We are the seed of Abraham
March 2, 2008
Having been so strongly influenced by premellinial dispensationalism most evangelicals have little knowlege of or appreciation for God's radically new administration of the new covenant. Prominent preachers like John Hagee have gone so far as to say that Jesus is not Israel's Messiah. Indeed, some of the contemporary manifestations of dispensationalism promote the idea that there are two ways to salvation, one for Gentiles and another for Jews. This of course is a tragic misreading of the biblical text.
The church of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed in ethnic Israel. The New Testament makes plain that "not all Israel is Israel." The seed of Abraham is made up of all those who come to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. National Israel was the Old Covenant type of Spiritual Israel now fulfilled in the church. Some of my heroes hold another view. But I respectfully disagree. I believe the best way to understand the biblical witness is that there is no longer a separation between the church and "Israel." When we speak of "God's people" we are not speaking of any nation. We are speaking of those whom God has saved out of every nation, tribe, language, and people. Bruce Waltke writes:
"Today, the seed of the woman and the heirs of Abraham's covenants are mostly Gentiles, who originally inhabited Anatolia, Greece, and Rome (Rom. 16:20). Using's Paul's metaphor of Romans 11:16-24, the natural branches (i.e., ethnic Israel) of the olive tree (the historical covenant community) have been mostly broken off, while the wild shoot (i.e., Gentiles) has been grafted in to be nourished by the sap of the tree (i.e., God's spiritual life that flows from a covenantal relationship with him; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:11-22; 1 Peter 2:9-10). Delitzsch says, 'We are all Japhethites dwelling in the tents of Shem.'
"Apart from the preservation of an elect remnant within ethnic Israel, these ethnic divisions no longer exist in God's administration. Today his church includes the Ethiopian eunuch (Ham), Peter and Saul (Shem), and Cornelius (Japheth). God is no respector of a person's ethnic origin but only of his or her spiritual condition. In God's household, none is unclean (Acts 10), and in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, for all are Abraham's seed (Galatians 3:26-29)."
From Genesis - A Commentary by Bruce Waltke (p. 153).
The church of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed in ethnic Israel. The New Testament makes plain that "not all Israel is Israel." The seed of Abraham is made up of all those who come to salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. National Israel was the Old Covenant type of Spiritual Israel now fulfilled in the church. Some of my heroes hold another view. But I respectfully disagree. I believe the best way to understand the biblical witness is that there is no longer a separation between the church and "Israel." When we speak of "God's people" we are not speaking of any nation. We are speaking of those whom God has saved out of every nation, tribe, language, and people. Bruce Waltke writes:
"Today, the seed of the woman and the heirs of Abraham's covenants are mostly Gentiles, who originally inhabited Anatolia, Greece, and Rome (Rom. 16:20). Using's Paul's metaphor of Romans 11:16-24, the natural branches (i.e., ethnic Israel) of the olive tree (the historical covenant community) have been mostly broken off, while the wild shoot (i.e., Gentiles) has been grafted in to be nourished by the sap of the tree (i.e., God's spiritual life that flows from a covenantal relationship with him; Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:11-22; 1 Peter 2:9-10). Delitzsch says, 'We are all Japhethites dwelling in the tents of Shem.'
"Apart from the preservation of an elect remnant within ethnic Israel, these ethnic divisions no longer exist in God's administration. Today his church includes the Ethiopian eunuch (Ham), Peter and Saul (Shem), and Cornelius (Japheth). God is no respector of a person's ethnic origin but only of his or her spiritual condition. In God's household, none is unclean (Acts 10), and in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, for all are Abraham's seed (Galatians 3:26-29)."
From Genesis - A Commentary by Bruce Waltke (p. 153).
