<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Well Chris, which of the verses listed in your discussion mentions either the covenant of grace or the covenant of works? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, I don’t know, you’d have to ask Prof. Easton as he’s the one who provided the copious references, which I assume, he meant to reference the two covenants. But two which immediately come to mind are:
Cov. Of Works: Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV)
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
[17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Cov. Of Grace: (beginning in) Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel."
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> It is fine to say that God's covenant was with the believing. No one denies that. What CT wants to deny is that the ABrahamic covenant was with the believing Israel, no one else. To say that the church has become the New Israel is to call into question the very distinctions that made Israel Israel to begin with. If "Israel" becomes something other than "Israel" then what did it really mean and why did God have chosen people in the OT? The issue is that we simply cannot redefine things because we don't like where they lead us (for whatever reason). We must allow the text to speak for itself. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
But of course, despite claims of a “literal hermeneutic” the dispensationalist never allows “the text to speak for itself”, for what it literally says, but interprets it through a theological grid, projecting a false distinction between Israel and the Church which does not exist in Scripture.
This Israel/Church distinction is the Achilles heel of dispensationalism; remove it and the entire system falls like the house of cards it is, built upon sinkign sand, and all its necessary accoutrements with it: secret rapture, 7-year tribulation, 1000 year earthly reign, “literal hermeneutic”, etc.
As someone has said, “Whenever I read the book of Ephesians I have a sort of mantra that runs through my mind. It goes like this, ‘If Ephesians 1:1-2:10 is true, Arminianism is false; if Ephesians 2:11-3:6 is true, dispensationalism is false.’”
The NT apostolic hermeneutic destroys any distinction between believing Israel and the church.
Eph 2:11-22 tells us that although believing Gentiles were “at one time called ‘the uncircumcision’ by what is called the circumcision”, and they “
were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise”, they have now in Christ “been brought near by the blood of Christ…
who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might
create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might
reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Christ has made believing Gentiles
“no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”, and “Christ Jesus himself is 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.”
Besides Eph 2-3, Gal 3-4; Rom 4; 9-11 and Hebrews all speak to there being one people of God, the church, i.e., the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Nothing could be more plain or more “literally true”.
Galatians 3:7-9 tells us: Know then that
it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3:13-18 says: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— [14] so that
in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
(Note that the blessing of Abraham = the promised Spirit through faith; i.e. a spiritual promise of salvation).
[15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16]
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward,
does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise;
but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
Galatians 3:26-29 (ESV)
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [27] For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Romans 4:9-25 (ESV)
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. [10] How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. [11] He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, [12] and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
[13] For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. [14] For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. [15] For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.
[16] That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—
not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, [17] as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. [18] In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." [19] He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead ( since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. [20]
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, [21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. [22] That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." [23] But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, [24] but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, [25] who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Romans 9:6-8 (ESV) But it is not as though the word of God has failed.
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, [7] and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." [8] This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Romans 10:11-12 (ESV) For the Scripture says,
"Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." [12] For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
Romans 11:13-32 (ESV) Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry [14] in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. [15] For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? [16] If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
[17] But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, [18] do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. [19] Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." [20] That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. [21] For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. [22] 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. [23]
And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. [24] 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.
[25] Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel,
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. [26] And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
"The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
[27] "and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."
[28] As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. [29] For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. [30] Just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, [31] so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. [32] For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
In the face of this
massive scriptural evidence that there is no distinction between believing Israel and the church, that all are made one in Christ, and according to Rom 11, the church
is part of believing Israel, the dispensationalist amazingly ignores these plain exegetical truths.
The only way that this evidence can be shrugged of is by adherence to a theological presupposition rather than adherence to plain exegesis and the NT apostolic hermeneutic of OT promises.
