Thread: Rapture
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Old 04-14-2008, 08:55 PM
Connie
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There isn't just one "Israel." There is unbelieving Israel, sometimes called "Jacob," and there is the remnant of believers who are saved by Christ. The distinction is between unbelieving Israel and believers.

As Paul said in Romans 9, not all Israel is Israel. There is Israel after the flesh and the Israel of faith. Those who are saved by faith are the true Israel. True Israel is the believers in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. Believing Gentiles were grafted into the stock of Abraham, and are therefore Israelites. I hope there will be millions of unbelieving Jews who will be saved in the very last days, but they can't be saved apart from Christ, for "there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved," and if they are saved by Christ then they are the church, and so are we (thinking of us here as nonJews, perhaps a false assumption I just realized), and in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

Quote:
1 Corinthians 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
The Jews and Gentiles in this quote are the unbelieving world, in contrast to the church of God which is made up of believing Jews and Gentiles. They have different customs and laws, so not giving offense to them requires knowing enough not to offend any of the customs and laws of any of the unbelievers, whether Jew or Gentile, OR the believers.

Last edited by Connie; 04-14-2008 at 09:05 PM.