 JEWS, GENTILES &
THE CHURCH
by
Dave Hunt
Before the cross of Christ, mankind
was divided into two groups: Jews and Gentiles. The Old and
New Testaments both make very clear what caused this distinction: it was the
covenants God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and with their
descendants through Moses. These covenants were for Israel alone
and separated her from all other nations on the face of the earth, making
God's "chosen people" absolutely unique. Israel was segregated
from other peoples by the Mosaic law and by her special relationship
with the One who calls Himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob."
The important distinction between Jews and Gentiles
is maintained consistently throughout the Bible: "...so
shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon
the face of the earth" (Exodus 33:16); "...for I the Lord am
holy, and have severed you from other people that ye should be
mine" (Lev. 20:26); "And what one nation in the earth is like
thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his ... own people
forever" (II Chronicles 17:21-22); ... ye (Gentiles) were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
..." (Ephesians 2:11-12).
After the cross a new entity came into existence -- the church that
Jesus Christ promised He would build (Matthew
16:18). As a result, there are now three divisions of mankind: Jews,
Gentiles and the church. Paul tells us that we are to "Give
none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to
the church of God" (I Corinthians 10:32). It is absolutely
essential to understand that these three groups exist side- by-side in today’s
world, to distinguish between them, and to recognize that God deals with
each differently
Essential also is an understanding that the church
was created through offering to both Jews and Gentiles a "new
covenant" relationship with God. This did not bring
Gentiles under the Jewish Mosaic Law (as some erroneously teach), but
delivered from it those coming into the church, both Jews
and Gentiles. Paul explains that Gentiles who were "aliens
... of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise"
have been "made nigh(to God) by the blood of
Christ." God has "broken down the middle wall of
partition(between Jew and Gentile); having abolished in his flesh the
(Mosaic) law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in
himself of twain(Jew and Gentile) one new man" (Ephesians 2:11- 22).
These Scriptures (and many others) make it clear that the church did not
replace Israel, but came into existence as a
new and third entity comprised of both Jews and Gentiles and distinct from
each. As surely as Gentiles continue to exist outside the church,
so does Israel with all of God's promises and plans for her remaining in
full force. God also has unique plans for the church different from
those for either Israel or the Gentile nations.
A major error of Reconstructionists such as North, Rushdoony,
DeMar and Bahnsen(an
error that is also taught by Jay Grimstead's
Coalition on Revival) is their claim that the Law of Moses was for all
mankind; and that it provides the moral basis both for the civil government
of Romans 13:1-10 and for the conduct of Christians today. On the
contrary, the law which unsaved civil magistrates enforce under Romans
13 could not be the Mosaic Law, because that was given exclusively to the
Jews. It is rather the moral law that Romans 2:1-29 says is
written by God in every human conscience
That the Mosaic law was never intended for Gentiles and is not applicable to
the church is clear from many Scriptures in
addition to those quoted above, such as: "For what nation is there so
great, who hath God so nigh unto them ... (and) hath statutes and
judgments so righteous as all this law" (Deuteronomy 4:7- 8); "He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his
judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with
any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known
them"(Psalms 147:19-20) As already noted, the Mosaic
"law of commandments" that distinguished Israel from the rest of
the world was "abolished" by the cross of Christ in the
process of creating the church out of Jews and Gentiles who have been
made into "one new man."
Failure to accept the above teaching
of Scripture leads to grievous errors which plagued the early church and
are being revived today. Foremost, of course, is legalism -- the
idea that to be a Christian one must obey the laws of Moses. This
causes confusion both as to justification and sanctification: the
means of being delivered from sin's future penalty, and from its present
power in our lives. The Scripture makes it
clear that neither of these involves keeping the law. The suggestion of
"Judaizers", that the church was under the Mosaic Law, was
rejected as heresy by the apostles and elders when they met in
Jerusalem specifically to consider this subject shortly after Pentecost
(Acts 15:19). Paul thoroughly refuted the Judaizers'
teaching in his Epistle to the Galatians.
Certainly through keeping the law "there shall no flesh be
justified" (Romans 3:20). Justification comes as a free gift of
God's grace through the finished work of Christ. Nor can one be sanctified
(i.e. gain the victory over the practice of sin) by keeping the law,
because of the weakness of human flesh. The good news
is that "what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh," God accomplished through "sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" (Romans 8:1-4). The New
Testament presents to the Christian a much higher standard of moral and
ethical conduct than that of the Mosaic Law. And we are empowered to live this higher standard because Christ
Himself, by the Holy Spirit, has come to indwell our hearts and to live
through us a supernatural life pleasing to God. The glorious result is the
death of self and a new life of faith (Galatians 2:20) that produces
the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
There are many serious consequences to the growing
delusion that the church is Israel. Christ
said that those who "call themselves Jews and are not" are
in fact "the synagogue of Satan"(Revelation 2:9;3:9)! Some
of those who teach this lie are brilliant, such as Greg Bahnsen,
who holds his doctorate in philosophy from USC. Yet the errors they make
are so elementary as to betray a basic anti-Jewish sentiment, which they
deny, but which seems to have blinded them to the obvious. Bahnsen, for example, quotes Ps. 89:34 ("My
covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips.") to prove his contention that "God's covenant is one
unchanging moral code through Old & New Testaments" (By This
Standard, p. 44). Yet Psalm 89 has nothing whatsoever to do with a moral code
but is all about the covenant God made with David that "His seed
shall endure forever, & his throne as the sun before me" (v.
36). This is the covenant the angel Gabriel reaffirmed in telling Mary that
the One conceived in her of the Holy Spirit would reign on the throne
of His father David, a covenant which Bahnsen
perversely claims is no longer in force in spite of the very verse he
misapplies declaring that it is!
Bahnsen habitually quotes Jesus' statement,
"... one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law ..."to support his contention that the
church is under the Mosaic Law, but deliberately leaves out the rest of
the sentence. Far from teaching that the law would always be in force, Christ
declared that it would pass away when it was fulfilled, and that He had
come to fulfill it: "I am not come to destroy [the law], but to
fulfill [it]. ... one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17-18).
His life, death, burial and resurrection accomplished this fulfillment and
made possible the new covenant relationship with God where by those in
the church are "justified by faith without the deeds of law"
(Romans 3:21-30). Does this "make void the law"? No, it
"establish[es] the law" (v.31) as that
which made, Israel unique, was the barrier between Jew and Gentile, is
still applicable to Jews, but for those now in the church, both Jews
and Gentiles, has been fulfilled and abolished in Christ.
Those who teach that the
church is Israel go on to claim that the church is heir to all of
the promises given to Israel.
This is as ludicrous as claiming that "the land of Israel" is now
"the land of the church." Clearly the church has no
relationship to the land God gave to Israel. Hear God's promise:
"... though I make a full end of all nations whither I have
scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee ... He that
scattered Israel will gather him ... they shall come and sing in the height of
Zion ... they shall not sorrow any more at all" (Jeremiah
30:10-11;31:3-14; etc.).
The preservation of the Israelis as an identifiable people, in spite of the
proverbial "wandering Jews" 2500-year Diaspora from the
promised land, and the establishment of Israel in 1948, constitute
irrefutable proof for the existence of the "God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob" and the validity of His Holy Word. Therefore, to insist
that Israel no longer has any claim to her ancient homeland, and that her
return thereto is a mere coincidence, denies one of the most persuasive
arguments for belief in God and the Gospel, dishonors Him and His Word,
and is not only illogical but evil!
My language may seem strong, but it is justified in view of the monstrous
errors that grow from this one delusion, as
well as by the severity of Christ's "synagogue of Satan"
indictment. It may seem innocent enough to claim for the church II
Chronicles 7:14, but this Scripture that has become such a
popular favorite simply does not apply to the church. While Christians
may make spiritual applications to themselves from God's admonition to
Israel to "humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way," the "land"
He promised to heal as a result was Israel and only Israel, not the
United States or any other country.
Gary North's latest book, When Justice is Aborted, begins with God's promise
to Joshua that He would help him to conquer the land of Canaan--then,
in a typical Reconstruction/Kingdom/ Dominion misapplication of
Scripture, on that basis justifies a Christian takeover of the world. The
Forceful Men organization, co-directed by muscleman John Jacobs,
recently sponsored a large conference in Phoenix
featuring leading Charismatic speakers, who promoted the same error.
God's exhortation to Joshua to "go in and
possess the land [of Canaan] was presented as inspiration and justification
for a "Joshua generation" of macho-minded Christians taking
over America and the world. In fact, Joshua himself had
no authority from God to take over any land outside of the prescribed
boundaries specifically given to Israel. (Genesis 15:18-21; Numbers
34:1-12; etc.)
The Second Coming
of Christ becomes clouded in confusion if we fail to remember that the
Lord comes in a different and specific manner for "Jews, Gentiles
and the church of God."
For His bride He comes secretly to
"rapture" her to His Father's house of many mansions where He has
prepared an eternal dwelling place for her. For Israel, in the midst of
God's judgment for her rejection of her Messiah, surrounded by the
armies of the world and about to be destroyed, He comes visibly in power to
rescue her, judge her Gentile enemies, and to establish the Millennial
kingdom with headquarters in Jerusalem. May God help us to "love
His appearing" and to witness with a clear voice concerning these soon
coming events
Reprinted
with permission of the Berean Call
Ministry
www.thebereancall.org
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