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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional
January 23
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Today's Pathway:
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Yesterday we finished by seeing that Romans 4:11 calls Abraham "the father of all them that believe". Galatians 3:7 echoes this by saying that the Galatians need to understand that everyone who is saved by faith is a child of Abraham. Remember that the Judaizers were telling Gentile converts that they needed to become Jews in order to be saved. Let's put it another way; their teaching was that Gentiles had to become "children of Abraham" through the "work" of circumcision to receive salvation. Paul's argument is that Gentiles had already become children of Abraham immediately upon receiving Christ by faith. They were not his biological offspring, but they were his spiritual descendants because they accepted God by faith just as he had.
Unfortunately, some religious teachers, including some Baptists, have interpreted this verse to mean that New Testament believers have replaced Israel in God's program, that God is done with the Jews as a people, and all the blessings of the Old Testament that were promised to the nation of Israel now belong exclusively to Christians, be they Jews or Gentiles. This is known as Replacement Theology, or Supersessionism, and is completely incorrect. I Corinthians 10:32 clearly differentiates between Jews and believers when it states,
"Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God."
Also, you can not honestly read the prophecies of the Old Testament without realizing that God is making those promises to the Jewish nation. Finally, Romans 11 makes it very clear that God is not finished with Israel. Verse 12 reads,
"Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them (Israel) the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their (Israel's) fulness?"
Verse 15 states,
"For if the casting away of them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them (Israel) be, but life from the dead?"
Verses 25-26 say
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved;"
In these verses we see Paul speaking in the future tense about Israel's fullness, reception, and salvation. Thus, God can not be done with Israel, and the promises given to them in the Old Testament are still valid.
In Galatians 3:6 Paul refers back to the Abrahamic Covenant, which was given in Genesis 12:1-3. It contains seven promises given to Abraham, and the last one is,
"and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
There are several interesting facets to verse 6. First, we know that God spoke the covenant to Abraham, yet Paul writes that "the Scripture...preached". Donald Campbell commented,
"It should not be overlooked that Paul referred to Scripture speaking as though God were speaking, so it can rightly be affirmed that what the Bible says, God says. This and similar verses provide important support for believing in the absolute and total inspiration and authority of Scripture."
Second, God knew that the Gentiles ("heathen") were going to be saved, and that salvation would come to them in exactly the same way that it came to the Jews: by faith. Third, Paul writes that the Scripture "preached before the Gospel unto Abraham." "Preached before the Gospel" is a translation of one Greek word. It means, "to announce good news in advance". This does not mean that Abraham was necessarily told at that point all the details concerning the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. But it does mean that he was told that through One of his offspring the good news of salvation would be made available to all mankind regardless of their ethnicity or ancestry. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders,
"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day." (John 8:56).
This was good news to Abraham, and he believed it. It is still good news for anyone who chooses to believe that this promise was fulfilled in Christ.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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