Question

[johnd]

I ask this here not to start controversy but to seek legitimate biblical refutation of the conclusions I made elsewhere:

http://www.christianforums.com/t2449305-anti-semitism-traditionally-misdiagnosed.html

Can this biblical interpretation of inclusion into Bayith Yisra'el all believers in Y'shua be refuted biblically?

I am ernestly asking this question and will not argue with your responses. I will only read them. But I will only take to heart the biblically based refutations (if any can be found). I am only one man, and I may well have over looked something in my Bible studies over the years.

Thank you and G-d bless you!
Happy Chanukah!

[HaNotsri]

johnd,

While I of course believe that as believers in Jesus Christ we are grafted in to the olive tree, I believe that Israel and the Church are two different things. The Church is the Body of Christ and is comprised of both Israel (Jews) and Gentiles. Not all of Israel is part of the Church however. Now I know many of you are going to disagree with my using "church" to describe the Body, but I think you know what I am getting at when I use the term.

Israel both believers in Jesus and non-believers in Jesus, is the root of our faith. THe basis of our faith. For through them is brought the covenants, the law, the prophets, the Messiah, and salvation for humanity. While many of the olive tree have broken off through the blindness that has come upon them (in order for God to reveal Himself to the full number of Gentiles), God can easily repair the broken branches and indeed Israel (the nation as a whole) shall see one day who their Messiah is. They will come to Him in awe and repentence and weep for the One whom they pierced. Not only will He have saved them from the fires, destruction, and murders (greater than that of the Holocaust) of Jacob's Trouble; but most importantly they will see that He saved them from their sins.

In regards to that verse in Galatians. The term Israel of God is not referring to the Church, but to specifically the people of Israel. I don't like how for years, people have interpreted that verse as being the Church. It doesn't make sense in the context of Galatians or even in that verse. What is the whole booke of Galatians about (as well as much of the New Testament)? It's about the schism that developed in the early church between the Jewish and Gentile believers of Christ. How would Gentiles be incorporated into this Jewish sect of Messianic believers? Some of the Jewish believers felt that the Gentiles needed to become gerim (much like Rahav, Ruth, and Obadiah the Prophet), or, converts to Judaism in order to be saved. This included circumcision for the males, immersion in a mikveh, and giving a korban (offering) in the Temple....as well as being responsible for keeping the Torah. But Paul and the Jerusalem Church (led by Peter) discussed this situation in Acts 15 and it was agreed upon that they need not become Jews and be required to keep the Torah.

The book of Galatians addressed this schism directly. There were Jewish Christians that were "Judaizing" newly Christian gentiles and Paul spoke out against this. The Galatians were buying into the lies that some of the early Jewish Christians had been espousing (that they had to become Jews in order to be saved). The Galatians were more worried about becoming Jews and observing the Torah (due to the lies told to them by some of the Jewish Christians) than in the grace and love found in Christ and His gospel. That's why he makes the brash statement about them choosing be circumcised:

Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4 You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.

He is rebuking the Galatians because they are not in the right heart or mind in observing the Torah. They are more interested in the religiosity and the traditions and the status than in Jesus Christ Himself. They are enslaving themselves and losing sight of the faith that set them free from sin. This is a danger I often see today in the Messianic movement. The sentiment of religiosity is made below in the last verses of the book.

See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised — only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule — peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

The chapter is finished off by showing that not even the Jewish Christians who want the new Gentile believers can keep the whole of the Torah, so what use is their in trying to compel and force the Gentile believers in doing so? Ultimately, we all fall short...why add the burden of the Torah to the Gentile believers? While Paul was always a Pharisee and observant Jew, he makes it clear that the only thing he should be boasting about is Christ Himself, not how good he (Paul) is or how observant he is. Because ultimately in Christ, there is no Jew and there is no Gentile (so there is no point in burdening a Gentile with the Torah). We are all redeemed and rejuvenated creations in Jesus Christ. Now here's the important part, the verse that seems to confuse everyone:

As for those who will follow this rule — peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Paul states that those who follow the rule and understanding that we are all new creations in Christ and our sins are forgiven, may there be peace upon them and also mercy. But may also be the same for the Israel of God. He is not saying that the Church is the Israel of God. He is blessing two groups of people here. He is blessing those who understand the promise (the faithful in the Church) and also Israel (either all of Israel or the portion of Israel that is in the Church at this point). They are two distinct groups and it's the word "AND" that makes it as such.

As for those who will follow this rule — peace be upon them (1st group...the faithful in the Church who trust in Christ and His promises, not in their own strength or observance of the law), and mercy, AND upon the Israel of God (2nd group...the People of Israel OR the Jewish Christians who were "Judaizing" and spreading lies about Gentile incorporation into the Church).