Adopted Heirs

Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. -Ephesians 3:2-6

It's hard to see how the church believes it has replaced the Jewish people in God's covenant promises when you read these verses. It seems abundantly plain the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel. That's "together with", not "instead of". These few words alone shoot down the church's argument for Christian supersessionism, but what about the One Law viewpoint? Actually, Paul makes an interesting point:

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. -Ephesians 3:6

Notice that Paul says in the promise in Christ Jesus, not in the promise in the Torah of Moses. The next logical question to ask is "What is the promise in Christ Jesus that makes Gentiles and Jews fellow heirs?"

I don't have a hard and fast answer, but tomorrow night, I'm going to ask a similar question: What did Jesus teach the Gentiles to obey? You can click the link to get the full summary of the class, but it's based on a series of articles I wrote on this blog some months ago. I'm trying to find out if it was the Messiah's intent to have the Gentile disciples learn and obey every commandment and covenant recorded in the Bible or if Jesus taught something that was more specific that was to be passed on to the Goyim?

The starting point for Gentile discipleship and "fellow heir-ship" isn't the Torah but the Gospels. Up until the Messiah came in human form, Gentiles could only fully access God and the covenants by converting to Judaism. Short of that, a Gentile who came to faith in the One God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, could become a God-fearer, which acknowledges God but doesn't give the non-Jewish person a standing before Him. I don't think (but I'm not a scholar) that the concept of a Gentile as a noahide existed in the First Century C.E., so that was the best a non-Jew could do if he or she came to faith in Israel's God.

Yeshua (Jesus) changed all that, but what did he do? That's the $64,000 question we all wrestle with.

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands) — remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. -Ephesians 2:11-13

"Formerly Gentiles"? What? I'm not a "Gentile" anymore? Does Paul mean that I'm a Jew by the blood of Christ? Oh wow!

This is where it would be helpful if I could read ancient Greek and determine what the original word was for what we read as "Gentile" in English. Does Paul mean that when a Gentile becomes a disciple of the Jewish Messiah, he or she automatically becomes a "spiritual Jew"? Or does he mean something else...like using "Gentiles" to mean "pagans"?

Paul seems to be using the former status of the Gentile disciples to illustrate that, in their (our) natural state, before coming to faith, we "were separate from Christ" and "foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." Coming to faith then, joins us with Christ and makes us joined to the covenants of promise, giving us hope and giving us access to God.

But does it make Gentiles functionally identical to Jews in every respect and thereby removing the status of "Jew" or "Israelite" from existence? If that were true, God would have to break every promise He ever made to the Children of Israel in the Torah and the Prophets that they would always be a people before Him.

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” -Exodus 19:5-6

I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. -Leviticus 26:11-13

These are just two examples of God stating His intention and devotion to the Children of Israel as His "treasured, splendorous people". Of course, you could say that there were just a ton of non-Jews at the Sinai event, but as I previously mentioned, the "mixed multitude" lived identical lives to their Israelite counterparts and ultimately their offspring assimilated into Israel, becoming indistinguishable from the descendants of the Children of Jacob. If the "Ger" question were to apply to Gentile Messianic disciples, then the obvious answer is that we are to convert and assimilate into modern (Messianic) Judaism.

But that's not what Paul is saying. In fact, Paul was very much against Gentiles converting to Judaism in order to gain access to the promises.

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. -Galatians 5:2-6

As far as I can see, that pretty much takes care of the "Ger" justification for identical Gentile and Jewish response to God and to the Torah. Now what about this?

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. -Galatians 3:26-29

The "neither Jew nor Gentile" part seems to confirm that Jews and Gentiles cease to exist under the Messianic covenant as distinct beings or people groups, which is not only the fear that every Jew has in relation to converting to Christianity, but is part of what the more conservative elements of Messianic Judaism have issues with in relation to One Law theology. However, Paul also says "nor is there male and female".

What a minute. The last time I looked at my wife, we had "distinctions" both in form and in function (and probably in role as well). Since God didn't blend males and females into one homogeneous, androgynous mass, what makes anyone think he took Jews and Gentiles and blended us all into one smooth, pureed mixture with no identifiable means of locating the original "ingredients"?

If, on the other hand, Paul meant that our standing in holiness and our access to God were the same, regardless of our gender, ethnic, or legal (slave vs. freeman) status, then we can be part of one body before the Messiah, and yet retain our individual forms and functions (kind of like a heart remaining a heart, the lungs remaining lungs, and a hippocampus remaining a hippocampus).

Does that solve the problem? Oh, heck no. I could write for hours (or days, or years) and not be able to "solve" anything. The neat thing about the Bible is that it can be interpreted in more than one way and therefore, different groups can use the Bible to establish different theologies, viewpoints, and worship patterns. While I believe there is one "right answer" to understand the Word, God is the only one who really knows it. The rest of us are dancing madly on the head of a pin trying to figure things out and guess what? We'll probably be doing that for the rest of our lives or until the Messiah returns, whichever comes first (that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying, but I wanted you to know what we are all facing together).

I can't get over the idea that the Messiah and his intentions are the key to everything. When Paul wrote the "grafted in" metaphor in Romans 11 he continued to make distinctions between the "natural branches" (Jews) and the "grafted in branches" (Gentiles) and the only thing they had in common is "the root" (Messiah) to which they were all attached. The two different types of branches remained two different types of branches. They didn't "morph" into a single type of branch. The commonality is the "nourishment" that fed them both.

That allows us to be "one body" and "one people" ("one tree"..."one vine with lots of branches") based on the source of our strength and our faith. We can "consume" the same God because the "alien" (former) Gentiles are now changed in status so that they (we) are capable of "eating" the "food of the Spirit" from which they (we) were previously unable to take in.

Like I said, I don't have all the answers. But I'd like to think that the questions are good ones. The journey along the path continues.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark, ignoring the light of the world. Look for the lamp who lights your path or you may become lost in the dark forever.

"A Jew never gives up. We're here to bring Mashiach, we will settle for nothing less." -Harav Yitzchak Ginsburgh