How did Jewish attitudes toward Christians change when Christianity spread through the Roman Empire?
As Christianity spread through the Roman Empire, Jewish attitudes shifted from envy to hatred. Christians began accusing Jews of being Christ killers and treating removal of Jews as service to God, so Jews responded by hating anything connected with Christianity. Earlier, when Gentiles were saved and still loved Jews, Jews were filled with envy.
Les explains that in the early days, as Paul and Barnabas witnessed to Gentiles and Gentiles were saved, they still had a love for the Jew, and the Jews were filled with envy. That was what God wanted. But unfortunately it did not remain that way. Not long after Christianity began to permeate the Roman Empire, instead of causing the Jew to envy, it caused the Jew to hate him. Why? Because Christianity began to hate the Jew, accusing them of being Christ killers, and to get rid of the Jew was doing God a service. So the Jew began to hate anything connected with Christianity. Les also connects this to Romans 11, where Israel is described as blinded, given a spirit of slumber, with eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear.