Because theology is everybody's task
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Just What Exactly Is "Ethnic Israel" or an "Ethnic Jew"?
I've heard a lot about "ethnic Jews" and "ethnic Israel" when eschatology is discussed. But exactly what are these terms and what do they mean? What is meant by "ethnic?" A dictionary definition seems to include genetic ideas, but doesn't mandate them. Is an "ethnic" Jew a physical descendant of Abraham? Or merely a religious one? Yes, biological descendants of Abraham are Jews, but Abraham's servants and any other servant who embraced Judaism and was circumcised was considered a Jew. Ruth was a Moabitess, but I look at her as a Jew because of her identification. And if what I've heard is not mistaken, there was no small debate when the current artificial geo-political nation state of "Israel" decided to allow "Jews" to settle within their boundaries a few decades ago. Any ideas?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
What Is Israel?
In my last post, I gave a brief description of what I believe the church to be. Here, I'll give what I think Israel to be. There are several ideas of Israel. One is Jacob's new name given to him by God. One is an ancient geo-political nation in the middle east. One is a geo-political state today. I'm dealing with none of these. I'm concentrating on the idea of God's covenant people.
Israel is God's people. The people under the Old Covenant were Israel. True, they were a nation, but fundamentally they are a people. God's people. In Romans 11 there is a tree, which is Israel. It consisted of God's people, the Jews, as branches. Many of the branches lived in unbelief. God cut them off from the tree. Some branches remained. Some new wild branches (these are the Gentiles) are grafted in. Grafted into the same exact tree. Then Paul says that later on, some of the old branches may be grafted back into the tree from which they came. Grafted back into the same exact tree.
The tree never changes. Israel was the people of God before Christ came. Israel is still the same tree. Israel today is the people of God. As a Gentile believer, I have been grafted into Israel. Israel today is the same Israel as before Christ, except that a few branches were pruned, and a few were grafted in, and a few pruned off will be grafted in at a later time.
Israel is God's people. The people under the Old Covenant were Israel. True, they were a nation, but fundamentally they are a people. God's people. In Romans 11 there is a tree, which is Israel. It consisted of God's people, the Jews, as branches. Many of the branches lived in unbelief. God cut them off from the tree. Some branches remained. Some new wild branches (these are the Gentiles) are grafted in. Grafted into the same exact tree. Then Paul says that later on, some of the old branches may be grafted back into the tree from which they came. Grafted back into the same exact tree.
The tree never changes. Israel was the people of God before Christ came. Israel is still the same tree. Israel today is the people of God. As a Gentile believer, I have been grafted into Israel. Israel today is the same Israel as before Christ, except that a few branches were pruned, and a few were grafted in, and a few pruned off will be grafted in at a later time.
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