I'd like to say "Welcome back" to Pastor Bob, who posted last week on the topic of who the "Church" is. This is a topic in which I would agree with Pastor Bob on the issue that "The Church" is not equivalent to "Israel".
Israel is a nation. Some members of it are part of the "Church". Some members of the "Church" are not part of Israel. Israel has existed since Abraham and what many people call "The Church" has always existed, side-by-side with Israel during its entire lifetime.
What is "The Church"? Strictly, a pagan term, originating from "The Kirke", a reference to a satanic blood circle. It is an English term never used in the Bible, since the Bible is not an English document and does not use English terms. But based on the words it was translated from, we can safely say that it operationally refers in English to "The body of believers" or "The saved" or "The righteouss". All of those terms have always referred to any subset of Israel PLUS any subset of Gentiles that are following God.
Some people are of the opinion that the Church was born in the New Testament, because it is only used in English translations of the New Testament and not the "Old". This is false. This is a great example of doctrine that originates because people read English translations instead of the original language and a great example of how not learning the original languages is messing up our theology, as I discussed at http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/jan2015/jovial118-2.htm
The term "Church" is translated from several words, including
- SYNAGOGUE (James 2:2)
- EKKLESIA (numerous)
Both of these words are used in the Greek LXX to describe convocations in Israel. So there is not a Greek word that is used exclusively in the New Testament to refer to the body of believers. "Church" is not translated from any Greek word used exclusively in the New Testament, and as an English word, it refers to a satanic blood circle, thus it is not exclusively a Christian English word either. It was adopted by Christians because many on the island of Britian/England came out of Satanism when they became Christians and they continued to use the terminology they were familiar with from their satanic churches. So in English, there are satanic churches and English churches, but a "church" is not an exclusively Christian term in English.
Before Yeshua came, it was not a requirement that someone be a Jew to be saved. Balaam is cited in the Bible as a Gentile who was recognized by Torah as a prophet , and who prophesied about the coming of the Messiah. But he was not part of Israel. The men of Ninevah lived outside of Israel but are recognized in Scripture as righteous, non-Jewish men.
Israel has a calling as a nation that did not go away after the Messiah came. It never defined the body of believers and still doesn't today. God has recognized righteous Gentiles outside of Israel in the Tanach (Old Testament) and he recognizes both righteous Jews and Gentiles today. "The Church" is not a New Testament replacement term for modern day Israel. In fact Israel still exists today, and only a minority of it is part of "The Church".
But there are many Gentile Christians out there that are anti-Jewish, and because they hate Jews, they want to promote the idea that "The Church" has replaced "Israel". One of the false pieces of false evidence they used to promote that false doctrine is that "The Church" is only used in the New Testament, a falsehood, since the word "Church" never appears in the New Testament since the New Testament is not an English document, and the New Testament never uses a term for the body of believers that was not already established for use in the LXX to refer to congregational gatherings of Jews in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures. This is false and Jew and Gentile cannot become "one" as Paul discussed in Ephesians when Gentile Christians use this type of false doctrine to promote Gentile superiority doctrine. I once heard a Christian man try to claim that "The Church" has replaced Israel, and that most of Israel has rejected the Messiah, thus, Gentiles are superior to Jews. I told him most Gentiles have also rejected the Messiah, but that didn't stop his hate speech tyrade.
Playing fast and loose with definitions of words to try and promote division with the body by using doctrines based on English terminology and English translations alone is not how we bring unity to the body.
Gentile nations have a calling just like Israel has a calling. They don't always know what their's is. But that does not mean that they have to get upset and feel "left out" of God's overall purpose because they are not part of Israel, but some Gentiles do develop an inferiority complex over this issue. The calling God has for nations outside of Israel is not necessarily inferior, just different. We all have a role to play, just like the man plays one role in a marriage and the woman plays another. Different does not have to imply superior or inferior. But when many people who think this way take it a step further and try to spread Gentile superiority doctrines out of their sense of inferiority, it does damage to the unity of the body.
None of this would even be arguable if people took my advice and learned to read the Scriptures in the original language, much like I encouraged at www.messiahalive.com/ValueOfHebrew.wmv
Shalom,
Joe