A.D. 70 in Christian reflection

Summary

The capture of Jerusalem by Titus and the burning of the Temple seem, so far as we can judge from the literature of the succeeding century and a half, to have made a surprisingly small impact upon the Christian communities. It was only a comparatively short time after the rejection of the messiah and the persecution of his followers by the leaders of Judaism when the spiritual and civil centre of Judaism was spectacularly destroyed, and the Temple laid in ruins. We might expect Christian apologists to have exploited to the fullest extent the extraordinary opportunity offered to them by that shattering event to vindicate the church's claim to be the true Israel, the rightful heir to the promises and blessings of the covenant, and to declare God's judgement upon the ‘stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears’ (Acts 7: 51) who had so stubbornly opposed that claim. No special prophetic insight would have been required for any Christian to see in that disaster the decisive revelation of God's condemnation of the enemies of Jesus and his reversal of their verdict. We might also expect the year 70 to mark a turning-point in the relationship between Jewish Christianity and Judaism and so too, perhaps, between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

Yet in fact the literature of the Christian movement contains relatively few allusions to the fall of Jerusalem. The New Testament passages which may allude to it are somewhat enigmatic.