Fighting For Real Estate: Part #16 – There is only One Company of the Redeemed, The Church!
By Richard Allen – February 17, 2025
At the end of the previous Blog in this Series: “Fighting For Real Estate,” I mentioned that John Nelson Darby – the Father of Dispensationalism (all the “End Times pop-theology) – used a text from Romans 11:24 to assert that God would once again set up a “Theocratic Physical Israel.” This would be complete with a rebuilt temple, animal sacrifices and an earthly priesthood. The verse is from a larger context in Romans regarding the Future Salvation of those who were Jews in Paul’s day. Because that would be a more thorough study requiring a greater look at the Book of Romans, for now let’s review Paul’s argument to the Roman Church regarding the “unbelieving Israel,” whom Paul refers to as “Natural Branches” in this passage.
“For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off. And even they (Unbelieving Israel), if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:21-24).
Remembering that several times during Paul’s lengthy polemic address in Romans, Paul lamented the spiritual condition of Physical Israel – that is, those who were Jews after the Flesh. He conjectured “Did God reject the Jewish People?” Or, “did they stumble so they all would perish?” (Romans 11:1; 11:11). In other passages he explains that God’s calling did not fail, because “the elect received the promise, and the rest were hardened” (Romans 11:7). In fact, Paul talks about God’s sovereign purposes in Salvation for the better part of Romans Chapter 9, 10 and 11. Paul’s conclusion being: “They are not all Israel – which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6). This is a much larger discussion about which I hope to blog in the future. For now, it’s important to understand what Paul was explaining to the Roman Church in Chapter 11:21-24. First, Paul makes it clear there is a “Cultivated Olive Tree” – representing Abraham and the Elect People of God sprouting from him. We would be mistaken to think that Paul only means “the physical descendants of Abraham.” No, Paul is talking about those who are the “Spiritual seed of Abraham.”
Paul also clarifies his explanation saying there are “natural branches” in this Spiritual Tree (Jewish Believers – of whom Paul was one), and “Wild Olive Branches,” Gentile Believers. His warning and admonitions are clear: “The Natural Branches” (physical descendants of Abraham), were “broken off and cast out because of unbelief;” they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And “Wild Olive Branches,” who are Gentiles, were grafted into the Abrahamic Tree of the Spiritually Elect! But he warns these “Gentile Wild Olive Branches” that they too can be broken off if they don’t continue in God’s kindness. Amazingly, Paul gives a message of encouragement regarding the “Natural Olive Branches.” They can be grafted back into this Spiritual Tree “If They Persist Not in Unbelief” (Romans 11:23).
In fact, in Romans Chapter 2, Paul proclaims:
“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:28-29).
It’s clear from these two passages that the way we see “national / physical Israel” and the “Church of Jesus Christ” needs to be Biblically determined. While there are legitimate distinctions to acknowledge between these two groups ethnically, Spiritually speaking, God’s Word tells us something else. While Dispensationalists want to keep these two groups apart, the New Testament appears to see these two groups as joined together in a completely new entity: Body of Christ. This is a mystery about which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesus regarding these two groups under the New Covenant:
“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles – assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can 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. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Ephesians 3:1-12).
Regarding this wonderful mystery – hidden in ages past – that Dispensationalism makes a critical mistake: “They divide asunder that which God has joined together!” And this is no mere nuance of interpretation, this is a serious doctrinal error that divides the Bride of Christ – the People of God – into two groups with two different Salvations! Our passage above from Ephesians Chapter 3, is the culmination of Paul’s teaching from Ephesians Chapter 2. There, Paul unashamedly tells the Ephesian Church that at one time they were separate from the People of God and without hope. But now – because of Jesus’ sacrifice, they have been brought into the Family of God and made into “One New Man,” to be “a habitation for God in the Spirit,” that is, “A New And Living Temple built one Living Stone upon another:”
“Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:11-22).
This is another amazing declaration of the unity of the Body of Christ – no longer “Jew or Gentile, Slave or Free, Male or Female – we are One in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Galatians 3:28). It’s hard for me to imagine that once, I too came under the spell of this supposed “new light on the Bible,” and thoroughly believed these “old wives’ fables.” But after years of study, and being challenged by brothers who were wise in the Scriptures – I was wonderfully set free to see the “Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ” and all the majesty of His New Covenant! As you can see by the quote from Galatians, this teaching about our “Oneness in Christ,” and the “So Great Salvation” that God now offers freely to all men (i.e. Jew and Gentile, Slave and Free, Male and Female), tells us that The Salvation of the Righteous is no longer based upon our Physical Characteristics! Under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, we all have access through One Spirit, to be part of “The New Man In Christ!” This is a far better Salvation than being confined to the restrictions of Judaism.
I’m sure that some of you are saying: “But wait a minute, there are two distinct groups of people – Jew and Gentile, Natural and Wild Olive Branches – mentioned by Paul in Romans Chapter 11.” If Paul is seeing these distinctions, then interpreting these as two groups is “not an errant interpretation.” Let me acknowledge – Yes, there are different physical and cultural differences spoken of in Scripture. In fact, Jew and Gentile (or Greek) is one of three pairs of distinctions made in Scripture. We also have Slave and Free as well as Male and Female. While being Slave or Free is not a “distinction between groups” we’re familiar with, in Biblical times the Greco-Roman World held this as a big distinction (even if it was morally wrong). To make it easier to understand, let us consider the Male and Female Distinction that Galatians 3:28 speaks of. We can all clearly grasp the “differences and distinctions” between Men and Women. These differences are clear and scientific (unless you have been brainwashed by Marxist-Woke-Ideology). In the Church, we believe that both Men and Women have access by One Spirit to the One True God. There is not a separate Salvation or future for Saved Men and / or Women.
But while we are “all made to drink of the same Spirit,” and have all received the same “So Great Salvation” offered by “faith in Jesus Christ,” we never hear Paul or any Apostle teach that there are different schemes of Salvation for Men and Women. But just like Darby, those wedded to the false theological conclusions of Dispensationalism, have created false distinctions between Jews and Gentiles. If they were consistent in their application, they would conclude that “Men and Women” have different Salvations, and are headed toward different futures: One Earthly and One Heavenly, just like Jews and Gentiles! Scripture teaches that now we are all One in Christ Jesus! It’s this errant teaching that pushes Jews to “Fight For Real Estate,” while Gentiles are “seeking a heavenly destination.” We’ll take a deeper look into Romans Chapter 11 in the next Blog of this series.
Soli Deo Gloria