If you read Peter's Epistles, you will find that Peter had Paul's letters, and said that they were equal to the TORAH...
Peter said that Paul's letters were SCRIPTURE....and that was before Paul's epistles were put in a NT.
ISRAEL – JEWS
It is interesting to note the first occurrences of the word “Israel” in the Bible, and the first occurrences of the word “Jew” in the Bible.
“And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” “Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day; because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank.” Genesis 32:28 and 32.
“Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.” Esther 2:5.
“At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.” II Kings 16:6.
The word “Israel” is found more than 1400 times in the Bible before the word “Jew” is first used. The word “Israel” is found about 2600 times in the Bible. It is interesting to note that the word “Christian” is not found once in the Gospel of John which Christians love so much. But in that Book, “Jews” is found 70 times. In the Book of Acts “Jew” is found 79 times.
Jacob’s name was changed to “Israel” about 1740 B.C. This was about 2260 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden, about 610 years after Noah left the ark, about 250 years before Moses was on the mountain receiving the Old Testament.
THE BIRTH OF THE NATION
We quote Exodus 1:5 and 6—“And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. “
Let us get clearly fixed in our minds and hearts that there were no Jews or Israelites on this earth until after Jacob’s sons were born.
In other words, there were no Jews or Israelites on this earth during the first 2200 years of human history.
Jacob was Isaac’s son. Isaac was Abraham’s son. Abram was Terah’s son. Terah was not an Israelite. He was not a Jew. He was a descendant of Shem and Eber; but he was an idolater. Note Shem was born before the flood and lived 600 years on the earth. Genesis 5:32 and Genesis 11:10 and 11. He lived through several generations and was a contemporary of Abraham, although Abraham was Shem’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandson. Genesis 11:10 to 31. Eber lived on this earth 464 years. Genesis 11:17.
Abram was called by God and declared righteous in uncircumcision. Romans 4:8 to 13— Genesis 12:1 to 3. Abram was circumcised and named “Abraham” 24 years after he was called to leave his father and follow God. Genesis 12:4 and 17:1. Abram was circumcised at the time his name was changed to Abraham. Genesis 17:24.
Abraham was declared righteous in uncircumcision 430 years before God entered into the Old Covenant with the children of Abraham, the nation Israel. Exodus 20 and Galatians 3:16 to 19.
The Old Covenant was added. Galatians 3:19. It was added 2500 years after Adam left the Garden of Eden, about 857 years after Noah left the Ark, about 430 years after Abram left his father’s home.
Jehovah and the children of Israel entered into that mutual contract at Sinai some years after the last one of Jacob’s (Israel’s) twelve sons had died.
NO ISRAEL – NO OLD COVENANT
As there was no Israel until after Jacob’s sons were born, there was no Old Covenant until Moses was on Mount Sinai, about 1495 B.C. Therefore there is not one line concerning the Old Covenant (Hebrews 8:7 to 13) in the Book of Genesis. One of the first blunders generally made in the study of the Bible is calling Genesis, “the Old Testament Scriptures”, and Adam, Seth, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Levi, Joseph, and their brethren Old Testament characters.
Let us get fixed in our minds when Israel entered God’s program, and then when the Old Testament entered that program. When the Old Testament entered at Sinai it was not “old”; it was decidedly “new”. It became “old” by Christ’s death on the cross. II Corinthians 3:12 to 16p – Hebrews 8:13. When the law was added at Sinai, note what was added with it. Religion, “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.” Hebrews 9:10.
This is religion. It became the religion of all of the twelve tribes of Israel. And all Israelites were called “Jews,” and their religion was called “Judaism.”
GENTILES GIVEN UP ISRAEL TAKEN UP
In the first chapter of Romans we are told how and why God gave up the Gentiles. In the eleventh chapter of Romans we are told how and why God gave up Israel. In the thirteenth chapter of Acts and the eleventh chapter of Romans we are told when and why God took up the Gentiles when He gave up Israel.
Then in the eleventh chapter of Romans, and in other Scriptures, we are told that God is going to again give up the Gentiles and take up the Jews.
Note Romans 1:24—“God gave them up”. Romans 1:26 and 28—”God gave them up.” What became of the children of Adam and of Noah? Read what happened before the flood.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.
“And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” Genesis 7:23.
Then later on note Genesis 11:9—“Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”
Note that God cut off the children of Adam and began a new movement in Abram, the Hebrew. Genesis 14:13. Note what became of the Gentiles—“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18. Alienated from the life of God.
A Gentile could become a Jew under the economy of law. Note Esther 8:17—“And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”
Here we learn that alienated Gentiles could become “Jews”, that is, they could accept the benefits of the Lord’s covenants with Israel, and become proselytes.
One of the important covenants Stephen mentioned, in Acts 7:8. “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs.” Compare this with Genesis 17:14—
“And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.”
Note why the Christian Jews condemned Peter for preaching to Cornelius, the Gentile. “Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.” Acts 11:3.
The circumcised Gentiles who accepted Israel’s God-given covenants and religious programs were called “proselytes.” Acts 2:10. So we may be sure that any Gentile who may have been saved while Jesus of Nazareth was here on earth, became a Jew by religion, a proselyte, and not a member of the Body of Christ saved by grace without religion.
In studying the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us keep in mind:
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” Romans 15:8.
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Galatians 4:4.
“Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” Acts 2:22.
“But He answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24.
“And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:9 and 10.
“BEHOLD ISRAEL AFTER THE FLESH.” I Corinthians 10:18. In this same chapter note I Corinthians 10:32 “GIVE NONE OFFENCE, NEITHER TO THE JEWS; NOR TO THE GENTILES, NOR TO THE CHURCH OF GOD.” In the study, appropriation, and application of the Scriptures, in Paul’s time, the Holy Spirit expected th
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