Thread: What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
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What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
Posted : 29 Jan, 2013 10:54 AM
What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
"Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Matthew 12: 47-50
This text is an event in the Gospels about the important change from physical Israel to that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5.
Before the transformation of physical Israel into the spiritual house mentioned in I Peter 2: 5, physical Israel operated in the physical and in the flesh. There was, though, a remnant who had faith, shown in Hebrews 11, who pointed toward that transformation of physical Israel to a spiritual house.
But Hebrews 10: 9 states that"He taketh away the first, that he may establish the new." Christ took away the Old Covenant in order to establish a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8: 6).
In the New Covenant, entry into physical Israel by physical means, by genetics, was replaced by entry through faith.
There are unquestionable implications in John 3: 1-7 and in Galatians 3: 3-29 that entry into the Kingdom of God is no longer by genetics under the New Covenant.
Starting in II Kings 21: 13, then moving to Isaiah 29: 16, which
points to the parable of the potter of Jeremiah 18: 1-6, there is in the Old Testament a thread of prophecy about the coming transformation of physical Israel to what Peter in I Peter 2: 5-9 calls a spiritual house. Hosea 2: 23 is one part of this thread on the transformation of Israel. God said in the Old Testament that he was going to bring non-Jews into his kingdom.
John 3: 1-7 is very important in the transformation of physical Israel into that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5-9. "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God......That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." John 3: 3, 6-7
Everyone, all Gentiles and all of physical Israel, or Jews, had to be born again in Christ to become part of the kingdom of God in the transformation of Israel.
In the transformation of physical Israel to Israel reborn in Christ (John 3: 1-6), Gentiles were to be included.
"And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." Hosea 2: 23
So, all born again in Christ, no matter what their genetics, are one in Christ, and one in reborn Israel, the Israel of God in Galatians 6: 16, the Israel (which is) of God, to distinguish it from physical Israel not born again, "they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." Romans 9: 8
Galatians 3: 3-29 is part of the revelation given to Paul by Jesus Christ, which Paul writes about in Acts 26: 15-18. Christ tells Paul in verse 16 that he will appear to Paul again on Christ's making Paul a witness to the things Christ will reveal to him.
Galatians 3: 3 says "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
This question could be interpreted to be limited to the issue of circumcision, that having begun in the spiritual, the Galatians had been deceived into thinking they would be made perfect by having a little of their flesh cut off. But the statement has much broader meanings. It focuses upon the whole issue of the change from the physical, from the flesh, to the spiritual. The Lord had turned the Old Covenant upside down, as we will see later from II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 24: 1, and Isaiah 29: 16. In giving new life to the fig tree of Luke 13: 6-9, the Lord had done away with that which was in the physical under the Old Covenant and replaced it with that which is spiritual. In that process he also reduced physical Israel to the remnant in Romans 11: 5 which accepted him and his doctrines. Those who did not accept him were cut off.
But some of the Pharisees who are said in Acts 15: 5 to believe wanted to turn things back right side up, that is, to their way of thinking that which was in the physical and was their tradition was right side up, and must not be turned upside down. So they insisted that Paul's new Gentile Christians be circumcised - they claimed - in order to be saved (Acts 15: 1).
Then in Galatians 3: 6-14 Paul goes on to say that "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Abraham believed the promises of God and this belief was counted as his faith. And having faith shows one has received the Spirit.
Then Galatians 3: 16 says "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ."
In Galatians 3: 26-29 Paul writes that "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
The statements of Paul in Galatians 3: 3-29 have the certain implication that entry into the Kingdom of God was changed from the physical bloodline of Abraham to faith which means the Holy Spirit indwells one. Just the verses of Galatians 3: 26-29 alone are convincing that Paul's revelation from Jesus Christ included the doctrine that entry into God's spiritual kingdom was no longer through that which was physical, but only through that which is spiritual, by faith and through indwelling by the Spirit.
And Christ himself taught in John 3: 1-7 that all who enter into the kingdom of God must be born again of the Spirit. "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
God created man in his own image (Genesis 1: 27) as a three part being, as body, mind and spirit. Man's spirit must be activated and developed by the Holy Spirit; otherwise man's spirit is dead (this is what Christ meant in Luke 9: 60, "let the dead bury their dead...").
Circumcision in the flesh of all males of physical Israel was an important mark of their identity. "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your (censored for CDFF); and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.....And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his (censored for CDFF) is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant." Genesis 17: 10-11, 14 Genesis 17 does not say that circumcision is necessary for salvation; instead circumcision was a mark of the Old Covenant (for males).
Circumcision as a mark of the Old Covenant was one of the physical institutions and was done away with in the transformation of physical Israel to a spiritual house. Paul says in Galatians 5: 2, "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
In Philippians 3: 2 Paul writes that "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision." Concision is Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Number 2699, katatome, which is said to mean "to cut, a cutting down i.e., mutilation, concision."
Even in I Corinthians Chapter 7, which is on marriage, Paul says "Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised." I Corinthians 7: 18
But in Acts 15: 1, 5 some of the Pharisees who believed Christ was the Messiah said that every Christian must be circumcised and must keep the law of Moses, meaning the ceremonial law, which is said to be a mere shadow of the substance to come, which was Christ. Hebrews 10: 1 and Colossians 2: 17 say the Old Covenant ceremonial practices were shadows.
To teach that Christians should be circumcised is part of the leaven of the Pharisees which Christ warned about. "Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Matthew 16: 6
And I Corinthians 5: 6-7 says "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." It is possible to return to the practice of routine infant circumcision because a popular man made theology postulated that God has two peoples, all physical Israel, and the church, and that all physical Israel remain now the chosen people. Other Christians and non-Christians, including many Catholics, came to conform to the tradition of routine infant circumcision once the practice got going in the early decades of the 20th century.
John Darby, one of the founders of this man made theology is quoted as having said "The Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to them... "
John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation' Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94
God's "earthly plans," include all physical Israel, which this theology teaches are still one of God's peoples and remain the chosen people. The church, for Darby, exists to "give fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel." Darby, known as the Father of this theology which teaches that physical Israel remains the chosen people, thought that the purpose of the Christian church, the ekklesia as a meeting, assembly or congregation, was to honor all physical Israel. John Darby, C. I. Scofield, Lewis S. Chafer and others of this theology said that God's people, all physical Israel, are earthy. They are involved in physical and literal things, like the blood sacrifice of animals, a literal bloodline from Abraham, circumcision, and a physical temple building.
But in bringing back routine infant circumcision among English speaking Christian countries whose evangelical denominations were influenced by this theology which sought to honor and "give a fuller character and meaning" to physical Israel - that is, England, U.S. Canada, Australia and new Zealand - the rationale was thought to be that the practice was done for medical and hygiene reasons. One of the reasons for carrying on the practice was because circumcision is an important identity mark of physical Israel.
The physical temple building was also important to physical Israel during the time of the Old Covenant. But in John 2: 18-21 Christ teaches that his body is now the temple of God: "Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body." The Greek word translated as temple is naos, not hieron.
Then Paul in I Corinthians 3: 16-17 says "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." I Corinthians 6: 19-20
Since our bodies are the temple of God, then we are not to pollute our bodies in any way - not by eating foods with toxins in them, by drinking water with harmful chemicals added, not by causing damage to our bodies by many vaccinations, and so on.
In II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 Paul writes "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." Paul is not talking about him sitting in a literal temple building in Jerusalem. Paul is saying that the man of sin, who represents many men of sin, with the spirit of anti-Christ, or of the False Prophet, taking over the minds and bodies of those who claim to be Christians.
Literal animal sacrifice was still another significant part of the ceremonial law of the Old Covenant. But Hebrews 7: 26-27 teaches that "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself."
"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9: 14-15
And then Hebrews 10: 4 confirms that "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."
Animal sacrifice under the ceremonial law was only a shadow predicting the substance which was Christ, whose sacrifice did take away sins of those in him.
Yet, there are, in the Old Testament, promises made to Israel. Isaiah 19: 25 says "Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance." Israel is God's inheritance.
Isaiah 14: 1 says "For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob."
But - Isaiah 50: 1 says that "Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away."
Jeremiah 3: 8 says "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."
Amos 8: 2: "And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more."
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23: 37-38 Jerusalem is Israel
"Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the Lord. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord." Amos 9: 8-9
Yet three verses later in Amos 9 the Lord says through Amos that "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:" Amos 9: 11 This is the verse that James quotes in Acts 15: 15-18, and says it confirms what Peter just said about God placing no difference between the Jews and the Gentile who are in Christ.
In the man made theology of John Darby, C. I. Scofield, Lewis S. Chafer and others the Bible should always be interpreted literally. Therefore, the term Israel in Scripture must always mean physical Israel, and cannot mean that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5-9.
In 1936, Lewis S. Chafer, a classical dispensationalist, defined Scofield's literalism as "The outstanding characteristic of the dispensationalist is ... that he believes every statement of the Bible and gives to it the plain, natural meaning its words imply."
From: L. S. Chafer, �Dispensationalism,� Bibliotheca Sacra, 93, October (1936), pp410, 417.
Charles C. Ryrie, a theologian following Darby, Scofield and Chafer, says "This distinction between Israel and the church is born out of a system of hermeneutics that is usually called literal interpretation. From: Dispensationalism. Charles C. Ryrie. Moody Press, Chicago. 1995.
Hal Lindsey makes use of the literalist interpretation of prophecy of the theology of Darby et al in suggesting in his New World Coming (1973), that the locusts of Revelation 9: 3, might be an advanced kind of helicopter. See page 8 and page 141 of New World Coming for a reference to Lindsey's Cobra helicopters. The problem with the use of the literalist interpretation of Bible metaphors is that it does away, for the follower of the theology - and for those who are not familiar with the contradictions between the theology and scripture - with the spiritual meanings conveyed by the metaphors.
There is an answer to the apparent contradiction in scripture between God's statements about Israel being his inheritance (Isaiah 19: 25), and that he will have mercy on Jacob and choose Israel (Isaiah 14: 1) and the statements that God has divorced Israel (Isaiah 50: 1), Jeremiah 3: 8), and that the end is come on Israel and that God will destroy Israel (Amos 8: 2, Amos 9: 8-9) and that Jerusalem (Israel) is left desolate (Matthew 23: 38)..
The theology of Darby et al leads peope away from seeing the answer to this apparent contradiction because the theology does not acknowledge that in the change from the Old Covenant to the New, Israel was re-defined by God and the chosen people are no longer physical Israel but that Israel of I Peter 2: 5-9 which is a spiritual house. The chosen people, or chosen generation, in I Peter 2: 9 are the Christians.
Physical Israel was transformed into the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5, which can also be called Israel reborn in Jesus Christ, the Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16) and all Israel of Romans 11: 26. God turned Israel upside down. But the theology of Darby et al has tried to turn it back the way it was before God turned it upside down.
Starting in II Kings 21: 13, then moving to Isaiah 29: 16, which
points to the parable of the potter of Jeremiah 18: 1-6, there is in
the Old Testament a thread of prophecy about the coming transformation
of physical Israel to what Peter in I Peter 2: 5-9 calls a spiritual
house. Hosea 2: 23 is one part of this thread on the transformation of
Israel. God said in the Old Testament that he was going to bring
non-Jews into his kingdom.
"And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down." II Kings 21: 13
"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." Isaiah 24: 1
"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?" Isaiah 29: 16
Isaiah 29: 16 refers back to II Kings 21: 13 and forward to Jeremiah 18: 1-6.
"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel." Jeremiah 18: 1-6
In the parable of the potter God the potter made one pot on his potter's wheel which was marred and he then figuratively took that same lump of clay and made a different and better pot. God did not set aside the first pot which was marred and replace it with another pot. He re-made the first pot out of the same clay, meaning he re-made physical Israel into a spiritual house reborn in Jesus Christ. To say this this is replacement theology is false.
In replacement theology, the capital C Church is said to have replaced physical Israel. The truth is that physical Israel was changed. The identity of God's people remain in Israel, but its a transformed Israel, not old physical Israel where after the Cross there can be no salvation. And Christ said in Matthew 15: 24, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel," indicating at that time that the house of Israel was not saved.
Many things which happened under the Old Covenant Paul says in I Corinthians 10: 11 were examples written for our admonition "...upon whom the ends of the world are come." That which is spiritual after the Cross, the Day of Pentecost and Christ's revelations given to Paul (Acts 26: 15-18) became the substance of what was predicted by the shadows (Hebrews 10: 1, Colossians 2: 17).
So, the meaning of what Christ said in Matthew 12: 48-50, that whoever does the will of God the Father is his brother, sister and mother is a teaching saying that in the transformation of physical Israel, physical kinship or bloodlines are no longer the way of entering into the kingdom of God. Matthew 12: 46-50 is not necessarily teaching that we are not to love our parents or brothers and sisters in the flesh, but that our spiritual brothers and sisters are those who do the will of the Father, and the will of the Father was to change physical Israel in Jesus Christ.
What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
Posted : 31 Jan, 2013 02:20 AM
Matthew 22:36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
Posted : 31 Jan, 2013 03:42 PM
Transfiguration, Transform, and Transformation, or � metamorphoo in the New Testament.
Matthew 17: 2 says "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
2. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light."
Transfigured is from μετεμορφωθη, metamorphoo, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Number 3339, " to transform, literally or figuratively, change, transfigure."
Then, Romans 12: 2 says "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Transformed is from μεταμορφουσθε, metamotphoo. Strong's Number 3339 again, with the same definition, to transform.
II Corinthians 3: 18 says "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Changed is from μεταμορφουμεθα, 3339, metamorphoo again, to transform.
Philippians 3: 21 says "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."
Change is from μετασχηματισει, metaschematisei. Strong's Number 3345, meaning "to transfigure or disguise, transfer, transform, to change." The way metaschatisei is used in by Paul in Philippians 3: 21 to describe the change of the
physical human body into a spiritual body, the meaning is to transform the body.
Transform or transformation has a more explicit and singlular
meaning than change, which has a number of different applications
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/transformation
Transformation is defined as " A marked change, as in appearance or character, usually for the better.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is defined as "2. A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/change
Change is defined as "To cause to be different: change the spelling of a word, To exchange for or replace with another, usually of the same kind or category: change one's name; a light that changes colors.
To lay aside, abandon, or leave for another; switch: change methods; change sides.
To transfer from (one conveyance) to another: change planes.
To give or receive the equivalent of (money) in lower denominations or in foreign currency.
To put a fresh covering on: change a bed; change the baby.
1. To become different or undergo alteration: He changed as he matured.
2. To undergo transformation or transition: The music changed to a slow waltz.
3. To go from one phase to another, as the moon or the seasons.
4. To make an exchange: If you prefer this seat, I'll change with you.
5. To transfer from one conveyance to another: She changed in Chicago on her way to the coast.
6. To put on other clothing: We changed for dinner.
7. To become deeper in tone: His voice began to change at age 13.
n.
1. The act, process, or result of altering or modifying: a change in facial expression.
2. The replacing of one thing for another; substitution: a change of atmosphere; a change of ownership.
3. A transformation or transition from one state, condition, or phase to another: the change of seasons.
4. Something different; variety: ate early for a change.
5. A different or fresh set of clothing."
So, to describe what II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 24: 1, and Isaiah 29: 16 call turning Jerusalem, the earth,or things upside down as the transformation of physical Israel is more accurate than talking about the change of physical Israel. A transformation means "a marked change, usually for the better."
The phrase transformation of Israel does not appear in scripure. But similiar words,translate, translated and translation do appear. II Samuel 3: 10 uses translate to describe the change from King Saul to King David. Colossians 1: 14 talks about God translating us into
the kingdom of his dear Son. Hebrews 11: 5 mentions that by faith Enoch was translated..."
The English definition of translate is " To render in another language, To put into simpler terms; explain or interpret, To express in different words; paraphrase, To change from one form, function, or state to another; convert or transform."
Translate can mean to transform, to change from one form, function, or state to another.
What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
Posted : 1 Feb, 2013 05:36 AM
God created man in his own image (Genesis 1: 27) as a three part being, as body, mind and spirit. Man's spirit must be activated and developed by the Holy Spirit; otherwise man's spirit is dead (this is what Christ meant in Luke 9: 60, "let the dead bury their dead...").
So, a person who is spiritually dead, no matter what his genetics, must be transformed by the Holy Spirit in order to be in a spiritual condition in which he receives some of the mind of Christ (Philippians 3: 5), has a love of the truth of Christ's Gospel, or doctrines (II Thessalonians 2: 10), has enough faith to please God (Hebrews 11: 6), and follows the Spirit rather than the flesh, so that for him there is no condemnation (Romans 8: 1). For those who live only in the flesh, who have only bodies and minds which are alive, the things of the Spirit are not received, and neither is the truth received ( I Corinthians 2: 14).
What Is the Meaning of Matthew 12: 48, Who Is My Mother? and Who Are My Brethren?
Posted : 3 Feb, 2013 06:00 AM
Romans 12: 2 says "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Transformed is from μετεμορφωθη, metamorphoo, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Number 3339, "to transform, literally or figuratively, change, transfigure." The English word metamorphosis is from metamorphoo. The dictionary definition of metamorphosis is: "A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function." A metamorphosis not just a change, but a marked change in the character or condition of something.
So, when Paul says, by his revelation from the risen Christ (Acts 26: 15-18), that to prove, or fulfill, the perfect will of God, or God the Father, is that one must undergo a marked change in one's spiritual condition. And Christ told the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3: 3, 7, that "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
In John 3: 3, 7 what Christ told the Pharisee Nicodemus - that he must be born again to enter the kingdom of God - even though Nicodemus was a member of all physical Israel, and had the DNA of Abraham, or claimed to have it, does not apply only to Nicodemus. It applies to all physical Israel. And Paul tells us in Romans 12: 2 that we are to undergo a transformation in our spiritual condition to fulfill the will of God, which is the same thing as being born again of the Spirit (John 3: 5).
Likewise, those who were formerly Gentiles and were formerly aliens to the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2: 11-19), must be spiritually transformed to fulfill the will of God. That is, Gentiles too must be born again in Christ to enter the kingdom of God, which is spiritual. All physical Israel under the Old Covenant with its ceremonial laws - such as entry into the kingdom by genetics, circumcision of males, the temple building and animal sacrifice was operating in that which is physical, through there had been a remnant among them who had faith as shown in Hebrews 11..
The member of all physical Israel must be spiritually transformed by Christ, his spirit as the spiritual one part of him, being a three part being made in the image of God (Genesis 1: 27), has to be activated and developed by Christ through the Holy Spirit. In being spiritually transformed, or born again, the former member of physical Israel has to give up his or her position as a member of the chosen people based on DNA, or genetics from Abraham, and other aspects of his or her identity in physical Israel which were entirely in the physical. The ceremonial law has to be given up, and the chosen people status by virtue of physical genetics has to be replaced by joining that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5 and that chosen generation, holy nation (people) and peculiar people of I Peter 2: 9
What II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 24: 1, and Isaiah 29: 16 call turning Jerusalem, the earth, or things upside down is the change of physical Israel to the spiritual house of I peter 2: 5 and can be called the transformation or metamorphosis of physical Israel and of those called and chosen who were formerly Gentiles, which is means a marked spiritual change in both those of physical Israel and of the Gentiles who had been alienated from the commonwealth or house of Israel.
And - Christ said in Matthew 15: 24, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This indicates that the house of Israel was then lost. Christ was sent only to re-create Israel as a spiritual Body of Christ, as his elect.
The man made theology of John Darby, C. I. Scofield, Lewis S. Chafer and many others - and their followers - implies that Christ failed to save all the lost house of Israel, but that somehow he will be able to save "all physical Israel" in the very end times, perhaps during the tribulation.
The problem with this theology, which can be called a postponement theology, is that it deals with the broad way vast majority of physical Israel (the broad way is seen in Matthew 7: 13, "Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction..."). The man made theology does not fully acknowledge the remnant of Israel.
Paul talks about the remnant of Israel in Romans 9: 27, where he quotes Isaiah 10: 22-23. And especially in Romans 11: 5 Paul writes about the remnant, "at this present time" which is "according to the election of grace."
Paul is talking about that small number of physical Israel who accepted Christ and Christ's doctrines and were spiritually transformed. Paul notes in Romans 11: 17, 19,20 that "they" of physical Israel who rejected Christ were broken off "because of unbelief."
In Romans 11: 16 Paul tells us that the root of his metaphoric good olive tree (Romans 11: 24) is Jesus Christ. There Paul says the firstfruit is holy, and if the root of the tree is holy, then so are its branches. Christ is the firstborn (Matthew 1: 25, Romans 8: 29, Colossians 1: 15, 18). And only Christ is holy, not physical Israel.
Since the theology of John Darby, C.I. Scofield and Lewis S. Chafer does not understand that Matthew 15: 24 - Christ was sent only to the lost house of Israel - was fulfilled in the remnant of Romans 11: 5, the theology then goes on to say, in effect, that Christ postponed the salvation of "all Israel" until later, perhaps during the tribulation.
And this theology insists that the Bible must be interpreted literally and not metaphorically, therefore the word Israel must always mean physical Israel of the Old Covenant. So, Romans 11: 16, "all Israel shall be saved" must mean, as a prophecy, that all physical Israel shall be saved. But Paul was making a statement that at that time, going back to Romans 11; 5, "..a remnant according to the election of grace, " all who were of the elect, were Israel. Romans 11: 26 is not an end time prophecy of Paul. And all who are of Israel reborn in Jesus Christ, transformed in him by the Holy Spirit to be in a new spiritual condition, were saved.
