God makes no distinction between Jew and greek, why do so many scholars like to ?

[DaveM]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

 

[dqhall]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

I have been to Israel numerous times during the past 25 years. Even if you do not make a distinction between Jew and Greek, some neighborhoods, moshavs and kibbutzes are Jewish only. Certain foods are not sold in their supermarkets. An Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem blocks their streets with temporary barriers during Shabbat/Saturday. They do not allow driving in that section. I had a rental car and was pulled over by police twice for driving on Sabbath. My last trip to Israel I stayed in my hotel room most of Sabbath. Once someone got screaming mad at me for carrying a camera and taking photos on Sabbath. Once I did not know when Yom Kippur was and flew out of Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) that day. The streets were deserted as I drove my rental car to the airport. There are special religious holidays you might not be aware of. There are laws of ritual cleanness some Jews observe. There are some roads that are Jewish only and some that are Palestinian only. Israeli Arabs had Israel license plates and used Israeli roads.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

Paul was addressing this to Jews who had become Christian. They were insisting that non-Jewish converts, e.g. Greeks, had to go through the various Jewish customs of conversion such as circumcision. Paul is saying that they don't, that we are all one in Christ. He is removing race, sex, and class distinctions.

 

[Hazelelponi]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

Are we talking modern Jews who reject the Messiah or Old Covenant Jews who were saved by faith and set free at the Resurrection? (ie: the captives who were set free)

If the later there is no distinction, if the former there is a distinction to be made, for on the entire earth there are only two groups of people, those who have placed their faith in Christ (the Body in Covenant with God), and those who have not... Modern Jews are those who have not, and are not in Covenant, otherwise known as outside of covenant.

Scholars or not, those who don't understand this point are in error.

 

[Mr. M]

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

Those who walk by faith as Abraham did are his seed. Yes, Jew or Greek is irrelevant.
Those who do not accept justification by faith cannot receive like precious faith.
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ:

Romans 9:
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
33 As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
He continues into chapter 10. This entire chapter should be well understood by all.
Romans 10:
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
In Christ, we experience the fulfillment of the Law. He did not abolish the Law,
He magnified the Law and made it honorable.
Isaiah 42:21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;
He will exalt the law and make it honorable.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not!
On the contrary, we establish the law.
Only those who walk by faith can magnify the Law, even as did father Abraham.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

There's a time to distinguish between Jew and Gentile in understanding the context of many passages, maybe even most passages, of Scripture.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

The qualifier in the passage is IF you belong to Christ there is no spiritual distinction between Jew and Greek.

Interesting that the term Greek in scripture often means anyone who is not an Israelite, thus is the same as the term Gentile (although 'Gentile' sometimes means nations, or, tribes and is a direct reference to the house of Israel).

 

[Mr. M]

There's a time to distinguish between Jew and Gentile in understanding the context of many passages, maybe even most passages, of Scripture.

You can also say that there is a necessity to make the distinction between "natural Israel",
and "spiritual Israel".
natural Israel=by the flesh
Romans 9:
3 For 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;
5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came,
who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen

 

[Mark Quayle]

You can also say that there is a necessity to make the distinction between "natural Israel",
and "spiritual Israel".
natural Israel=by the flesh
Romans 9:
3 For 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;
5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came,
who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen

Yes, of course. Agreed

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

I imagine most Scholars were originally instructed by using the Scofield Reference Bible which teaches Dispensationalism, the original source for dividing the two groups. John Nelson Darby being the inventor.
Blessings

 

[DaveM]

thanks everyone for the great feed back, I am much clearer on this subject now !!

 

[Randy777]

Paul was addressing this to Jews who had become Christian. They were insisting that non-Jewish converts, e.g. Greeks, had to go through the various Jewish customs of conversion such as circumcision. Paul is saying that they don't, that we are all one in Christ. He is removing race, sex, and class distinctions.

I thought Paul's letter was sent to to the "churches in Galatia" who were being influenced by those who stated they should now be circumcised. Paul=> "This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves"

Paul's main theme was to gentile believers to keep the faith in the true gospel Paul gave them. Why do you believe he was addressing Jews?

Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Those "God" calls His children whose praise is from God not man.
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

I thought Paul's letter was sent to to the "churches in Galatia" who were being influenced by those who stated they should now be circumcised. Paul=> "This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves"

Paul's main theme was to gentile believers to keep the faith in the true gospel Paul gave them. Why do you believe he was addressing Jews?

These were converts from Judaism to Christianity that Paul was addressing. We even saw this in the apostles meeting in Jerusalem. The first question that the early church had to decide was how to handle the commandments of the Torah and other Jewish laws and regulations. In Galatia, there would have been a large number of Jews who had become Christians. So they were under the belief that to become a Christian, one had to go through the Jewish conversion process first. Paul is saying that this is incorrect that non-Jewish simply become Christians.

 

[Randy777]

These were converts from Judaism to Christianity that Paul was addressing. We even saw this in the apostles meeting in Jerusalem. The first question that the early church had to decide was how to handle the commandments of the Torah and other Jewish laws and regulations. In Galatia, there would have been a large number of Jews who had become Christians. So they were under the belief that to become a Christian, one had to go through the Jewish conversion process first. Paul is saying that this is incorrect that non-Jewish simply become Christians.

I don't see that. There may have been some Jews who came to Christ but I see Paul addressing Gentile believers. That was the theme of his letter.
“You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Acts 15
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

Christ Jesus is the seed (singular) of Abraham and anyone who has the Spirit of Christ in them are one with Christ Jesus and therefore also the seed of Abraham ands heirs according to the promise.

 

[GreekOrthodox]

I don't see that. There may have been some Jews who came to Christ but I see Paul addressing Gentile believers. That was the theme of his letter.
“You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Acts 15
Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

Christ Jesus is the seed (singular) of Abraham and anyone who has the Spirit of Christ in them are one with Christ Jesus and therefore also the seed of Abraham ands heirs according to the promise.

Right. Pretty much a small group of Jewish converts in the churches in Galatia were pushing for Gentile converts to practice some Jewish practices. You and I are in agreement here.

 

[yeshuasavedme]

There's a time to distinguish between Jew and Gentile in understanding the context of many passages, maybe even most passages, of Scripture.

Yes, and Paul, a male, was of the tribe of Benjamin.
I am a female Gentile person married to a male Gentile person and we are one Spirit in Christ.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Yes, and Paul, a male, was of the tribe of Benjamin.
I am a female Gentile person married to a male Gentile person and we are one Spirit in Christ.

Of course. I didn't, and don't, say different. I'm saying that much of scripture is written within the dynamic of the distinction between Jew and Gentile, or God's chosen people and the rest.

 

[Soyeong]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

The Bible clearly refers to to those who are Jews, Greeks, slaves, free, male, and female, such as Paul stating that he is a Jew (Acts 21:39, 22:3), so he was not denying the reality of those distinctions, but rather he was denying that those distinctions act as a barrier to who can become children of God through faith in Christ and children of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.

A chip off the old block is someone who has the same nature, character, or that is in the image of their father, which is expressed doing the same works as them, which is why Jesus said in John 8:39 that if they were children of Abraham, then they would be doing the same works as him. So this is the sense that Jesus is the Son of God insofar as he is the exact image of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), which he expressed through setting a sinless example of how to walk in God's way obedience to His law, and the sense that we are children of God when we are partaking in his nature through following his example. Aspects of God's nature are fruits of the Spirit, so this why those who are born again as children of God through the Spirit are contrasted with those who have minds set on the flesh who refuse to submit to God's law (Romans 8:4-14), and why those who do not practice righteousness in obedience to God's law are not born again and children of God (1 John 3:1-10).

The Gospel to repent for the Kingdom of God was made known in advance to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), which he multiplied in accordance with the promise by turning others from their wickedness and teaching them how to walk in God's way (Genesis 12:1-5). In Genesis 18:19, God knew Abraham that he might teach his children and those of his household to walk in His way by doing righteousness and justice that the Lord may being to him all that He has promised, namely in Genesis 26:4-5, God will multiply Abraham's children as the stars in the heaven, to his children He will give all of these lands, and this his children all of the nations of the earth will be blessed because Abraham heard God's voice and guarded His charge, His commandments, His statutes, and His laws. In Deuteronomy 30:16, if the children of Abraham love God with all of their heart and soul by walking in His way in obedience to His commandments, His statutes, and His laws, then God will bless them and they will multiply in the land, so all of the promises were made to Abraham and brought about because he walked in God's way in obedience to His law, he multiplied that image by teaching his children and those of his household to do that, and because they did that. God's law was how the children of Abraham knew how to be blessed by walking in God's way (Psalms 119:1-3), so the way to inherit the promise by being children of Abraham comes though blessing others and multiplying the image of God in accordance with the Gospel by teaching others to repent from their wickedness and to walk in God's way, and Jesus, who is the way (John 14:6) was sent as the ultimate fulfillment of that promise to bless us by turning us from our wickedness.

In Romans 3:31, our faith upholds God's law, and in 1 John 2:6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked, so every aspect of being children of God, in Christ, through faith, being children of Abraham, and heirs to the promises is directly connected spreading the Gospel by teaching others to repent from their wickedness and how to walk in God's way in obedience to His law, which is something that we call all inherit through faith regardless of being a Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, or female (Romans 9:6-8).

 

[ralliann]

Yes, and Paul, a male, was of the tribe of Benjamin.
I am a female Gentile person married to a male Gentile person and we are one Spirit in Christ.

What? male and female Joined in marriage are one flesh ?..... We are all one in Christ, not just a man and his wife. Maybe i am misunderstanding you?
Mt 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

 

[Guojing]

Galatians 3/ 26-29
26. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

seems we are all Abrahams seed, and heirs to the promise, and that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. Seems pretty clear, yet listening to preachers all you hear is distinctions being made, all you hear is the church and the Jews are not the same.

thoughts


thanks

If you were a gentile living in the time period between Exodus and Acts, could you have made use of this knowledge?