Full Transcript
[00:00:00] I’ve come across a lot of ideas recently that are deeply troubling. Part of this is the claim that any Christian who’s not a Jew is a sec… essentially a second class Christian, a second class citizen of God’s [00:00:20] kingdom.
Not everyone believes this, but even those who, who reject it, when they discuss these ideas, they tend to lay them out in such a way like everything is equal. Like everyone’s opinion is e is equal in these questions. So if you, [00:00:40] if you believe Jews are the real Christians, and all other Christians are sort of second class under the Jews, or if you believe that Jews and Gentiles are equally part of the body of Christ and all the promises of God apply equally to both [00:01:00] and all those promises are fulfilled in Christ and then come through Christ to both. People from both sides of the spectrum tend to tend to speak about it in a politically correct way of trying not to stir up [00:01:20] anger and as if this is sort of a, an in-house debate is the term you’ll hear a lot. And you know, we want to pacify the Presbyterians and we wanna pacify the Baptists and we want to pacify, you know, whatever, all these different groups.
And I just think that’s really bizarre. [00:01:40] It’s sort of like a virtue signaling stance. That, Hey, I’m listening to all views equally, and yet one of the views is creating second class citizens among Christians. And that’s just, that’s just not right. There aren’t two gospels. There’s just [00:02:00] one gospel. There’s one good news.
Jesus Christ is the Lord and savior of the Jews and of the whole world. There’s no distinction. There’s no difference. Yes. In terms of time, Christ came first to the Jews [00:02:20] and he was prophesied in the Jewish scriptures, and so in the entry of Christ into the world, there was a certain. You know, line of descent through which he came through, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David.
But [00:02:40] now that Christ has come, it has been revealed, and Paul says this clearly, that the mystery of God has been revealed, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with the Jews.
Let’s read from Ephesians chapter three, starting in verse four. When you read this, you can [00:03:00] perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. So what, what is the mystery?
In verse six, he tells us the mystery. This mystery is that the [00:03:20] Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I wanna read this verse in Greek and explain a few of the words in it because I think it hits quite a bit harder. εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη συνκληρονόμα καὶ σύνσωμα καὶ συνμέτοχα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. [00:03:40] Three words there. συνκληρονόμα, σύνσωμα, συνμέτοχα. This prefix συν- when it’s used on its own is a [00:04:00] preposition that’s roughly comparable to with in English. So it’s like a togetherness. It’s a joining, it’s two people are together at the same, essentially at the same level. When you use this word, there’s not really a distinction of like, oh, one, one side is higher than the other. No, it’s they’re, they’re [00:04:20] together.
So Paul says, συνκληρονόμα. So συν- is with, κληρονόμα is inheritance. So joint inheritors. Joint inheritors with the Jews. σύνσωμα. σωμα is body [00:04:40] so, with body, if you literally translated it, um, the ESV translates members of the same body.
And then the third word, συνμέτοχα. Μέτοχα is to par, uh, partaker or a sharer. So it’s, it’s kind of [00:05:00] like μετα- also means with. So συν-, -μετ-, μέτοκα, συνμέτοχα. So it’s like a fellow partaker. It’s like somebody sitting at the table with the Jews enjoying the meal, partaking of the meal together.
Partaking is not something you [00:05:20] do alone. You do it together with others. And in the context of this verse, you don’t do it, at like a lower table than the Jews, you know, where they’re elevated above you.
So the mystery of the gospel is that the Gentiles are full, are fully at the [00:05:40] same level as the Jews. They inherit the same promises, the same salvation, the same Messiah. Jesus is the Messiah, not just of the Jews, but of the whole world, and the Gentiles partake of the same blessings as the Jews.
So how sad is it [00:06:00] that numerous Gentile Christians labor day in and day out under this misconception, that the Jews somehow have all of these extra promises and all these extra blessings from God that they themselves do not have. [00:06:20] And they have this idea that even Israel, godless Israel, the nation of Israel today, which is a godless nation, is at a higher level than they are Christians washed in Jesus’ blood, seated with him in the heavenly realms, above every power and [00:06:40] authority, and they believe Godless Israel is higher than they are.
Many of the Christian teachers who push out this sort of two gospel theology believe that someday the temple will be rebuilt. Jesus will return out of heaven to the Mount of [00:07:00] Olives, and he will set up an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem and he will rule, Jesus will rule as Israel’s King, king over Israel and as king over the whole world from from Jerusalem, and that the temple will be rebuilt [00:07:20] and gentiles from neighboring countries or from the whole world. I don’t know what what exactly they believe, but some set of gentiles will come to Israel in order to keep the feasts, and if they don’t, they’ll be destroyed. So this is, I think, Zechariah [00:07:40] 14, a very bizarre interpretation of Zechariah 14, to read that having been given the New Testament, having been given a greater revelation than the prophets of the Old Testament received that you would go back and read Zechariah 14 and think that Gentiles are gonna go back [00:08:00] to Jerusalem and keep the feasts. This is absolutely appalling and depressing, and that’s why I’m making this video.
Because I’ve been studying for several weeks the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and I found it so interesting and [00:08:20] so… I don’t know, full of life. But then at the end of my study when I felt like, okay, I feel like this makes sense, and it all hangs together fairly well, I went online and started looking to see what other people say about these topics, and I was overwhelmed by [00:08:40] all these videos contrasting covenant theology with dispensationalism and…
you know, different views of Revelation and the end times, and so many ideas out out there that are just completely [00:09:00] depressing and contrary to the clear teaching of the New Testament.
If you can honestly read Galatians and Romans and you know, as a teacher, as a pastor, you can read those books and then you can look at me and say, no, Joseph, someday Gentile [00:09:20] Christians and Gentiles overall are going to obey the Mosaic law again, and they’re gonna go to Jerusalem and keep those feasts and they’re gonna offer those sacrifices…
I honestly don’t know what to say to that, and it’s not just Galatians and Romans. It’s not just Paul. It’s also also the [00:09:40] author of Hebrews who says over and over again, Jesus has been given a greater priesthood than the priesthood of Levi. Jesus is the fulfillment of all these things we read about in the Old Testament, the sacrifices, the temple, the Levi, [00:10:00] the Levites, and the priesthood. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of that. If you look at the very end, the last couple chapters of Revelation, it says that in the new Jerusalem, there is no temple because the Lamb is the temple.
Jesus is the temple. [00:10:20] So if you want another temple that’s not Jesus, it’s really worth searching your heart and asking, why? Why do you need a physical temple? In order for your faith to be, I don’t know, to be fulfilled, to be full, to [00:10:40] be I, I don’t know. Like why do you need that? Now, is it a good thing when Jews come to Christ, when they realize, oh, he is the Messiah. He does fulfill the Old Testament and they come to him in obedience, in trust with faith, that’s an amazing [00:11:00] thing, just as it is when you know an American, a British person, a person from China, it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what your ethnicity is.
It’s a beautiful thing when you submit your life to God, and trust in him to sanctify you, to purify you, to make you [00:11:20] clean, and to give you new life, to give you his life. It’s a beautiful thing, whether, whether you’re a a Jew or not a Jew. So this is nothing against Jewish people. This is not about racism against anyone.
The thing is this belief that is being pushed out there, that there’s a two tier [00:11:40] Christianity that is the racist belief.
It’s putting one group of people above another saying that they’re more, they’re better, they’re greater, they’re more loved by God, however you want to phrase it. The actual truth is that’s what it’s doing.
And I don’t [00:12:00] think most of the people teaching this kind of doctrine are purposefully doing so, but it’s there nonetheless. Just because something is sort of like a hidden seed in what you’re saying, that doesn’t make it disappear. It’s still part of what’s being put out there in the world. It’s still part of what people are eating, [00:12:20] like a poison, and that poison is going to go inside, their, not their body, but their soul and their spirit, and give them the idea that they’re second class citizens of God’s kingdom and that’s not okay.