Acts 15:3-4
3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them
.
Here, the church is distinguished from the gentiles...unlike today where the church is distinguished from the Jews. The original NT church was Jew-ish (i.e. of the Jews).
"Here, the church is distinguished from the gentiles...unlike today where the church is distinguished from the Jews. The original NT church was Jew-ish (i.e. of the Jews)."
Romans 11 (New King James Version)
Israel’s Rejection Not Total
1I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,
of the tribe of Benjamin.
2God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
3“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
4But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6And if by grace, then
it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.
[a]But if
it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
7What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
8Just as it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”
9And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
10Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”
Israel’s Rejection Not Final
11I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation
has come to the Gentiles.
12Now if their
[c]fall
is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
13For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy
those who are my flesh and save some of them.
15For if their being cast away
is the reconciling of the world, what
will their acceptance
be but life from the dead?
16For if the firstfruit
is holy, the lump
is also
holy; and if the root
is holy, so
are the branches.
17And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and
[d]fatness of the olive tree,
18do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast,
remember that you do not support the root, but the root
supports you.
19You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
20Well
said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
22Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you,
[e]goodness, if you continue in
His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
23And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who
are natural
branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own
[f]opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26And so all Israel will be
[g]saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27For this
is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28Concerning the gospel
they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election
they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29For the gifts and the calling of God
are irrevocable.
30For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32For God has
[h]committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
33Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
35“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
36For of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things, to whom
be glory forever. Amen.