Imagine you’re reading a novel. This novel is about a man, Roger, who is deeply and unwaveringly in love with his wife, Eva. Eva, however, is a horrible person. She is consistently unfaithful. She continuously gets herself into all kinds of trouble. Again and again Roger is saving her from disaster; he is bailing her out of prison, he is paying off her debts, he is saving her from an abusive lover, he is finding her drug addicted body half dead in the streets. Roger always takes her back, into his home, and revives her to a place of beauty and wholeness. Yet, predictably, Eva goes her own way time and time again. There is foreshadowing in the story, and you know that Roger, in his undying love, will even give his life for Eva.
Now imagine you arrive at the last chapter in this novel and suddenly, with no explanation, Roger has seventy wives, and he loves them all equally as he loves Eva. And he gives his life to save them all… I imagine that twist in the story will confuse and frustrate you.
It’s an interesting thing then, how we Christians, read the biblical story as though it plays out the same way as with Roger and Eva, and Roger’s unexpected polygamy.
The bible is God’s and Israel’s story, and that includes the New Testament (NT). The bible is all about the God of Israel, Yahweh, and His marriage covenant with His unique and chosen bride, Israel (Read Deuteronomy 4 and 7; Amos 3 for some examples). Again and again, Israel is unfaithful to Yahweh, but Yahweh always remains faithful to His covenant obligations. He promises to purify His bride and to uphold an everlasting covenant marriage with her. Does Yahweh then suddenly have a marriage covenant with all humanity in the NT? Are we reading things correctly?
Before reading further, take a moment to read Jeremiah 3.
It is interesting to see in James’s introduction of his letter who he wrote to: “To the twelve tribes [Israelites] which are scattered abroad…” And also in Peter’s introduction of his first letter: “To the pilgrims of the Dispersion [Israelites]…” Peter wrote again to these same people in his second letter: “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle…” and noted that Paul wrote his letters to these same people: “…our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things…” (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Let’s look at Paul’s writings…
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight…
Colossians 1:21-22 (NKJV)
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:13-15 (NKJV)
Who was Paul speaking to in these passages? Look closely at the details. These people had been alienated from Yahweh, but had been reconciled back to Yahweh by the death of Christ. They were once dead in their trespasses against the handwriting of requirements which had authority over them (the same requirements which had authority over Paul — “against us … contrary to us”), and they were relationally dead to Yahweh in their fleshly uncircumcision. But, the lawful condemnation against them had been removed by the cross. The powers and principalities over them had been disarmed by Jesus.
Only Israelites could have been alienated from Yahweh (alienated from covenant relationship), and only Israelites could have been reconciled (or restored) back to Yahweh. Only Israelites could be guilty of trespassing against the law (of Moses — the “handwriting of requirements”), and only Israelites could be dead for not being circumcised in the flesh (a covenantal requirement only given to Israel – see Genesis 17:9-14). Only Israelites were under the powers and principalities of the Mosaic law system. These Colossians were Israelites who had been divorced from the first (Mosaic) covenant.
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you 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. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Ephesians 2:11-18 (NKJV)
And who is Paul speaking to here? Again, look at the details. These people were once Gentiles (or “of the nations”) in the flesh, which does not mean they were non-Israelites, but rather of the nations (rather than being of the commonwealth of Israel) because they were uncircumcised in the flesh. They had been alienated (past tense — not present tense as the NKJV has it) from the commonwealth of Israel (Yahweh’s covenant people). Without Christ they had been far off (like the prodigal son), but with Christ they had been brought near again.
Jesus had broken down what was separating two groups of people. What two groups? Consider this passage…
15 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ 17 Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.
18 “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— 19 say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’ 20 And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
21 “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
24 “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. 25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 28 The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”
Ezekiel 37:15-28 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
Paul was clearly drawing on this passage to prove how, in Christ, Yahweh was regathering the scattered sheep of Israel, those who were far off, to reconstitute all his people into one bride of Christ. The wall (the law) between the Uncircumcision (Israelites who had been divorced from the Mosaic covenant) and the Circumcision (Israelites who were faithful to the Mosaic covenant) had been torn down by the death of Christ.
For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Romans 2:25 (NKJV)
What happened when Israelites were divorced from Yahweh under the first (Mosaic) covenant?
When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:39 (NKJV)
The first covenant must be nullified so that a new covenant can be ratified.
And for this reason [Jesus] is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 9:15 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
The death of Christ redeemed those who had transgressed against the first covenant, which could only have been Israelites.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles [nations] in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:10-14 (NKJV)
Christ redeemed Israel from the curse of their law, so that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the nations — the scattered sheep of Israel, aka the Dispersion (see John 7:35).
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:4-5 (NKJV)
49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
53 Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.
John 11:49-54 (NKJV)
12 So Joseph brought them [his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim], from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s [Jacob’s] left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. 14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn…
17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Genesis 48:12-14, 17-19 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
For an explanation of the meanings of the words Jew, Gentile, and Greek, check out this article: The Jews, the Greeks and the Gentiles: Who are they? While I don’t agree with all of that article, I do find it helpful. But, here is a brief summary of what these terms mean…
- The Judaeans (Jews): The (Mosaic law system) observant Israelites who rejected the Greek culture and language.
- The Hellenists (Greeks): Israelites who adopted the Greek culture and language. (See John 7:35 – “the Dispersion”)
- The Nations (Gentiles): Sometimes referring to non-Israelite peoples, but more often, in the NT context, referring to the scattered or Hellenized Israelites living among the non-Israelite peoples (this included the somewhat mysterious lost 10 tribes).
We could also phrase it like this: All Judaeans were Israelites, but not all Israelites were Judaeans. All Gentiles were non-Judaeans, but since not all Israelites were Judaeans, some Israelites were Gentiles.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Romans 1:16 (NKJV)
Paul was separated and called by God to preach the gospel to the scattered sheep of Israel among the Gentiles.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, 16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…
Galatians 1:15-16 (NKJV) – Compare to Isaiah 49:1-6
In Romans 9, Paul lamented the condition of his brethren Israelites. Why did so many reject the gospel of Christ? But, Paul assured himself, not all Israel is Israel. There was a true Israel and a counterfeit Israel. These are the two groups of people contrasted against each other in that chapter — the vessels of wrath and of mercy. The true Israel would be called out from not only the Judaeans, but also from the Israelites scattered among the nations.
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews [Judaeans] only, but also of the Gentiles [nations]?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”29 And as Isaiah said before:
“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
Romans 9:22-29 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Hosea’s prophesies did not concern non-Israelites. His prophesies concerned only Israelites (the 10 northern tribes to be precise, or “Ephraim” – see Hosea 5).
The following is from the Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul written by scholars Bruce J. Malina and John J. Pilch concerning the passage above…
God’s call goes to all of [the] Israelites, not only from those resident in Judea, but also from those resident among non-Israelites. Paul argues that his is a fair assessment, since it was indicated by what God said through his prophets Hosea and Isaiah. Of course Hosea (1.10; 2.23) speaks only of Israelites, now called ‘my people’ and ‘beloved,’ indeed ‘children of the living God.’ And Isa. 10.22-23 stated that only a remnant of Israel responds to God’s initiative… Many interpreters read vv. 24-28 as applying to non-Israelites now included in Israelite Jesus groups. But since Paul’s activity is among Israelites living among non-Israelites and he does not recruit non-Israelites or have a gospel of God for them, this passage can only apply to Israelite Jesus group members. His scriptural argument would make sense only to them and their fellow Israelites!
Malina and Pilch. Social-Science Commentary on the Letters of Paul, Fortress Press, 2006
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
Romans 9:30-33 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Again from Malina and Pilch concerning this passage…
Paul contrasts ‘peoples [NRSV “Gentiles”] who did not strive for righteousness’ with ‘Israel who pursued the righteous law.’ The majority of Israelites outside Palestine and outside the circles of Pharisaic scribalism did not observe the law with any great devotedness. This nonobservant Israelite group, a group of ‘peoples [NRSV “Gentiles”] who did not strive for righteousness’ is contrasted with those Israelites who attempted to fulfill the law.
Malina and Pilch, Ibid.
Paul also mentions a remnant of Israel in Romans 9:27. Moses warned Israel what would happen when they rejected their covenant with Yahweh…
25 “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31 (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
Deuteronomy 4:25-31 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
Consider what Paul says in Romans 1, a passage normally applied only to non-Israelites…
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Romans 1:18-32 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
Notice in the passage above, in verse 32, there are two groups of people: 1) Those who knew the righteous judgement of God and yet still did all the wicked things listed in vv. 28-31, and approved of… 2) Those who practiced the wicked things listed in vv. 28-31. Who knew the righteous judgment of God? Israel, the covenant people who were given the law. And who was group #2? Everyone who was never in a covenant relationship with Yahweh (see 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, esp. vs. 5). It was Israel who knew God and turned away from the truth to worship (as stated in Deuteronomy 4) carved images (see also Acts 7:38-43).
In Romans 2, Paul continued to speak of the Israelites, both the Judaean Israelites and the Hellenized Israelites (“Jew and Greek” – Romans 2:9-11). Did they not know, that even though they were doing the wicked things listed in Romans 1:28-31, God was being patient and kind to them, in order to lead them to repentance? Did they not know that if they did not repent they were storing up wrath for themselves for the soon coming day of judgement?
In Romans 2:12 and following, things become confusing as Paul seems to contradict himself with what he wrote later in Romans.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
Romans 2:12-16 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
Remembering that the law here is the law of Moses, let me remove the parenthesis — “For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law … in the day when God will judge the secrets of men…” Those who did not have the law would still perish because of their sin on judgement day, even though they were not judged by the law. But yet, Paul says they had the work of the law written on their hearts. This is confusing. Were these people guilty of sinning against the law or not? Did they know the law or not? Did Paul not say, “Where there is no law there is no transgression, and sin is not imputed when there is no law?” (Romans 4:15b; 5:13b) Who were these people then, who had the law written on their hearts, when only Israel was given the law? The only conclusion that seems to make sense is that these people did indeed have the law of Moses written on their hearts, and thus were descendants of Israel, but were so far gone from the covenant that they lived without the law. However, the fact that their own consciences approved or accused their actions proved that they had the law of Moses written on their hearts. They mostly lived no differently than the rest of all the non-Israelite nations, but were still under the law’s curse.
The promise from Yahweh in Deuteronomy 4 and in Ezekiel 37 (and in many passages found in the writings of the OT prophets) was that He would not forget His covenant people, and that He would gather them back together again after their exile, and establish a new covenant with them.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NKJV – emphasis mine)
Back in Jeremiah’s day, Yahweh promised to make a new covenant with Israel. That new covenant began already when the exiles began to return to their land and rebuild the temple, and although it was Jesus who brought that new covenant into a final reality (see Hebrews 8), the covenant, with its new conditions, began centuries before Jesus. The law was written on Israel’s heart long before the cross.
As mentioned above, Paul wrote in Romans 5:13-14 that although sin was in the world before the law (of Moses given to Israel), sin was not imputed because there was no law. Death still reigned, but it reigned in the lives of people who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam. They had no law to sin against. Adam had a law to sin against (“…of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…”), and so did Israel. Israel was given the law when they entered into covenant with Yahweh. Notice the similarities between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Adam’s law) and Israel’s law (all the following verses are from the NKJV, and all emphasis are mine)…
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Genesis 1:31 and Romans 7:12
Then to Adam [God] said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life…”For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
Genesis 3:17 and Galatians 3:10
“…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death… And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
Genesis 2:17 and Romans 7:5 and 10
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes…
Genesis 3:7 and Psalm 19:8b
…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Genesis 2:17a and Galatians 5:4 — A relationship with God cannot be achieved through the law.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
Genesis 3:6 and Psalm 119:98
For they are ever with me.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked…
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
Genesis 3:7a and Hebrews 10:1-3 — The law makes one conscious of sin.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law…
Genesis 3:8 and Galatians 5:4a — The law, approached incorrectly, estranges people from God.
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage [of the law – see Galatians 4:25] again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Genesis 3:10 and Romans 8:15 — The bondage of the law leads to fear.
For the judgment which came from one [Adam’s] offense resulted in condemnation…
But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
Romans 5:16b and 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 — The law is a ministry of condemnation.
For as by one man’s [Adam’s] disobedience many were made sinners…
Moreover the law [of Moses] entered that the offense might abound…
Romans 5:19a, 20a
Looking closer at Romans 5, Paul came to some illuminating conclusions. David Bentley Hart (DBH) translates Romans 5:12 like this…
Therefore, just as sin entered into the cosmos through one man [Adam], and death through sin, so also death pervaded all humanity, whereupon all sinned…
Hart, David B., A Translation of the New Testament, Yale University Press, 2017
DBH writes in the footnotes concerning this verse…
A fairly easy verse to follow until one reaches the final four words, whose precise meaning is already obscure, and whose notoriously defective rendering in the Latin Vulgate … constitutes one of the most consequential mistranslations in Christian history. The phrase [in the Greek] is not some kind of simple adverbial formula like [“therefore”] with which the verse begins; literally the [Greek phrase] means “upon which,” “whereupon,” but how to understand this is a matter of some debate.
Ibid, Footnote on page 296
DBH believes the proper understanding of the verse to be “that the consequence of death spreading to all human beings is that all become sinners.”
The most obvious and, I think, likely reading is that, in this verse, a parallelism (something for which Paul has such a marked predilection) is given in chiastic form: just as sin entered into the cosmos and introduced death into all its members, so the contagion of death spread into the whole of humanity and introduced sin into all its members. This, as we see in Romans and elsewhere, is for Paul the very dynamism of death and sin that is reversed in Christ: by his triumphant righteousness he introduced eternal life into the cosmos, and so as that life spreads into the whole of humanity it makes all righteous (as in [Romans 5:15-19], or as in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28).
Ibid, Footnote on page 297
And so…
Adam’s sin —> Adam’s death
Adam’s death —> Humanity’s (descendants of Adam) death
Humanity’s death —> Humanity’s sin
Humanity’s sin was in the world (the greater cosmos) before the law (of Moses), but was not imputed (because there was no law). However, death still reigned because humanity’s death is a result of Adam’s sin (Adam sinned because he broke God’s law). To remedy this problem humanity needed a new Adam to reverse what the first Adam had done.
In order to have another Adam humanity needed another law given directly from God. Israel was given that law so that it could become like Adam — so that it could transgress as Adam did (Romans 5.14). Israel was a cosmos created within a greater cosmos, through which came the last Adam.
Israel was a new creation — God defeated the Egyptian gods just as He defeated the gods of chaos. He separated the Red Sea just as He separated the waters above from the waters below. He formed Israel in a wilderness and placed them in a land flowing with milk and honey just as he formed Adam in a wilderness and placed him in a garden. God gave Israel a law just as He did with Adam, and He threatened exile and death if they broke that law. And they did break that law, both Israel and Adam.
For God so loved the Israelite cosmos,* He sent His own Son Jesus to be born into it as a man, under its law. Jesus perfectly kept the law and, by His death, He redeemed Israel from the transgressions they made against it (Isaiah 53.4-12; Galatians 3.13; Hebrews 9.15). Thus, Jesus became the true Israel (a remnant of one) — He is the elect of God, He is the temple, He is the High Priest, He is the sacrifice.
Jesus is also the last Adam. By His righteousness (perfect obedience to God and covenant), He undid what the first Adam did. He defeated death for all humanity.
Jesus’s righteousness —> Jesus’s resurrection
Jesus’s resurrection —> Humanity’s (all those in Jesus) resurrection
Humanity’s resurrection —> Humanity’s eternal life
Out of the world God chose Israel
…Out of Israel God chose a remnant
……Out of the remnant God chose a Messiah
……In the Messiah God chose a remnant
…In the remnant God chose Israel
In Israel God chose the world**
So what does this all mean? There is, what I see, a conundrum in Christianity: What seems to have started off as an Israel only apocalyptic Messianic movement morphed into a Greco/Roman religion heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. Does OT theology justify that change? Does NT theology? Is Christianity today even the same religion as first century Christianity? Can modern day Christianity, theologically speaking, legitimately trace its roots back to anything before the Council of Nicaea in AD325?
Christianity began, not as a new religion, but as an Israel exclusive Messianic movement. Paul never converted to a new religion, nor was it his primary mission to convert non-Israelites to some new religion. I remember a western missionary teaching on Acts 16, about when Paul’s party was prevented from preaching in Asia. This missionary believed that Paul wanted to go to China. She was unaware that Asia was a Roman province, and it was into that province Paul was prevented to go. Now, her biggest mistake was not that she got the geography wrong. Her biggest mistake was thinking that Paul wanted to convert Chinese people to some new religion called “Christianity.”
The first Christians were Judaeans. The second group were Hellenized Israelites. Yes, it seems there were non-Israelites who became Jesus followers in the NT, but I suspect their numbers were small. It seems the influx of non-Israelites into the Christian churches didn’t happen until the second and third centuries. Non-Israelites entering the Church was tertiary.
What was the Roman world like in these early centuries? Here is what the late professor Leo D. Davis wrote…
The ancient gods of the Roman people led by Jupiter the Thunderer and his consort Juno naturally held pride of place… But the great high gods of the Romans and Greeks were the austere patrons of the state and evoked little personal emotional response from the masses.
Davis, Leo Donald, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787), The Liturgical Press, 1983, page 17
In the great towns the more cosmopolitan middle and lower classes and some of the aristocracy, emotionally dissatisfied with the gods of the state and with little taste for philosophical reflection, turned to the mystery religions.*** Through secret rites of exotic ancient oriental flavor, the devotee was initiated into their theology, purified and assured of some form of life after death.
Ibid, page 18
It was in this world of thought and devotion that Christianity was born and developed. The Christian Church too had its Saviour-God who died and rose from the dead. Its devotees came to share the life of Christ through the rites of baptism which initiated them into divine life and of the Eucharist which sustained it. The Christians voluntarily organized their communities and supported their priests. They appealed to the same middle and lower classes as the mystery religions, at first scarcely touching the aristocracy and the peasants.
Ibid, page 20
Yet Christianity had a social ethos that appealed to many. The Christians were profoundly cosmopolitan. Their faith transcended all local boundaries; they were professedly a non-nation. They were also profoundly egalitarian … The Christians also formed strong local communities led by a bishop assisted by priests, deacons and deaconesses which were conscious of common bonds among all similar communities.
Ibid, page 20
It was perhaps above all this sense of community which attracted to the ranks of the Church the Roman citizen lost as an individual in a vast impersonal empire, whose ancient cities had lost his allegiance.
Ibid, page 21
These young churches spread out over the empire would have primarily been made up of Hellenized Israelites who had no strong ties to the Israelite Old Covenant system. For them, was there any good reason for preventing non-Israelites from entering the Church? In times past, non-Israelites could join Old Covenant Israel, so surely non-Israelites could also join into the New Covenant. And since these Hellenized Israelites did not have to be circumcised to enter the New Covenant, certainly these non-Israelites would not have to either.
Old Covenant Israel was dismantled in AD70 with the destruction of the temple. The time from Christ’s resurrection (AD30ish) to AD70 was a forty year wilderness period. There was a second exodus for Israel — the first was freedom from Egypt and the second was freedom from the Mosaic Covenant and its curse (see Galatians 4:1-5). Just as in the first wilderness period when God performed many miracles for the people, gave them a new way to live, and put to death their old way of life, so this happened to Israel in the second wilderness period between AD30-AD70. Just as Israel, when finally entering the promised land began to conquer all the people and territory, so did the Church do after AD70.
Over time the leadership of the Church became less and less Israelite and more and more Greek, (For example, according to Eusebius, the first 15 bishops of Jerusalem were circumcised Judaeans, but that ended in AD135 with the Bar Kokhba revolt.) The new Greek leaders were educated in Greek philosophy, and they asked new and different questions about the faith than the previous Israelite leadership: What is the nature of Jesus? Is God a Trinity of Persons? What is the nature of that Trinity? Is the God of the Hebrew scriptures the same as the Christian scriptures? Etc…
The divided Roman empire was united under Constantine, who had himself adopted the Christian faith. Constantine would not allow a divided Church in his empire, and so he called hundreds of bishops to come together and work out their disagreements. This gathering is called the Council of Nicaea. It was the first of several councils in which the foundations and boundaries of the Christian faith were decided.
Consider the four gospels, the four apostles, and the Church…
Mathew = James = Eastern Orthodox
Mark = Peter = Roman Catholic
Luke = Paul = Protestantism
John = John = ?Future Church?
***
If you are a real person and you’ve read this far, then there is probably something wrong with you, because nobody reads my blog, and I know I am just talking to myself, but thanks for reading.
Related reading: The First Christianity; The Israelite Diaspora and Paul’s Missionary Journeys (Map); Who Made up Paul’s Audience? (Video)
* Click here to read an interesting essay.
** Source: Election by David Embury
*** Mystery religions were made up of groups of people who were longing for a personal religious experience, which they were unable to achieve through the state religion. One was not born into a mystery religion, rather one had to choose to join it. Mystery religions involved a secretive initiation and offered the believer communion with the god through ritual imitation of the god’s victorys (see Romans 6:3-5).
“I conceive that the founders of the mysteries had a real meaning … that he who arrives there after initiation and purification will dwell with the gods.” – Plato, Phaedo, circa 360BC
“On this lake they hold, at night, an exhibition of the god’s (Osiris) sufferings, a performance that the Egyptians call the Mysteries…” – Herodotus, The History, circa 440BC
***
Pursuit of Percipience 