rejecting Christ and His Church — but without full knowledge or full deliberation, the sin is not an actual mortal sin. And only actual mortal sin causes the loss of the state of grace and deserves eternal punishment in Hell.

The refusal to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah is objectively wrong. However, it may not be an actual mortal sin, if the person who refuses to believe is sincere in seeking religious and moral truth, and yet does not believe Jesus is the Messiah. How can a sincere adult, who has the full use of his faculties of reason and free will, not perceive that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world? One reason is that so many Christians, especially Catholic Christians, fail, very substantially, to live according to the teachings of Christ. They obscure the goodness and truth of His teachings by not living them well, by their many sins and failings, including mortal sin. Another reason is that the world is sinful and offers a wide variety of erroneous opinions on every matter of faith and morals. It is more difficult to perceive truths pertaining to salvation in such a circumstance.

Pope John Paul II: “For those too who through no fault of their own do not know Christ and are not recognized as Christians, the divine plan has provided a way of salvation. As we read in the Council’s Decree Ad Gentes, we believe that ‘God in ways known to himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel’ to the faith necessary for salvation.”225

The strongest case for someone to be inculpably (blamelessly) ignorant of the Gospel of Christ is found in those human persons who lived before Christ. They are not guilty for their ignorance of the Gospel before it was preached. But a good case can also be made for invincible ignorance, or at least a substantial reduction in culpability, for Jews and others who lived after the time of Christ. They may have known of the Gospel in the sense of knowing about Christ, His Church, and Christian teachings. But they might not know that rejecting Christ and Christianity is gravely immoral. So they are, in that sense, ignorant, and therefore still able to walk the path of salvation.

They can be saved by Christ, despite outwardly rejecting Him, if they accept Christ implicitly, by the love of God through the Jewish religion and by the love of neighbor. A substantial reduction in the culpability of rejecting the Christian Faith results from a lack of knowledge of the grave immorality of that choice, which results in this objective mortal sin being reduced to an actual venial sin (or in the idealized case, no sin at all). But invincible ignorance need not be so full that there is no actual sin at all. It is sufficient for salvation that an objective mortal sin be reduced in culpability to that of an actual venial sin. For only actual mortal sin condemns a soul to Hell.

But can a Jew who knows about Christ and yet does not accept Him go to Heaven without any purification in Purgatory? Does he not need to stay at least briefly in Purgatory or its limbo in order to know Christ? It is perhaps the usual case that a Jew who dies without accepting Christ goes to Purgatory, so as to know Christ before entering Heaven. As we have previously discussed, it may be the case that everyone who accepts Christ only implicitly in this life must spend time in Purgatory or its limbo so as to know and accept Christ explicitly before entering Heaven. However, that point is an open question.

Suppose that a Jew who has no actual mortal sin on his conscience dies in an heroic attempt to save the lives of other persons, out of a sincere love of God and love of neighbor. His last act of life is a full cooperation with grace in an act of true spiritual love. Therefore, by that act of full cooperation with grace, he knows Christ, even without accepting His name. This heroic sacrifice suffices to remit all temporal punishment due for sin in his life, and also constitutes an implicit repentance from all sin by implicit perfect contrition. Such a person might avoid Purgatory altogether, and be sent directly to Heaven after meeting Christ in the particular judgment.

Some Jews know Christ implicitly better than many Christians know Him explicitly. For many Christians lead a life of lukewarm love of God and neighbor, and when they die in a state of grace, they still require a long purification in Purgatory. But some of the most devout Jews might require little or no time in Purgatory.

So a comparison between devout Jews and Christians does not always favor the Christians. Of those to whom more is given, more will be expected. A Christian who loves God only lukewarmly fails to a greater extent than a Jew (or a person not raised in any particular religion) who also loves only lukewarmly. The objective rejection of Christianity by Jews who lived after Christ is a grave error. And yet that error might not be an actual mortal sin for many Jews. Thus, they can still be saved, and might even spend little or no time in Purgatory.

God judges each human person according to his or her conscience. And conscience can sometimes err without culpability. For as the Second Vatican Council taught: “Conscience frequently errs from invincible ignorance without losing its dignity.”226 Therefore, a Jew living subsequent to the time of Christ might decline to convert to Christianity without the culpability of an actual mortal sin. Salvation would then still be available by an implicit baptism of desire. And forgiveness would still be available, if the person sins gravely in any area of life, by perfect contrition.

Are Jews today saved under the Old Covenant?

The Old Testament laws were part of the Old Covenant. The Old Testament includes teachings on faith and morals, as well as disciplines (rules, practices, ceremonies). Certainly the moral law is still in force, since the eternal moral law is the Justice of God, who is Eternal. So the teachings of God in the Divine Revelation of the Old Testament are certainly still true.

But the disciplines of the Old Covenant are not in force. Jesus dispensed the entire set of Old Covenant disciplines, including the dietary laws and animal sacrifices. None of the Old Testament disciplines are still in force.

The Council of Florence: “It [the holy Roman church] firmly believes, professes and teaches that the legal prescriptions of the old Testament or the Mosaic law, which are divided into ceremonies, holy sacrifices and sacraments [mysteries, not Sacraments per se], because they were instituted to signify something in the future, although they were adequate for the divine cult of that age, once our Lord Jesus Christ who was signified by them had come, came to an end and the Sacraments of the new Testament had their beginning.”227

The reason for the Old Testament disciplines in general was to teach a spiritual meaning by a living figure, by a metaphor that was lived in daily life. So in distinguishing between clean and unclean foods, the Israelites cultivated a daily habit of considering and following the will of God, and of distinguishing between what is acceptable before God and what is not. This was new to religion at the time. The pagan religions did not distinguish between good and evil. They had many gods, and a person might do something that supposedly pleased one god, but angered another. There was no sense of absolute right and wrong. So the various ceremonial precepts, i.e. the disciplines, of the Old Testament were useful to compel the Israelites to consider the will of God, at many times throughout the day, in many different areas of life.

In New Testament times, we still have disciplines, but they are the disciplines of the New Covenant. Discipline is not doctrine, and so even the new disciplines are dispensable and changeable. For example, we abstain from meat on Fridays of Lent, but a dispensation can be granted for a just reason (e.g. when St. Patrick’s feast falls on a Friday of Lent, if there are many Irish Catholics in a particular diocese).

All the Old Testament disciplines have been dispensed. But all of the doctrines of the eternal moral law, including all those expressed in the Old Testament, are eternally in force. And the passages of Scripture detailing the Old Testament disciplines still retain their force on the spiritual level of meaning, for these disciplines foreshadowed the New Covenant under Christ, which is still in force.

Now the New Testament does have its own disciplines. For the Christian Faith, like the Jewish Faith in the Old Testament, has both beliefs and practices, i.e. doctrines and disciplines. So we might say that the Old Testament disciplines have not been abrogated or nullified; instead, they have been transformed into the higher disciplines of the New Testament.

For it is not the case that the New Covenant has no discipline. The Church has two types of authority, the teaching authority, which issues doctrines on faith, morals, and salvation, as well as the temporal authority, which issues rules and rulings, that is, disciplines. The faithful depend upon both the beliefs and the practices of the Church in order to live the faith.

But the Old Covenant was issued by God in words that indicate it shall continue forever. In Genesis, God says to Abram (Abraham):

[Genesis]
{13:14} And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot was divided from him: “Lift up your eyes, and gaze out from the place where you are now, to the north and to the meridian, to the east and to the west.
{13:15} All the land that you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring even forever.
{13:16} And I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth. If any man is able to number the dust of the earth, he will be able to number your offspring as well.”

If the Old Covenant is no longer in force, if it has been nullified or even replaced, then the offspring of Abraham would not be his countless spiritual offspring, including all faithful Christians. His offspring would then be a much smaller number. And the meaning of the passage would then be restricted from the broad promise of countless spiritual offspring, to the narrow promise of many mere physical descendants. But the Magnificat of the Virgin Mary in Sacred Scripture teaches that Christians are the spiritual descendants of Abraham:

[Luke]
{1:54} He has taken up his servant Israel, mindful of his mercy,
{1:55} just as he spoke to our fathers: to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Therefore, the Old Covenant, which began with Abraham, continues for his spiritual descendants forever. There is no end to this covenant. So then how can we explain that there is also a New Covenant established by the Blood of Christ and revealed in the New Testament?

[Luke]
{22:20} Similarly also, he took the chalice, after he had eaten the meal, saying: “This chalice is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.”

We cannot say that the Old Covenant has passed away, since God promised that covenant to Abraham and his (spiritual) descendants forever. And we cannot say that there are two covenants, the Old and the New, by which human persons are saved. For we know by faith that all who are saved have salvation by the Blood of Christ, who died for us on the Cross. Christ is the sole source of salvation, so there cannot be two Covenants in force today. Neither can we say that the New Covenant has replaced the Old Covenant, since God promised Abraham that the Old Covenant would continue in his spiritual descendants forever.

The only solution to this theological dilemma is that the Old Covenant has been transfigured, has been transformed, into the New Covenant. All of the Old Covenant promises continue under the New Covenant, in a higher form. For example, the promise concerning the descendants of Abraham, which is true of his physical descendants, the Hebrew people, when they live by faith, is true to a greater extent of his spiritual descendants, Christians. And the disciplines of the Old Testament, which had their usefulness in their time, continue to be fulfilled in their spiritual meaning, in the spirit but not the letter of those practices. The promises God made to Abraham and to his descendants, which He said in truth would continue forever, do in truth continue forever, and to a much greater extent than Abraham ever imagined.

This transfiguration of the Old Covenant into the New Covenant is analogous to the change that occurs at the consecration of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. Both bread and wine are good things from God; so too is the Old Covenant a good thing from God. But the consecrated bread and wine, which is the Real Presence of Christ, is so much greater than words can express. Similarly, the New Covenant is so much greater than words can express, for God became a man and died for our salvation, and this is the fulfillment, with an exceedingly great superabundance, of every Old Covenant promise and of all the promises of the New Covenant.

Since even the Old Testament disciplines instituted by God by Divine Revelation are dispensable, then certainly the New Testament disciplines are also changeable and dispensable. Now as long as we are in this life, following Christ in body and soul, we need some disciplines, exterior rules for worship, in order to live as the people of God, to act harmoniously with one another, just as the Israelites needed in ancient times. We need both doctrine and discipline. The temporal authority of the Church has the authority to change, or dispense from, various elements of discipline. But the Church lacks the authority to entirely dispense from all disciplines, so that the Faith would then be doctrine without discipline. In Heaven, no discipline is needed because all the faithful have the Beatific Vision of God. And after the general Resurrection, again no discipline is needed, for the same reason. But as long as we are in this life, the people of God need some practices, rules, and rulings, as a practical necessity in order to live out the doctrines of the Faith. Doctrine is always greater than discipline, but discipline is not entirely dispensable.

So if the Old Covenant has been transfigured into the New Covenant, how are the Jews today saved? They are saved under the New form of the Old Covenant. For the New Covenant is a transfiguration, not a mere replacement, of the Old Covenant.

Are Jews saved by the Old Testament law?

It is easy enough to find Scripture quotes to support the simplistic position that the Jews are not saved by following the law:

“For in his presence no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law.” (Romans 3:20)

“For the Promise to Abraham, and to his posterity, that he would inherit the world, was not through the law, but through the justice of faith. For if those who are of the law are the heirs, then faith becomes empty and the Promise is abolished.” (Romans 4:13-14)

“For you are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

And this assertion is true, but only if we consider that “the law” refers to external actions, such as following the Old Testament disciplines: the dietary laws, animal sacrifices, and other rules apart from faith and morals.

Even so, we Christians should not have disdain for the Old Testament disciplines. For the New Testament and the Catholic Faith also have disciplines: practices, rules, rulings, liturgical forms, etc. And although no one is saved by the discipline of the Old Testament, nor of the New Testament, discipline has its usefulness. So discipline can be a useful part of the path of salvation, even though salvation does not depend upon it.

Now if we consider that “the law” includes external conformity to the eternal moral law, then, in this sense, following the law becomes more important as a part of the path of salvation. Do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not commit perjury, etc. Refraining from exterior actions that are gravely immoral is fundamental to our salvation. If anyone does sin, he can still be saved by repentance and forgiveness, but it is far better to avoid all mortal sins.

However, no one is saved merely by avoiding all exterior actions that are objectively gravely immoral; for grave sin can also be committed interiorly, in the heart and mind. Moreover, it is possible to sin gravely by a decision not to act. Sins of commission violate the negative precepts (“you shall not…”). Sins of omission violate the positive precepts (“you shall…”), such as: you shall love the Lord your God.

But there is one more way to consider the law, even as it is found in the Old Testament and in the Jewish Faith.

[Matthew]
{22:35} And one of them, a doctor of the law, questioned him, to test him:
{22:36} “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
{22:37} Jesus said to him: ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
{22:38} This is the greatest and first commandment.
{22:39} But the second is similar to it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
{22:40} On these two commandments the entire law depends, and also the prophets.”

The term “the law” can also be used as in the above teaching from Jesus. He says that “the entire law” — the Old Testament law in the Jewish Faith — is summed up by the two commandments, to love God above all else and to love your neighbor as yourself. Is this sufficient to obtain eternal life? In an act of bold defiance against the Pharisaical thinkers of every age, Jesus says: “Yes”.

[Luke]
{10:25} And behold, a certain expert in the law rose up, testing him and saying, “Teacher, what must I do to possess eternal life?”
{10:26} But he said to him: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
{10:27} In response, he said: “You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from all your strength, and from all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
{10:28} And he said to him: “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”

Jesus teaches us that whosoever follows the law to love God and neighbor will have eternal life. It is that simple. By loving God and neighbor, Jews can enter the state of grace by obtaining an implicit baptism of desire or even a baptism of blood. By sorrow for sin out of love for God and neighbor, a Jew who sins gravely can return to the state of grace by perfect contrition. Love is the single narrow path to eternal life in Heaven. All who die in a state of grace, which is the state of loving God and neighbor, will have eternal life in Heaven. There are no exceptions whatsoever.

So the position that the Jews cannot be saved by following the Old Testament law is not entirely true. They can’t be saved by the Old Testament disciplines, by mere external acts, not even by those exterior acts that pertain to worship (i.e. the Old Testament equivalent of liturgical form). But neither can Catholics today be saved by external acts, by liturgical form, by any of the external acts found in Catholic discipline and practice. Discipline is useful in religion, but anyone, Jew or Catholic, who tries to base his or her salvation on mere external action has gone astray from the teachings of Divine Revelation.

Even so, “the law” in the Old Testament does not consist solely in external actions. The “expert in the law” who spoke with Jesus (Lk 10:25-28) was a Jew, telling Jesus what he thought the Old Testament law required so as to obtain eternal life. And he was right. Jesus agrees, without qualification. For the heart of the Old Testament law, and the heart of the New Testament, and the heart of all that is called Judaism, or Catholicism, or Christianity, is the love of God and neighbor.

Jews can be saved by the love of God and neighbor. Muslims can be saved by the love of God and neighbor. Any believer in God can be saved by the love of God and neighbor. Any unbeliever or doubter can be saved by the love of neighbor, which is implicitly the love of God. Salvation is offered to all, available to all, and attainable by all.

Even if a Jew or another person knows about Christianity, and yet outwardly rejects the Christian Faith, he or she can still be saved. For everyone who truly loves his neighbor, truly loves God. And everyone who truly loves God and neighbor has obtained eternal life. If you die in the state of grace, which includes the theological virtue of love, the love of God and neighbor, then you are saved even if you knew about Christianity and never converted through the last moment of life. But this is truly only as long as your decision to reject the Christian Faith was not an actual mortal sin.

Is it a mortal sin of omission to know about Christianity and yet never convert? Yes, it is objectively a mortal sin, a gravely immoral type of act. But only an actual mortal sin causes the loss of the state of grace. Only an actual mortal sin deserves eternal punishment in Hell. So if a person is not culpable to the extent of an actual mortal sin for his failure or refusal to convert, he can still be saved. So if a Jew today sincerely seeks the path to Heaven by the worship and love of God, and by the love of neighbor, but he also mistakenly turns aside from Jesus and His Church due to invincible ignorance, he can still be saved.

Heaven is a place of eternal love of God and neighbor. And so those who are given the gift of eternal life in Heaven are not those who perform certain exterior acts, but those who live a life of true selfless love. The Jews are not saved by the external acts of Old Testament discipline. But no Catholic is saved by the exterior acts of New Testament discipline. Certain Catholics exalt themselves above all other Catholics, all other Christians, all other believers, and all other human persons because they perform certain exterior acts. They attend the Latin Mass, refuse to receive Communion in the hand, despise the sign of peace during the Mass, and so on. But these modern-day Pharisees would do well to remember that, like the Jews, they cannot be saved by exterior actions alone.

Is the Jewish Faith today a true religion?

Some persons claim that the Jewish Faith, since the time of Christ, is not a true religion because the Jews rejected Christ. They did not choose to believe in Him, and so the claim is made that Judaism today is not a true religion anymore. But let’s see what Jesus and His Church says on that topic.

[Matthew]
{5:17} Do not think that I have come to loosen the law or the prophets. I have not come to loosen, but to fulfill.
{5:18} Amen I say to you, certainly, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota, not one dot shall pass away from the law, until all is done.

The Jewish Faith is based on the law and the prophets. This basis will not pass away as long as heaven and earth have not passed away. And the law and the prophets are an expression of the true love of God and neighbor, which is the basis for all true religion. Every religion which values the love of God and the love of neighbor as its most fundamental and highest tenets is a true religion, in some sense.

{7:12} Therefore, all things whatsoever that you wish that men would do to you, do so also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.

The law and the prophets teach the love of God and neighbor, which has not passed away.

{22:36} “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
{22:37} Jesus said to him: ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
{22:38} This is the greatest and first commandment.
{22:39} But the second is similar to it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
{22:40} On these two commandments the entire law depends, and also the prophets.”

The law and the prophets are about the love of God and neighbor. The Jews today still teach and practice the love of God and neighbor. Therefore, their religion remains a true religion, founded on the same unchanging commandments, as entrusted to them from ancient times in Divine Revelation. For all devout and faithful Jews truly love God and neighbor.

Those devout Jews who reject Christianity, without the culpability of an actual mortal sin, can still obtain and retain the state of sanctifying grace by their love of God and neighbor. Therefore, they can still be saved. Their mistake in choosing not to convert to Christianity does not change the fundamental nature of the Jewish Faith as a true religion.

It is a serious error to reduce the Jewish religion to solely the Old Covenant disciplines, such as dietary laws and animal sacrifices, ignoring the Old Testament teachings on faith and morals. The heart of true Judaism always has been and always will be the love of God above all else and the love of neighbor as self.

Neither the Catechism of the Catholic Church (cf. n. 839, 840), nor Vatican II (cf. Nostra Aetate), nor any magisterial documents, nor any Saints or Fathers or Doctors of the Church ever taught that the Jewish religion changed into a false or man-made religion subsequent to the time of Christ. The basis for the Jewish Faith — practiced by Saints Zechariah and Elizabeth, by Saints Joachim and Ann, by Jesus and the Virgin Mary — is the truths of Divine Revelation, including the eternal moral law. These truths have not changed, and so the Jewish Faith, despite not explicitly acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, continues to worship the one true God and to worship Christ implicitly, by love, faith, hope, and all the virtues, by the symbols that represent Christ in the Old Testament, and by looking forward to the arrival of the Messiah.

This address by Pope Benedict XVI, on the occasion of his visit to the synagogue of Rome, plainly shows that Judaism is not a false religion:

“Furthermore, the Church has not failed to deplore the failings of her sons and daughters, begging forgiveness for all that could in any way have contributed to the scourge of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism (cf. Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, 16 March 1998). May these wounds be healed forever! The heartfelt prayer which Pope John Paul II offered at the Western Wall on 26 March 2000 comes back to my mind, and it calls forth a profound echo in our hearts: ‘God of our Fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the nations: we are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant’.”228

Bias against the Jews for their ethnicity (anti-Semitism) or for their religious beliefs (anti-Judaism) are both condemned by the Pope and the Church. The Jewish people today remain “the people of the Covenant”. They do not realize that the Old Covenant has been transfigured into the New Covenant, but they can nevertheless be saved by that one Covenant between God and Man, through the love of God and neighbor, which is the heart of Judaism and of Christianity.

Many Jews today, just as in past centuries, faithfully follow the teachings of the law and the prophets. The truth of that teaching has not changed. The basis of the Old Covenant was not animal sacrifices or dietary restrictions, but the law and the prophets, which are based on the love of God and neighbor. So the Jews today continue to worship the one true God, knowing Him by both the light of reason and the Divine Revelation of the Old Testament. Their religion continues to be a true religion established by God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church: “The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, ‘the first to hear the Word of God.’ The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ’, ‘for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.’ “229

Second Vatican Council: “In the first place we must recall the people to whom the testament and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh. On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues.”230

The Old Covenant has not been revoked; rather, it has been transfigured into the New Covenant. The gifts and the call of God to the Jews has not been revoked; it continues in its higher form under the New Covenant. Even though the Jews do not realize that the Covenant is now offered in its higher form, they may still be saved by the same salvation offered to all human persons, the love of God and neighbor, which is always at least implicitly the love of Jesus Christ.

The above article is excerpted from my book: Forgiveness and Salvation for Everyone. That book is a comprehensive presentation of Church teaching on salvation.

Ronald L Conte Jr

Endnotes:
222 Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, n. 10.

223 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 600.

224 Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 2.200 and following.

225 Pope John Paul II, “All Salvation Comes through Christ”, 31 May 1995; inner quote from Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes, n. 7.

226 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, n. 16.

227 The Council of Florence, Session 11 (4 February 1442).

228 Pope Benedict XVI, Visit to the Synagogue of Rome, 17 January 2010; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/january/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20100117_sinagoga_en.html

229 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 839; citing Vatican II.

230 Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, n. 16.