Folks everywhere are still freakin’ out over the plain and I should add an irrefutable fact I pointed out that’s rooted in the Scriptures…
What indisputable truth am I referring to?
Simply that Hebrews start life from a VERY different and spiritually advantageous position compared to Gentiles.
And you know what’s even more funny?
The Biblical author folks go to in their futile attempts to refute this truth has already refuted them hands down.
Of course, I’m talking about the Apostle Paul.
I mean there’s no argument or contest.
Check out the following verses:
“Then what advantage has the Jew?
What is the value of being circumcised?
Much in every way! In the first place,
the Jews were entrusted with
the very words of God.
If some of them were unfaithful,
so what? Does their faithlessness
cancel God’s faithfulness?
Heaven forbid! God would be
true even if everyone were a liar!-
as the Tanakh says, “so that you,
God, may be proved right in your
words and win the verdict
when you are put on trial.”
-Romans 2:25-29
Hmm…so let me just kindly reiterate what Paul is saying here homies.
He poses the key question he knows is on his gentile audiences’ minds:
“What advantage has the Jew?”
What is the answer to that question?
It is NOT that Gentiles and Jews are the same from birth.
The answer is the DIRECT OPPOSITE
Paul says the Jew has a HUGE advantage from birth.
Logically speaking, exactly WHO does a Jew have an advantage over?
Well, the obvious answer is Gentiles, right?
Because ever since the time of Abraham, from God’s perspective, there are ONLY two groups of people on the planet: Jews and Gentiles.
I mean like…duh.
So for all those who are freakin’ out, calm the heck down.
Man, I can’t believe the flack I’m getting for stating the same simple truth that Paul articulates in his letter to the Romans.
Look, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
As far as I know, I’m a gentile too (my father is Japanese, and my mother is European French)…
I ain’t no Jewish supremacist or something.
I too, like all gentiles on this planet, was born with the sinful spirit of Amalek in my being.
I too had to be born again through my faith in Yeshua HaMashiach and have that evil inclination replaced by the Holy Spirit.
Why do you think true and real followers of the Jewish Messiah have such a deep and passionate love for Israel?
It’s because they know, and can feel deep in their hearts that they’ve been grafted into Israel.
Why do you think I’m so passionate for Israel?
It’s because the evil spirit of Amalek was eradicated from my soul when I was born again.
Ya feeling me here?
Look, I already said this yesterday, but lemme say it again.
I ain’t saying that Jews have such a huge advantage that they’re saved just because they’re born as Jews.
I think that’s where the misunderstanding is coming from.
Paul makes it clear that Jews aren’t saved just because they’re Jews.
Take a look at these verses:
“So are we Jews better off?
Not entirely; for I have already
made the charge that all people,
Jews and Gentiles alike,
are controlled by sin.”
-Romans 3:9
Does that make things clear?
I’m not talking about a salvation issue.
I’m talking about one’s spiritual status from birth from God’s perspective.
Two TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS!
I think the other problem is a misinterpretation of the following verses, again from the Book of Romans:
“For circumcision is indeed of value
if you do what Torah says.
But if you are a transgressor of Torah,
your circumcision has become uncircumcision!
Therefore, if an uncircumcised man
keeps the righteous requirements of the Torah,
won’t his uncircumcision be
counted as circumcision?
Indeed, the man who is physically
uncircumcised but obeys the Torah will
stand as a judgment on you who have had
a b’rit-milah and have Torah written out
but violate it! For the real Jew is not
merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision
is not only external and physical.
On the contrary, the real Jew is one inwardly;
and true circumcision is of the heart,
spiritual not literal; so that his praise
comes not from other people but from God.”
-Romans 2:25-29
So a gentile will read the part where it says “the real Jew is not merely Jewish outwardly: true circumcision is not only external and physical…” and conclude that he or she is a spiritual Jew or something.
Well, I’ve got a Walter Cronkite news flash for you homie, no you’re not a so-called “spiritual Jew”.
Wanna know what the real meaning of a “spiritual Jew” is according to the New Testament?
It’s an ethnic Jew who has been born again through his or her faith in the Messiah.
It ain’t some gentile who has been born again by accepting the Jewish Messiah.
When born again, ethnically speaking, a gentile remains a gentile, and a Jew remains a Jew.
A gentile’s genetic nature, his or her genes, doesn’t somehow become ethnically Jewish once he or she is born again.
Heck, even Paul recognized that ethnic distinctions still remain when he said “There be neither Jew nor Greek in the body of Messiah”.
He didn’t say, “Now you all are spiritual Jews in the body of the Messiah” or some weird variation of an idea that a lot of churches incorrectly promote.
The very fact that he used the words “Jew” and “Greek” was an acknowledgment that ethnic differences still remain.
He was referring to one’s spiritual status.
So yeah, I will say this.
While a gentile’s spiritual status is different than a Jew’s at birth, after being born again, the spiritual status of both a Jew and Gentile are now one and the same in the body of Messiah.
The truth is most of the gentile churches in existence are utterly and completely blind to their relationship with Israel.
They are completely ignorant of their grafted-in attachment to the covenants that God has ONLY MADE WITH ISRAEL.
And when I say Israel, I’m talking about the heavenly ideal of Israel as a holy Kingdom of God, an ideal that earthly Israel has unfortunately not attained yet.
They have forgotten or have yet to comprehend this truth expressed by Paul:
“However, to those of you
who are Gentiles I say this:
Now if the hallah offered
as firstfruits is holy,
so is the whole loaf.
And if the root is holy,
so are the branches.
But if some of the branches
were broken off, and you-
a wild olive- were grafted
in among them and have
become equal sharers in
the rich root of the olive tree,
then don’t boast as if you were
better than the branches!
However, if you do boast,
remember that you are not
supporting the root,
the root is supporting you.”
-Romans 11:13-18
Did you catch that?
If the hallah (Messiah) offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf (Israel).
Alright, this is getting long, so let me bring this to a close.
The bottom line is that the only hope for Gentiles is the same as the only hope for Jews.
You must accept the Hebrew Messiah.
This is a foundational teaching in both the Torah and the writings of the Prophets.
Following a bunch of laws and rituals ain’t gonna save you…
Neither is performing a ton of righteous works…
You must become born again through your faith in the Jewish Messiah.
Once that happens, the Torah becomes YOUR manual for living a life pleasing to the One who has called you.
Alrighty done.
Holy cow, that was intense.
I think I’m gonna go make some scrambled eggs or something.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“You Samaritans worship
what you do not know;
we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews.”
-John 4:22-23
“Then, leading them outside, he said,
‘Men, what must I do to be saved?’
They said, “Trust in the Lord Yeshua,
and you will be saved —
you and your household!’”
-Acts 16:30-31
You are CORRECT in everything you said in this post…EXCEPT FOR…
I too, like all gentiles on this planet, was born with the sinful spirit of Amalek in my being.
You do realize that “ORIGINAL SIN” is an AUGUSTINE doctrine from the Catholics?
But I’m going to REFUTE that mindset that YOU were born with the sinful spirit of Amalek in your being.
NO ONE was born with a SINFUL SPIRIT of anything. The name of the tree in the garden was called, THE KNOWLEDGE of Good and Evil.
NO one is born with that KNOWLEDGE.
Deuteronomy 1:39
Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
1 John 3:4
sin is the transgression of the law.
Romans 3:20
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 7:7-9
7 …I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
EVERYONE, whether Jew, or Gentile, goes through the SAME THING that Adam and Eve did. KNOWLEDGE is the key word. Jews, BAR/BAT MITZVAH. The Law is everyone’s TREE of KNOWLEDGE of Good and Evil.
Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Romans 5:13
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Romans 4:15
Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Romans 4:8
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
You do realize that Abraham was married to his sister? Half sister to be exact. Under the Law of Moses, that’s a HUGE NO-NO. Yes, even HALF-SISTERS count as a SISTER.
Genesis 20:12
And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Leviticus 18:9
The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.
Leviticus 20:17
And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
Deuteronomy 27:22
Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
God gave BRO/SIS and inbred ISAAC.
IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS THE EXCUSE! Romans 5:13/Acts 17:30.
Jews are accountable to the Law of Moses. Gentiles…IGNORANCE IS BLISS!
Ed Chapman
Good message, as always, Rich. Intensity is necessary sometimes. Let’s jump up and down, get all Pentecostal, bite me with a snake and scream Hallelujah! 🙂
I would like to point out that it isn’t just Christianity that believes we are all born with an evil inclination, call it what you will, but so does Judaism.
What you call the Spirit of Amelek, in Judaism is called the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination). We are born with this and we do not develop the Yetzer Tov (Good Inclination) until we reach the age of understanding, when we can begin to learn Talmud and Torah, which is somewhere around 7-8 years of age.
I would argue one thing: I don’t believe that when we receive the Indwelling Holy Spirit (the Ruach haKodesh) that it removes that evil inclination. If that were true, then every single Born-Again person, whether Jewish or Gentile, would be sinless.
I look around and do not see that.
No, we still have that iniquity (desire to sin) but the Ruach is what helps us to overcome it.
We are born with that little guy in the red tights with a pitchfork on our shoulder, and later when we accept Yeshua as the Messiah and receive the Holy Spirit, we then gain an angel on the other shoulder, who is able to defeat the Enemy- so long as we work with it.
Even with the Ruach on our side, people still have free will and can hear the angel, but decide to go along with the devil.
That is why knowing the difference between trying to earn salvation through legalistic obedience (which doesn’t work) and a faithful obedience (obeying because we respect what God says and want to please him) to the Torah is so important a concept to understand.
When people know that God gave us the Torah not to restrain us, but to free us from sin, which is death, then they can better overcome those evil inclinations.
Yeshua lived the Torah perfectly, which shows that when we do as God says, we do receive salvation. The catch is that no one other than Yeshua has ever, or ever will, be able to be 100% obedient, 100% of the time, which is why God sent Yeshua.
Steven,
I have to disagree with your take on being “obedient” to the law, just because you love God.
For example, we DON’T observe THOU SHALT NOT STEAL “AND” THOU SHALT NOT COVET.
I’m just giving two for the example.
We observe LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF, because that satisfies BOTH. Why observe 2 when 1 will do?
If you love your neighbor…why woiuld you even think of stealing from that neighbor, so that you would have to OBSERVE the commandment to not steal? And if you are stealing something that doesn’t belong to you, that is coveting, as well. So then you are observing 2 commandments when one will do.
Keep in mind, Abraham did not have the law of Moses. If you insist that he did, I have something to enlighten you with. He was married to his sister, and that is a huge no-no in the Law of Moses. And God never informed Abraham of that sin, either. Why? Because of the need to populate the world? Uh, no. Because of one verse in Romans 5:13, 4:15. Before the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. For where no law is, there is no transgression”
Jews:
Deuteronomy 6:25
And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
Romans 5:20
the law was given so that sin would INCREASE…not decrease.
Your “Torah” was a setup to FAIL.
But for the Gentiles, which includes Abraham:
Romans 3:21
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
The only thing we are to be obedient to…is faith. Anything not of faith is sin, and the law is not of faith.
You are following “instructions” in vain.
Romans 7:4
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ
Galatians 2:19
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Galatians 2:21
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Faithful obedience to the Torah?
Galatians 3:12
And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Galatians 3:23
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Romans 3:27
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
The Law of Moses is your “instructions” with 613 commandments.
The Law of Christ is the law of faith, with only 2 commandments.
I know, I know…Matthew 5:17, right? The topic was not about “instruction” or the do’s and don’t’s, but the topic was about PROPHESY OF JESUS.
But what about “19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,”
What follows verse 19 is what the “these” pertain to, where Jesus said, “You have heard it said…BUT I SAY…”
Well, where did they “heard it said”? From your “instructions” from God himself. But Jesus modifies the “instruction” a bit.
You have heard it said, Do no commit adultery. EASY TO DO, RIGHT?
BUT I SAY, that if you LOOK with LUST, you are GUILTY. Oh, not so easy, huh?
No more eye for an eye, like the instruction said, either. But turn the other cheek! That goes against the instruction.
Ed Chapman
As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts Steven.
Good point that the Ruach does not remove the evil inclination.
The main point I wanted to get across is the difference in spiritual status between Jews and Gentiles at birth.
Be blessed and talk soon!
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This was SOOOOO good! I was hoping you’d end with the shabang of John 4:22-23. Honestly, I couldn’t stop laughing at your sarcasm, yet I am also torn with sadness at people who may be twisting your words, taking them out of context, or acting out of the ignorance someone passed on to them. Even more sadly, the majority of people have never heard teaching on ROMANS CHAPTERS 9-11. Those chapters would literally clarify everything, yet to each is his/her own time in Judgement for NOT studying to show themselves approved!!!!!!!
PLEASE, don’t stress or worry yourself to death about the consequences of your obedience. YOU STUDIED…say less. Just because someone may be saved, they can still be ignorant, and WILLFULY ignorant. Some people have been so marinated in false teaching, the Holy Spirit may have just started the drilling process on that cement-like garbage, and your writing was just the start they needed.
Well said brother. I hope the Lord comforts you with His Presence so that you are reassured.
Hey Matthew!
Thanks for your kind warm words and encouragement!
Much appreciated and glad you enjoyed this article…
Be blessed!