One of the most revolutionary (and, to the Jews/Israelites then, controversial) concepts or teachings that Jesus brought was that the “God of Israel” was actually a God of all, a God for Jews and gentiles alike, including the mortal enemies of the Jews/Israelites. This is extremely important because according to the Old Testament, God had made a special covenant with “His people”, the nation of Israel, to the exclusion of other nations and peoples (Genesis 15:1-21:34; also, Genesis 28:11-22). To them, for instance, the rabbinic summary of the law exhorting them to “…love…your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27) was interpreted hypocritically very narrowly. It definitely did not apply to non-Jews. Which is why Jesus, in His Wisdom, decides to narrate the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-36), at the conclusion of which He instructs or advises him to “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37).
Jesus further ‘complicates’ life for the Jews/Israelites by overturning the law of retaliation, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, instead preaching turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, loving not just your neighbour, but your enemies too and those who curse you, “…that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust…” (Matthew 5:38-48).
Indeed, therefore, the notion that God is a God for all implies that the old covenant is broken and replaced by a new covenant, and this new covenant is confirmed by Jesus in two ways. First, He says the only way to heaven is through Him (John 14:6). Whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life but “…he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of only begotten Son of God” (John 3:14-18). It is important to note that, although this teaching has universal application, here Jesus was preaching to the Jews/Israelites, and so no exception or special dispensation was made for them. You believe in Jesus, you go to heaven and you have everlasting life; you don’t believe in Jesus, you are condemned eternally.
Second, Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for all our sins. Not just the sins of Jews/Israelites (or Judeans), but all of humanity. Not just people living then, but all future generations and peoples too. This act again invalidates the old covenant because according to the old covenant or laws, sins could only be absolved through the slaughter of an animal: Jesus became the lamb (Genesis 4:4; Genesis 22:13; John 1:29).
The notion, therefore, that the Israelites are/were the chosen dies/died with the birth of Christ and is buried when He is nailed to the cross for all of humanity. Indeed, Chris invalidating the old covenant is one of the reasons the Sadducees and Pharisees and some Israelites were against Him. (In purely political, geopolitical, military, strategic and psycho-cultural terms, it was dangerous talk! It invalidated the belief and feeling by the Israelites that they were “special”, and that they were “chosen” and that they had a “special relationship” with the one true God. The chosen or God’s people were now only on the basis of their acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour!)
In his epistles, Apostle Paul further expounds and cements this new covenant and disavows the old. He affirms that God is a God for all, including the Greeks and gentiles. Part of Paul’s doctrine or Christology essentially revolves around or is grounded on this issue. For instance, in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17, Paul makes the assertion that since Christ’s death was on behalf of all, this means that the whole human race has been brought under the sentence of death; and Christ’s resurrection means that in the new order only what He brings to life is actually living (this affirms what Jesus Himself said – see above). Thus, those who do live (in God’s new order) may now live only for the One who died for them and was raised again. Moreover, this new order brought about by Christ’s death and resurrection nullifies one’s viewing anything any longer from the present (or old) perspective, whose values reflect an old age point of view. To view either Christ or anyone/anything else from that perspective is no longer valid. Why? Because being in Christ means that one belongs to the new creation: the old has gone, the new has come!
Paul’s radical, new-order point of view – resurrection life marked by the cross! – lies at the heart of everything he thinks and does. Paul further makes the following assertions, which derail the argument of a chosen nation with special status and special laws given only to them by God:
1. Christ is the Seed of Abraham, to whom God made the promises. Therefore, who are Abraham’s true children? Those who are of Christ! (Galatians 3:16-29; see also Romans 8:12-17).
2. The true and enduring covenant with God is spiritual. So, true descent from Abraham is a spiritual one: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28; see also Romans).
3. Observance of the “Law” of Christ (Galatians 6:2). The law or commandment of Christ is to love one another as He loves us or love your neighbour as you love yourself (Galatians 5:14; John 13:34; 15:12; see also above).
4. On the other hand, Jews/Israelites, who were supposedly the chosen people, and into whom Christ was born and unto whom the gospel was first preached and revealed, by their continued rejection of Christ may actually forfeit any status of being God’s children and may not see God’s Kingdom. The only way that this can/could change is/was through them accepting Christ as their Lord and Saviour, and not any prior relationship or “special” status! (This was again an affirmation of what Jesus had said – see above).
5. The ultimate goal of salvation is not simply the saving of individuals and fitting them for heaven, as it were, but the creation of a people for God’s name, reconstituted by a new covenant. That is, although people in the new covenant are saved one by one, the goal of that salvation is to form a people who, as the Israel of old, in their life together reflect the character of the God who saved them, whose character is borne by the Christ incarnate and re-created in God’s people by the Spirit (See, among others, Hebrews 8:7-10:29).
In conclusion, to insist, therefore, on a narrow interpretation of the bible in furtherance of unholy agendas is actually a misunderstanding of why Christ came to live among us and to sacrifice Himself on the cross. Indeed, as Paul puts it, “…if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, …[we have] trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace[.]” (Hebrews 10:26-29; see also 6:1-8). To paraphrase Paul, these Christians, who clearly do not understand what it means to be a new creation and who do not understand the new covenant, are still infants (Hebrews 5:12-14).
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