Hi Folks,
This is Art Wolinsky. I hope you’re all doing well today and thanks for tuning in.
We’re going to finish our discussion of Covenant Theology today. We’ll come back to it again if necessary in the future. But I want to let you all know that next time we’ll talk about something different and perhaps more basic. But no less profound.
Last time we talked about how Covenant Theology tore the heart out of the Abrahamic Covenant and its major unconditional promises to the Jewish people by allowing the substitution of the words your descendants with the words the Church, thus disinheriting the Jewish people and setting the stage for replacement theology and antisemitism to occur. A very clever strategy of Satan. Of course, God knows what He promised and He will have the final word. His plans and promises will never be frustrated. But regarding the Abrahamic Covenant, there’s one more thing that I’d like to address. It’s a tactic used by some Covenant Theologians. I’m going to read a New Testament verse, which has relevance here:
Romans 4:13 NIV
It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
Now some folks who believe in Covenant Theology and Replacement Theology try to twist this verse to make it say that the Land that Abraham will inherit is not the Land of Israel but rather is the whole world. But, they say, since there is just one people of God and Abraham and his descendants are the Church, it is the Church that will literally inherit the whole world. Folks, we need to understand what this verse, Romans 4:13, actually means in order to know if what the replacement/covenant theology people are teaching has any basis in fact.
Many people correctly believe that if the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense. I certainly believe that. So, does the plain sense of Romans 4:13 make common sense? I don’t think so. Does that mean that the Bible is wrong? No. But it may mean that this verse has not been translated correctly. What then was God saying to us here through the Apostle Paul? What does the verse mean? I think it means this:
Abraham’s heirs are the world, meaning all people, that is all people who have faith, i.e., faith in the Messiah (Christ).
But how could this verse mean what you are saying, Art? Bear with me for a moment and I believe that you will see how. Grammatically speaking, the issue has to do with something called a possessive case, also known as a genitive case or in this instance something the scholars call a subjective genitive case. Possessive cases can sometimes be confusing. How so? Let me try to show you. Please pay close attention:
Romans 8:35 says this: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” It really means this: “Who shall separate us from Christ’s love for us?”
Now with regard to our verse in question:
Abraham’s heir is the world. But the world doesn’t have an heir. World is a figure of speech here in that it represents all the people in the world. And in the context of this verse it means all the people in the world who have faith, namely faith in Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah. And that fits perfectly with this passage:
Romans 4:11–12 NIV
11 And he (Abraham) received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The bottom line is this: All people who follow and trust the Messiah, those who have faith in Him, are spiritual children of Abraham. Romans 4:13 has nothing to do with land.
So I believe Romans 4:13 should read like this:
“It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be the spiritual father of all people who have faith in the Jewish Messiah, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”
Folks, let’s look at one other passage today that is often twisted by those who do not subscribe to Israel’s elect status and who teach that when a Jew believes in Yeshua, he is no longer a Jew:
Galatians 3:28–29 NIV
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
It’s important to note that this passage is not referring to physical or material things. How could it be? Is there no male and female today? Is your wife a man? My wife isn’t a man. And there are definitely Jews and Gentiles today, too. And sad as it is, there are slaves and free people today. Folks, this passage is referring to spiritual things. When Jews and Gentiles and men and women and slaves and free people are saved they are all saved in the same way - through faith, by the blood of Jesus the Messiah. And they are then spiritually the same. But Covenant Theology which teaches that there is and always has been only one people of God removes all distinctions thereby eliminating the Jewish people as a people along with certain distinct promises made to them by God. And Covenant Theologians use this passage to bolster this false teaching. So Folks, when a Jewish person believes in Yeshua, he or she does not cease to be Jewish.
Let’s sum up what we’ve learned today:
Abraham is the spiritual father of all true believers in Yeshua. Abraham is not the heir of the world. The world doesn’t have an heir.
There are indeed still men and women, slaves and free people, and Jews and Gentiles in the world. But in Christ Jesus, all people are spiritually the same. No argument there.
Folks, I hope this has been helpful to you today. See you next time. Until then, this is Art Wolinsky. Thanks for listening.
