Thread: The Chosen People Doctrine In Several Theologies
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The Chosen People Doctrine In Several Theologies
Posted : 3 Jul, 2011 03:15 PM
Several Theologies Start From the Chosen People Belief
Dispensationalists and Sacred Namers do not usually claim to have sacred blood, but they very much honor those who do have it, or claim to be physical descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Whether those who are of ethnic Israel have rejected Christ, or not, and whether they are saved or not, they remain the chosen race, according to several theologies.
God began what he calls "Israel mine inheritance" in Isaiah 19:25 in the physical. Admission to Israel was by genetics, by the physical seed of Abraham. Circumcision was done to the flesh of males. The temple was a physical building. But after God turned things upside down (Isaiah 29: 16), and initiated the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31: 31-32) at the Cross and on the Day of Pentecost, entry into Israel was by faith, and by being in Christ we are the spiritual seed of Abraham (Galatians 3: 29), physical circumcision was done away with and circumcision of the heart replaced it (Romans 2: 29), and the physical temple building was replaced by the believers as the temple of God (I Corinthians 3: 16). In the New Covenant there is no difference between former Jews and former Gentiles (Galatians 3: 28). People of all races who are born again in Christ are The Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16). Physical or ethnic Israel was replaced by Israel reborn in Christ, to become the Body of Christ, and Israel born again is led by the Spirit, not by the flesh. To go back to ethnic Israel is to go back to the limitations of the physical. Returning to the doctrine of the Pharisees, that "We have Abraham to our father" (Matthew 3: 9, John 8: 39) is to become part of the spirit of Anti-Christ (I John 2: 18-19, 4: 3). The Pharisees rejected Christ and had him crucified. This is why going back to the belief that race is the basis for acceptance by God is of the spirit of Anti-Christ.
Followers of Christian identity claim that the Germanic and Celtic peoples are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, and therefore the Christian Identity people belong to the chosen race. But they oppose the Jews.
Many groups in Messianic Judaism lay claim to being of the chosen race. Some say many in Messianic Judaism cannot prove their Hebrew blood and are really Caucasians or Gentiles. See http://www.bible-researcher.com/gal6-16.html
and go to Footnote (5).
The Mormons also claim to have Hebrew blood and for that reason are members of God's chosen race.
On http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics_and_the_Book_of_Mormon
"The understanding of Joseph Smith, and, traditionally, of Mormons in general, is that the Book of Mormon indicates that the Lamanites, descended from Lehi, are a "remnant of the House of Israel"
Apparently the Mormons have claimed to be descendants of the Lamanites.
All of these false doctrines are based on the belief that the physical descendants of Abraham are God's chosen people, and that God will save the chosen people in the end times. And many of those who say they are Christians and follow one or more of these false doctrines want to mingle the Old and New Covenants. Belief that race determines whether one is accepted by God or not is legalism and insofar as it moves end time Christian doctrine in the churches toward the teachings of the Pharisees and Talmudic Judaism, it is of the spirit of Anti-Christ.
Luke 3: 7-9 says: "Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."
John the Baptist is speaking here and apparently there are Pharisees in the crowd he is talking to. The trees which are to be cut down is ethnic Israel, which does not bear fruit, that is, ethnic Israel as a group did not accept Christ and be transformed into born again Israel in Christ and by the Holy Spirit.
The church Christian followers of one or more of these false doctrines that honor the chosen people sometimes claim there is no authority in Scripture saying they cannot make use of parts of the Old Covenant and still be in Christ Jesus.
Colossians 2: 16-17 says "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. "
The institutions of the Old Covenant were shadows of things to come, and are the weak and beggaly elements Paul mentions in Galatians 4: 9, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"
"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Galatians 3: 3
What Paul is saying here goes beyond the issue he was focused on in Galations, which was circumcision. Being made perfect in the flesh can refer to following many other aspects of the Old Covenant. Both "Gentiles" and "Jews" need more Jesus, and not more Jewish chosen people doctrine. Peter was mainly the apostle to the Jews, but in I Peter 2: 9 he says "Ye" are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people..." By "Ye" Peter means all Christians are the chosen people.
"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." (Galatians 4: 28). To raise up the Jews as being a superior people of God goes against the doctrines of the New Testament, and breaks that unity which Paul and Christ sought. Where are the Jews now that might be in the Israel of God, the body of Christ? Are they almost all following the Messianic Judaism movement which mixes the religion of the Pharisees with the authentic Old Covenant and with their version of Christ, and so is of the spirit of Anti-Christ?
Christ on the Cross said "It is finished." His work to bring salvation to the lost sheep of the house of Israel did not fail and have to be postphoned until the tribulation. When people following a theology say, in effect, that Christ failed to save those of Israel he came to save and his work has to be left undone until the end of "the church age" they are doubting Jesus Christ's ability to do what he set out to do, which was first to offer salvation to the Jews and then as Peter experienced in Acts 10 with Cornelius the Gentile, to offer salvation also to the Gentiles.
There are many Old Testament Scriptures which say that Gentiles will
be added to God's people. Isaiah 11: 10 one one of these that says
"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the
people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious."
Hosea 2: 23, Zechariah 2: 11, Malachi 1: 11, Isaiah 60: 2-3, Isaiah 66: 12, and Isaiah 42: 6 are Old Testament scriptures about the Gentiles joining the people of God.
Paul says in Romans 11: 1 "Hath God cast away his people? God forbid." And then in Romans 11: 5 Paul says "Even so then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." A remnant of physical Isreal did accept Christ and were saved.
In Romans 11, Paul presents himself as the example to show that Israel has not really been cast out. It is really the Old Covenant that was broken and cast out, but everyone has opportunity to retain their covenant relationship with God, if they would be willing to sign on to a New Covenant.
Paul himself did so when he was apprehended on the Damascus Road. Up to that point, he thought that he was still in a covenant relationship with God through the Mosaic covenant. He learned differently when Jesus revealed Himself as the Mediator of the New Covenant.
There are some who would argue that Jews and Israelites remained in a covenantal relationship with God on the basis of the Abrahamic covenant. However, the covenant with Abraham was actually the New Covenant given prior to the Old Covenant. The only reason the Old Covenant is "old" is because it was temporary and had gotten "old" and was ready to die. The Covenant with Abraham was certainly with the seed of Abraham and was always in effect, as long as men had the faith of Abraham.
But, some insist, it was unconditional. Yes, certainly it was, and for that reason, God will most certainly save all mankind and will use Israel as His agents of blessing. But a faithless Israelite will not be saved until he has faith; and a non-Israelite who has faith has become an Israelite by nationality, though not by genealogy. When a Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus said about him in Matt. 8:11, 12,
(11) And I say to you, that many shall come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; (12) but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Being cast out of the kingdom is not a permanent situation, of course. Neither is death. But faith determines which resurrection we will inherit. Abraham will certainly be a blessing to all the families of the earth, but each in their own order and time. There is a lawful path to salvation, and no one can bypass the door of faith in Jesus Christ to obtain it. No one gets a free pass on account of his genealogy.
Romans 11 explains the difficult, winding path toward the salvation of "all Israel."
(2) . . . Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? (3) "Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, they have torn down Thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."
This is a reference to 1 Kings 19:14. Elijah had showed great courage in the showdown with the prophets of Baal, but then Queen Jezebel vowed revenge, and Elijah fled to the cave at Mount Horeb, where the Law had first been given. There God asked him, "What are you doing here?" Elijah responded in 1 Kings 19:14,
(14) Then he said, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, torn down Thine altars and killed Thy prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Israel had broken the Mosaic covenant, by which they had bound themselves to follow God and to obey His Law. Elijah was not referring to the Abrahamic covenant, because Israel had made no vows that would make that covenant conditional upon obedience. Paul then reminds us of God's response to Elijah in Rom. 11:4,
(4) But what is the divine response to him? "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." (5) In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. (6) But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
The seven thousand men of faith in Elijah's day represent a remnant of grace. "The elect" has a numeric value of 144. These are the "elect," or "chosen ones." The Greek word for "elect" is eklogay, which means "the act of picking out, or choosing." In other words, God personally has chosen this "remnant" for Himself so that He would always have a witness on the earth in spite of apostasy and covenant violation.
(7) What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; (8) just as it is written [in Isaiah 29:10], "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day." (9) And David says [in Ps. 69:23], "Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. (10) Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever."
From this passage we see first that "the elect" (i.e., "the chosen") are only a remnant and NOT the entire nation of Israel. Just because someone can trace their genealogy back to a tribe of Israel does not make that person "chosen" as part of the elect remnant of grace. Secondly, we see that the chosen remnant all have one thing in common--they have FAITH. They are different from the average Israelite, whereas the average Israelite hardly differed in his actions from the average non-Israelite.
Third, we see that even as God chose a remnant of grace, so also did He harden the hearts and blind the eyes of the average Israelite. God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and God also hardened the hearts of the Israelites. In both cases, God took credit for it. This is incomprehensible to most people, because they do not understand the whole story. They cannot fathom the injustice of God in hardening the hearts of the vast majority, because they think that God will condemn to a burning hell as punishment for their hardness of heart.
It is only when we understand the plan of universal salvation in Romans 5 that we can justify God's sovereign acts. Paul is about to tell us the underlying purpose of God in hardening the hearts of the Israelites.
(11) I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the ethnos, to make them jealous.
Here is where many become confused, if they do not understand the divine plan. When men think that Jews are saved apart from Christ and/or the New Covenant, it is largely on account of this verse. Paul says that God hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes, NOT so that they would "stumble" in the ultimate sense. Theologians have told us that the Jews are chosen in spite of their lack of faith in Christ, and many have followed this course to its logical conclusion--that Jews are saved apart from Christ.
Such theologians are torn between two opinions. First, they teach that one must be saved through Christ alone. Second, they teach that Jews have a special relationship with God so that they are exempted from the path that the rest of the world must follow in order to be saved. They wrestle with this inherent contradiction and come up with various conclusions according to their understanding.
The truth of the matter is that it is indeed true that "all Israel will be saved," as Paul concludes in 11:26. But not all Israel will be saved at the same time, nor are all Israelites believers during their life time here on earth. In this age God is working with an election of grace that is a small minority. In the Ages to come, after the general resurrection, God will use the chosen ones to bless the others and bring correction by means of divine judgment. In other words, most men will be saved AFTER they have died and have been raised to life again.
All I have to say is that if anyone understands prophecy at all, they would know the spiritual insights of God's word and know that Israel will be saved.
The prophecy of Isaiah tells the complete story without anyone having to guess about what Paul is saying in Romans chapter 9-11 and throughout his writings. As Paul points out Isarel's rejection of the Lord is not permanent becasue the obey the laws of God, and becasue of God's purpose for Israel rejecting Christ, and the promise He made to restore her. Isarel will be restored and saved. How much more plainer and cleaer does God have to make this known. Israel's rejection of Christ brought a greater blessings to the gentiles becasue the Gentiles received Christ as Paul poiints out in chapter 11.
The book of Isaiah speaks about the Great Tribulation and the Millennial kingdom reign and Israel the nation of people along people from every nation will gather and many will come to believe and know Jesus Christ, and many will not. God final victory over satan will be Israel's deliverance and salvation.
I love what Isaiah says in chapter 27, about how Israel will bloom and bud during the kingdom age when all the nations will come up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.
Of course, like everyone else Israel will be punished for her sins, just as we all will be, but there is no doubt there will be those who will come into salvation and the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out upon them, just as He is doing many today, Jews and Gentiles.
God says: But you Israel are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from the chief men thereof, and said to you, You are my servant I have chosen you and NOT CAST YOU AWAY. Isaiah chapter 41.
Replacement theology is from the devil! Nobody can replace Israel as Gods chosen. And the supposed "lost tribes" were never lost. This teaching exists only in Christian theology. Remember as Christians we are grafted in. The branch cannot replace the root! Or we will both die!
