One People: the Assembly, Israel, and the Nations
Restoring the Foundations · Article 12 of 14
Article 11 ended with Peter’s words at Pentecost: “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off” (Acts 2:39). Yet Paul reminded believers from the nations that they had once been “strangers from the covenants of the promise” (Ephesians 2:12). The covenants had owners before the nations arrived.
Two disciples had hoped “that it was he who would redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21), and the apostles asked the risen Jesus, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). So when the nations came in, what happened to Israel?
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), current eBible.org edition, checked word for word. The WEB prints God’s name as Yahweh. Notes on the Hebrew and Greek are at the end. Each claim is marked as what the text says explicitly, a canonical connection Scripture itself makes, or our conclusion. Please check every verse for yourself.
A Fair Question
Here is the question for this article: Do believers from the nations replace Israel, become Israel, or join what still belongs to Israel? And a second: What does Scripture say about the life and leadership of the assembly they join?
Some readers come from groups where the organization stood between them and God, or where only a small anointed class shared fully in the promises. We write with you in mind. Test everything here, as Paul told every believer: “Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
A note on words. The WEB says assembly where many Bibles print church. The Greek word, ekklesia, is also used of Israel: Stephen speaks of Moses as “he who was in the assembly in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38). The WEB never prints church, new Israel or spiritual Israel.
Part 1: The Gifts Are Still Israel’s
What Paul says Israel has
Paul grieves for “my relatives according to the flesh who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises” (Romans 9:3-4). The fathers are theirs, and from them the Messiah came “as concerning the flesh” (Romans 9:5). Paul writes this after the cross, the resurrection and Pentecost. The Greek of verse 4 has no verb, so the WEB supplies is; but Paul’s own verb in that sentence is present: they are Israelites (see Notes). Our conclusion: he lists these gifts as Israel’s still, not as Israel’s once.
He had already asked, “Then what advantage does the Jew have?” and answered, “Much in every way!” (Romans 3:1-2). Then he asks the question outright:
I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, whom he foreknew.
(Romans 11:1-2)
Even now “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5). And when Paul asks, “did they stumble that they might fall?” his answer is “May it never be!” (Romans 11:11).
Jeremiah promised the new covenant “with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). Right after it, God staked Israel’s future on creation itself: “If these ordinances depart from before me,” says Yahweh, “then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me forever.” (Jeremiah 31:36).
In Rome, Paul said, “For because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” (Acts 28:20).
Our conclusion: in none of these texts does the apostle to the nations speak of Israel’s hope as transferred to anyone else.
Part 2: God Opened the Door to the Nations
Promised from the start
The door was never an afterthought. To Abraham God said, “All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3). Paul calls that promise the Good News preached beforehand, “foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (Galatians 3:8). Through Isaiah God told his servant it was “too light a thing” only to restore Israel: “I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6). Paul and Barnabas applied those words to their own work (Acts 13:47).
Cornelius and the Jerusalem meeting
After the Spirit fell on Cornelius’s household (Acts 10:44-45), “Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”” (Acts 15:1). The apostles and elders met in Jerusalem. Peter said of the nations, “He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.” (Acts 15:9), and, “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.” (Acts 15:11).
James said, “Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations to take out of them a people for his name.” (Acts 15:14). He quoted Amos: so “that the rest of men may seek after the Lord: all the Gentiles who are called by my name” (Acts 15:17). His judgment was “that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God” (Acts 15:19). The letter asked only that they “abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality” (Acts 15:29).
Our conclusion: a people taken out of the nations, Gentiles called by my name, come in as Gentiles, not first made Jews.
Jewish believers stayed Jewish
Later James and the elders told Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.” (Acts 21:20). To answer a rumor that Paul taught Jews “to forsake Moses” (Acts 21:21), they asked him to show publicly “that you yourself also walk keeping the law” (Acts 21:24), and he did (Acts 21:26). In the same breath they repeated that the Gentiles who believe “should observe no such thing” beyond the four things (Acts 21:25). Paul’s own rule was, “Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.” (1 Corinthians 7:18).
Our conclusion: in Acts, Jews who believe in the Messiah remain Jews, and Gentiles who believe remain Gentiles. Both are saved the same way, by grace through faith (Acts 15:9, 11). Neither becomes the other.
Part 3: Brought Near as Fellow Heirs
Ephesians 2 and 3
Paul reminds Gentile believers what they once were:
that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.
(Ephesians 2:12-13)
Christ broke down the wall “that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Christ did this by “having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15). Readers differ over whether that ends the Law’s commands for Jewish believers or ends the Law as a wall between peoples. That Paul means the wall, given “the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14), is our conclusion. Now “you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). And the mystery Paul was given is “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News” (Ephesians 3:6).
All explicit. Fellow heirs, fellow members and fellow partakers each carry the Greek prefix syn-, together with (see Notes).
Our conclusion: made near assumes something already there to come near to, the commonwealth and covenants of Ephesians 2:12. One new man of the two is made from both, with the hostility ended (Ephesians 2:15-16). Paul does not say that either becomes the other. He says both now have access “in one Spirit to the Father” (Ephesians 2:18).
Galatians 3: Abraham’s offspring
Paul tells the Galatians, “Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7). The promises were spoken to Abraham “and to his offspring”, and that offspring is singular, “which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). So: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28), and “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29).
All explicit: Gentile believers are Abraham’s children and heirs, not second-class guests. None of these texts plainly calls them Israel. Galatians 3:28 also names male and female, and Paul plainly did not mean that men and women stop being men and women. Our conclusion: neither Jew nor Greek means equal standing in Christ, not the erasing of the difference. 1 Corinthians 7:18 shows Paul keeping the difference in daily life.
Part 4: Grafted In Among Them
Speaking directly to Gentiles (Romans 11:13), Paul gives his picture of the olive tree:
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
(Romans 11:17-18)
To the boast, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” (Romans 11:19), he replies, “True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear” (Romans 11:20). The broken branches have a future too: “They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23). When that happens they will be “grafted into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:24).
Then comes the mystery, told so “that you won’t be wise in your own conceits”: “a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26). And then:
Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(Romans 11:28-29)
All explicit. There is one tree, not two. The Gentiles are added among them. The tree is called their own. In Romans 11:25 the name Israel means the people who are partly hardened, so there it cannot mean the assembly of Jews and Gentiles. Many read all Israel in the next line as the whole people of God; we take Israel to keep the meaning it had one line earlier (our conclusion). And Paul says those same people, even while they oppose the Good News, are beloved for the fathers’ sake.
Paul also says that Gentile believers owe a debt: “For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in material things.” (Romans 15:27).
Our conclusion: the tree is not cut down and replanted, and the warning is aimed at Gentiles who boast. There is no way of salvation for Israel apart from the Messiah, for “There is salvation in no one else” (Acts 4:12), which is why Paul prays: “my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).
Part 5: The Other Side’s Texts, Answered
Many sincere readers teach that God has finished with Israel as a nation and that the assembly is now the true or spiritual Israel. Later writers call this replacement theology, and some prefer fulfillment. Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught a related view: natural Israel was rejected, and the 144,000 anointed are spiritual Israel, the Israel they find in Galatians 6:16. We describe both views in our own words. Their holders rightly see that the nations share fully, that the promise centers on Christ, and that salvation is through Jesus alone. Here are their strongest texts, each answered from Scripture.
Galatians 6:16. “As many as walk by this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on God’s Israel.” (Galatians 6:16). This is the only verse in the Bible with the phrase. The rule is the line just before: “For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15). A whole letter against making Gentiles get circumcised, the argument goes, would hardly end by blessing ethnic Israel as a separate group. The Greek kai can mean even, so the verse can be read peace and mercy on them, even on God’s Israel. One standard lexicon, Thayer, lists this very verse under a use of kai that adds a wider whole including what came before (see Notes). The verse itself points the other way: the WEB translates and; kai most often simply adds; the blessing has two parts (on them, and on God’s Israel), with the word on repeated; and in Romans 11:25 Paul uses Israel for the hardened people. Our conclusion is that God’s Israel most likely means Israelites who belong to God through the Messiah, like Paul himself. But one verse, read either way, cannot overturn Romans 9:4 and 11:29.
Romans 2:28-29. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter” (Romans 2:28-29). In the verses just before, Paul even says an uncircumcised man who keeps the law will have his uncircumcision “accounted as circumcision” (Romans 2:26). Its setting: Paul is speaking to one who bears “the name of a Jew” (Romans 2:17), and he asks at once, “Then what advantage does the Jew have?” and answers, “Much in every way!” (Romans 3:1-2). He is saying who a true Jew is in God’s sight. He does not say that Gentiles become Israel or that Israel’s promises have passed to anyone else.
Romans 9:6. “For they are not all Israel that are of Israel.” (Romans 9:6). Paul goes straight on to Isaac, then Jacob and Esau (Romans 9:7-13). The line he draws runs inside Abraham’s family. Our conclusion: it narrows Israel to a remnant; it does not widen Israel to include the nations.
Philippians 3:3. “For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit” (Philippians 3:3), written against “the false circumcision” (Philippians 3:2). The other side reads this as a title of Israel now worn by the whole assembly. But circumcision is not Israel: Paul does not say we are Israel, and he still says, “I also am an Israelite” (Romans 11:1). Our conclusion: Paul claims the true circumcision of the heart for all who worship by the Spirit (compare Romans 2:29), without taking Israel’s name from Israel.
1 Peter 2:9-10. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (1 Peter 2:9). Much of this is God’s word to Israel at Sinai, “you shall be my own possession from among all peoples” and “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). Peter adds, “In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people” (1 Peter 2:10), from Hosea, where it was said of Israel (Hosea 1:9-10; 2:23). Peter gives Israel’s titles to “you who believe” (1 Peter 2:7). He writes to “the Dispersion” (1 Peter 1:1), a word used of Jews scattered among the Greeks (John 7:35), and he also says “we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles” (1 Peter 4:3); the letter does not say which mix of Jews and Gentiles its readers were, and our answer does not depend on it. Paul uses the same Hosea words for those called “not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles” (Romans 9:24): “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people” (Romans 9:25). And Paul says how Gentiles come to share Israel’s blessings: “you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree” (Romans 11:17). Our conclusion: Peter says believers also bear these names. He never says Israel lost them.
Hebrews 8:13. “In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.” (Hebrews 8:13). Strong language: the first covenant is passing away. But Hebrews proves it by quoting the new covenant “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8). What grows old is a covenant; the partners named in the new one are still Israel and Judah.
Matthew 21:43. “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43). The chief priests and Pharisees knew “that he spoke about them” (Matthew 21:45). In the parable the tenants are replaced, not the vineyard (Matthew 21:41), and Isaiah said the vineyard “is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:7). Jesus does not name the nation.
Where Scripture is silent. No verse calls anyone spiritual Israel or new Israel, and no verse says the assembly replaces Israel. Paul still counts the promises as Israel’s (Romans 9:4), and the calling as irrevocable (Romans 11:29). On the 144,000, they are “sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7:4), and then John sees “a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation” (Revelation 7:9). Who they are is Article 14’s question.
Part 6: The Assembly’s Shared Life
What the first assembly did
After Pentecost, “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.” (Acts 2:42). They met “with one accord in the temple” (Acts 2:46). “The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47). The assembly began in Israel’s temple, around Israel’s Messiah.
They shared: “Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32). Then Ananias sold land and kept back part of the price while pretending to give it all (Acts 5:1-2). Peter said, “While you kept it, didn’t it remain your own? After it was sold, wasn’t it in your power?” and “You haven’t lied to men, but to God.” (Acts 5:4).
Our conclusion: Acts 4:32 describes what they freely chose not to claim, not a rule. The land stayed the owner’s own and in his power, and the sin Peter named was lying to God. Nothing here asks anyone to hand over property, obey a leader without question, or prove loyalty by giving.
One body, every member
“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free” (1 Corinthians 12:13). “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Gifts are spread through the whole body: “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.” (1 Corinthians 12:7). When they met, “each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching” (1 Corinthians 14:26).
The mark Jesus gave the world to recognize them was love: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35).
The head of this body is Christ: “He is the head of the body, the assembly” (Colossians 1:18). Over all is “one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:6), and “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Part 7: Leadership as Scripture Describes It
Elders, overseers and servants
Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders for them in every assembly” (Acts 14:23). Titus was to “appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5), and two verses later Paul calls the same office “the overseer” (Titus 1:7). At Miletus Paul “called to himself the elders of the assembly” of Ephesus (Acts 20:17) and told them the Holy Spirit had made them “overseers, to shepherd” the flock (Acts 20:28). Paul greets Philippi “with the overseers and servants” (Philippians 1:1) and commends “Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the assembly that is at Cenchreae” (Romans 16:1).
All explicit. In each local assembly the elders are plural. Elder and overseer name the same people (Titus 1:5, 7; Acts 20:17, 28). The qualifications are almost all about character: “without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching” (1 Timothy 3:2), “not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle” (1 Timothy 3:3).
Shepherds, not lords
Peter, who calls himself “a fellow elder” (1 Peter 5:1), tells elders to “shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily; not for dishonest gain, but willingly; not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3). Jesus had said: “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you” (Matthew 20:25-26). And: “one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8).
The texts for strong central authority. “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account” (Hebrews 13:17). Thayer lists this verse under the meaning obey, and we will not explain it away. And Paul delivered to the assemblies “the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.” (Acts 16:4). Some groups take that meeting as the pattern for a central governing body.
The New Testament gives real authority to leaders, and believers are told to obey them. But Scripture also shows what kind of authority it is. The Jerusalem decision was made by “the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly” (Acts 15:22), and it kept burdens to a minimum: “to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things” (Acts 15:28). Paul opposed Peter “to his face” when Peter was wrong (Galatians 2:11). The Bereans were called “more noble” for “examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11), and that was the apostle Paul they were checking. John named a leader, Diotrephes, “who loves to be first among them” and “doesn’t accept what we say” (3 John 1:9).
Our conclusion: obeying good shepherds is Scripture’s instruction. Testing every teacher by Scripture is also Scripture’s instruction, and no verse exempts any leader or body from it. No verse sets up a governing body over all assemblies after the apostles.
“The faithful and wise servant” and the anointed
Some groups read Jesus’ question, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?” (Matthew 24:45), as naming a small leading group in modern times. In its setting it is one of several parables about readiness for the master’s return (Matthew 24:42-51). Our conclusion: it asks a question of each listener; it does not name a group or a date.
On the anointing, John wrote to all his readers, not to a class among them: “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” (1 John 2:20), and “the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you.” (1 John 2:27). Our conclusion: we find no verse that places some believers outside the new covenant, without the anointing, or barred from the bread and cup. The bread and cup were given to the whole assembly at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
What Scripture Leaves Open
- What all Israel will be saved includes, and when and how. In Romans 11:25 Israel is the hardened people, and they are beloved (Romans 11:28). Paul does not define all or spell out so, and he also speaks of a remnant and of saving “some” (Romans 11:5, 14). “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.” (Acts 1:7). Article 13 continues.
- Whom God’s Israel names (Galatians 6:16). See Part 5.
- How the nations stand in the new covenant. Jeremiah names Israel and Judah, and God says through Paul, “This is my covenant with them” (Romans 11:27), yet former idol worshipers drink its cup (1 Corinthians 11:25). No text says whether they are parties to it or sharers in it.
- The land forever and the kingdom for Israel. The land was promised “for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8). Jesus did not deny the apostles’ hope in Acts 1:6; he left its timing with the Father (Acts 1:7). Articles 13 and 14 continue.
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Where We Stand
What the text says explicitly: God did not reject his people (Romans 11:1-2); his gifts and calling are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Gentile believers are fellow citizens and fellow heirs (Ephesians 2:19; 3:6), Abraham’s offspring in Christ (Galatians 3:29), grafted in among the branches of their own tree (Romans 11:17, 24), and told not to boast. Both are saved the same way (Acts 15:11). The assembly is one body under Christ its head, before one God and Father (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 4:6), led by plural elders who shepherd as examples, not lords (1 Peter 5:2-3).
Canonical connections Scripture itself makes: Genesis 12:3 as the Good News preached beforehand (Galatians 3:8); Isaiah 49:6 in Acts 13:47; Amos 9 in Acts 15; Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8; Exodus 19 and Hosea in 1 Peter 2 and Romans 9.
Our conclusions: Gentile believers join what still belongs to Israel; they do not replace Israel or simply become Israel. Jewish believers stay Jews and Gentile believers stay Gentiles, equal in Christ. Every believer shares the Spirit and the anointing. Leaders are to be obeyed as shepherds and tested by Scripture like everyone else.
Counter-texts, answered:
- Galatians 6:16, God’s Israel: two blessings with on repeated, and Paul’s own use of Israel for the people (Romans 11:25); one verse cannot overturn Romans 9:4 and 11:29. Our conclusion.
- Romans 2:28-29: who is a Jew in God’s sight; Paul at once affirms the Jew’s advantage (Romans 3:1-2).
- Romans 9:6: narrows Israel to a remnant inside Abraham’s family (Romans 9:7-13).
- Philippians 3:3: the circumcision of the heart, said by one who is still “an Israelite” (Romans 11:1). Our conclusion.
- 1 Peter 2:9-10: believers also bear Israel’s names, grafted in among the branches (Romans 9:24-25; 11:17). Our conclusion.
- Hebrews 8:13: a covenant grows old; its new partners are still Israel and Judah (Hebrews 8:8).
- Matthew 21:43: the tenants are replaced, not the vineyard (Matthew 21:41; Isaiah 5:7). Our conclusion.
- Galatians 3:28-29: equal standing in Christ, as male and female remain, and the circumcised stay circumcised (1 Corinthians 7:18). Our conclusion.
- Hebrews 13:17, obey: obey good shepherds, who are tested by Scripture like everyone else (Acts 17:11; Galatians 2:11). Our conclusion.
What Scripture does not say: that the assembly is a new or spiritual Israel; that Israel’s calling was revoked; that Gentiles must become Jews; that Israel is saved apart from the Messiah; that only a small class is anointed; or that any leader is beyond testing by Scripture.
Living It Out
These are our applications, offered as invitations.
- Hold your place humbly. “it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:18). You might watch for pride, or contempt for any people.
- Pray as Paul prayed. You might make Romans 10:1 your own prayer.
- Test, without fear. Checking a teacher by your Bible is not disloyalty (Acts 17:11).
- Give freely. Peter told Ananias his land had stayed his own (Acts 5:4). You might give as you choose, not as anyone demands.
Notes
- Acts 7:38: en te ekklesia en te eremo, in the assembly in the wilderness. Thayer (Strong’s 1577) lists Acts 7:38 for Israel’s assembly.
- Romans 9:4: hoitines eisin Israelitai, hon he huiothesia: who are Israelites, whose [is] the adoption. The second clause has no verb.
- Romans 11:17: enekentristhes en autois, you were grafted in among them. 11:24: te idia elaia, their own olive tree.
- Romans 11:25-26: porosis apo merous to Israel; kai houtos pas Israel sothesetai, and so all Israel will be saved.
- Ephesians 2:15: hena kainon anthropon, one new man. 3:6: synkleronoma kai syssoma kai symmetocha, three words built on syn-, together with.
- Galatians 6:16: eirene ep’ autous kai eleos, kai epi ton Israel tou theou. The preposition epi is repeated. Thayer (Strong’s 2532) cites this verse among uses where kai joins a wider term to what goes before, and also lists an explanatory use, and indeed, namely. The plain additive use is the most common.
- 1 Peter 2:9: basileion hierateuma, ethnos hagion; Exodus 19:6 Hebrew mamlekhet kohanim wegoy qadosh, kingdom of priests and holy nation.
- Titus 1:5, 7: presbyterous then ton episkopon. Acts 20:17, 28: presbyterous then episkopous, poimainein.
- 1 Peter 5:3: katakyrieuontes, the same verb Jesus used of the rulers of the nations in Matthew 20:25.
- Hebrews 13:17: Peithesthe, from peitho. Thayer (Strong’s 3982) lists this verse under to listen to, obey, yield to.
- 1 John 2:20, 27: chrisma, anointing, said to all the readers (hymeis, plural).
Looking Ahead
The assembly breaks bread “until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26), and the Thessalonians turned to God “to wait for his Son from heaven” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The next article, The King’s Return, the Resurrection, and the Judgment, asks: What does Scripture say will happen when Jesus comes back?
© 2026 Elvis Lucas, Open the Text. Original: https://openthetext.com/series/restoring-the-foundations/12-one-people-the-assembly-israel-and-the-nations/
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