The book of Job, my favorite book.
- Thread starter tttallison
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
No, I am not saying that, nor would I imply something so errant. What I did do was highlight a distinction in your comparison to the use of the word "blameless" in two different contexts. I see how you tied them together, but the difference in who delivers this description also seems significant. Can you acknowledge that Paul saying it about himself is different than God saying it about Job?
Job appears to be a dramatic allegory that teaches one main lesson: We should be patient or persevere in our faith in God. God allowed Satan to test Job in ways we may be tested: by destroying his material possessions, his health and his family relationships, leaving only his wife, which was the worst part of the trial. (That’s a joke, but she did tempt Job to curse God.) Job also still had some friends, who tried to help him see what God wanted to teach him through this painful experience.
JOB 5:17. Blessed is the man whom God corrects. I cite this as a key teaching because it is also found in PR 3:11-12 (using slightly different words), which is quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6: The Lord disciplines [corrects] those He loves [blesses].
JOB 8:3. “Does God pervert justice?” No, God is perfectly just. (See the commentary on JSH 6:17-21, 8:2, 10:28 & 11:20.)
JOB 9:2. “How can a mortal be righteous before God?” He/she cannot. PS 14:3 says, “There is no one who does good, not even one,” and Jesus said in MT 19:17, “There is only One who is good.” However, HB 4:15 teaches that “we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin,” referring to Jesus. And Paul wrote in PHP 3:9 that he did not claim righteousness of his own, “but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith”, which echoes what he said in RM 3:22&26: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe; [God] justifies [considers righteous] the man [person] who has faith in Jesus.” This righteousness is sometimes called positional or imputed righteousness.
JOB 10:18. “Why then did [God] bring me out of the womb?” What is the purpose of this earthly existence? Once we are saved, why are we not immediately taken to heaven? Why do we have to waste time being here on earth? The answer is that we are not supposed to waste the time but rather we should redeem the time by becoming like God morally, or as Paul says, we should be imitators of God and “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us.” (EPH 5:1-2) Paul calls this goal the “fullness” of God/Christ (EPH 3:19, 4:13, see Lesson 4), becoming more like Him morally or in loving attitudes and actions (PHP 3:7-9, EPH 5:1-3) until the day we die. This is our calling, our mission, our stewardship, and our goal (1JN 1:3-4).
JOB 19:25-29. This speaks of life and judgment beyond this earthly lifetime. Paul writes about this prophetic word by Job in 1CR 15:20&42, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” And HB 9:27 says “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
JOB 21:7. “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” More generally, the question is why does God allow evil, pain and suffering? (I will share my answer if desired.)
JOB 24:12. “I have treasured the words of [God’s] mouth more than my daily bread.” This verse foreshadows the teaching of Jesus in MT 4:4: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” There is a mystical union of God’s Spirit or Word and the mind of a man who understands and hungers for God’s words, as implied by JOB 32:8: “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” JN 1:14 says that Jesus is God’s Word in human form, and Paul said 1CR 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ. We gain the mind of Christ as we learn “the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation.” (2TM 3:15) If we do not hunger for God’s Word, then we will die spiritually. God gives each normal human being the gift of reason, so that He can invite us to reason together (IS 1:18), or logical ability so that we can “test everything [and] hold on to the good” (1THS 5:21), or in the words of JOB 34:3, “The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.”
JOB 5:17. Blessed is the man whom God corrects. I cite this as a key teaching because it is also found in PR 3:11-12 (using slightly different words), which is quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6: The Lord disciplines [corrects] those He loves [blesses].
JOB 8:3. “Does God pervert justice?” No, God is perfectly just. (See the commentary on JSH 6:17-21, 8:2, 10:28 & 11:20.)
JOB 9:2. “How can a mortal be righteous before God?” He/she cannot. PS 14:3 says, “There is no one who does good, not even one,” and Jesus said in MT 19:17, “There is only One who is good.” However, HB 4:15 teaches that “we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin,” referring to Jesus. And Paul wrote in PHP 3:9 that he did not claim righteousness of his own, “but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith”, which echoes what he said in RM 3:22&26: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe; [God] justifies [considers righteous] the man [person] who has faith in Jesus.” This righteousness is sometimes called positional or imputed righteousness.
JOB 10:18. “Why then did [God] bring me out of the womb?” What is the purpose of this earthly existence? Once we are saved, why are we not immediately taken to heaven? Why do we have to waste time being here on earth? The answer is that we are not supposed to waste the time but rather we should redeem the time by becoming like God morally, or as Paul says, we should be imitators of God and “live a life of love, just as Christ loved us.” (EPH 5:1-2) Paul calls this goal the “fullness” of God/Christ (EPH 3:19, 4:13, see Lesson 4), becoming more like Him morally or in loving attitudes and actions (PHP 3:7-9, EPH 5:1-3) until the day we die. This is our calling, our mission, our stewardship, and our goal (1JN 1:3-4).
JOB 19:25-29. This speaks of life and judgment beyond this earthly lifetime. Paul writes about this prophetic word by Job in 1CR 15:20&42, “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. So it will be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable.” And HB 9:27 says “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”
JOB 21:7. “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” More generally, the question is why does God allow evil, pain and suffering? (I will share my answer if desired.)
JOB 24:12. “I have treasured the words of [God’s] mouth more than my daily bread.” This verse foreshadows the teaching of Jesus in MT 4:4: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” There is a mystical union of God’s Spirit or Word and the mind of a man who understands and hungers for God’s words, as implied by JOB 32:8: “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.” JN 1:14 says that Jesus is God’s Word in human form, and Paul said 1CR 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ. We gain the mind of Christ as we learn “the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation.” (2TM 3:15) If we do not hunger for God’s Word, then we will die spiritually. God gives each normal human being the gift of reason, so that He can invite us to reason together (IS 1:18), or logical ability so that we can “test everything [and] hold on to the good” (1THS 5:21), or in the words of JOB 34:3, “The ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.”
Okay, this could be a separate thread, but here goes: Three issues frequently are cited as constituting stumbling-blocks to belief in the NT God for some people. The first problematic issue is reconciling God’s power and love with the fact of evil and its consequence. A person—even a theist—might think that God would not permit evil, suffering and hell to exist. People who are mystified by evil and repulsed by its punishment do not realize that the essential aspect of being a human rather than a robot or subhuman creature is MFW, which is what enables a person to experience love and meaning. This is what makes humans different from animals, whose behavior is governed mainly by instinct. This is what it means to be created in God’s image (GN 1:26-27; robot or responsible)?
God could not force people to return His love without abrogating their humanity. If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine. If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons. Even if God were to prove Himself to skeptics by means of a miracle, they might believe for awhile and then as their memories began to fade they would probably think that God had died and revert to their former doubt—necessitating an endless string of miracles (recapitulating the story of the Israelites on the way to Canaan after the exodus from Egypt).
However, for reasons we may understand only sufficiently rather than completely, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (MT 27:46, PS 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (ACTS 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (ACTS 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken.
God’s normative means of conversion is persuasion rather than coercion (MT 12:39, 24:24, 1CR 1:22-23). This is seen very clearly in Jesus’ lament over the obstinacy of Jerusalem (MT 23:37). Two unusual theophanies included when God appeared to Moses (in a burning bush per EX 3:2-6), whom God wanted to establish the Jewish lineage for the Messiah (OT), and to Saul/Paul (as the resurrected Jesus in ACTS 9:3-6), whom God chose to establish the NT church of Christ. Miracles are rare (not normative).
Moral free will (MFW) only exists when there is the possibility of choosing between two qualitatively opposite moral options that we call good and evil. These options are opposites because of essentially different consequences for choosing them. Choosing good results in blessing, life and heaven; and choosing evil results in cursing, death and hell (DT 30:19). This is why hell as well as heaven exists. It is the just consequence for choosing evil rather than God. The Spirit of God is good: love, peace and joy (GL 5:22-23). Therefore, whoever rejects the Lord is spiritually separated from Him (IS 59:2) and thereby chooses the evil or satanic spirit of hatred, strife and misery and reaps the just consequence called “hell” in the afterlife (GL 6:7-9, HB 9:27-28). These options were presented by Moses to the Israelites (DT 30:19), and Jesus referred to this fundamental choice in terms of a fish or egg versus a snake or scorpion (LK 11:11-13). Life… or Curse? (GN 3:24, RV 22:1-2)
God created theoretical evil or the possibility of rejecting Him as an option that actualizes free human personality. As such it is necessary and even good (GN 1:31). Of course, it was wrong for Satan (1JN 3:8) and humanity (RM 5:12) to make evil actual by choosing to Sin or reject Faith in God’s Lordship. Sin: ignoring God/God’s Word. God loves a cheerful giver (2CR 9:7), which means He desires people to cooperate with Him happily because of love and gratitude for His grace rather than to cower before Him because of fear of hell. Love must be evoked; it cannot be coerced. And again, when souls sin or do NOT choose to love God freely, it is perfectly just (loving and logical) for them to reap the appropriate consequence (GL 6:7-9) or hell.
Why would anyone choose to believe otherwise? Only God knows why people choose atheism. It is a mystery stated by Isaiah, which is cited by Jesus (in MT 13:14-15): “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused.” Apparently, this callous attitude demands God to nullify faith/MFW and thereby abrogate the essence of humanness by performing miracles in order to prove He exists (MT 12:39, 24:24, JN 20:29 & 1CR 1:22). In other words, atheists presume to know better than God; they want to usurp divine authority to determine what is best or good, but they may one day (at the eschaton per RV 20:15) wish they had admitted the possibility that God has ordained this mortal life on earth for the purpose of people proving to Him who is worthy of (qualified for) eternal life in heaven (cf. RM 2:5-8 & 2CR 13:5; heart/mind: hard or open?).
Such evil people punish/torture themselves by experiencing delayed karma, just as those who experience appropriate justice during this earthly existence also punish themselves or reap what they have sown and send themselves to jail. This view makes souls responsible for breaking the rules rather than blaming evil on the judges (or Judge) who enforce the rules. The purpose of earthly punishment is to promote repentance, but the reason for retribution in hell is to attain justice. It is difficult to imagine, but somehow even someone as evil as Hitler will receive perfect justice, perhaps experiencing the agony of the millions of deaths he caused in accordance with the principal of “eye for eye” (MT 5:38), after which their souls are destroyed forever (per JN 17:12, RM 9:22, GL 6:8, PHP 3:19, 2THS 1:9 & 2PT 3:7).
Apparently, souls who are saints or saved sinners in heaven retain the freedom to sin by rejecting God, which Satan and his minions are indicated to have exercised (in LK 10:18, MT 25:41, JUDE v.6, cf. EZK 28:15-19). However, the decision made freely on earth (because of distanciation) is confirmed rather than negated or nullified by attaining proof and vindication in heaven.
God could not force people to return His love without abrogating their humanity. If God were to zap ungodly souls, it would be tantamount to forcing conversions at gunpoint, which would not be free and genuine. If God were to prevent people from behaving hatefully, then He would need to prevent them from thinking evilly, which would make human souls programmed automatons. Even if God were to prove Himself to skeptics by means of a miracle, they might believe for awhile and then as their memories began to fade they would probably think that God had died and revert to their former doubt—necessitating an endless string of miracles (recapitulating the story of the Israelites on the way to Canaan after the exodus from Egypt).
However, for reasons we may understand only sufficiently rather than completely, God designed reality so that experiencing His presence is less than compelling, so that even Jesus (God the Son) on the cross cried out “My God [the Father], why have you forsaken [taken God the Spirit from] me?” (MT 27:46, PS 51:11) This phenomenon is sometimes called “distanciation”, because we experience God as distant from us and “unknown” (ACTS 17:23), even though He is close or immanent, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (ACTS 17:28). Distanciation is not forsaken.
God’s normative means of conversion is persuasion rather than coercion (MT 12:39, 24:24, 1CR 1:22-23). This is seen very clearly in Jesus’ lament over the obstinacy of Jerusalem (MT 23:37). Two unusual theophanies included when God appeared to Moses (in a burning bush per EX 3:2-6), whom God wanted to establish the Jewish lineage for the Messiah (OT), and to Saul/Paul (as the resurrected Jesus in ACTS 9:3-6), whom God chose to establish the NT church of Christ. Miracles are rare (not normative).
Moral free will (MFW) only exists when there is the possibility of choosing between two qualitatively opposite moral options that we call good and evil. These options are opposites because of essentially different consequences for choosing them. Choosing good results in blessing, life and heaven; and choosing evil results in cursing, death and hell (DT 30:19). This is why hell as well as heaven exists. It is the just consequence for choosing evil rather than God. The Spirit of God is good: love, peace and joy (GL 5:22-23). Therefore, whoever rejects the Lord is spiritually separated from Him (IS 59:2) and thereby chooses the evil or satanic spirit of hatred, strife and misery and reaps the just consequence called “hell” in the afterlife (GL 6:7-9, HB 9:27-28). These options were presented by Moses to the Israelites (DT 30:19), and Jesus referred to this fundamental choice in terms of a fish or egg versus a snake or scorpion (LK 11:11-13). Life… or Curse? (GN 3:24, RV 22:1-2)
God created theoretical evil or the possibility of rejecting Him as an option that actualizes free human personality. As such it is necessary and even good (GN 1:31). Of course, it was wrong for Satan (1JN 3:8) and humanity (RM 5:12) to make evil actual by choosing to Sin or reject Faith in God’s Lordship. Sin: ignoring God/God’s Word. God loves a cheerful giver (2CR 9:7), which means He desires people to cooperate with Him happily because of love and gratitude for His grace rather than to cower before Him because of fear of hell. Love must be evoked; it cannot be coerced. And again, when souls sin or do NOT choose to love God freely, it is perfectly just (loving and logical) for them to reap the appropriate consequence (GL 6:7-9) or hell.
Why would anyone choose to believe otherwise? Only God knows why people choose atheism. It is a mystery stated by Isaiah, which is cited by Jesus (in MT 13:14-15): “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused.” Apparently, this callous attitude demands God to nullify faith/MFW and thereby abrogate the essence of humanness by performing miracles in order to prove He exists (MT 12:39, 24:24, JN 20:29 & 1CR 1:22). In other words, atheists presume to know better than God; they want to usurp divine authority to determine what is best or good, but they may one day (at the eschaton per RV 20:15) wish they had admitted the possibility that God has ordained this mortal life on earth for the purpose of people proving to Him who is worthy of (qualified for) eternal life in heaven (cf. RM 2:5-8 & 2CR 13:5; heart/mind: hard or open?).
Such evil people punish/torture themselves by experiencing delayed karma, just as those who experience appropriate justice during this earthly existence also punish themselves or reap what they have sown and send themselves to jail. This view makes souls responsible for breaking the rules rather than blaming evil on the judges (or Judge) who enforce the rules. The purpose of earthly punishment is to promote repentance, but the reason for retribution in hell is to attain justice. It is difficult to imagine, but somehow even someone as evil as Hitler will receive perfect justice, perhaps experiencing the agony of the millions of deaths he caused in accordance with the principal of “eye for eye” (MT 5:38), after which their souls are destroyed forever (per JN 17:12, RM 9:22, GL 6:8, PHP 3:19, 2THS 1:9 & 2PT 3:7).
Apparently, souls who are saints or saved sinners in heaven retain the freedom to sin by rejecting God, which Satan and his minions are indicated to have exercised (in LK 10:18, MT 25:41, JUDE v.6, cf. EZK 28:15-19). However, the decision made freely on earth (because of distanciation) is confirmed rather than negated or nullified by attaining proof and vindication in heaven.
Job represents all of Edom, as Jacob represents Israel.
It should seem strange to us that a book, that is not about Israel, should be found right in the middle of the Bible that is all about Israel. From Genesis 25 forward through Revelation it is all about Israel.
Job = "hated"
a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz;
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. (Job was the greatest man in the land of Uz.)
Gen 27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
Job 29:19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.
Job 29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Deu 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Job received the same cup of woe that the daughter of Zion received.
Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
Compare Lamentations 3:1-18 with the book of Job.
Pro 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
Job 41:4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
Job 41:34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.
Job 34:29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
It should seem strange to us that a book, that is not about Israel, should be found right in the middle of the Bible that is all about Israel. From Genesis 25 forward through Revelation it is all about Israel.
Job = "hated"
a patriarch, the subject of the book of Job
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz;
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. (Job was the greatest man in the land of Uz.)
The blessing that Esau received
Gen 27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
Job 29:19 My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.
Job 29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
It was the same blessing that Jacob received.
Deu 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
Job received the same cup of woe that the daughter of Zion received.
Lam 4:21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.
Compare Lamentations 3:1-18 with the book of Job.
Pro 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
God asks Job if he was going to make a permanent contract with Satan.
Job 41:4 Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?
Job 41:34 He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.
Job 34:29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
You will have to explain that.
The times that Esau is mentioned in the New Testament are----
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
unless I missed something.
The times that Esau is mentioned in the New Testament are----
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Heb 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
unless I missed something.
Agreed, hard to see how God would refer to Esau as He did in Job -- 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
It seems to me that according to God Esau was not blameless, nor did he fear God. However, it might be like a case similar to the sons of Korah. Korah rebelled and was judged by God but his sons were not guilty of his sins and they wrote beautiful psalms.
It seems to me that according to God Esau was not blameless, nor did he fear God. However, it might be like a case similar to the sons of Korah. Korah rebelled and was judged by God but his sons were not guilty of his sins and they wrote beautiful psalms.
I think you missed understanding that post-New Testament Israel includes Edom & Gentiles per the following examples:
THE STATUS OF JEWS/ISRAEL (All passages may be condensed.)
Per Jesus
MT 7:21: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
MT 8:11: I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
MT 10:32: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven, but whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
MT 13:14-15: This people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and I would heal them.
MT 21:43: I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
MT 28:18-19a: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…
JN 6:40: My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
JN 10:16: I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Per Paul
RM 1:1-5: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus… Through him we received apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
RM 2:1-11, 23-29: God will give to each person according to what he has done… There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
RM 2:23-29: You (Jews) who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”… A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart.
RM 3:1-9: What advantage then is there in being a Jew?… First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God… What shall we conclude then? Are we (Jews) any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
RM 3:20-30: Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his (God’s) sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin… Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
RM 4:16-18: Therefore the promise (salvation) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”
RM 9:23-24 & 30-33: What if he (God) did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory–even us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?… What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone”. As it is written, “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, but the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
RM 10:1&12-13: Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved… For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
RM 11:1&7-8: …Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham… What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened.
RM 11:11-32: Because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! I am talking to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles. I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them… You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I may be grafted in.” Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant… Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in again… Israel has experienced hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved… For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
RM 15:15-16: God gave me (grace) to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
1CR 1:22-24: Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks (Gentiles) look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified–a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.
EPH 2:11-22: Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)–remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood (death) of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross… Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
EPH 3:1-11: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles–Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation… that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus…
This grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
THE STATUS OF JEWS/ISRAEL (All passages may be condensed.)
Per Jesus
MT 7:21: Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
MT 8:11: I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
MT 10:32: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven, but whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
MT 13:14-15: This people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and I would heal them.
MT 21:43: I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
MT 28:18-19a: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations…
JN 6:40: My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
JN 10:16: I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Per Paul
RM 1:1-5: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus… Through him we received apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
RM 2:1-11, 23-29: God will give to each person according to what he has done… There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
RM 2:23-29: You (Jews) who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written, “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”… A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart.
RM 3:1-9: What advantage then is there in being a Jew?… First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God… What shall we conclude then? Are we (Jews) any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
RM 3:20-30: Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his (God’s) sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin… Where then is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
RM 4:16-18: Therefore the promise (salvation) comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”
RM 9:23-24 & 30-33: What if he (God) did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory–even us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?… What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone”. As it is written, “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, but the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
RM 10:1&12-13: Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved… For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
RM 11:1&7-8: …Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham… What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened.
RM 11:11-32: Because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! I am talking to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles. I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them… You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I may be grafted in.” Granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant… Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in again… Israel has experienced hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved… For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
RM 15:15-16: God gave me (grace) to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
1CR 1:22-24: Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks (Gentiles) look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified–a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.
EPH 2:11-22: Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)–remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood (death) of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.
His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross… Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
EPH 3:1-11: For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles–Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation… that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus…
This grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.