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Israel & Christians Today
Biblical understanding about Israel
Believers are not identically the same, but “Messiah is all, and in all.” Messiah is the ONE new man, and we are all part of Him. Every individual has a unique genetic code. Every healthy cell in the body, regardless of its function, contains that same genetic imprint. Even so, every member of the body of the Lord is to bear His unique, unmistakable imprint – “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
A Warning for all Gentile Believers
By Dan Gruber
In the beginning of his letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of the failure of man. He says that, “professing to be wise, they became fools.”(1:22) He has a warning for Gentile believers concerning the things they believe and profess about the Jewish people. They should not believe and proclaim what is contrary to the nature of God and to the Word of God. They should not become fools by deceiving themselves with their own professed wisdom.
“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”(11:1,2)
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the [natural] branches; but if you are arrogant, remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
“You will say then, ‘[Natural] Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, and you stand only by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.”(11:17-21)
“For I do not want you [the plural υµας] brethren to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written…”(11: 25,26)
“Now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.”(15:25-27)
Apparently some of the Gentile believers in Rome thought that God had discarded Israel and chosen them instead. Paul seeks to free them from this false teaching, so that they will begin to fulfill their obligations to Israel. Throughout Romans11:16-24, Paul is warning the individual Gentile believer [συ] against arrogance towards the Jews.
Paul points to his own relationship with God as proof of the fact that God has not cast off Israel. When Paul says, “I ALSO am an Israelite,” he is identifying himself with his unfaithful, physical brethren. For indeed, Paul himself was once part of unfaithful Israel. That identification is not the same as his identification with the church.
To substantiate his claim that he is an Israelite, Paul points out that he is “of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” He refers to his own physical descent. It is evident that Paul is an Israelite, because he is “of the tribe of Benjamin.”
It is absurd, therefore, to think that God could have cast off Israel. “May it never be!” God kept Paul for Himself. He kept Peter, Jacob, John, and all the early church for Himself. If God cast off Israel, then how did these Gentiles in Rome hear the gospel?
Elijah thought that he alone was left. Elijah was wrong. “What is the divine response to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’” (v.4)
God kept for himself a remnant in the past. “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s choice of grace.”(v.5) That faithful remnant is a continuing demonstration of God’s fidelity to Israel and to His promises to Abraham.
The fact that the faithful in Israel are a “remnant” indicates, of course, that there is much more of Israel that is no faithful. Within “His people,” God has kept for Himself a faithful remnant. The rest of Israel was broken off for unbelief.
The “some [τινες, certain ones] of the branches” that were broken off are the Jews who did not believe. The remaining natural branches are the Jews who did believe, the faithful remnant. The “you [the singular συ], being a wild olive” who were grafted in among them, is the individual Gentile believer.
Any individual Jew, though cut off from his own olive tree for his unbelief can be grafted back in if he believes. The proof of that is that God has grafted, contrary to nature, the wild branch individual Gentile who believes into the cultivated olive tree. If God’s grace and mercy are such that He would do that, how much more will He graft back in the natural braches who believe?
He warns the Gentile believers in Rome of the fatal consequence of being arrogant against the natural branches. “Do not be conceited, but fear, for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you [singular].” “Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose…’God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” (Jacob 4:5,6)
“For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning, against everyone who is proud and lofty, against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased.” (Is.2:12) “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; assuredly, he will not be unpunished.” (Prov.16:5) “Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.”(Ps.101:5)
If these Gentile believers are arrogant and ignorant towards the Jews, they are arrogant and ignorant towards their own peril. Paul warns them against being wise in themselves about God’s relationship with Israel. “Remember that it is not you who supports the root but the root that supports you.”
God planted a root - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - from which His people Israel
grew. All the Jewish people naturally partake of the richness of God’s promises to them. Gentile believers, grafted in by the grace of God, contrary to nature, partake of that Jewish richness too. They should, therefore, seek to repay what they owe for having “shared in their spiritual things.”
What are these Jewish spiritual things in which all non-Jewish Christians have shared? It is a familiar list: “the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is Messiah according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (9:4,5) “Salvation is of the Jews.”(John.4:4:22)
How much then do the Gentile believers owe to the Jewish people? How much have they received? That is how much they owe.
Through Paul’s ministry, Philemon had become a believer. Paul wrote to Philemon to ask a favor of him, to graciously receive his slave Onesimus who had become a believer. Paul wrote, “Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Messiah to order you to do that which is proper, yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you…lest I should mention to you that you owe me even your own self as well.”(Philemon.8,9,19)
Paul knew what it was to be a debtor. He owed everything to Jesus. He was not ashamed of that. The debt that he owed to Jesus had to be paid through the preaching of the gospel.
The Gentile believers in Macedonia had acknowledged their debt to the Jewish people and had sought to pay some of what they owed. The Macedonian believers joyfully gave themselves and all they had to repay their debt to the Jewish people. In their humility they had great joy.
Paul told the church in Corinth about his own sense of debt. “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel…For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all that I might win the more.”(1Cor.9:16,19)
In God’s design, the Jews brought the gospel to the Gentiles. For God’s purposes of redemption, it is essential that Gentile believers pay their debt to the Jewish people. God did not establish a competition between the two. He established a reciprocal obligation.
In a body, the different members are to help each other to perform their specific God-designed role. When every member faithfully performs its own specific function, the whole body prospers. When any member refuses or is incapable of performing its own specific function, the whole body suffers.
(Source: The Church and the Jews – Dan Gruber, Elijah Publishing, ISBN 0-9669253-3-5)
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