by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #004 posted August 8, 2016, edited March 9, 2021.
No! Jews are not going to Hell because they don’t believe in Jesus.
Jews are going to Hell because they are sinners. In this, the Jewish people are no different from Gentiles.
All people are sinners. If you don’t believe this, see my essay “Is everyone is a sinner?”
All sinners are going to Hell unless their sins are atoned for by God himself. The Biblical message on this subject is clear and divided into two parts:
The Bad News: Every man, woman, and child (regardless of gender, race, nation, or other circumstance) is born a sinner, and the penalty for sin is death – eternal separation from God who is the fount and giver of life. Everyone starts life condemned.
The Good News: God Himself entered His creation in the person of the Jew Jesus, and Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of any man, woman, or child (Jew or Gentile) who accepts Him as his or her Savior and Lord. This salvation is free.[1] It cannot be earned by good works, because a sinner’s works are always tainted by his sinfulness and therefore can never be good enough. It can only be gratefully accepted from a Holy God by someone who acknowledges his wretchedness and helplessness and trusts in God’s Word – His promise that “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (KJV Romans 10:9).
Jews must recognize that Jesus is their Savior. He came to save the Jew first and only then the Gentile. During his trip into Phoenicia to escape the crowds in Judea, a Gentile woman approached Him and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (KJV Matthew 15:22-24). There is more to the story, but the foregoing is sufficient to make my point. The Jew Jesus came to save the men, women, and children among His people who would acknowledge Him as their Lord and Savior.
© 2016 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (KJV Eph 2:8-9).