9. The New Covenant,
Israel, and the Nations
God’s view of the nation Israel
after the establishment of the New Covenant must be reviewed. Long ago, many
in the Christian world became convinced that Israel’s
importance as a distinctive nation was annulled. That idea exerted a direct
and profound influence on salvation and baptism, giving rise to the
sacramental conception, based on a grave misinterpretation of Colossians
2:12, that water baptism had replaced Israel’s
physical circumcision. The fruit of this notion has been much grief for the
Jewish people. Beyond that, it is not possible to understand God’s remaining
prophetic purpose without properly locating Israel
within the picture. This chapter will survey Scriptural evidence of the views
of both Messiah and Paul on Israel.
We might begin with the rather obvious point that
the very promise of a New Covenant was not directed to the nations. Rather,
it was given specifically to Israel
who had been under the covenant of Sinai. Israel continually failed to live
up to the requirements of that covenant, therefore God promised through
Jeremiah that He would make a New Covenant with those who had failed to keep
the covenant of Sinai, Jeremiah 31:30-33(31-34). This means the New Covenant
is first directed to Israel,
not the nations. So later, when the author of Hebrews wrote to Jewish
disciples saying the old covenant was on the verge of passing away in view of
the excellence of the New Covenant, he did not say Israel
is defunct, he simply reaffirmed the promises to Israel.
On the other hand, the glory revealed to Jewish
apostles was that all nations could share in this Covenant by faith. Israel,
though failing to keep the previous covenant, cannot be spiritualized away,
but neither is Israel
the sole inheritor of the blessings of this great Covenant. All nations,
including Israel,
can share its glory. To this day all Israel
has not, but neither has everyone from all the nations. Remnants from both
have believed while the rest have been hardened.
A “mystery” revealed, wrote Paul to the Ephesians,
that believers from the nations were CO-heirs, a JOINT-body and CO-partakers
in the Good News, Ephesians 3:6. Co-heirs with whom? Joint-body with whom?
Co-partakers with whom? With believers from Israel!
The apostles realized the New Covenant potentially included all Israel
as a nation, as well as all the rest of the nations of the world, as nations,
if they would all repent and return to God through Messiah. As it stood, a remnant
from all the nations, including Israel,
believed.
But Paul vehemently opposed gentile conversion to
Israel in order to find favor with God, because everyone, Jewish or from any
nation, must turn to Yeshua by faith, not works, since no one will ever match
the work of the suffering Messiah. Anyone trying to please God through his
own righteous deeds after hearing the Good News is resisting God. Paul’s
letter to the Galatians spells out that if anyone submitted to circumcision
for a righteousness based on the Torah, that person has become estranged from
Messiah and has fallen from his standing in grace through faith.
Paul’s letter to the Philippians also warned
gentiles to beware of misguided Jews who thought it necessary to submit to
physical circumcision and the Torah. No, the New Covenant is a spiritual
circumcision of heart, all must receive it by faith because no one, including
the nation Israel,
can please God through the flesh. If anyone could find God’s grace through
works of the flesh, Paul had as much confidence as any. But he expressly said
his goal was not boasting in things of the flesh, but in Messiah. Everything
was rubbish compared to knowing his risen Master, and this attitude ought to
be every believer’s, no matter from which nation he comes.
Even so, he urged the Philippians to do nothing
through selfish ambition or conceit, but to look out for the interests of
others. Paul himself sought to become all things to all men for the sake of
the Good News, living as a Jew for the sake of his countrymen. Sadly, for
many centuries a part of Paul’s phrase for the body of Messiah has been well
enforced, “there is no Jew ...”, even if the rest was not, since we do have
“Greek” orthodox, “Roman” catholic, etc. etc. etc., though today growing
numbers of Jewish believers are recapturing their Jewish heritage within New
Covenant faith.
Beyond doubt, the New Covenant is the living way to
have a relationship with God high above the past system in Israel,
and this fellowship is accessible by all nations. No class of human beings
has any ultimate advantage before God. Still, males do not lose their
masculine characteristics when they became disciples and females remain such
when they become disciples. The infinite life of the Son within them
supersedes any importance of the earthly vessel, yet they remain male or
female. The challenges facing husbands and wives are clearly addressed in the
books of the New Covenant, so in a practical way in this age the distinction
between male and female was not obliterated, but was seriously considered and
blessed.
Thus it is with Jews and Greeks, Israel
and the nations. There is a continuing distinctiveness between them. Both are
blessed by God to jointly partake of the glorious life in the Son. Both are
to testify to the world in a corporate way of God’s grace in Messiah. If
believers from the nations can glorify God through marriage, in which the
distinction between male and female reaches its zenith, can believers from
the Jewish nation also glorify God through a Brit Milah, a circumcision
ceremony of their boys? In the heights of the New Covenant there is no male
or female, but marriage is a present reality and it ought to glorify God. So
what is the difference if Jews, who are free in the New Covenant, wish to
celebrate a Bar Mitzvah?
It is sad to say that Jewish people who find Yeshua
to be their Messiah have been told by Christian they are no longer Jewish or
that they must forsake their Jewish heritage. Though all the original
believers in Messiah Yeshua were Jewish there have been strained times
through the centuries when sincere Jewish believers were not considered
completely acceptable by Christian religious authorities. The Spanish name
Marranos (meaning either “swine” or “defective”) was applied indiscriminately
to unwilling Jews forced into Roman Catholic Christianity (after they were
doused with water for baptism), as well as to Jews who sincerely wished to
participate in that system, vivid testimony that the Jewish origin of Messiah
has been severely misunderstood. The tragedy of World War Two’s Holocaust
against the Jewish people was fostered in a significant way by unscriptural
anti-Semitic Christian attitudes against Israel
through the centuries. Messiah did not annul Israel
as a nation after His resurrection, even as He did not annul the distinction
between male and female. Neither the beginning nor completion of God’s
redemptive work can be properly understood without a sense of the Jewish
origin and continuing national (but not spiritual) distinction of Jewish disciples,
even as there is a continuing distinction between male and female.
If there had been a divine annulment it would be
reasonable to believe Messiah Himself would have made it known. But in
reviewing Scripture we find no indication of such an attitude, rather the
uniqueness of Israel
as a nation among nations is affirmed, even though many had been disobedient.
A clear example may be found in Acts 9:15 where the glorified Messiah, at the
right hand of the Father, gave orders concerning His chosen apostle, Paul.
“Go, for [Paul] is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear
My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.”
Here, at least a few years after resurrection,
Messiah spoke of gentiles and the sons of Israel
in a mutually distinctive way. The nations are still the nations and the sons
of Israel are
still the sons of Israel.
Throughout Paul’s entire service this distinction
would stand since Messiah looked ahead to all he would suffer for His name.
Yeshua is King of Israel
and the true heir of all the other kingdoms of the world, whose glory was
foretold by Isaiah;
“It is too
small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light
to the nations that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6.
Isaiah promised the true Servant, Yeshua, would
raise up the remnant of preserved ones in Israel, and be sent as a light to the
gentiles as well. This passage reveals a clear distinction in the outworkings
of God between Israel
and the nations. Recall as well how the Holy Spirit spoke through Simeon
concerning Yeshua;
“For my eyes
have seen Your salvation which You prepared before the face of all peoples, a
light to bring revelation to the nations, and glory to Your people Israel.” Luke 2:30-31. (rendered from the Greek)
Here the Spirit through Simeon spoke in a way
reminiscent of Isaiah, and Paul also recited the verse from Isaiah to
disobedient Jews in Antioch in
Pisidia, Acts 13:46-47. In that scene, when the gentiles heard that Messiah
had been sent to them as well they were glad and glorified the Lord, Acts
13:48, and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. They became
believers from the nations and remained gentiles who had come to the light of
Israel’s
Messiah, even as Isaiah had promised.
Paul obeyed his commission and testified of Messiah
before both gentiles and Israel,
always entering synagogues first, after which he would go to the gentiles.
After years in the faith he hurried to be in Jerusalem
for the Jewish celebration of Shavu’ot, Acts 20:16. Moreover, he told
the Ephesians he testified to Jews and Greeks, maintaining the distinction
between them, Acts 20:21. The prophet Agabus prophesied that Paul would be
bound by the Jews and handed over to the gentiles, again revealing a
distinction between peoples.
Paul told his sorrowful friends that he must go to Jerusalem,
and if need be, to die for the Lord. When he arrived in Jerusalem
he agreed to participate in Jewish rituals of the Temple
at the advice of leaders in Jerusalem.
Why did Paul agree to these rituals? According to Acts 21:21 it was to dispel
false rumors that Paul taught Jewish disciples to forsake their Jewish
heritage, which included circumcising their boys.
Now if Paul had really believed that Jewish
disciples should not continue in their customs, why would he even bother
going back to Jerusalem to die
for the name of the Lord? If Israel
had lost its distinctive importance would he not be wise to stay away and be
fruitful among the gentiles? If the Jewish nation had been set aside would
not Paul also set it aside, even as the rumors about him charged?
After he was mobbed in the Temple and rescued by
the Roman guard Paul gave his testimony to Jerusalem, speaking in Hebrew, the
holy language, telling the crowd he was a Jew and had been a persecutor of
the disciples of Messiah. He told of his encounter with Yeshua on the Damascus
road and how Ananiah ministered to him as a Jewish believer, telling him,
“The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see
the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.” Paul continued, explaining
that afterward he was in the Temple
praying when the Lord Yeshua appeared and told him to leave Jerusalem.
He would send him far away to the nations.
The Jerusalem
crowd listened up to this point, but rioted after hearing about gentiles. The
next day Paul stood before the leadership council of Israel,
the Sanhedrin, telling them he had lived with a good conscience to that day,
Acts 23:1. Now if he had been deceitful at all how could he say he had a good
conscience? If he really knew the Jewish nation had been abolished, and if he
knew he should not bear a “false” witness by participating in Israel’s
rituals, how could he say he had maintained a good conscience? The truth is
Paul’s good conscience allowed him to perform the customs of his nation
without a twinge of guilt! As a result the high priest ordered him struck on
the mouth. Paul responded aggressively, but when he was told his antagonist
was Ananiah the high priest he repented before all the Sanhedrin saying,
“I did not
know brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not
speak evil of a ruler of YOUR PEOPLE.’”
Here the apostle of grace to the nations apologizes
to the high priest of Israel,
saying he was a ruler of his nation. Not only so, but Paul recited the Torah
as a part of his repentance before the council.
He cried out to the Sanhedrin,
“Men and
brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am being judged!” Acts 23:6.
He did not say “I was a Pharisee.” He
testified of being a Jewish disciple of the Messiah of Israel, fully
identifying with the fundamentals of Judaism, making known his Jewish
heritage to the rulers of the Jewish nation. We find that Messiah was well
pleased with this Messianic Jewish testimony, for the following night Yeshua
told him,
“Be of good
cheer, Paul; for as you have [fully] testified (diemartyro) for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome,” Acts 23:11.
Living the life of a Jew, and a Pharisee, and a
part of the nation of Israel
was not a detriment to the cause of Messiah. According to the Lord Himself it
was actually a part of fully testifying of Him.
Consider
further;
1.
Paul
had come to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple, Acts 24:11-12.
2.
He
had come to bring alms and offerings to his nation and was purified according
to the Torah, Acts 24:17-18.
3.
Paul
answered Festus that he had not offended against the Torah of the Jewish
people, nor against the Temple, nor against Caesar, Acts 25:8.
4.
At
the conclusion of testimony to King Agrippa, after explaining his
relationship to Israel as a Jewish disciple, Paul told the king that he
continually testified of what the Prophets and also Moses said would come,
that Messiah would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead
and that He would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the gentiles,
Acts 26:22-23.
5.
When
Paul came to Rome he told Jewish leaders there he had done nothing
against the people of Israel or the customs. It was for the hope of Israel that he was bound with the chain, Acts 28:17-20.
6.
After
testifying to leaders of the Jewish community of Rome some believed, some did not. He therefore exhorted
them with Isaiah 6:9-10 and said that God had sent His salvation to the
nations and they would hear, Acts 28:23-28.
These passages show us that throughout Paul’s
service he did not abolish the distinction between Israel
and the nations. All believers were on equal footing before God. There was no
ultimate advantage of one over the other. Salvation was based on faith in the
Son of God. Yet Israel
remained Israel
and the gentiles remained gentiles.
Paul’s understanding of the relationship of Jews to
the nations may be most clearly seen in the following passage:
“For I
am not ashamed of the Good News of Messiah, for it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek,” Romans 1:16.
Paul continued in Romans 2:6-11, saying,
“[God] will
render to each one according to his deeds; eternal life to those who by
patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but
to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness-indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul
of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; But glory,
honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
Thus is the body of Messiah made of Jews and
Greeks. All are united in the Good News. From a universal perspective all
disobedient will receive punishment as Jews or Greeks
(non-Jews), all seeking good will be blessed as Jews and as Greeks.
With this as the foundation of his epistle we should now look at Romans
2:28-29,
“For he is not
a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is outward in
the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of
the heart by the Spirit, not in the letter; and his praise is not from men,
but from God.”
Many Christians conclude that all who receive the
Spirit become “spiritual Jews” whether or not they were gentiles previously.
But when we observe the immediate context we realize that Paul did not say
gentiles become “spiritual Jews,” he said Jews become “spiritual Jews” by
receiving the Spirit. This accords with what he previously and subsequently
stated, that Jews receive blessings as Jews. The specific context of this
passage of inward circumcision begins in v. 17;
“Indeed you
are called a Jew, and rest on the Torah and make your boast in God, and know
His will...”
So the comments of this passage are directed to
Jews in the audience, not to everyone else. He explained that they were not
immune to stumble in sins, just as he had explained about the rest of the
world in Romans 1:18-32. In v. 24 he said that the name of God was blasphemed
among the nations because of “you” the Jewish people who transgressed God’s
ways.
But v. 25 indicates that circumcision profits if
“you,” the Jewish listener, obeys the Torah. This should be compared to
Romans 2:10-16 where he said gentiles could keep the “things” of the Torah in
their heart and show the works of the Torah written on their hearts. If
gentiles were able to “keep” the Torah, then it certainly was not impossible
for a Jew to “keep it” in a similar way.
So circumcision does profit a Jew if he is able to
keep the Torah in the way that gentiles also keep the Torah, keeping the
Torah which is written on their hearts by the Spirit. He continued, that if
“you,” the Jewish listener do not keep the Torah, but transgress it, you
shall be judged by it. And if those of the uncircumcision, “the gentiles,”
keep the righteous requirements of the Torah, their uncircumcision, or
unsanctified status, shall be considered circumcision, or a sanctified
status. Paul did not say gentiles would find themselves physically
circumcised, he said the level of true sanctification represented by
circumcision is appropriated by gentiles who are able to obey the “things” of
the Torah.
Those who by nature are of the uncircumcision but
who fulfill the Torah shall judge “you,” the Jewish listener, if “you” are a
transgressor. Paul spoke exclusively to the Jews in any mixed audience which
might hear. Furthermore, he said those of the uncircumcision could fulfill
the requirements of the Torah. Again we ask, could not a Jewish disciple
fulfill the requirements? In Romans 2:27
he exhorted his Jewish listeners not to be high-minded just because they have
the Torah. It is not the hearers of the Torah that shall be justified, but
the doers. We should also notice that Paul returned to the designation of
gentiles as uncircumcision “by nature,” distinguishing them from Jews who are
circumcised by nature.
Therefore, in Romans 2:28-29 concerning the “inward
Jew” and the “inward circumcision,” Paul was not addressing the entire body
of Messiah. Rather he exhorted Jewish listeners not to think they have any
advantage simply because they have the Torah. Instead they must be able to
obey the Torah from a circumcised heart, and their praise is not from other
men, but from the testimony of God in their heart.
Paul asked in Romans 3:1-2;
“What
advantage has the Jew? Or what is the profit of the circumcision? Much in
every way!”
As a result of the greater light of God through the
Scriptures, Jews were at a distinct advantage over the pagan world lost in
darkness. Many Jews today are assimilated into Christian society and simply
are not able to see this advantage. In the days Paul wrote the difference was
stark. He continued to speak about distinctions, and overall unity as he
wrote,
“...since
there is one God who will justify the circumcised (the Jewish believers) by
faith and the uncircumcised (the gentile believers) through faith. Do we then
make void the Torah through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we
establish the Torah.” Romans 3:30-31.
Abraham, through faith, became the father of the
uncircumcised (believers from the nations), and the father of the circumcised
(the Jewish believers), who walk in the same faith Abraham had while
uncircumcised, Romans 4:11-12.
This underscores the fact that Paul never obliterated the distinction between
Jewish and gentile believers. They were one body of Messiah through His
Spirit, but they were distinct members. In Romans 9:6-8 we encounter,
“But it is not
that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel...those who are the children of the flesh are not
the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the
seed.”
Does Paul here mean that all those gentiles who
have become sharers in the “promise” through faith have now become “spiritual
Israel?” In
v. 24 we see this is not Paul’s belief. He explained that God had made known
His glory upon vessels of mercy, on us,
“Whom He also
called, not out of the Jewish people only but also from out of the nations.”
Has God set aside His people as many have taught
for so long? Paul became emphatic at this question. God has not rejected His
people whom He foreknew.
Paul explained in Romans 11 that though the number
of faithful in Israel
may dwindle to only 7,000 as in the days of Elijah, yet these 7,000 represent
Israel. The
implication of Romans 11:5 is that today there is yet a faithful remnant of
Jewish believers who represent Israel
before God.
Could the olive tree of Romans 11:16-24 be an
indication that gentile believers have become spiritual Israel?
No, Paul in no way says this. The cultivated olive tree represents God’s historic,
specific interest in a particular faithful people, Israel.
Those who become diseased through unbelief cannot abide in the tree, but the
healthy abide in the tree and stand before God in shalom, in peaceful
salvation, cf. Genesis 8:11.
Repentant pagans from the nations, whose societies
were spiritually “uncultivated,” have been grafted into this tree by faith in
the Root to be able to partake of this shalom with the remnant of the
“cultivated” Jewish disciples. These ingrafted branches share in the blessings
of the Root, but in this teaching picture their origin as uncultivated olive
branches did not change, otherwise there would be no need for the contrast.
If that were the case all believers would become cultivated branches
upon faith in Messiah and would not need “ingrafting.” Instead both the
cultivated and uncultivated branches stretch forth from the original trunk of
faithful Israel
through the Root.
Paul clarified this in Romans 11:25-26 concerning
the “fullness” of the remnant of the nations. A remnant of Israel
was selected according to grace and the rest were hardened, 11:7,
corresponding to the “partial hardening” of Israel
in 11:25 and teaching that some of
Israel has
not been hardened. Israel
as a nation has not been abolished, but because of the transgression of the
majority, salvation in Messiah has gone out to the nations to make Israel
jealous, 11:11-15. If “their”
(unfaithful Jews) transgression be riches for the world, how much more will
“their” fulfillment! Israel
then had a remnant of grace according to God’s choice, and the rest were
hardened. A day would come, when, according to God’s election, the remainder
of Israel
would find their “fulfillment.” What can that mean except that the hardened
majority will one day repent and believe in their own Messiah. This is
precisely what Paul meant in 11:25-26.
Believers from the nations do not become Israel
but they do share in blessings missed by the disobedient in Israel
until they repent.
25 For I
do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will
not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to
Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel
will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM
ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. (NASB)
Furthermore, a “partial hardening of Israel”
would not produce the contradictory “fullness of Israel”
in salvation as some contend. Romans 11:28
explains who the presently hardened of Israel
are:
28 From the
standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the
standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;
(NASB)
The enemies of the Good News were not gentile
believers or Jewish believers to whom Paul wrote, they were and are the
spiritually hardened descendants of Israel
who will one day, as a nation, experience God’s mercy. In His plan of future
events a day will come when the existing hardened majority of Israel
will be divinely softened and then all Israel
will be saved. Paul continued with this distinction in Romans 15:8,10,26-27,
8 For I
say that Messiah has become a servant to the circumcision [Jewish believers
in Messiah] on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to
the fathers,
10 Again he
says,
"REJOICE, O
GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE."
26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution
for the poor among the [Jewish] saints in Jerusalem. 27 Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are
indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things,
they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. (NASB)
Paul concluded this letter to the Romans with yet a
further indication that he did not annul the distinction. We read in 16:3-4,
3 Greet
Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Messiah Yeshua. 4They risked
their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are
grateful to them. (NIV)
If the gentiles had actually become Israel
why did Paul still call them gentiles, especially in contrast to Aquila
and Priscilla, two Jewish believers in Messiah? The truth is Jewish believers
associated with their gentile brethren and corporately made up the body of
Messiah, but neither were expected to adopt a different culture or to forget
their original culture.
Since Romans was written after the Galatian letter
we might expect the same distinction to be found in the earlier letter. We
read in Galatians 6:15-16,
15 For neither
is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16 And as
many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the
Israel of God. (American Standard Version)
Though some think Paul says everyone who believes
in Messiah is the Israel of God, this does not follow with his distinction in
Romans or even in Galatians. Moreover, he says both circumcision and
uncircumcision are unimportant before God, making them equal. Gentile
believers are on the same spiritual footing as Jewish believers. Earlier in
the letter he had said:
“...I had been
entrusted with the Good News of the uncircumcised (the nations), just as
Peter had of the circumcision (Israel). For He who operated in Peter in his apostleship
to the circumcision (Israel) also operated in me to the nations. And [the
Judean apostles] knowing the grace that had been given to me...gave to me and
Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the nations, and
they to the circumcised (Israel),” Galatians 2:7-10. (rendered from the
Greek)
7 ἀλλὰ
τοὐναντίον ἰδόντες
ὅτι
πεπίστευμαι
τò εὐαγγέλιον
τη̃ς ἀκροβυστίας
καθὼς Πέτρος
τη̃ς περιτομη̃ς
8 ὁ
γὰρ ἐνεργήσας
Πέτρω̨ εἰς ἀποστολὴν
τη̃ς περιτομη̃ς
ἐνήργησεν
καὶ ἐμοὶ εἰς
τὰ ἔθνη
9 καὶ
γνόντες τὴν χάριν
τὴν δοθει̃σάν
μοι ’Ιάκωβος
καὶ Κηφα̃ς
καὶ ’Ιωάννης
οἱ δοκου̃ντες
στυ̃λοι εἰ̃ναι
δεξιὰς ἔδωκαν
ἐμοὶ καὶ
Βαρναβα̨̃
κοινωνίας ἵνα
ἡμει̃ς εἰς
τὰ ἔθνη αὐτοὶ
δὲ εἰς τὴν
περιτομήν
Jewish believers did not become gentiles, neither
did the gentiles become Israel.
Both became new creatures and full members of the body of Messiah. In
fact the Good News was pre-announced in God’s promise to Abraham,
“In you all
the nations shall be blessed...that the blessing of Abraham might come upon
the nations in Messiah Yeshua, that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith,” Galatians 3:8,14.
All believers from every nation, including
the nation of Israel,
are the seed of Abraham, by virtue of being “in Messiah,” the promised Seed,
through the Spirit of the Son, Galatians 3:29.
This union by the Spirit is illuminated in
Ephesians 2:11-3:7. Paul exhorted gentile believers to appreciate the
tremendous work Israel’s
Messiah did for them. Before Yeshua’s finished salvation the nations were
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,
Ephesians 2:12. But now, through the light of the New Covenant, gentiles have
been brought near to the commonwealth, being submitted to Him who is the
ruling King of Israel and all the rest of the kingdoms of the world, v.13.
(Isaiah 49:6, 11:10.)
Today there are two main examples of
“commonwealths” in the world, the British Commonwealth
and the new Commonwealth of Independent States of the former U.S.S.R. In both
cases a number of independent countries are bound in one way or another to a
“common good” and “common wealth.” So it is with the “Commonwealth of the Kingdom
of God.” Israel
is one nation of many in this commonwealth, and Israel’s
King, like the Queen of England, is the titular head of the entire
commonwealth. But it is a mistake to call a Canadian an Australian or a New
Zealander a South African, or any of these an Englishman. So it is a mistake
to call the entire Commonwealth of God
“spiritual Israel.”
There is a “spiritual Israel”
made up of spiritual Jews, but every other remnant of believers may be
considered the spiritual representatives of their nations.
Paul uses “both” in this passage in Ephesians
several times to emphasize the fact that Israel
and the nations retain a distinctive identity, but that both are
joined into one new kind of humanity. For Messiah Himself is the source of
peace, who has made both (Israel and the nations) one, and has broken
down the division of the Torah, v.14, so that He might create in Himself one
new Humanity from the two (Israel and the nations) making peace, and
that He might reconcile both (Israel and the nations) to God in one
body through the cross, putting to death the enmity, vv. 15-16. And He came
and preached peace to you (gentiles) who were far off, and to those who were
near (Israel),
v.17. For through Him we both (Israel
and the nations) have access by one Spirit to the Father, v.18. In 3:6 Paul
says believers of the nations have become co-heirs (with Israel),
a joint-body (with Israel)
and joint-partakers (with Israel)
of the promise in Messiah through the Good News.
Previously we saw Jewish and gentiles disciples
distinguished. But here the entire nation of Israel
and all the rest of the nations are distinguished. Consider carefully just
what Paul means when he said gentile believers in the audience had been
brought near to the “commonwealth
of Israel.” In other words King
Yeshua and His Jewish disciples already make up the true leadership of Israel,
since believing gentiles did not submit themselves to the Sanhedrin of Israel
after faith, but to King Messiah and His Jewish apostles.
The foregoing leads us to the fact that there were
literally two legitimate gospels: that which is “of the circumcised” (for the
Jewish people) and that which is “of the uncircumcised” (for all other
nations of the world). Yet Christians who lack an appreciation of the Jewish
origin of the faith generally believe there was, and is, only one version of
the Good News, the Christian Gospel. As a result all passages in New Covenant
Scriptures are unwittingly believed relevant and applicable to all believers,
even if the passage relates specifically to Jewish believers in Messiah (cf.
Acts 2). One of the most serious errors arising from this overview is the
supposed universal Christian water baptism. Yet the New Covenant tells us
that there were differences in the announcement of the Good News of Messiah
depending on whether a Jewish audience was addressed, or an audience from any
of the rest of the nations of the world.
Galatians 2:7 points to the early apostolic
understanding of how the Good News in Messiah was proclaimed. We read,
"The apostles in Jerusalem
saw that [Paul] was entrusted the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter
the gospel of the circumcision." (evanggelion ths akrobustias
according as Peter ths peritomhs).
"But
contrariwise, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel of the
uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision…"
American Standard Version.
This rendering is supported by the Hebrew New
Covenant of 1991 produced by the Bible Society in Israel
which says, “hab’sorah asher la’areilim” (the Good News that is for
the uncircumcised) and “hab’sorah asher lanimolim” (the Good News that
is for the circumcised). This version too supplies the word “hab’sorah”
(the gospel) as does the ASV in the second clause of the sentence. These
translators, as well as others, believe Paul makes a distinction between two
gospels, one of which suited for Jews, the other for gentiles. Indeed, F.F.
Bruce uses the terminology, "...gospel for the uncircumcised...gospel
for the circumcised..." in the commentary of The New International Greek
Testament Commentary, The Epistle to the Galatians, A Commentary on the Greek
Text. Other versions however blur the distinction in Paul’s simple Greek
phrase “euangelion tes akrobustias” with translations like “gospel to the
uncircumcised” (NASB), or even more obscure, “the task of preaching the gospel
to the Gentiles” (NIV), both of which mask the original intent of the verse.
But we'll see in a moment that Paul is not talking about dividing the
territory with Peter, as if he were saying "I'll take the uncircumcised,
you take the circumcised."
Though expositors ignore or downplay Galatians 2:7,
the light it sheds ought to be thrown on each passage of the New Covenant.
The verse makes clear that there was a difference in the proclamation of the
Good News to Israel
and in the proclamation to all the rest of the nations.
Please note, the difference was in content, i.e.
the message being proclaimed. That is made clear in Galatians 2:2. Paul
wanted the apostles in Jerusalem
to evaluate his announcement of the Good News. He laid it before them to
ensure its accuracy, lest he somehow be found to have announced a faulty
message and had thus far run in vain. That means they judged for content.
They evaluated the message Paul was preaching, and that means Paul's message
was not identical to that of the Judean apostles. Otherwise there would be no
need to have it judged, it would have been the same.
In fact, Paul’s main argument to the Galatians not
to submit to circumcision and observance of the Torah raises disturbing
questions if absolutely no difference existed between the gospel “entrusted”
to Paul and the gospel “entrusted” to Peter. If there were no difference,
then Paul should have made it clear that all believers, Jewish or non-Jewish
must avoid circumcision and observance of the Torah, and not just non-Jews.
Obviously then, Jewish disciples of Messiah simply do not have an identical
walk of faith in the Good News as non-Jews. Paul makes clear that, according
to the gospel entrusted to him, a gospel recognized by other Jewish apostles
as valid, non-Jewish disciples have no obligation whatsoever to undergo
physical circumcision or begin observing the ritual details of Israel's
Torah. Certainly gentiles were to obey the universal commandments related to
conduct with God and man. And it must be emphasized that the gentiles were
never called to repudiate Jewish believers in Messiah who continued to
observe the rituals of their national covenant with God.
On the other hand, the Jewish disciples under the
authority of the gospel entrusted to Peter are not to abandon their Jewish
heritage. Paul even makes that clear in 1 Corinthians 7 where he tells Jewish
believers not to abandon their Jewish heritage.
Now it is exceedingly clear that the early Jewish
believers in Israel
soon came to see the greatness of the glory of Yeshua the Messiah. They knew
that the central events of reality are the incarnation, ministry, death,
burial, resurrection, ascension and promise to return of the Lord, Yeshua the
Messiah. They knew that without faith in the Person to whom these facts
pertain, there is no relationship with God and no salvation. They knew that
when a Jew repents and returns to his or her Messiah, they then are
recipients of God's abundant grace in Messiah, promised by Jeremiah in the
New Covenant. It goes without saying then that this is the central message of
what we today call "the Gospel."
Nevertheless, the Greek word euanggelion (translated
as gospel or Gospel) is used to describe various aspects of this central
reality in Yeshua. The basic meaning of evangelion is "proclamation of
good news" or "glad tidings." That certainly makes it
applicable to the lofty definition of Yeshua's glory.
· Yet the
verb related to evangelion is used in other ways in New Covenant Scriptures.
For example it is used in connection with Gabriel announcing the promise of a
son, John, to Zechariah the Jewish priest. As another example, in the
letter of 1 Thessalonians, Timothy "evangelized" Paul about the
abiding faith of the Thessalonians. So we see evangelion was also used to
indicate the proclamation of good news, and not necessarily what we call the
Good News of Messiah.
· As a
further example of diversity of use, consider what Paul wrote in Romans about
"my Gospel." Obviously Paul is not proclaiming faith in himself.
Paul's intention is rather, "my Proclamation (of the Good News
about Yeshua the Messiah)." The facts about Yeshua do not belong to
Paul, but Paul's proclamation of those facts do belong to Paul. Thus
he can easily write "my Gospel" i.e. my evangelion, because his
intent is "my Proclamation."
· In yet
another example, Yeshua Himself proclaimed the "Gospel of the
Kingdom." We may certainly agree that Yeshua's preaching focused
primarily on Himself, the King of the Kingdom. Nevertheless, the "Gospel
of the Kingdom" should be understood as the Glad Tidings of the nearness
of the coming heavenly Kingdom, that had been promised to Israel,
and all the world, through Jewish prophets. The Jewish disciples of Messiah
knew the Glad Tidings of the Kingdom actually had been promised in the Hebrew
Scriptures to Israel
long before Messiah appeared.
· Yet
further, we remember that Yeshua also said that His disciples must be ready
to lose their lives "for My sake, and the Gospel." These references
include the idea of the "proclamation" of a message. In other
words, a disciple who loses his life for Yeshua has done well, but when
Yeshua adds "and the Gospel" He is talking about the proclamation
of the details of Kingdom of God.
· As a
final example of the diversity of usage, Revelation 14:6-7 includes reference
to "an everlasting evangelion." Here there is no definite article,
so strictly speaking, grammatically, it is not "the everlasting
evangelion," but rather "an everlasting evangelion."
Furthermore, we see the message delivered by the angel is not precisely those
details of Yeshua's life, but rather a divine "proclamation" that
demands the right response from all who hear it.
God entrusted Paul with the message of the Good
News that is suited for the nations (uncircumcision), just as Peter was
entrusted with that for the circumcision. In this strict setting, the
Scripture says there are two Gospels.
The New Covenant shows us that Paul did not preach
the same message to the gentiles that he preached to Jews. Paul's message in Athens
and the message to King Agrippa focused on Jesus but were not identical.
Paul's
Proclamation of the Gospel in Athens
Acts
17:22-34
22 So Paul,
standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive
that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and
observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this
inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown,
this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it,
being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor
is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself
gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one
man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having
determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27
that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward
him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for
"'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own
poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'
29 Being then
God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or
silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The
times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere
to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in
righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given
assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
32 Now
when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others
said, "We will hear you again about this." 33 So Paul went out from
their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were
Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
(English Standard Version)
Paul's
Proclamation of the Gospel in Israel
Acts 26:2-23
2
"I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am
going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3
especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of
the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4
"My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own
nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a
long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party
of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand here on trial
because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our
twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And
for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by
any of you that God raises the dead?
9 "I myself was convinced that I ought to do
many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison
after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to
death I cast my vote against them. 11 And I punished them often in all the
synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them
I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12 "In
this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief
priests. 13 At midday, O king, I
saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around
me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we had all fallen to the
ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language,[a] 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' 15 And I said, 'Who are you,
Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise
and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to
appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me
and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your
people and from the Gentiles--to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes,
so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to
God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who
are sanctified by faith in me.'
19
"Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and
throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they
should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their
repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to
kill me. 22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I
stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the
prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer
and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light
both to our people and to the Gentiles."
(English Standard Version)
From an historical perspective, not long after the
passing of the original Jewish apostles the emerging Christian Church
amalgamated both the Gospel of the Circumcision and the Gospel of the
Uncircumcision into one prevailing version. It was, in reality, a distortion
of both with error and confusion clouding the original meaning of both water
baptism and Spirit baptism. This confusion led the Christian Church to claim
for long centuries to have replaced "physical Israel."
Spiritual Israel
But in light of the above, we see that “spiritual Israel”
consists of Messiah and His Jewish disciples who are led by the Spirit of
God. Both spiritual Israel
and the spiritual remnant of the nations have equal access to God.
Who is the "Israel of God" then? It is
the faithful remnant of Jewish disciples, the believers of the circumcision,
as we saw in Romans 11:5. The remnant of Israel
and its impact on various passages cannot be down-played for a proper
historical or prophetic understanding of Scripture. Neither can the modern
remnant of Israel,
today’s growing number of Jewish believers in Yeshua as Messiah, be ignored
in the body of Messiah, i.e. the Christian world of faithful disciples. There
cannot be a re-erection of the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, but
by the same token there cannot be a repudiation of the Jewish heritage of a
growing number of disciples in Messiah’s body. Moreover, if Jewish believers
are called to testify to their own nation in their own special way as this
age draws to a close, it is important to recognize the distinction, so that
they might announce the Good News unhindered, in a way Israel will recognize
it as the Good News promised them in the Hebrew Scriptures.
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