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17 results for “Spiritual Jews”
Clear searchCircumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew
Does Romans 2:28-29 Make Christians "Spiritual Jews"? Circumcision of the heart and the identity of Paul's inward Jew Paul's description of the inward Jew is often treated as a decisive redefinition of Israel: "For he is not a…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
The Restoration of the Nation of Israel Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come Israel's history contains both judgement and preservation. The Jewish people were conquered, exiled, dispersed across continents, denied sovereignty, and repe…
Read article →Unity in Christ and distinction in God's purpose
…hrist; it does not make every human identity unreal. The same principle permits believing Jews and Gentiles to be one body while Scripture still speaks meaningfully about Israel's national calling. Paul can teach the one new man in Ephesians and still write of his "kinsmen accord…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…grading rhetoric against Jewish people. Other evidence complicates the story. Writers who spiritualised Israel's promises could still expect a future Jewish conversion. Some anticipated a rebuilt Jewish temple and a final crisis centred upon Jerusalem. Early Christian thought was…
Read article →A response to Michael Horton on the land promise, Amos 9, and the people of God
…In some passages repentance precedes return. In others God acts to produce the necessary spiritual transformation. Deuteronomy 30:6 says that God will circumcise Israel's heart. Ezekiel 36 places the initiative unmistakably with God: He gathers Israel, cleanses the people, gives…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…lieving remnant, and the future of the nation Romans 9:6 is often used as a definition of spiritual Israel: "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." —Romans 9:6 The usual argument is straightforward. Physical descent from Jacob no longer identifies the Israel which mat…
Read article →Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing
…God's purpose, but they are not automatically interchangeable expressions. Paul can unite Jews and Gentiles in Christ without rewriting their ancestry or cancelling promises whose particular recipients and contents he is not discussing. The question is not whether the Church inhe…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…therefore become Israel? The conclusion may appear obvious: there is one tree, believing Jews and Gentiles are branches within it, and unbelieving Jewish branches have been removed. Surely the tree is now the Church, the Church is Israel, and the distinction has disappeared. Tha…
Read article →The incarnation, the limits of created perspective and the love philosophy could not imagine
…h the shadows pointed. The philosophical instinct tells us to move away from body towards spiritual fullness. Paul places fullness and body together in a single sentence. Christ turns the categories upside down. The Descent That Revealed His Glory Philippians 2 takes us further i…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…le inclusion may enlarge the company of the blessed without requiring Israel's exclusion. Spiritual unity may coexist with distinctions which the New Testament itself continues to make. The question is therefore not whether the promises are fulfilled in Christ. They are. The ques…
Read article →Does John 6 teach the literal eating of Christ's body?
…or a continuing provision of food. In each case, earthly understanding initially misses a spiritual reality. Jesus gives the interpretive key Jesus now explains the bread: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never th…
Read article →The LORD, Zion, and the meaning of Beulah in Isaiah 62:4–5
…he immediate context therefore does not encourage us to treat Zion merely as a symbol for spiritual blessedness. Nor does it permit us to turn “thy land” into a general reference to nature or humanity’s relationship with the earth. The passage concerns a particular people, their…
Read article →A response to Hank Hanegraaff on resurrection, Daniel’s final week, and the Tribulation
…rch. It does not therefore require two gospels, two saviours or two methods of salvation. Jews and Gentiles are reconciled to God through the blood of Christ. The distinction concerns covenantal identity, historical vocation and prophetic promises—not whether one group is saved b…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
…body and bride, purchased by His blood, indwelt by His Spirit, and composed of reconciled Jews and Gentiles. In Christ, former Gentile strangers are "made nigh" and share the spiritual blessings once beyond them (Ephesians 2:11-22). But inclusion is not the same as displacement.…
Read article →The wicked husbandmen, the fruit-bearing nation, and what Jesus said afterwards
…tion of Jewish ethnicity. Nor is it a declaration that God's promises had always belonged spiritually to a different people. It is a polemic against identifiable rulers at a decisive moment in Israel's history. The consequences nevertheless reach beyond those individual men. Jeru…
Read article →Defining the position before testing it
…t recapitulates Israel's history, fulfils the law and the prophets, and gathers believing Jews and Gentiles into one body. The question is whether those truths entail the permanent cancellation of national promises. What supersessionism gets right A fair examination begins with g…
Read article →A forensic reading of Christ's Olivet Discourse
…to Him. What had not yet been disclosed with Pauline clarity was the mystery of believing Jews and Gentiles united as "one body" and "fellowheirs" in Christ (Ephesians 2:14-16; 3:4-6). When the disciples heard "his elect", their available framework included Israel, the faithful r…
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