Relative to God’s church, what does it mean to be a Jew?  Is being a Jew a status that a true Christian has become, or is it a status that a true Christian refuses to become?  Concerning this question, most of the church world has been taught the exact opposite of God’s Word for almost 2000 years.  Most people within the church world reject the Jews today, as do of those outside the church world.  The Jews are the most hated people on earth as revealed in the international polls taken in recent years.  The United States of America come in a close second due to those few Americans who know God’s Word relative to one’s attitude toward that tiny portion of God’s “chosen people”–Israel.  Read Why the World Hates the Jew?  Key word–Hate.  That series also reveals why those who love the Jew are also hated by everyone else.

In His letters to the churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia, Jesus praised the people in those churches who “know the BLASPHEMY of those who SAY THEY ARE JEWS, AND ARE NOT, but are of the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN,” whom He calls “liars.”(Rev. 2:9; 3:9).  Note that the letters He had John to write were warnings to the churches of that time (90 A.D.) as well as to those “that shall be” (later), meaning at the end of the age, the time period in which we now live.

The seven churches of that day represented the seven eras that the church would pass through leading up to the return of Jesus Christ.  The seven churches of that day were located along a Roman mail route in what today is known as Turkey.  Each individual church’s moral standings  at that time (90 A.D.) represented the moral standings of the church eras that would come on the scene over time, remain for a while, then be replaced by the next era.  One will note that each church (era) was distinctive relative to her moral standing with Christ and His Father.  Note that each church era received its own distinct and raw evaluation from the Lord.  For example, the Philadelphia era, which ended several years ago, and the Laodicean era, which began when the Philadelphia era ended, received totally opposite messages from Him.  I am a part of the Philadelphia era and will have no association the Laodicean era now in progress.  When a new era emerges there are always a few leftovers (older believers) who continue to serve God as the new generation becomes the face of the new era.  Like those who came before me, I refuse any association with the current Catholic/Protestant church system because she has separated herself from God completely.  This separation graphically identifies who is a Jew and who is not, as this series will make clear.

In His letters to the seven churches of that day, Jesus emphasized the fact that a church member was either a “JEW” (in God’s family) or a SATANITE (in Satan’s family)–Rev. 1:19.  Note also that both congregations (Smyrna and Philadelphia) openly identified the true and the false Jews.  Note also that they were both in God’s church system (Rev. 1:10-20).  This means that both the true Jews and the counterfeit Jews were in the same church system which Jesus identified as His church system, AND HE WAS IN THE MIDST OF THEM, meaning that He was the head of the seven churches that made up the system.

The above Truths can be confusing, which can be said about anything Paul wrote.  Recall that in the parables of the wheat and tares and the good fish and bad fish, the good fruit trees and the bad fruit trees, Jesus noted that the RIGHTEOUS (WHEAT/GOOD FISH, GOOD FRUIT TREES) AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS (TARES/BAD FISH, BAD FRUIT TREES) WOULD REMAIN TOGETHER (IN THE FIELD/WATER/ORCHARD) UNTIL HIS RETURN at which time they would be separated and dealt with separately (Mat. 13:24-30,37-40; 3:12).  For this reason Paul addressed everyone in the Rome church as having received God’s grace, having obeyed His Law, who were the beloved of God and Christ (Rom. 1:5-7).  Then in 2:17-24 he addresses those in that same church who “blaspheme the name of God among the Gentiles” (vs 24).  Nothing has changed.  BOTH THE HOLY AND THE UNHOLY ARE IN THE CHURCH WHERE THEY WILL REMAIN UNTIL THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST AT WHICH TIME HIS ANGELS WILL SEPARATE THE HOLY FROM THE UNHOLY AND RENDER TO EACH THAT WHICH THEIR DEEDS WARRANT.  THOSE WHO OBEY GOD’S LAW ARE IN HIS HOUSE/FAMILY/CHURCH (REAL JEWS) ALONG WITH THOSE WHO REFUSE TO DO SO (FALSE JEWS).  BOTH GROUPS COMPRISE THOSE IDENTIFIED BY GOD AS: “MY PEOPLE, WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,” THE VAST MAJORITY OF WHOM ARE TARES, BAD FISH, BAD FRUIT TREES–FALSE JEWS–COUNTERFEIT CHRISTIANS.

For this reason it is necessary for the salvation seeker to know in whose house he/she abides, whose word he/she believes and whose will he/she is fulfilling.  By Christ’s Words we know that a biological Jew and a spiritual Jew are exact opposites.  Note that those who claim to be Jews and are not “are LIARS.”  Obviously, the Lord makes a life or death distinction between the two.  In order to obey God and inherit eternal life we must understand the difference and choose to be a true Jew.  I know that this is confusing.  Even Paul’s fellow apostles had trouble understanding him.  In times past Paul’s writings caused me much consternation.  It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that one can discern what he is saying in various passages.  As Peter noted, Paul’S writings are “hard to be understood”–an understatement if there ever was one (2 Pet. 3:16).  As I noted in a past series, I once grew so angry with Paul’s writings that I destroyed a Bible–ripped it up and threw it into a trash can.  My gracious, long-suffering heavenly Father forgave me, praise His holy name.  When it comes to being “violent” relative to the walk of holiness (Mat. 11:12), I tend to take things to the extreme.  Read The Kingdom of Heaven: “The Violent Take it by Force.”  Key word–Violent.

Returning to the focal passage beginning with Romans 2:17, we find Paul, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, referring to the “Jew” question stated in the first paragraph of this posting.  Here he is addressing the Gentile church located in the very center of the Gentile (heathen) world–the city of Rome (Ita.–Roma).

That Paul is addressing the entire church at Rome is revealed in 1:5-7 where he includes the apostles (“we”–vs 5) along with “you”–“all that are in (the church at) Rome” (vs 6,7).  He writes to the church, “Behold, YOU ARE CALLED A JEW,” meaning that they “boasted” that they believed and obeyed God’s LAW, thereby gaining the title of “JEW.”  Being “Jews” they claimed to “know God’s will,” and to “approve of all things in the Law.”  The claimed to be “guides to those whom they teach the Law,” to be “lights to those in darkness,” to be “teachers of spiritual babes” who had “knowledge of the Truth that is in the Law” (2:17-20).  Note it: GOD’S LAW IS HIS TRUTH (JN. 17:17).

However, this was a Gentile church, made up of biological Gentiles.  Gentiles under the Law? the same Law God nailed to the cross?  Yes, indeed.  Paul had taught them the Law and had commanded them to believe and obey it as proof of their standing with the Author of that Law.  In the following verses it becomes obvious that there were some in the Rome church who had not embraced God’s Law as Paul had instructed and God had commanded.  One wonders what they were being taught.  Were the false Jews being taught that “the Law was nailed to the cross?”  Were they being taught that obedience to “the Truth that is in the Law” was in fact a form of “works” that Jesus had supposedly outlawed?  Were some in the church teaching that faith in God’s grace was all that was needed for salvation? that anything beyond faith was legalism? and that legalism was a sure sign that one had “fallen from grace?  Sound familiar?

What was involved in the question about who was and who was not a Jew?  Does the question remain relevant today within the church?  Is being a Jew necessary for salvation? or is it a detriment to salvation?  These questions will be answered as we continue in our quest for God’s Truth–His Light in the midst of a world filled with darkness.  Before going forward, remember that darkness hates God’s light because it exposes what goes on within the darkness.  “God is light, and in Him is NO DARKNESS AT ALL.  If we say we are one with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not tell the Truth.  If we walk in the light, AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT, we have fellowship with one another and THE BLOOD OF JESUS CLEANSES US OF ALL (PAST) SINS” (1 Jn. 1:5-7/ Rom. 3:25).  To be sure, IN THE PAST we have committed many sins (vs 8).

That was then; this is now.  That was before our conversion.  We are now walking in a new way of life.  We who are of the Lord are new creations.  “ALL old things have been put to death; behold, ALL things are made new.”  There is no place for the “old man” and his sins in the life of the “new man” who is created in the image and likeness of God (2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:9,10).  If you walk in the Lord’s spiritual light, do not expect to be accepted by those who walk in Satan’s religious darkness.  Always remember, as God’s spiritual light you are the enemy of those who walk in the religious darkness that is professing Christendom.  L.J.