Christians are increasingly coming to appreciate their "Jewish roots." Many have gone beyond merely acknowledging that Jesus was
a Jew, that the early disciples and apostles were Jewish, or that Christianity has come out of Judaism. They are searching out the Jewish
roots of their own faith. They are respecting and even loving the Jews. They are doing what they can to bless the Jewish people, in
recognition of Genesis 12:3, "I will bless those who bless you, but I will curse anyone who curses you; and by you all the families of the
earth will be blessed."
But there is a deeper reason for paying attention to the Jewish people, a reason that ultimately must shake the very identity of a
Christian to its core. The foundational text is Ephesians 2:11-13, which says;
Therefore, remember your former state: you Gentiles by birth-called the Uncircumcised by those who, merely because of an operation
on their flesh, are called the Circumcised-at that time had no Messiah. You were estranged from the national life of Israel. You were
foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God. But now, you who were
once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.
So, according to this passage, what is it that God, through his Messiah Yeshua, does for human beings?
Human beings? Are you sure to use this word because Saul is not addressing or writing ABOUT human beings but he's writing about Abraham's seed who are of mixed heritage (Jew-Gentile offspring) who are Hebrew having at least one parent who was non-Hebrew in their ancestry who grew up as Greeks in a Greek culture (Hellenized.)
God has no covenant with non-Hebrews so nothing of the Hebrew history or culture means anything to them non-Hebrews. Some Hebrew children might be aware of their non-Hebrew ancestry but not necessarily all because if it is a non-Hebrew man and a Hebrew woman that remained together the child most likely would be raised influenced by the man's history and culture. If the man is Hebrew and the woman non-Hebrew who remained together the child would most likely be raised as Hebrew until each succeeding generation lost their Hebrew heritage because the next generation did not teach it, or it was lost through ignorance and indifference. Maybe some of these Samaritan-type children know parts of such family history. But how much influence would a half- or quarter or eighth-Hebrew slash non-Hebrew offspring have in a Greek culture - or Latin, since some Hebrews that went to observe the Feast of Harvest returned to Rome as born-again Jewish Christian. Same for the other locations the tongues in the upper room are identified on a map reveal.
11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were
far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:11–13.
Who are these "Gentiles" mentioned by Saul? Although Samaritans of Assyrian stock were called Samaritan they were still seen as Gentile by the more purist Hebrews/Jews and this was the reason why they were 'hated', because for some reason their parents "sold out" and intermarried, were raped (if woman Hebrews) concubinage or slavery who after 500 years and so many generations of offspring in that time lived in upper Samaria which under the northern kingdom of ten tribes was their capital at one time lived separate from the common Hebrews of Israel proper despite being under occupation of the Romans (and not everyone in the occupying army was from Italy as conquered people were conscripted into the Roman military.)
I think the key to their identity is in verse 13 which through the Holy Spirit corresponds to what Peter said in Acts 2:
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:39.
And speaking of the Holy Spirit of Promise every Hebrew knew such promise was made to them (children of Israel) and never to non-Hebrew Gentiles. If you can show me through Scripture the Holy Spirit of God was promised to non-Hebrew Gentiles, I will consider changing my position, but I will tell you now, for such a promise of God and of great covenant importance you won't find such a promise which leads me to ask...what's your basis or source? It's not in the Hebrew Scripture of Law, Psalms, or Prophets, so would you maintain a doctrine if not found in Scripture? And don't say "Trinity" is not in Scripture because although correct, the word is not there but the idea or concept is and can be determined through several passages which reveal itself as being a "Trinity." Besides, the idea of Trinity did not find its fullest expression until the advent of the Son. So, where in Scripture does God promise His Holy Spirit of covenant to non-covenant, non-Hebrew people?
The answer:
(1) He makes them conscience of what sin is, and through Yeshua the Messiah he offers forgiveness of sin (this is taught in the ten verses
preceding the above citation).
Then, if they are Gentiles (such as Paul is addressing here) and therefore do not already belong to his own special people, the People of God.
(2) he makes them part of the People of God.
(3) he makes them participate in his covenants.
(4) he fulfills his promises.
(5) he gives them hope in this difficult world, and finally,
(6) he makes his very self known to them.
I think you've bought into the Hellenized theology of the Hellenized Hebrew who through ignorance were left to proceed from the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple and the scattering of the Jews (Hebrews) by the Romans to attempt to maintain their newfound biblical Christianity without guidance, habitation, and presence of Hebrews/Jews that were born-again at the first (as Peter puts it in Acts 11:15 ("
fell on them, as on us at the beginning.") I think your positions 1-6 need to be reconsidered since from my understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant when made between God, Abram the Hebrew and his seed, I know that no non-Hebrew can ever be born to two Hebrew parents, and this continued throughout Hebrew history for a couple thousand years until the conquest of Assyria of the northern kingdom tribes and the Babylonians of the southern kingdom tribes some 136 years later.
If they are Jews and therefore do belong to the People of God, they already have items (2) through (6) and do not need to be given
them again. I'll say it differently: Jews already have (2) through (6) and the only new thing that comes to them through Yeshua is (1).
Thus, assured forgiveness of sin is the last thing Jews get. Gentiles get forgiveness of sin first, but it is only through Yeshua connection
that Gentiles gain covenants, the promises, hope and intimacy with God. It is only because and when they have been joined to the Jews
that they get these things. Jews have them already---but without the forgiveness of sins through Yeshua's atoning death they gain
nothing thereby in the world to come.
There is a sequencing to these six truths, and the sequencing is different for Jews than for Christians. Sequencing may seem an
unimportant detail, but I submit that at this time getting it right is the most important challenge facing the Body of Messiah!
David H. Stern The Church's Biggest Challenge More than Just "Loving" the Jews
One of the issues facing the early Jewish Church right after the Feast of Harvest when the Holy Spirit of Promise arrived and applied the salvation bought by the Son to three thousand (and eleven) Jews was their ignorance for the most part of the New Covenant era they found themselves in. Sure, all these things were recorded in the Hebrew Scripture but how many of the eleven disciples or three thousand born-again Jews had copies of the Hebrew Scripture to read and study to come to understand the things taking place in Jerusalem? If anything, knowledge was spotted at best until a rabbi and Pharisee of Pharisees above many his equals who had "books" and scrolls and parchments of the Hebrew Scripture was after 14-17 years of separation and study was able through the anointing come to understand more fully what was taking place among the Jewish (Hebrew) people? When Saul finally did return to his people it was Barnabas who fetched him to pastor in Antioch (Syria) until Acts 13 the Holy Spirit instructed him and Barnabas to tour these Gentile lands in order to teach the newly minted Jewish Christians in the ways of God and the Scripture about the New Covenant era Israel found herself in. He also wrote letters. As did Peter and James and John and Judas/Jude. Mathew, Mark, Luke, and others wrote gospels and letters but not all were included into the canon in the fourth century AD. So, if you're taken in with this non-Hebrew "Christianity" I think you need to reassess exactly what actually took place in an area called Biblical history because from what I know of the Hebrew Scripture there is no covenant between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and non-Hebrew Gentiles. And understanding what Jesus said about "Scripture cannot be broken" as the final arbiter of what is biblical and what is not biblical I fall on the side of what is true, biblical Christianity and what is not.
