Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerusalem Blade  I remark that it was never the case that God included “physical seed in the covenant by virtue of mere blood-ties to believing parents”! [my emphasis –SMR]
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Those who were not of faith had neither de facto (as a matter of fact) nor de jure (as a matter of right) membership in the Old Covenant house of God. When the LORD spoke through Moses saying to the multitude of Israel, “Ye are the children of the Lord your God....For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (Deut 14:1, 2), He was not addressing those whose father was the devil, who were the reprobate, though they were among the house of Israel. What they had was an appearance of being the tekna Theou (children of God), but in fact rotten grapes on the vine of Israel. This is the purport of the apostle Paul’s making distinction between true and false Jews, being Israel or merely of Israel.
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The unbelievers within the house of Israel had membership neither by right nor by fact. They were tares among the wheat, or to switch metaphors, but chaff. So things did not change regarding membership in the New Covenant house of Israel. It was the same. Only those of faith are counted as the seed. |
Steve, I've been thinking about this for a while. We know that the OT law prescribes for idolaters to be cut off from the people. We also know that the nations of Israel and Judah did not do so. In fact, the Northern Kingdom had an extremely high level of apostasy.
If things are as you say - at least as I understood you - and God considered them basically just like the rest of the unbelieving world, then why all the prophets and the calls to repentance? Why does he still call "his people" back to fellowship with him when they have been apostate for generations? By then wouldn't they have forfeited the right to the covenant?
I suppose an answer could be that God is doing it for the sake of a faithful remnant, which makes sense. However, I still wonder what to make of Romans 11:28-29?
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Is this speaking of an ethnic Israel? If so, doesn't it show that the national/generational aspects of the covenant of God are not dependent on belief?