WHERE WE FIT IN
By Richard Jordan
The Lord Jesus Christ is the central figure of the
Christian faith. He is our Savior. He is our life, our peace, our hope-the One
who fulfills our deepest spiritual needs and in whom we find our greatest
joys.
Nowhere is this so plainly declared as in the epistles of Paul. To
Paul, "Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11). Everything the
believer has or needs is, according to Paul, to be found "in
Christ."
It comes as quite a surprise to many, therefore, that the
Apostle Paul states flatly that our Lord's ministry while on earth excluded most
of those who read these words:
"Now I say that JESUS CHRIST WAS A
MINISTER OF THE CIRCUMCISION for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made
unto the fathers" (Romans 15:8).
What can this mean? How can this
be? Certainly there is no mistake on Paul's part for not only was he writing by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but we have simply to consult the records of
Christ's earthly ministry to see that they agree fully with Paul's
assessment.
Listening to most of the current preaching and teaching on
our Lord's earthly ministry, one would conclude that it was primarily to the
Gentiles. But how wrong this would be! For far too long passages like the
following have simply been ignored by Bible teachers who claim a part in
Christ's earthly ministry:
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and
commanded them, saying, GO NOT INTO THE WAY OF THE GENTILES, AND INTO ANY CITY
OF THE SAMARITANS ENTER YE NOT:
"BUT GO RATHER TO THE LOST SHEEP OF
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL" (Matthew 10:5,6).
"...I AM NOT SENT BUT
UNTO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL" (Matthew
15:24).
"Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: FOR
SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS" (John 4:22).
But what is the explanation
for all this? And just where do we Gentiles fit into the ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ? We trust our readers will study what follows thoughtfully for it
will prove a great help in your spiritual
lives.
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THE
GREAT DIVIDE
That there is a great difference between the Jew and the Gentile
in much of the Bible is clearly set forth in Ephesians 2:11. Notice Paul's words
to the Gentiles at Ephesus:
"Wherefore remember, that YE BEING IN
TIME PAST GENTILES IN THE FLESH, WHO ARE CALLED UNCIRCUMCISION BY THAT WHICH IS
CALLED THE CIRCUMCISION IN THE FLESH MADE BY HANDS."
In Time Past there
was a difference between Israel and the Gentiles, a difference plainly
identified by the titles "Circumcision" and
"Uncircumcision." In other words, there was a difference between those
who were and were not circumcised.
The Jews recognized this division for
they knew that God had separated them from the rest of the nations of the earth
and had given them a physical sign of that separation: circumcision. The
religious rite of circumcision literally divided the whole world into two parts
and set up what Ephesians 2:14 calls "the middle wall of partition"
between the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision.
This was nothing new or
recent in Paul's day for God Himself had introduced circumcision as the sign of
His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17. He had instructed Abraham:
"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and
thy seed after thee; EVERY MAN CHILD AMONG YOU SHALL BE
CIRCUMCISED.
"And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin;
and IT SHALL BE A TOKEN OF THE COVENANT BEWXT ME AND YOU."
"He
that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, MUST NEEDS BE
CIRCUMCISED: AND MY COVENANT SHALL BE IN YOUR FLESH FOR AN EVERLASTING
COVENANT.
"AND THE UNCIRCUMCISED MAN CHILD WHOSE FLESH OF HIS
FORESKIN IS NOT CIRCUMCISED, THAT SOUL SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM HIS PEOPLE; HE HATH
BROKEN MY COVENANT" (Genesis 17:10,11,13,14).
That God Himself had
made this division between Israel and the Gentiles is further borne out by
Ephesians 2:12:
"That at that time YE WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, BEING
ALIENS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL, AND STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANTS OF
PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD."
In Time Past the
Gentiles were genuinely "washed up," as it were, being: Without
Christ, Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, Strangers from the covenants of
promise, having absolutely no Hope-and thus utterly lost and without
God.
This basic division between Circumcision and Uncircumcision is the
fundamental characteristic of Time Past. Both the nation Israel and God Himself
recognized this difference and unless we honor it we will miss the basis of
understanding much of the Bible.
Now the question is: How long did this
difference last? For Ephesians 2:13 is quite emphatic that "But Now"
things have changed:
"BUT NOW IN CHRIST JESUS YE WHO SOMETIMES WERE
FAR OFF ARE MADE NIGH BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST"
Galatians 6:15 will help
here:
"For in Christ Jesus NEITHER CIRCUMCISION AVAILETH ANYTHING,
NOR UNCIRCUMCISION, but a new creature."
This is an amazing declaration!
God says through Paul that now circumcision means nothing to Him-it now has no
spiritual value at all! The special status once accorded the nation Israel has
been set aside [footnote 1] and God has raised up the Apostle Paul to introduce
a new program called "the mystery" (Ephesians 3:1-9).
Thus now
in "the dispensation of grace" the middle wall of partition between
Jew and Gentile has been broken down and Paid declares that there is now
"no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him" (Romans 10:12).
This division
between Time Past and But Now is the great division in Scripture. Mark well that
it is not until we come to the ministry our ascended Lord from heaven's glory
committed to the Apostle Paul that we cross the great divide from Time Past to
But Now.
1. Albeit temporarily. See Romans
11:25-29.
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WHAT
COULD A GENTILE DO?
If the Gentiles in Time Past were "without
hope" due to the fact they were on the wrong side of the middle wall of
partition, it did not mean that God had no interest in them. Rather, the very
purpose of the covenants and promises given to Abraham and his seed
declared:
"I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee: and IN THEE SHALL ALL FAMILIES OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED"
(Genesis 12:3).
But what were a Gentile's alternatives in Time Past? The
answer to this is twofold, for if a Gentile came to see His true position before
God, if he recognized his gods were false and Israel's God was the one true and
living God, he could do one of two things:
First, he could become a
proselyte; that is, he could be circumcised and become a full-fledged member of
the nation Israel.
To become a proselyte a Gentile was literally had to
become a Jew, as many of the Persians did in Esther 8:17:
"...And
many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon
them."
Thus for a Gentile who recognized the God of Abraham as the one
true God and the nation Israel as His people, one alternative was to be
circumcised and become a part of that favored nation. In fact, it is clear from
Exodus 12:48 that a proselyte held the same status as "one that is born in
the land." He thus was now on the right side of the middle wall of
partition and had claim on all of Israel's covenants and promises.
The
other avenue open to a Gentile who recognized Israel's God as the true God was
to put himself in the place of blessing by blessing Israel. In other words, by
taking a place of submission and service to Israel, a Gentile could be blessed
through Israel (Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 60:1-16; 61:4-6, etc.).
Our Lord's
own reference to the blessing of Gentiles during the days of Elijah and Elisha
in Luke 4:25-27 illustrates this alternative.
Although many Jewish widows
were in dire straits due to the judgment of God upon Israel's sin [footnote 2]
it was a Gentile widow in Zarephath who was sustained by Elijah's ministry.
Why?
Read the record:
"So he [Elijah] arose and went to
Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was
there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray
thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
"And as she was
going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel
of bread in thine hand.
"And she said, As the LORD THY GOD LIVETH, I
have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a
cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for
me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
"And Elijah said unto
her, Fear not: go and do as thou has said: but MAKE ME thereof a little cake
FIRST, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy
son."
"And she went and did according to the saying of
Elijah..." (I Kings 17:10-13,15).
Here was a humble Gentile woman
who recognized that Israel was special, that they had the true God and she
didn't. She put Israel's prophet-God's spokesman-"first" and obeyed
"the Lord God of Israel" when He spoke. Hence even while most in
Israel were refusing God's word through Elijah, the blessing was
hers.
Then there was Naaman, the leper. There were many lepers in Israel
in those days, but only the Gentile Naaman was healed. Again, the record is
clear:
"And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company,
and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I KNOW THAT THERE IS NO
GOD IN ALL THE EARTH, BUT IN ISRAEL: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing
of thy servant."
"And Naarnan said, Shall there not then, I
pray thee, be given to thy servant TWO MULES' BURDEN OF EARTH? FOR THY SERVANT
WILL HENCEFORTH OFFER NEITHER BURNT OFFERING NOR SACRIFICE UNTO OTHER GODS, BUT
UNTO THE LORD" (II Kings 5:15,17).
Here is faith indeed: "No
God in all the earth, but in Israel"! So fully did he understand the
purposes of God in and through Israel that he asked to take a load of the soil
of the promised land home with him! He knew that Palestine was the only place
that man could meet with God and when he endeavored to meet God it would be on
the very dirt of Palestine!
Thus it was in Time Past that the only way a
Gentile could be blessed was by being in subjection to Israel, by loving and
blessing Israel and recognizing her God as the only true God. And this was just
as true in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as it was in the so-called Old
Testament.
2. Elijah closed the heavens so it did not rain for three and
a half
years.
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HOW
CHRIST DEALT WITH THE GENTILES
Have you ever really searched the Scriptures
to see exactly how many Gentiles Christ dealt with while He was here on earth?
The answer will be shocking to some, surprising to most. In actual fact, Christ
dealt with only two Gentiles as far as the written Word is concerned. One man,
one woman-only these two. Both encounters are very instructive.
In Luke
7:1-10 we have the record of a Roman centurion who needed help for a sick
servant whom he loved very much. But this was no ordinary Gentile! By no
means.
This man loved the nation Israel and had even built a synagogue in
which they could worship. Beyond this, he obviously recognized that Jesus Christ
was the God of the Jews for he knew He could heal his servant. But there is
more: he also knew he, as a Gentile, was on the wrong side of the middle wall of
partition-"not worthy" to personally go to Christ on his own. Thus he
sent the Jewish elders to request Christ's help-he knew his only hope of access
was through Israel! He even sent word that Christ need not come the distance to
his home, again because he was "not worthy that [Christ] should enter under
[his] roof" (v.6).
This is the one Gentile man Christ dealt with: a
Gentile in the place of blessing because he trusted Israel's God and blessed
Israel. This is, of course, a tremendous foreshadowing of what will happen to
the Gentiles during the kingdom reign of Christ.
The one Gentile woman
Christ dealt with is just as true to the divine pattern. She came to Christ
seeking help for her demon-vexed daughter, obviously believing Him to be the
true "Son of David," Israel's Messiah. When He answered her direct
appeal with silence, she went to the disciples as intermediaries-recognizing the
preeminent place they held as Israelites. Interestingly, these same disciples
who had been given "power against unclean spirits" (Matthew 10:1) seem
not to have been able to help her. They obviously had no power in cases like
hers (See Matthew 10:5,6).
When they approach Christ, He plainly declares
that the middle wall of partition was still in effect:
"...He
answered and said, I AM NOT SENT BUT UNTO THE LOST SHEEP OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.
"Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help
me.
"But he answered and said, IT IS NOT MEET TO TAKE THE CHILDREN'S
BREAD, AND CAST IT TO DOGS" (Matthew 15:24-26).
The woman's response
is touching:
"And she said, Truth, Lord: YET THE DOGS EAT OF THE
CRUMBS WHICH FALL FROM THEIR MASTERS' TABLE" (Matthew 15:27).
This
Gentile woman recognized that Jesus Christ was Israel's Messiah and acknowledged
the preeminence God had given to that favored nation. Thus she put herself in
the position where she could rightfully receive the overflow of God's blessing
to them.
Isn't it fascinating that we don't hear much of these obvious
details when people preach through the Gospels today?! Our Lord's earthly
ministry was conducted under the constraints of Time Past when the middle wall
of partition was standing and God's salvation and blessing flowed first to
Israel and only then through that favored nation to the nations who were willing
to take their place in subjection to her.
So we see the two Gentiles
Christ dealt with during His earthly ministry [footnote 3]. They were the only
ones He healed-the people healed in passages like Matthew 4:23; 8:16; 9:35, etc.
were all Israelites. And the two Gentiles He did deal with had clearly placed
themselves in alliance with Israel and thus were blessed through recognizing the
program then in effect.
No other fair conclusion can be reached: Christ's
earthly ministry was exclusively to and for the nation Israel. But wait, we must
not stop at this point. Did not Christ command His disciples to "Go ye into
all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15)? Did
He not instruct them to "teach all nations ... to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19,20)? Yes, indeed!
3
“What about the Greeks who came seeking Jesus?" some will ask. See
for yourself from the account in John 12:20-22 that contrary to popular opinion
there is no record of Christ ever granting the interview!
And on just
what basis was this to be done? Luke 24:47 answers:
"And that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all
nations, BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM" (Luke 24:47).
Hence even when we
come to as late a date as Acts 11:19, we read:
"Now they which were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far
as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, PREACHING THE WORD TO NONE BUT UNTO THE
JEWS ONLY."
The middle wall of partition was still standing in early
Acts and thus the only Gentiles dealt with by Peter, the Twelve or the
"little flock" of Pentecostal believers were the same ones Christ
dealt with while on earth. Remember: as long as the middle wall was standing, it
was still "Time Past." The only Gentiles dealt with in early Acts were
proselytes or Gentiles that were blessing Israel.
Acts, 2:9,10 lists the
countries from which the Jews at Pentecost had come, adding: "and
proselytes." That these proselytes were counted as Jews is clear from the
assertion of verse 5 that "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation under heaven." Thus at Pentecost the only ones
ministered to were Jews (See 2:14,22,36).
But what about the Ethiopian
eunuch? Acts 8:26-35 tells us he "had come to Jerusalem for to
worship." In other words, he also was a proselyte. What's more, as he was
journeying homeward he was reading the prophet Isaiah-when Philip overtook him
he was at Isaiah 53:7. At his invitation, Philip "preached unto him
Jesus" and he quickly believed "that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God"-that He is Israel's Messiah. He, also, was a proselyte into Israel's
kingdom program.
Surely, however, Cornelius was no proselyte. True. But
we have simply to read Acts 10:1,2 to see that he, as the centurion of Luke 7,
feared Israel's God and loved His people. He, too, was in the place of blessing,
having so blessed Israel. Hence Peter is sent to him with the "words of
salvation."
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WHERE
DO WE FIT IN?
It is not until we come to the Apostle Paul and "the
mystery" program revealed to him that the "washed up" Gentiles of
Ephesians 2:12 are included in the things of God.
The special status
afforded to the nation Israel and the resultant disadvantage of the Gentiles
extend right through Scripture until we come to God sending a new message out
through a new messenger, the Apostle Paul. To Paul was committed "the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery,"
(Romans 16:25), a message and program that God had kept "hidden" in
Himself until revealed through Paul.
Paul describes it in Ephesians 3
this way:
"For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for
you Gentiles,
"If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of
God which is given me to you-ward:
"How that by revelation he made
known unto me the mystery (Ephesians 3:1-3).
In this new
"dispensation of the grace of God" Jews and Gentiles are now placed on
an absolutely equal basis, God recognizing "no difference" between
them.
Rather than Gentiles being saved through the rise of Israel to
prominence, today salvation is being sent out in spite of Israel, yes, even
through their fall:
"I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that
they should fall? God forbid: but rather THROUGH THEIR FALL SALVATION IS COME
UNTO THE GENTILES, FOR TO PROVOKE THEM TO JEALOUSY.
"Now if THE FALL
OF THEM BE THE RICHES OF THE WORLD, and THE DIMINISHING OF THEM THE RICHES OF
THE GENTILES; how much more their fulness?
"FOR I SPEAK TO YOU
GENTILES, INASMUCH AS I AM THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES, I MAGNIFY MINE
OFFICE" (Romans 11:11-13).
The Apostle Paul was raised up by Christ
Himself from His position in heaven's glory and was given a message not found in
the Old Testament, the Four Gospels or even early Acts-a message found only in
"the words of Christ" given through Paul: Romans through
Philemon.
Today there are no rites and ceremonies to perform, no signs to
maintain, no special nation or religion to embrace. Now all we need to come to
God is faith in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which was poured out at
Calvary as the full payment for our sins. And when we by our own personal faith
rely exclusively on Him, God the Holy Spirit places us in Him-thereby making us
"complete," blessing us with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places." (Colossians 2:10, Ephesians 1:3).
To Paul was given an
unrestricted apostleship (Romans 1:5) and an unrestricted message. In the
dispensation of grace we have an "every-man ministry" in the truest
sense of the term. No one is excluded now, but God's grace is abundantly
available to all. Speaking of "God our Savior," Paul
declares:
"WHO WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, AND TO COME UNTO THE
KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
"For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
"WHO GAVE HIMSELF A
RANSOM FOR ALL, TO BE TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME.
"WHEREUNTO I AM
ORDAINED A PREACHER, AND AN APOSTLE, (I speak the truth in Christ and lie not;)
A TEACHER OF THE GENTILES IN FAITH AND VERITY" (I Timothy
2:4-7).
Only as we thus "rightly divide the word of truth" can
we be sure that we have a legitimate part in the program of God-and only then
can we begin to fully comprehend what God has so richly given us in
Christ.
by Richard Jordan
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