One New Man
Bible Study Time 10-29-06
Church links:
Bible Study Time 10-29-06
When Abraham was 85 years old, God told him that he was going to have a son. When Abraham believed the word of God, God counted Abraham as righteous. However, Abraham’s wife Sarah did not conceive a child for many years. Fourteen years later, when Abraham was 99 years old, he still had no child by Sarah, but it was at that time that God came to Abraham and told him that He was going to make an everlasting, unending covenant with him and with his descendants. Genesis 17 says:
Genesis 17:1-7 (NKJ)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
Some people today think that God is completely through with the nation of Israel. They believe that God rejected the nation of Israel when Israel rejected and crucified the Lord. They believe that God has turned his back on Israel as a nation, and they believe that the blessings which were promised to Abraham have been given to us as members of the Church. They believe that our relationship with God is based on the covenant that God made with Abraham so many years ago.
To be honest, there are a few passages of scripture which seem to support this idea. In Romans, Chapter 2, Paul said:
Romans 2:28-29 (NKJ)
28 . . . he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
In Romans, Chapter 4, Paul brought to the forefront the fact that Abraham was saved, not by the Law and not by circumcision, but he was saved by grace through faith because he believed what God told him. Paul pointed out that Abraham was saved by faith before circumcision was given and before the Law was given. Then Paul asked:
Romans 4:9a (NKJ)
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?
In other words, if Abraham was saved by faith without circumcision and without the Law, then what would keep others from being saved the same way? Paul offered this conclusion beginning in verse 9:
Romans 4:9b-11 (NKJ)
9 . . . we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
So, Paul says that Abraham is the father of all those who believe the word of God and have the kind of faith that Abraham had. If we go back to Genesis 17, we see that God made His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Therefore, if Abraham is our father, and we are the children of Abraham, this would bring us into this covenant relationship with God through Abraham.
However, this is one of those areas where we need to rightly divide the word of truth. Paul’s doctrine in the book of Romans needs to be seen in the light Paul’s Acts-period ministry. During the Acts-period, God sent Paul out as the Apostle to the Gentiles. He went out offering salvation to the Gentiles so that they could enter into the earthly kingdom which God had promised to Israel.
From the beginning, Paul stood firm on the issue of circumcision, saying that is was not appropriate to require the Gentiles to submit to circumcision. He said that the ritual of circumcision was given as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. Since the Gentiles were not participants in that covenant, the ritual of circumcision was not appropriate for them. In Acts 16, Paul allowed Timothy to be circumcised because Timothy’s mother was a Jew, but in Galatians, Chapter 2, Paul reported that Titus was not required to submit to circumcision because Titus was a Gentile.
When Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to defend this point of doctrine, James became convinced that Paul’s doctrine was correct. He realized that the Gentiles were not participants in the covenant but that they were to be blessed as a result of the covenant. James paraphrased the words of the prophet Amos who was speaking for God, saying:
Acts 15:16-17 (NKJ)
16 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.'
If we go back to the book of Amos, we see that Amos actually said:
Amos 9:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David . . .
12 That (My people) may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name," . . .
So Amos said that someday the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, while James paraphrased Amos saying that someday the saved Gentiles would seek the Lord. Actually, James did no disservice to Amos because both statements are true. Isaiah confirmed that:
Isaiah 11:10 (NKJ)
10 " . . . in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious."
But the fact remains that the verse from which James actually quoted indicated that the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, and it was on this basis that James was willing to accept the saved Gentiles of the Acts-period without circumcision.
Paul fully understood the political position that the Gentiles would hold in the kingdom. That’s why he said in Romans, Chapter 1, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also the Greek. However, Paul did not see the saved Gentiles as second class citizens of the kingdom. On the contrary, he said that the saved Gentiles were indeed the spiritual children of Abraham because they were saved by faith just like Abraham was saved, and they were being offered a place in the kingdom which was promised to Abraham.
God made His covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. When God promised the land of Canaan to the Jews, that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gentiles. That land was promised to the Jews, and God will someday give it to the Jews. That land will become an everlasting possession of the nation of Israel.
The Gentiles were not participants in the covenant, but from the beginning God promised that the Gentiles would be blessed as a result of the covenant. God simply promised the Jews that He was going to bless the Gentiles through the nation of Israel.
The saved Gentiles of the Acts-period will be among the saved Gentiles who will enter the kingdom after the tribulation period. They will inhabit the far corners of the earth, but they will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. As Zechariah said:
Zechariah 8:23 (NKJ)
23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"
During the kingdom, the land of Palestine will belong to the literal descendants of Abraham, and during Paul’s early, Act-period ministry, Paul had this kingdom in mind as he went out to the Gentiles, preaching the gospel of the grace of God.
In the book of Romans, Paul said that in a spiritual sense there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He told them that God offered His son, Jesus Christ, as the sacrifice for sin so that He could forgive their sins and still remain just. Those Gentiles who believed Paul’s message were given the promise of everlasting life and the hope of entering into the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ.
However, during this period of time Paul repeatedly emphasized the Jewish position of privilege. In Romans 3, Paul said:
Romans 3:1-2 (NKJ)
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
In Romans 9, he said:
Romans 9:3-4 (NKJ)
3 . . . I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
In Romans 11, Paul confirmed the fact that God’s covenant with the Jews was still in effect when he said:
Romans 11:26-27 (NKJ)
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
This verse is most certainly talking about the literal descendants of Abraham. In this chapter, Paul was addressing the fact that very few literal Jews were being saved. He said that the nation of Israel was the tree into which the Gentile believers were being grafted. He concluded that although many of the dead, Jewish branches were being broken off, the entire nation of Israel would someday turn to the Lord in faith.
This is not a reference to the Church of our present age. It would be impossible for all of the Church to someday be saved in the future. By definition, the Church is already saved. It makes no difference if a person goes to church or joins a church, no one is a member of God’s church without a personal experience of salvation through a personal faith in Jesus Christ, but all those who believe are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church which is the Body of Christ.
The literal nation of Israel, on the hand, rejected Jesus Christ in Paul’s day, and for the most part, is still rejecting Christ today. But someday, the literal nation of Israel will come to the realization that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and that He came to the earth from heaven to shed His blood for the sins of the world. At that point Israel will be saved, and God will take away her sins for this is God’s covenant with them.
All of the spiritual blessings of Paul’s Acts-period message belong to us today. We are saved by simple faith in Jesus Christ and in His finished work upon the cross. But Paul’s Acts-period message stands in contrast to his message for today. After the Acts-period, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and in those books he revealed the Church which is the Body of Christ.
In those epistles, Paul never mentioned Abraham’s name even once. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we do not come to God as the children of Abraham. We come to God on the basis of the fact that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before Abraham was, we were, in the mind of God, predestined to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, Paul referred to the Jewish covenants only once. In Ephesians, Chapter 2, Paul said that we, Gentiles, were in times past:
Ephesians 2:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Then he said:
Ephesians 2:13 (NKJ)
13 But now in Christ Jesus (we) who once were far off have been brought near (to God, by what? By the covenants? No.) by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJ)
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Today, the covenants that God made with Israel have been set aside. It was the covenants that made such a strong distinction between the nation of Israel and the rest of the world. But now those covenants have been set aside. That which put the Gentile at a disadvantage during the Old Testament and during the Acts-period has now been set aside. God is now calling Jews and Gentiles alike into one new man, into one body through the cross.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Genesis 17:1-7 (NKJ)
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.
2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
Some people today think that God is completely through with the nation of Israel. They believe that God rejected the nation of Israel when Israel rejected and crucified the Lord. They believe that God has turned his back on Israel as a nation, and they believe that the blessings which were promised to Abraham have been given to us as members of the Church. They believe that our relationship with God is based on the covenant that God made with Abraham so many years ago.
To be honest, there are a few passages of scripture which seem to support this idea. In Romans, Chapter 2, Paul said:
Romans 2:28-29 (NKJ)
28 . . . he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;
29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
In Romans, Chapter 4, Paul brought to the forefront the fact that Abraham was saved, not by the Law and not by circumcision, but he was saved by grace through faith because he believed what God told him. Paul pointed out that Abraham was saved by faith before circumcision was given and before the Law was given. Then Paul asked:
Romans 4:9a (NKJ)
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also?
In other words, if Abraham was saved by faith without circumcision and without the Law, then what would keep others from being saved the same way? Paul offered this conclusion beginning in verse 9:
Romans 4:9b-11 (NKJ)
9 . . . we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
So, Paul says that Abraham is the father of all those who believe the word of God and have the kind of faith that Abraham had. If we go back to Genesis 17, we see that God made His covenant with Abraham and his descendants. Therefore, if Abraham is our father, and we are the children of Abraham, this would bring us into this covenant relationship with God through Abraham.
However, this is one of those areas where we need to rightly divide the word of truth. Paul’s doctrine in the book of Romans needs to be seen in the light Paul’s Acts-period ministry. During the Acts-period, God sent Paul out as the Apostle to the Gentiles. He went out offering salvation to the Gentiles so that they could enter into the earthly kingdom which God had promised to Israel.
From the beginning, Paul stood firm on the issue of circumcision, saying that is was not appropriate to require the Gentiles to submit to circumcision. He said that the ritual of circumcision was given as a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. Since the Gentiles were not participants in that covenant, the ritual of circumcision was not appropriate for them. In Acts 16, Paul allowed Timothy to be circumcised because Timothy’s mother was a Jew, but in Galatians, Chapter 2, Paul reported that Titus was not required to submit to circumcision because Titus was a Gentile.
When Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to defend this point of doctrine, James became convinced that Paul’s doctrine was correct. He realized that the Gentiles were not participants in the covenant but that they were to be blessed as a result of the covenant. James paraphrased the words of the prophet Amos who was speaking for God, saying:
Acts 15:16-17 (NKJ)
16 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;
17 So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does all these things.'
If we go back to the book of Amos, we see that Amos actually said:
Amos 9:11-12 (NKJ)
11 "On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David . . .
12 That (My people) may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name," . . .
So Amos said that someday the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, while James paraphrased Amos saying that someday the saved Gentiles would seek the Lord. Actually, James did no disservice to Amos because both statements are true. Isaiah confirmed that:
Isaiah 11:10 (NKJ)
10 " . . . in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious."
But the fact remains that the verse from which James actually quoted indicated that the saved Gentiles would become a possession of the nation of Israel, and it was on this basis that James was willing to accept the saved Gentiles of the Acts-period without circumcision.
Paul fully understood the political position that the Gentiles would hold in the kingdom. That’s why he said in Romans, Chapter 1, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also the Greek. However, Paul did not see the saved Gentiles as second class citizens of the kingdom. On the contrary, he said that the saved Gentiles were indeed the spiritual children of Abraham because they were saved by faith just like Abraham was saved, and they were being offered a place in the kingdom which was promised to Abraham.
God made His covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. When God promised the land of Canaan to the Jews, that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Gentiles. That land was promised to the Jews, and God will someday give it to the Jews. That land will become an everlasting possession of the nation of Israel.
The Gentiles were not participants in the covenant, but from the beginning God promised that the Gentiles would be blessed as a result of the covenant. God simply promised the Jews that He was going to bless the Gentiles through the nation of Israel.
The saved Gentiles of the Acts-period will be among the saved Gentiles who will enter the kingdom after the tribulation period. They will inhabit the far corners of the earth, but they will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. As Zechariah said:
Zechariah 8:23 (NKJ)
23 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"
During the kingdom, the land of Palestine will belong to the literal descendants of Abraham, and during Paul’s early, Act-period ministry, Paul had this kingdom in mind as he went out to the Gentiles, preaching the gospel of the grace of God.
In the book of Romans, Paul said that in a spiritual sense there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He told them that God offered His son, Jesus Christ, as the sacrifice for sin so that He could forgive their sins and still remain just. Those Gentiles who believed Paul’s message were given the promise of everlasting life and the hope of entering into the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ.
However, during this period of time Paul repeatedly emphasized the Jewish position of privilege. In Romans 3, Paul said:
Romans 3:1-2 (NKJ)
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
In Romans 9, he said:
Romans 9:3-4 (NKJ)
3 . . . I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
In Romans 11, Paul confirmed the fact that God’s covenant with the Jews was still in effect when he said:
Romans 11:26-27 (NKJ)
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
This verse is most certainly talking about the literal descendants of Abraham. In this chapter, Paul was addressing the fact that very few literal Jews were being saved. He said that the nation of Israel was the tree into which the Gentile believers were being grafted. He concluded that although many of the dead, Jewish branches were being broken off, the entire nation of Israel would someday turn to the Lord in faith.
This is not a reference to the Church of our present age. It would be impossible for all of the Church to someday be saved in the future. By definition, the Church is already saved. It makes no difference if a person goes to church or joins a church, no one is a member of God’s church without a personal experience of salvation through a personal faith in Jesus Christ, but all those who believe are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church which is the Body of Christ.
The literal nation of Israel, on the hand, rejected Jesus Christ in Paul’s day, and for the most part, is still rejecting Christ today. But someday, the literal nation of Israel will come to the realization that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God and that He came to the earth from heaven to shed His blood for the sins of the world. At that point Israel will be saved, and God will take away her sins for this is God’s covenant with them.
All of the spiritual blessings of Paul’s Acts-period message belong to us today. We are saved by simple faith in Jesus Christ and in His finished work upon the cross. But Paul’s Acts-period message stands in contrast to his message for today. After the Acts-period, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, and in those books he revealed the Church which is the Body of Christ.
In those epistles, Paul never mentioned Abraham’s name even once. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we do not come to God as the children of Abraham. We come to God on the basis of the fact that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Before Abraham was, we were, in the mind of God, predestined to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, Paul referred to the Jewish covenants only once. In Ephesians, Chapter 2, Paul said that we, Gentiles, were in times past:
Ephesians 2:12 (NKJ)
12 . . . without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Then he said:
Ephesians 2:13 (NKJ)
13 But now in Christ Jesus (we) who once were far off have been brought near (to God, by what? By the covenants? No.) by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:14-16 (NKJ)
14 For (Christ) Himself is our peace, who has made both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Today, the covenants that God made with Israel have been set aside. It was the covenants that made such a strong distinction between the nation of Israel and the rest of the world. But now those covenants have been set aside. That which put the Gentile at a disadvantage during the Old Testament and during the Acts-period has now been set aside. God is now calling Jews and Gentiles alike into one new man, into one body through the cross.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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