Tim Responds to Comments

Thank you for your comment on the article about Israel.  Allow me to interact with you a little bit on this issue to help clarify some issues.  As I noted in the paper, the NT always maintains a clear distinction between Israel and the church.  This is a fact.  Let me explain the significance of the issue and how it relates to your comment. 

First, the NT never says that saved Gentiles become Jews.  There are passages like Romans 2 and Romans 9 where Paul hammers home the point that just because one is a Jew (i.e., a physical descendant from Israel), that does not mean that he is saved and has a proper relationship with God.  Paul tells them that a true Jew is the one who has become a complete Jew through salvation in Jesus.  In those passages, Paul DOES NOT say that Gentiles who come to Christ are now “spiritual Jews” or part of a “new Israel” or “Spiritual Israel.”  This is a very serious exegetical mistake that some have used to argue the idea that the church has taken the place of Israel or that the church is the one who fulfills OT promises about Israel’s restoration.

Throughout the NT, the Bible regularly maintains a distinction between Israel as the nation consisting of physical Jews and the church.  The latter is a distinct body of believers.  This body is made up of both Jews and Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ.  As Paul says in Ephesians 2:11ff., Jew and Gentile share salvation in Christ as “one new man.”  This does not say that Gentiles are becoming Jews.  As a matter of fact, this is a major thrust of the NT:  for Gentiles to get saved and have full spiritual privileges and blessings, all they must do is trust in Christ.  When they do, they become fellow heirs of all the saving grace of Christ.  In this new body (cf. Eph. 3:1ff. where Paul explains that the church is a new spiritual body that did not exist in the OT, nor was it foreseen by the OT prophets), Gentiles have equal outward status with the Jews.

This latter point is directly related to your comment.  In the body of Christ, there is no sense of spiritual superiority for a Jew over a Gentile, hence, “no Jew or Gentile.”  This does not mean that Jews are no longer Jews and Gentiles are no longer Gentiles.  Likewise, Paul says there is neither male or female.  Paul is not saying that he does not recognize male and female distinctiveness.  In various passages, Paul makes it very clear that there are abiding distinctions between men and women and that males and females each have distinctive roles.  There is, however, no spiritual superiority (Gal. 3:28).  In the same, way, there still were master and slave relationships for Christians (cf. Philemon).  Nevertheless, in Christ there is no spiritual superiority of a Christian master over his Christian slave if he had one.

I hope this helps to answer your question.  For a good study, begin in Acts and go through Revelation and make note of how many times distinctions are made between Israel the nation and the church or between Jews and Gentiles (e.g., Rom. 16:4).  A huge error of Covenant Theology is that it defines the church as being a new or spiritual Israel and says that the church is the one who is to receive all the blessings promised to Israel in the OT.  The OT makes a multitude of repeated promises that God is going to restore Israel and fulfill every promise He made to them.  To say that national Israel (a saved remnant that comes to Christ during the Tribulation Period) will not be restored is to make a huge attack on the character of God and His promises.  At the present time, salvific blessings are coming to all mankind through the church.  In the Tribulation, large numbers of Gentiles will get saved as well.  As Revelation 7 shows, God’s judgment in the Tribulation will include a huge restoration to all mankind, not only of Jews (Rev. 7:1-8), but also of Gentiles (Rev. 7:9-17).
 
 
Tim

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Eschatology, Theology