Quote:
Originally Posted by Winman
This is a very interesting, but difficult subject.
Israel is also a part of the body of Christ.
1 Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
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I think you misunderstand the verse brother. It isn't saying that Israel is part of the body of Christ, it is saying that the Spirit baptism breaks down the barriers between Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and puts them into one body together as members. So a believer who was a Jew or Gentile is now a Christian who is a member of the body of Christ, the Church. Israel as a nation is not addressed in this passage, it's talking about individual believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, etc.
The Apostle Paul defines three groups of people - Jews, Gentiles, and the Church:
1 Corinthians 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:
In the Church Age, when a Jew believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour he becomes part of the body of Christ (is baptized into it) and is no longer identified as a Jew but as a Christian, even though he is still a Jew by birth.
Israel as a nation is still on the back-burner until a furture time when God will deal with them again, and save them, but until then He only deals with individual Jews who receive Christ as their Saviour and become Christians and members of the body of Christ.
Romans 11:25 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 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: