On Sunday evening, we further considered the question from Sunday morning (“For whom did Jesus come?”) by examining God’s dealings with humanity prior to the sending of Christ. I framed the discussion around this question: “Was ethnicity a factor in being a part of God’s Old Covenant people?” Despite the way the Bible is often taught, my answer is “No, it wasn’t.” There’s no room in this brief article to flesh this out to the extent that I did on Sunday evening, but I’ll hit the highlights.

At the beginning of God’s relationship with Abraham, God informed him that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). While this finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ’s work to save people “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9; see Acts 3:25-26; Galatians 3:7-9), a major way that Abraham’s biological descendants were supposed to be a blessing to all peoples was by calling Gentiles to bind themselves to God’s covenant community on the earth (i.e., Israel).

This is made clear at the very moment that God first established that Old Covenant community, liberating the biological descendants of Jacob from slavery in Egypt. The nation of Israel, from its inception, included Egyptians who had witnessed God’s saving acts in Egypt and committed to worship and serve Him alone (Exodus 12:37-38). Anyone, regardless of ethnicity, who committed to obey God’s law was to be considered “as a native of the land” (i.e., an ethnic Israelite), for “There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you” (Exodus 12:48-49; see also Leviticus 19:34; Numbers 9:14; 15:13-16; Isaiah 56:6-7; Ezekiel 47:21-23; Ezra 6:19-21).

Admittedly, Israel failed horribly in being a light to the nations, and thus there were not large numbers of Gentiles who converted, but some did, including the great and great-great grandmothers of King David, Ruth and Rahab, both of whom are called out by name in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Inclusion in the covenant people of God has always been available for all people. The emphasis of New Testament passages like Ephesians 3:1-12 and Colossians 1:24-29 is not the newness of "Gentile inclusion", but of the means of that inclusion no longer involving circumcision and related cultural barriers.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Evan

See a related prior article here: "The Newness of the New Covenant"