The Messiah and the Covenants of Israel (Cont)

It is the Death of the Messiah that makes the blessings of the New Covenant available to the Gentiles

From the foregoing it can be suggested that the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant was not something initiated by the followers of Jesus, but rather the work of the Spirit of God fulfilling the will of God. But on what grounds could a righteous God include a group of people into a Covenant which did not initially name them? Let us return to the first and foundational covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant.  The Abrahamic Covenant had three main facets–dealing with the ‘Seed’; the ‘Land’ and the ‘Blessing’. The ‘Seed’ aspect dealt with the posterity of Abraham, and in particular included a particular member of his descendents who would be Messiah and King. The Davidic Covenant was the offspring of the ‘seed’ aspect in the Abrahamic Covenant which designated that the future ruler and Savior of the nation would come from the line of David. The ‘land’ aspect dealt with the homeland prepared for the ‘seed’ of Abraham, it would be the place where the ‘seed’ would be planted. The Land Covenant was the offspring of the ‘land’ feature in the Abrahamic Covenant and was used among other things to motivate the people to remain faithful to the God of Abraham. But the main feature, indeed the predominant feature was the ‘Blessing’ aspect, which declared that Abraham was to be blessed, the posterity of Abraham was to be blessed, and those that blessed Abraham or his posterity were to be blessed, indeed all families of the earth could be blessed in Abraham. The clauses that speak of blessing are inclusive not exclusive, and include Gentiles in the blessing of Abraham. Now the New Covenant is the offspring of the ‘blessing’ aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant, and if it is to be true to the intention of the Abrahamic Covenant, must likewise be inclusive and not exclusive, that is, must include all nations and families. Therefore, to understand the New Covenant as being available to all people is not to insert something foreign into its structure, but rather is interpreting the covenant in the light of its parent Covenant that was declared in the first book of the T’nach.

 It can be assumed that Peter and the other apostles that travelled with Jesus received instructions to make the New Covenant immediately available when they were taught by the risen Messiah during the period between the resurrection morning and the ascension. However, the inclusion of the Gentiles, while imposed on Peter as the keeper of the keys, seemed to wait for Saul to develop the doctrine. Saul, a man also taught directly by the Messiah, understood very early that the inclusion of the Gentiles in the New Covenant could be traced back to the Abrahamic Covenant.

 We have already considered how he described the Mosaic Covenant as a wall of separation between Jew and Gentile. That during the period of the Law it precluded the Gentiles from any access to the covenant blessings of Israel. He wrote: “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”. (Eph. 2:12) The Gentiles were first excluded by the Law of Moses, a wall of partition. But the death of the Messiah was the ‘end’ of the Law,[1] that is, the purpose and goal of the Law had been accomplished. ‘End’ (Gk. telos) here is usually considered to mean “termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to be (always of the end of some act or state, but not of the end of a period of time)”; or “the end to which all things relate, the aim, purpose.”[2] Here, it is suggested, it carries both meanings. It was terminated because it had achieved its goal. It was no longer needed. So the middle wall of partition became unnecessary. Paul speaks of it being broken down. “For He … has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Eph. 2:14) which means Gentiles now have access to the covenant blessings of Israel. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”. (Eph. 2:19)

The extent of the inclusion is spelt out for us. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 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, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father”. (Eph. 2:14-18) This means there is now no difference between the Jew and the Gentile in respect of the blessing of salvation that the New Covenant provides. Peter, the keeper of the keys, said it first, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith”. (Acts 15:8-9) And Paul confirmed it when he dealt with the place of Israel in the purposes of God (Romans chapters nine through eleven). He said, “there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him”. (Rom. 10:12)  In other words, the Church comes into blessing under the Abrahamic Covenant, because Christ, in His death, did away with the Law of Moses, the wall that separated Jew and Gentile. Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, wrote: “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”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. (Gal. 3:13-14) This indicates that we can share in the blessing of Abraham. His argument, of course, is that this can only be so if the Gentile has similar faith to Abraham, and the evidence of that faith, in the context of the current dispensation, is faith in the Messiah of Israel, Jesus. “‘Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham”. (Gal. 3:6-7) This maintains then that we are children of Abraham by faith, and therefore have access to the New Covenant. This, of course, raises further questions which should be considered. First, if the middle wall of partition has been broken down and the Gentiles have access by faith to the Abrahamic Covenant, what does this mean for Gentile participation in the ‘seed’ aspect and the ‘land’ aspect? These questions, while important, are almost supplementary to the main question that has troubled the Church for centuries. Does this doctrine mean that the Church has replaced Israel in the purposes of God? It is to these questions we must now turn. (But next time!)

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[1] Rom.10.4

[2] Strongs Greek Dictionary #5056