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FOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EQUALITY OF JEWS AND GENTILES

INTRODUCTION

When considering the equality of Jews and Gentiles there are four questions that could be asked. 1) At what point did Gentiles become equal with Israel? 2) At what point did believing Gentiles as persons, become equal to believing Jews? 3) At what point did believing Gentiles, as Gentiles become equal with Jewish believers? 4) At what point was there no difference between Jews and Gentiles?

QUESTION ONE

At what point did Gentiles become equal with Israel? In one sense they have always been equal because “God is no respecter of persons”. Let us put that quote in context. We read in Acts 10 that Cornelius was told by an angel to send for Peter. When Peter came to Cornelius he said to Peter, “…..Now therefore are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God” (Acts 10:33). And in the next verse we read, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” (Acts 10:34). The point is that God wants all men to be saved and, in that respect there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. In other words, as people all men are equal in God’s sight because He is no respector of persons.

Consider also that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” (Jn. 3:16). Note that Christ was sent to the world, that includes Jews as well as Gentiles. Christ was sent equally to Gentiles as well as Jews.

QUESTION TWO

Our second question is: at what point did believing Gentiles as persons, become equal to believing Jews? By the phrase “Gentiles as persons” I mean those who are not of the natural seed of Jacob, but are the the seed of Adam. In other words, all men are men first and then they may be categorized according to their national origin. For example, I am a person, but I am also an American. So our second question addresses the equality of believing Jews and Gentiles as persons apart from national origin. The answer to our second question is found in Gal. 3:26-29.

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise”.

This passage speaks of “Abraham’s seed”. Unfortunately, some think of Abraham’s seed as Israel and grafted in Gentiles of the Acts period. They therefore believe that the term “Abraham’s seed” does not apply to believers of the present dispensation. But does the term “Abraham’s seed” refer to believers of Israel and grafted in Gentiles of the Acts period, or does it refer to believers as persons apart from their national origins? If it does apply to believers as persons apart from their national origin, that means that all believers are Abraham’s seed.

Abraham was, of course, a very important person in God’s dispensational plans for Israel. However, I think it is important to recognize the fact that Abraham was also just a man. That is to say, many of the things we read about Abraham in God’s Word have to do with his place in God’s dispensational plans, but Abraham was also just a man apart from his dispensational importance. He was a man who “believed God”, and because of that belief God counted him as “righteous”. So are Abraham’s seed those who will inherit the dispensational promises made to Abraham, or are they those who, like Abraham, believed God?

Let me put this in a rather mundane way. Let us say that we see the son of a famous baseball player hit a home run. We might, say, “well, he is his father’s son”. We mean by that, that just as his father was a great baseball player, so too is his son. In that sense the son is his father’s “seed”. But when we see the same son paint a beautiful painting, we would not have the same reaction. My point is that we might think of the son as his father’s “seed” at the ball park, we would not think of him as his father’s “seed” at the art gallery. So too, we of the dispensation of the mystery cannot think of ourselves as Abraham’s seed in the context of Abraham’s dispensational promises, but when we think of ourselves as believers, just as Abraham was a believer, we may think of ourselves as “Abraham’s seed”.

I believe that the context in which we find the phrase “Abraham’s seed” has to do, not with Abraham’s dispensational place in God’s plans, but with Abraham, the man who believed God. Let us consider the stated reason for Paul’s epistle to the Galatians and the immediate context of the passage that speaks of Abraham’s seed.

As we seek to know God’s truth it is imperative that we rightly divide the Word of truth. In doing so we are aware that Abraham is the father of the nation of Israel and therefore, on the surface, the passage quoted from Galatians three seems to belong to the previous dispensation, but not to believers of the present dispensation. We must however be mindful of the fact that there are many universal truths in the pre-prison epistles. That is to say, when we read of people in terms of their national origin ((Israelites or non-Israelites, i.e. Gentiles) we are usually reading of a dispensational truth. But when we read of people as people, we are usually reading a universal truth. The question is: to which category does Gal. 3:26-29 belong, i.e. dispensational or universal truth? To answer that question we must look at the epistle as a whole and at the immediate context of this passage.

There are several verses that tell us the reason for Paul’s letter.

In Gal. 1:6 we read, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel“.  We learn from this that the Galatian believers had listened to someone other than Paul, and that this person had led them astray from the truth of the gospel. We see the same thing in 3:1, “You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?…..” and  5:7, “You were running a good race.  Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?”

Gal. 2:15 is helpful in determining just what this false teaching was that was “bewitching” the Galatians.   “We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”

We are getting a clue in this verse as to why Paul was so discouraged about the false teaching in Galatia.  Someone was leading the Gentile believers to believe that they needed to be circumcised and observe the law in order to be justified. They were teaching that faith was not enough, that they must also keep the law.  That is the reason for Paul’s question in 3:3b, “After beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”

In 3:2-5 Paul sets the problem out for all to see.  “I would like to learn just one thing from you?  Did you receive the spirit by observing the law? or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish?  After beginning with the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?  Have you suffered so much for nothing- if it really was for nothing?  Does God give you His spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?”

The problem that Paul addresses in his letter to the Galatians was that one is saved by grace through faith, not by works. Is this a universal truth or is it a dispensational truth? Certainly the fact that Paul was contrasting grace with the works of the Law of Moses the argument has dispensational elements in that the law was given to Israel. But the basic truth, i.e. that we are saved by grace through faith, is a universal truth.

Having concluded that the basic message Paul had for believers of Galatia was a universal truth, let us consider verses 26-29 phrase by phrase in order to determine if the passage speaks of a dispensational or of a universal truth.

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus“. This is a universal truth.

“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ“. This is a universal truth.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” This is also a universal truth.

“And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed”. What did Paul mean by the phrase “Abraham’s seed”? Verse 7 answers that question quite succinctly, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham”. This verse tells us that whoever is Christ’s by faith they are “the children of Abraham”. That means that all those who have faith are children of Abraham in that they, like Abraham, are believers.

Let us now consider the phrase, “heirs according to the promise“. In point of fact, God has made more than one promise to Abraham. To which promise is Paul alluding? We read in Gen. 12:2-3, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. And we read in Gen. 15:-6, “And He brought him forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou able to number them:’ and He said unto him, “So shall thy seed be” And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness”. In Gen. 15:18 we read that God promised that Abraham’s seed would inherit a great amount of land. In Gen. 17:5 we read that God had promised Abraham that He would make him a father of many nations. The question is then, to which promise does Gal. 3:26-29 refer?

The context has absolutely nothing to do with Abraham being the father of Israel or of any other nation. Nor does it have to do with the inheritance of land. The context concerns faith apart from the law being all that is required for salvation. Indeed if we go to the context for the answer to what promise is referred to we will find it in verse 16 where we read of God’s promise to Abraham of the Seed, i.e. Christ. In other words, it is not obedience to the law that was unto salvation, it was faith in the promised Seed, Christ.

Let us continue our study of the phrase “heirs according to the promise” by looking at the immediate context. We read in verse 14, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. We must ask two questions: What was that “blessing of Abraham”? And what is “the promise of the Spirit through faith”?

What is the blessing of Abraham? Verse 7, “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”. Let us consider verse 9, “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham”. How are they blessed? Given that the entire epistle has to do with salvation by faith apart from works, I believe we must conclude that that blessing is that those who have faith in Christ have been blessed to receive salvation.

Verses 9-13 tell us that no one is, or ever has been, saved by the works of the law, but that “the just shall live by faith”. If we leave off this quasi parenthetical statement we have the following: “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. The blessing of Abraham is salvation through faith in Christ. Is this blessing true for believers of the previous dispensation only? Of course not. Salvation by faith in Christ is every bit a truth for today as it was in the Acts period, and before. It is in fact a universal truth.

Let us also address the question: what is meant by the phrase, “the promise of the Spirit through faith”. The note in the Companion Bible tells us that “Spirit” in this verse refers to the Holy Spirit, i.e. the Giver, not the gifts. Assuming that is correct, and I see no reason not to, the “of” in the phrase “promise of the Spirit” must be the Genitive of Origin, which is defined in the Companion Bible as, “This marks the source from which anything has its origin”. So the promise is from the Holy Spirit. What has the Holy Spirit promised that comes through faith? Salvation!

What we have learned is that the seed of Abraham are all those who, like Abraham, believed God and were consequently promised eternal life by the Holy Spirit. This is a universal truth. Therefore, I see no reason to conclude anything but that all believers are Abraham’s seed.

Along these same lines let us also consider Rom. 4:8-11, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircmcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircimcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also”.

Paul’s point is that Abraham was made righteous by faith before he was circumcised, i.e. while he was yet in his uncircumcision. Therefore, the uncircmcised are also made righteous by faith. Because like Abraham all, i.e. the circumcised and the uncircumcised, are made righteousby faith, Paul could then say that Abraham is “the father of all them that believe“. This is in perfect harmony with Gal. 3 where Paul said that all believers are Abraham’s seed.

Coming back to Gal. 3, we should address the fact that Paul speaks of being “one in Christ“. Does that mean that believers who lived only after Christ’s death and resurrection are “in Christ”? I believe not because we read that “ye are all children of God” through faith in Christ. All believers from Abraham on are children of God through faith. I believe a word about Who God is will be helpful in this discussion.

We read in Is. 40:3, “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of Jehovah…..”. Then in Matt. 3:3 we read, “For this is he (John the Baptist) that was spoken of by the prophet Esais, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord…..'”. We are told that John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy of Is. 40:3. Isaiah wrote of preparing the way of Jehovah, and John the Baptist fulfilled the prophecy by preparing the way of Jesus Christ. That is one of the many reasons to conclude that Christ is Jehovah. (Please see the paper on this web-site Jesus Christ Is Both Jehovah And The Manifestation Of Jehovah for further proof of that statement.)

My point is that to be “in Christ” is to be “in Jehovah” because Jesus Christ is Jehovah, they are one and the same. Therefore, all believers of every dispensation are children of God and are “in Christ”.

Furthermore, this truth has much to say about the argument from those who hold to the mid-Acts position that the present dispensation began in the mid-Acts period, before the time that Paul wrote Galatians. That is to say that many believe that the present dispensation began when believing Jews and Gentiles were made equal. But the passage we have discussed in Galatians tells us that all believers as persons, apart from their national origins from the time of Abraham were equal. Because Gal. 3:26-29 has to do with believers as persons, apart from their national origins we must conclude that Gal. 3:26-29 has nothing to do with when the present dispensation began.

QUESTION THREE

Our third question is: at what point did believing Gentiles, not as persons but as Gentiles, become equal with Jewish believers? I understand, of course that most in the Acts 28 community believe that this equality was achieved when Israel was set aside at Acts 28. I must however disagree. Let us consider prayerfully and with open minds Eph. 2:13-16.

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. having slain the enmity thereby”.

This tells of the creation of one body. It tells us that when that one body was created the equality of believing Jews and Gentiles with respect to their national origins was established. When did this happen? This passage is quite clear, it happened “by the cross“. The paper on this web-site The One Body Of Ephesians Two Is Not The Church Which Is His Body will prove that statement from Scripture. It is my prayer that the reader will not cling to the traditions of the Acts 28 position without at least considering this paper.

QUESTION FOUR

Our fourth question was, at what point was there no difference between Jews and Gentiles?

That question is answered in one word, i.e. “sussoma”. But before we discuss that word we must first understand the several ways in which the Holy Spirit used the word “ethnos”

The Greek word translated “Gentiles” in the KJV of Eph. 3:6 is “ethnos”. “Ethnos” occurs 164 times and is translated “Gentiles” 93 times, “nations” 64 times, “Heathen 5 times and “people” 2 times.

The truth that “ethnos” is used of Gentiles as opposed to Jews is found in Matt. 10:5-6, “…..Go not into the way of the Gentiles….but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. Here, it is clear that Gentiles are all those who are not Jews.

The truth that “ethnos” is used of a nation as an entity is shown in such verses as Romans 4:17, where in reference to Abraham we read, “I have made thee a father of many nations“.

As mentioned above, “ethnos” is used by the Holy Spirit for Gentiles and for nations as entities. But nations are made up of individuals, and the Bible also uses the word “ethnos” in reference to the individuals in the nations as well as the nations as an entity in themselves. The truth that “ethnos” is used of people in the nation is seen in John 11:51-52, “…..he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation (ethnos); and not for that nation (ethnos”) only…..”. It is clear that Jesus died, not for a nation as such, but for the people in the nation(s).

We are now ready to resume our study of “sussoma”. That word is found in Eph. 3:6 but it is, unfortunately, translated “same body”. One of the main reasons that that translation cannot be correct is that “sussoma” is an adjective that modifies the plural noun “ethnos”. Greek is one of the many languages in which an adjective must agree in number with the noun it modifies. Because “ethnos” is a plural noun, obviously the translation “same body” cannot be correct because it does not convey the plurality that Greek Grammar demands.

So what is the best translation of “sussoma”? The word is used only one time in the Word of God and, I am told, it is never used in Greek secular literature. That being the case, how did those to whom Paul wrote the epistle to the Ephesians know what the word meant? I believe they would have done the very same thing that we would have done when we find a word we had never seen before. We would break the word down into its component parts.

“Sussoma” is made up of the prefix “sun” (it is spelt differently but is the same word) and the root “soma”. “Sun” is usually translated “together” and “soma” is always translated “body”. In the case of Eph. 3:6, because it must be plural, “sussoma” literally means “together bodies”.

Would that have made sense to those to whom Paul wrote? Absolutely! They would have known that Israel had been separated from all other nations to be God’s chosen people (see I King 8:53 and Lev. 20:24). They would have seen that Israel, in order for the nations to be “together bodies” would have had to have been set aside by God. And that is exactly what did happen at the end of the Acts period.

We can now answer our fourth question: at what point was there no difference between Jews and Gentiles? As a result of Israel having been set aside at Acts 28 there is no difference between Israel and all other nations of the world. Because there is no difference in the nations of the world in God’s sight, there is no difference in God’s sight between the people of Israel and the people of all the other nations. We may conclude therefore that when Israel was set aside at Acts 28 is the point at which the people of all nations became, in God;’s sight, the same.

We see that in the prison epistles where Paul uses the word “ethnos” of those of the present dispensation, he does not use the word “ethnos” in the sense of Gentiles,( i.e. those who are not of Israel) he uses the word in the sense of people of the nations, as did John in Jn. 11:51-52. Let us look at a few examples of that.

Eph. 3:8, “…..that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”. Surely Jewish believers were not excluded from the unsearchable riches of Christ. That being the case, “ethnos” must be understood as the people of the nations. .

Eph. 4:17, “……walk not as other Gentiles walk…..”. Verse 18 goes on to explain more specifically how they walked, “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“. I believe this is applicable to both Jews and Gentiles and “ethnos: should therefore be understood as people of the nations. .

Col. 1:27, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Are we to understand that Paul is excluding Jews from the hope of glory? I think not. I believe that here too “ethnos” should be understood to mean all the people of the nations.

Please see the paper on this web-site Are There Jews And Gentiles In The Dispensation Of The Mystery? for a complete list and discussion of all the occurrences of “ethnos” in the prison epistles.

The point is that when Israel was set aside at Acts 28 all the nations became “together bodies” and all the people of the nations became more than equal, they became, in God’s sight, the same.

But we read in Gal. 3:28 that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus”. How is that different than the relationship of Jew and Gentile in the dispensation of the mystery? For the answer to that question let us consider once again Gal. 3:28. The reader will note that Paul said that there was neither male nor female. But we know that in the natural realm, there was (and is) a difference between males and females. We must conclude therefore that Paul’s comments in Gal. 3 were in the spiritual realm: i.e. “in Christ”, there is no difference between male or female or between in Jew and Greek.

In the dispensation of the mystery however, there is no Jew or Gentile in the natural realm. That is to say, when Israel was set aside at Acts 28 all nations were seen by God as the same, i.e. no nation was separated unto Him. That means there is no Jew today. How do we know that there is no Jew today in God’s eyes? We know from the way the Holy Spirit used the word “ethnos” in the prison epistles, i.e. of people of all nations. And if there is no Jew, there is no Gentile because Gentiles are those who are not of Israel.

This paper was written by Joyce Pollard. If you would like to respond please write to: [email protected]

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