Saturday, August 17, 2013

We were once separated from God; but now we have been reconciled to God through Jesus

Galatians 2:15
  • We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 

Jews received the divine word of God written down for their instruction, starting with the 5 books of Moses, i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and many prophets and other reciepients of the word of God who recorded them for the salvation of the Jews.

Therefore, the Gentiles were excluded in this covenant that God made with the Jews.

Ephesians 2:12
  • remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Yet you may say, God is biased. Why has God chosen Israel only and not other ethnicities, nations and tribes?

Remember that God did not choose Israel because they were special or more righteous than other nations. No, they were particularly stubborn and stiff-necked.

Deuteronomy 9:4-6
  • After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." NO, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.
  • It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
  • Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Deuteronomy 9:13
  • And the LORD said to me, "I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed!

But now after the cross of Jesus Christ, the Gentiles have been reconciled to God through the death and blood of Jesus on the cross.

Colossians 1:20, 21

  • and through Jesus to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
  • Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
  • he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
  •  if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

We, both Jews and Gentiles, all now have access to the Father through Jesus in one Spirit.

Ephesians 2:17-19
  • And Jesus came and preached peace to you who were far off (Gentiles) and peace to those who were near (Jews). 
  • For through Jesus we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 
  • So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

Romans 2:10, 11
  • but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then also for the Gentile. 
  • For God does not show favoritism.

Romans 2:29
  • No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.

John 3:5, 6, 16
  • Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit
  • Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit
  • For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

No comments:

Post a Comment