“Walk before me and be blameless.” The word
“blameless” here means to be complete and sound. In the New Testament, it means
“Christ in us and we in him, for without him we can do nothing.” It means that completeness
comes as God directs our path, to a destiny of wholeness for our lives. This is the covenant God makes with us, to
direct us to a sure end, when we walk in him.
God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which
means “father of many nations,” to depict the promise God made with him. This
is the faith that Paul spoke of in Romans four, where he said Abraham called
things that were not as though they were, and grew strong in faith, not
considering his aged body, but instead giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded of the promise regarding his offspring, which later came in Isaac.
God promised he would never leave Abraham’s
descendants. He faithfully carried Israel right through to Christ, in whom he
fulfilled his everlasting promise to all nations (to all who believe), that we
should become Abraham’s eternal descendants in Christ. The land of Canaan was
Israel’s initial inheritance.
However, Romans 4:13 claims God promised
the whole “cosmos” (meaning the whole earth) to Abraham. In Romans eight, the
inheritance is the whole creation. This is because “through Abraham’s seed, all
nations shall be blessed.” His descendants possess all the land, all the world,
or as Christ said, “the meek shall inherit the earth.” So Isaiah said the
former Old Testament land is to be extended, because the seed of Abraham are
too many. The land now extends to become the whole earth: “Enlarge the place of
your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your
cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the
left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”
(Isaiah 54:2-3) “This place (the Old Testament boundaries) is too small for us;
give us more space to live in.” (Isaiah 49:20)
This means Abraham’s spiritual descendants
bringing Christ’s love to the world. This is not a political invasion, colonialization,
domination of the world. It’s rather through the service of the cross through
our lives to others. This is Abraham’s blessing to the nations. It is spoken of
in Isaiah in terms of “dispossessing nations,” but that is a poetic language:
it means a spiritual people with a heavenly way of transforming human cultures
of violence and selfishness: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Christ’s
kingdom is for this world. Its purpose is to transform this world. But Christ’s
kingdom doesn’t originate in this world, like other worldly kingdoms do, in
their fallen human cultures of violence and greed. Christ comes from heaven to
fill the earth and refashion us and our cultures by his love.
Abraham’s blessing is not fulfilled by the
flesh, that is, by his racial descendants, but his seed are those who are born
by God’s Spirit, the same Spirit who birthed Abraham into his kingdom.
In Paul’s day, many Jews had trouble with
what looked to them like an abrogation of these “everlasting” stipulations in
Genesis 17. Paul stated that circumcision was no longer required. He also put
no importance on the literal land of Israel, according to Old Testament definitions.
He put no value in a political fulfilment of Israel’s promises. Instead, he
said, “all these promises are yes and amen in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:20 - This
letter to the Corinthians speaks of the whole creation being renewed. See 2 Cor
4:6, 5:17.)
The promises are all fulfilled in the
gospel. So, in the issues today between the Palestinians and the nation of
Israel, we are not to seek political solutions, but ultimately these issues can
only be solved by gospel neighbourliness from and to both sides, as Jesus
taught. Others call this “replacement theology,” but that is not the theology I
hold to. Rather, I hold to “inclusion theology.” The gentiles are included in
the household of faith, as Paul taught in Ephesians two. All who believe are
Israel. The church hasn’t replaced Israel, but is Israel’s promises fulfilled,
for Jew and gentile alike.
Circumcision in the flesh was the Old
Testament sign of the covenant of God with Abraham and his descendants
according to the flesh. Today, circumcision is neither required, nor set aside.
It depends on the conscience of the family alone. Whether we are a Jewish
believer in Christ, or a gentile believer, circumcision is not required, neither
is it prohibited. We are free to choose for ourselves and then to accept each
other with each one’s own choice.
In the Old Covenant, the sign of covenant
membership was in the flesh, but in the New Covenant, the sign is in the heart.
That is, the sign of covenant membership is our love for one another: “By this
shall all men know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.” A “sign”
means a “sacrament,” which means that it is something in our lives that
prophetically points to the kingdom of God, until Christ returns. The sacrament
of the church (our prophetic announcement of Christ’s kingdom) is love, not circumcision,
not a ceremony of “communion.” The real sacrament of “communion” is our love.
There is no circumcision, no uncircumcision,
no Jew, nor Greek, no this or that land, but love that bonds us together as one
family of Abraham, even with our cultural differences and customs, which give a
beautiful diversity in God’s creation. There is no nation or race of supremacy.
Tribalism was the weakness of the Old Testament. Now, tribalism is done away,
since we have all sinned, and have all being accepted by grace alone. This is
the promise of God to Abraham fulfilled. Sacred land (sacred space, or place)
is not a building, nor a designated land, but it is God’s temple. God’s temple
is wherever two or three people of any ethnicity are gathered in love, in
Christ’s name, who loved us all. When we love our neighbour, this is sacred
place. Thus, Paul said to the Corinthian church, of mixed ethnicities, “you are
the temple of God.” This is Abraham’s land. This is new creation, where heaven
and earth meet.
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