tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35758338.post4150244822292014049..comments2023-09-12T21:54:10.845-05:00Comments on Why I Am Not A Dispensationalist: Was Israel the Church?Eric Adamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06321115831719694890noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35758338.post-66267932002756217332007-07-29T15:53:00.000-05:002007-07-29T15:53:00.000-05:00Hi Eric,I think that it’s plenty clear that the Ek...Hi Eric,<BR/><BR/>I think that it’s plenty clear that the Ekklhsia in the New Testament (New Covenant) is Israel in its New Covenant form. When Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, shed the Blood of the New Covenant on the cross, thus removing sin, and thus initiating God’s New Covenant with the house of Israel, as predicted by Jeremiah, only part of Israel accepted the New Covenant by believing in Christ. The other part of Israel refused the New Covenant by rejecting Christ, choosing to continue to try to reach God in the Old Covenant through the law of Moses. Thus, whereas before the cross, there was one covenant (the Old Covenant) and therefore one Israel (Old Covenant Israel [the Jews]), ever since the cross, there have been two covenants (the Old Covenant and the New Covenant) and therefore two Israels (Old Covenant Israel [the Jews (non-saints)] and New Covenant Israel [the saints (believers in Christ)], that is, the Ekklhsia of the New Testament). Then the Gentiles believed in Christ and entered into the part of Israel that accepted God’s New Covenant with the house of Israel by believing in Christ (New Covenant Israel / the Ekklhsia) as fellow saints and fellow citizens of New Covenant Israel (the Ekklhsia) and fellow heirs and fellow partakers of the promise. Thus, ever since, Israel has existed in two parts, the part of Israel that accepts God’s New Covenant with house of Israel by believing in Christ (New Covenant Israel [the saints, both Greek and Jew] / the Ekklhsia) and the part of Israel that refuses the New Covenant by not believing in Christ, choosing to continue to try to reach God in the Old Covenant through the law of Moses (Old Covenant Israel [the Jews (non-saints)]). Paul describes these two parts of Israel in Romans 11:25, which he describes in 9:6-8 (New Covenant Israel [the saints, both Greek and Jew] / the Ekklhsia) and in 9:31-33 and 11:7-11 (Old Covenant Israel [the Jews (non-saints)]). Having already identified in 4:13-18 / 8:14-18 the children of the promise / the children of God as the saints, both Greek and Jew, Paul identifies New Covenant Israel (the believing part of Israel [the saints, both Greek and Jew] / the Ekklhsia) in 9:6-8 as the children of the promise / the children of God. Thus, according to Paul’s own definition of the children of the promise / the children of God, the Israel in 9:6-8 (the children of the promise / the children of God) includes all of the saints, both Greek and Jew. The “us” in 4:13-18 (the children of the promise) is the “we” in 8:14-18 (the children of God), which is the “us” in 9:22-24 (the vessels of mercy), both Greek and Jew. Thus, the implicit “us/we” in 9:6-8 (the children of the promise / the children of God / the vessels of mercy / the Israel that believes [the part of Israel that believes in 11:25]) is the same “us/we” to which Paul refers in 4:13-18 and 8:14-18 and 9:22-24. This agrees with 11:16-24/11:25, where Paul states that part of the tree/Israel does not believe in Christ until the Gentiles enter into the part of the tree/Israel that believes in Christ. Thus, the part of the tree/Israel that believes in Christ in 11:16-24/11:25, which is the Israel that is described in 9:6-8, is New Covenant Israel (the saints, both Greek and Jew [the Ekklhsia]), and the part of the tree/Israel that does not believe in Christ in 11:16-24/11:25, which is the Israel that is described in 9:31-33 and 11:7-11, is Old Covenant Israel (the Jews [non-saints]). The tree in 11:16-24 obviously refers to Israel in 11:25, because the unbelieving part of the tree in 11:16-24 is unbelieving Jews and the unbelieving part of Israel in 11:25 is unbelieving Jews, and the believing part of the tree in 11:16-24 is believing Jews and the believing part of Israel in 11:25 is believing Jews. Therefore, the tree has to refer to Israel. Logically, it can’t be anything else. And just as the Gentiles enter into the believing part of the tree in 11:16-24, likewise the Gentiles “enter” into the believing part of Israel in 11:25, which (the believing part of Israel) is described in 9:6-8, which is identified as the children of the promise / the children of God, who are identified in 4:13-18 / 8:14-18 as the saints, both Greek and Jew. Everything that Paul says is consistent with the believing part of Israel (New Covenant Israel) being the saints, both Greek and Jew, the Ekklhsia of the New Testament, and with the unbelieving part of Israel (Old Covenant Israel) being the Jews (non-saints). We see these two parts of Israel, these two Israels, contrasted, not only in Romans 9:6-8 (New Covenant Israel) and 9:31-33 and 11:7-11 (Old Covenant Israel), but also in Galatians 4:21-31, each Israel having its own covenant (either Old or New) and its own people (either the Jews [analogized as Ishmael] or the saints, both Greek and Jew [analogized as Isaac]) and its own Jerusalem (either the present Jerusalem or the above Jerusalem). In Galatians 6:15-16, Paul identifies “the Israel of God” as the ones who walk by the rule that it is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision but the new creation in Christ that matters, which describes the saints, both Greek and Jew. In Ephesians 2:11-21 (2:12), Paul says that as unbelievers, the Gentile saints at Ephesus use to be (but as believers, are no longer) (1) without Christ and (2) excluded from the citizenship of Israel (New Covenant Israel / the Ekklhsia) and (3) strangers from the covenants of the promise (the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant being realized in the New Covenant). This language absolutely requires that the Gentile saints at Ephesus now, as believers, be INCLUDED in the citizenship of Israel, as are all the saints. As Paul says in 2:19, “So then no longer are you strangers and non-citizens, but you are the saints’ fellow citizens and God’s family members.” Anyone who says that the Ephesians continue, as believers, to be excluded from the “Israel” in 2:12, which is New Covenant Israel, is engaging in flat out denial. Paul says in Romans 11 that once the fullness of the Gentiles has entered into the believing part of Israel, then the unbelieving part of Israel will likewise believe in Christ and will likewise enter into the believing part of Israel, and that it is in this manner (in this stated sequence) that all Israel (all three parts: the believing part, the entered Gentile part, and the entered no-longer-unbelieving part) will have been saved (will have believed in Christ). Once this has occurred, then Israel will have completed its transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, and thus its transition from being Old Covenant Israel (the Jews) to being New Covenant Israel (the saints, both Greek and Jew / the Ekklhsia of the New Testament [New Covenant]). If Israel would continue indefinitely in its Old Covenant form, and if the predictions and promises in the Old Testament would be fulfilled to Israel in its Old Covenant form, without Israel having to transition into the New Covenant as New Covenant Israel (the Ekklhsia of the New Testament), then there would have been no reason for the New Covenant. The very prediction of a New Covenant presupposes that Israel would not continue in its Old Covenant form and that the predictions and promises in the Old Testament would not be fulfilled to Israel in its Old Covenant form, but that Israel would have to become New Covenant Israel (the Ekklhsia of the New Testament) in order for these things to be fulfilled. The fact that the Old Testament does not speak of belief in Christ or of an inclusion of Gentiles as fellow heirs and fellow citizens is not evidence that these things would be fulfilled without belief in Christ or that the Gentiles would not be included as fellow heirs and fellow citizens, but it is simply evidence that the revelation received by generations prior to Paul's generation was less complete, as Paul states in Ephesians 3:1-7. <BR/><BR/>JimJimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15701936029912770607noreply@blogger.com