Romans 3:1-4 (KJV)
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Paul faced the same types of accusations a Baptist faces today. When we urge a Jew, who has trusted Christ as Saviour, to come out of Judaism and come into a New Testament Baptist church, we are leveled with charges of anti-Semitism. Nothing could be farther from fact. Baptists acknowledge:
- The historical validation of the Jews,
- The geographical occupation of Israel[1] by the Jews and
- The spiritual heritage we possess through the Jews.
- Our Savior was born a Jew
- Our Bible was written by Jews and
- Our churches find their origin in churches originally composed of converted Jews
But note that they were converted. Jesus did not correct the Jewish traditions. He put them to pasture and created a new thing in the local Baptist church.
When we urge a Jewish convert to Christ to forsake that old way and embrace this new Christian way, we only do what Jesus did and what Paul did after him.
[1] Known today, but wrongly so, as Palestine.
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Romans 3:1-4 (KJV) False Accusations
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In Yahweh's order, acceptance is based on identity: Who are you? Are you a genuine and lasting covenant member? This question is of great significance to the Jew especially, but equally to the Gentile (Romans 1:16b). If you are Jewish must you leave Judaism and embrace Christianity and the Church to be accepted by HaShem? If you are non-Jewish, must you convert to Judaism before God will extend covenant membership to you? The answer to both quesitons is a resounding "No!" How shall we as Jews and Gentiles understand our roles in such covenants?
ReplyDeleteA study of the Torah will reveal the identity of both Jew and non-Jew. To be sure, misunderstanding who you are according to the Torah can have detrimental results. Look at the meaning of the word “Torah,” and it’s definitions.
Definition: Torah = Law, direction, instruction[2]; from the root Hebrew word “yarah” meaning “to shoot an arrow” or “to hit the mark”[3]. Properly used, the word “torah” means, “[the] teaching.”In a broad sense, Torah is the revelation of Yahweh to His people. (Matthew 5:17-20; 23:1-3; Acts 21:19-26)
The primary purpose in Yahweh's giving of the Torah, as a way of making someone righteous, only achieves its goal when the person, by faith, accepts that Yeshua is the promised Messiah spoken about therein. Until the individual reaches this conclusion, his familiarity of the Torah is only so much intellectual nutrition. Only by believing in Yeshua will the person be able to properly understand Yahweh, and consequently, His Word.
Erica, You comment demonstrates precisely my point. The Apostle Paul clearly taught that, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but a new man, in one body which is a church.
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