Jews, Gentiles, and the Church Quiz

Answer: Jews

To anybody who would be tempted to send me a correction note because some people hold to Replacement Theology, also called Supersessionism, which is the belief that physical or national Jews/Israelites/Hebrews are no longer God's Chosen People and instead the Christian church (which is a mixture of Hebrew and Gentile Christians, but is primarily Gentile) is the "New Israel" and, according to such belief, a "true Jew" is based upon faith in Jesus Christ and therefore non-Christian Jews are NO longer Israel; instead they believe that "the church is Israel" and that the literal Jew is irrelevant (if not cursed, with the curse belief resulting in anti-Semitism) and "circumcision of the heart" replaces physical circumcision, please let me tell readers that Romans 11 are NOT my words. I am quoting the Bible.

This is the way the verse reads in the New American Standard Bible: "From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers".
The same verse from the Expanded Bible states, "·The Jews refuse to accept the Good News, so [With regard to the Gospel,] they are God's enemies. ·This has happened to help you who are not Jews [for your sake; Israel's rejection resulted in the proclamation of the Good News to the Gentiles; vv. 11, 12]. But ·the Jews are still God's chosen people, and he loves them very much [with regard to election, they are beloved] because of ·the promises he made to their ancestors [the ancestors/fathers/patriarchs]."

Some other verses that strongly suggest the Jewish people are still God's Chosen People/Nation include the following: Jeremiah 31:36, Malachi 3:6, and Romans 3:1-4, to name a few.

Matt Slick of the Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, in a commentary of Romans 11:25-26, which states, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob'", puts it this way: "Some replacement theologians would teach that any mention of 'Israel' after Acts chapter 2 (Pentecost) would be referring to the Christian church, but the above Scripture cannot be used to support that idea. In fact, it plainly contradicts it." From the article, "What is Replacement Theology?"

Based upon my research, and I have researched this topic a lot within the last couple of years, Replacement Theology seems to be based more on the writings of the Catholic Church Fathers, such as Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, etc., than it is based on actual Scripture. Although some Protestants, such as Jonathan Edwards and Charles H. Spurgeon, believed in a national restoration of the Jews/Israel, others, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, influenced the doctrine of Replacement Theology to be popular for many years after the Reformation.

The way I personally see it, is that we, as Gentile Christians, are only a "spiritual Israel" in the sense that we have been grafted in to partake of the God of Israel, the Root of the tree. I believe that the tree is Israel, but the Root is Christ, hence the Body of Christ. We partake of the New Covenant (that God made and will make with Israel) for salvation from sin, but we are NOT actually Israel. Our God/Savior is Jewish. Our Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew Bible. Even much of our New Testament was written by Messianic Jews and discusses the Jewish people/Israel. However, our title is the Body of Christ. I personally can't find anywhere in the Bible in which "Israel" and "Body of Christ" are used interchangeably!

Answer: Gentiles

Throughout history, the Jews have been blamed for killing Jesus, and while there is some Biblical truth to this, it doesn't tell the whole story. For this particular question, the answer must be Gentiles, because Matthew 20:18-19 state, "'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.'"

Jesus didn't tell His original disciples (who were all Messianic Jews), "The Jews will condemn Me to death". Instead, He said "the chief priests and scribes"--in other words, the religious elite--and then He said that the Gentiles would technically carry out the crucifixion. The Gentiles were, of course, the Romans.

Now, let me be clear, the Jews were NOT innocent. The Jewish leaders plotted to put Jesus to death and, as Pilate asked the crowd what they wanted, they yelled out "Crucify Him!" and in Matthew 27:25, the people sadly exclaimed, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!" Furthermore, Peter blamed the crucifixion on "all the house of Israel" (Acts 2:36).

At the end of the day, though, Christians should remember that we ALL put Jesus on that cross because Jesus came as the Word made flesh to die for sins. There would no Christianity without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Answer: Church

According to Acts 9, the resurrected Jesus manifested Himself to Saul, who was a Pharisee at the time. Saul had been persecuting the followers of Jesus. However, he converted and became a Christian and Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

For the sake of brevity and the rules of the website, I won't quote entire passages of Colossians 1, but I will quote a relativetly small amount. I find these passages rather beautiful.

Colossians 1:21-27: "I, Paul, . . . And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, . . . behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister . . . to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Answer: Jews

Jesus said this to a Samaritan woman during a spiritual conversation. At the time, Jews and Samaritans didn't get along and disagreed over certain subjects, such as which mountain they were supposed to worship God on. Jews believed that the correct mountain was in Jerusalem, while Samaritans worshipped on Mount Gerizim. In addition, Samaritans accepted the Torah or law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), but they rejected the prophetic portions of Scripture, as well as the Jewish (or rather Pharisaic) Oral traditions.

Samaritans were evidently half-Jew and half-Gentile; like their own religious and ethnic group. Jesus even distinguished between the three groups in Matthew 10:5.

Regarding "salvation is from the Jews," Jesus was ultimately alluding to Himself, because He was a Jew/Israelite. According to Jesus, God used the Jewish nation to bring a Messiah who would not only save Jews, but people of the world too.

Answer: Church

In Philippians 3:5:6, Paul wrote, "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless."

Also in that chapter, he tells the church to be aware of "false circumcision." Some would argue that he was teaching Replacement Theology by implying that physical Jews are the false circumcision and that the church are the "true circumcision". However, those who reject that belief, such as myself, would argue that he isn't declaring that the church takes all of the promises or blessings away from Israel--in fact, I argue that Paul, in fact, refers to Israel as Israel and the church as the church. Although this one passage might imply that even Gentile Christians are spiritually circumcised, nowhere does he actually call the church "the New Israel" and imply that physical Jews or circumcision are rejected--in my opinion, such a view would contradict his other writings, such as Romans 3 and Romans 11.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that Dispensationalists believe that circumcision means nothing for the Body of Christ, but it still has meaning for Israel. The "false circumcision" could have been referring to members of the church, Judaizers for example, who thought that they would somehow benefit from physical circumcision or behaving like Jews of the Old Testament despite being Gentiles.

Answer: Gentiles

According to the text, this was when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple so that He could get circumcised when He was eight days old. Simeon was looking for the Kingdom of God for Israel (verse 25) and the Holy Spirit was upon Him. He then blessed the baby and claimed that He would be appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel (verse 34).

Although verse 32 doesn't quote an Old Testament verse word for word, it does allude to Messianic prophecies and applies them to Jesus.

Answer: Jews

Indeed, Romans 10:21 is a quote from Isaiah 65:2 about Israel. In verse 19, Paul also quotes from Deuteronomy 32:21 about when God said that He would provoke Israel to jealousy or anger by another group of people because of their idol worship. Based upon Romans 9-11, the church seems to be that people.

Answer: Church

Christians disagree over when the church began. Covenant Theologians actually argue that the church began in Genesis and that throughout Scripture, "Israel" and "church" essentially mean the same people of Old and New Testament saints combined. Similar to, though perhaps not exactly the same as Replacement Theology, the church was ethnic Israel in the Old Testament, but Christian Jews and Gentiles are the Israel of God in the New Testament. Dispensationalists argue that no, there was no Christian church until Acts and that the Jewish people are Israel.

However, even Dispensationalists disagree over when the church truly began. Some believe that it began in Acts 2, while others believe Acts 9, and Ultra-Dispensationalists don't think that it began until around Acts 15 or later.

Answer: Jews

I originally had the entire passage quoted (except for the missing word) with the words "Greeks" and "Gentiles" being included. I decided that not only was it making the question too long, but I figured that it might give away the answer, too.

Here, Paul discusses the three groups--followers of Judaism or the Jews, the Gentiles, as in, the vast majority of people who are non-Christians, and then the church, which is the body of believers who profess faith in Jesus Christ--both Jews and Gentiles. Although some people argue that Jews are only a religious group and therefore a Christian Jew couldn't exist, according to the New Testament, Hebrew/Jewish Christians do exist. In Galatians 2:15, the Apostle Paul called himself, along with the other Apostles, including Peter, "Jews by birth" even though they were convinced that the Law doesn't save anyone; salvation comes from faith in Jesus.

Answer: Gentiles

Just like Judaism has been the traditional religion of the Jewish people, many Gentiles have had traditional religions associated with them. In many cases, such as the Romans and Greeks in the New Testament, people were polytheistic before they became Christians. In the case of Matthew 6:7, Jesus told His disciples to not pray in vain like, according to the NASB, as the "Gentiles" do, but many other translations use "pagans" and/or "heathens." Jesus wasn't attacking Romans or Greeks as ethnic groups; it had to do with their religion. Likewise, when He told them to not pray like the "hypocrites" do, Jesus wasn't bashing Jews as an ethnic group. He disagreed with the religious leaders.

The New Testament includes many ethnic Gentiles who became Christians. Religiously, they were clearly not pagans anymore, but Paul calls himself the Apostle to the Gentiles, which means "nations," and he clearly distinguishes between the Jewish people and the Christian Gentiles in Romans 9-11, even though some Christians would argue that Gentile Christians become "spiritual Jews" even if/though not ethnic Jews. The debate is whether Christians are grafted into Israel or grafted into Christ.

In other words, it can be argued that there are three groups in our world, Jews/Israel, non-Christian Gentiles (so most people), and the church.