I think the first point you agreed with is probably a sufficient foundation to share an OT passage regarding a promise made specifically to Israel, so I'll come back to it, but if I may...
...Different Responsibilities...whether Jew or Gentile
This is a point I disagree with. It might be the case that a person with apparent Jewish ancestry and a person without apparent Jewish ancestry have different missions in life. The differences in mission aren't themselves based on genetic ancestry as a hard dividing line.
Isn't it consistent that if members of the body have "...
different offices of duty/domain. An eye to an ear, etc. " as you agree, then they have different responsibilities? Does an eye have the same responsibility as an ear? Aren't duty (your word) and responsibility (my word) synonyms?
It's not as though "the yoke" was something obligated by Christian of Jewish heritage nor by Christians without Jewish heritage. The truth is that neither group was obligated to follow these ordinances by some letter of law. One should follow what their faith leads them to believe is right for them, regardless of whether they were Jew or Gentile. This passage isn't a dividing line between Jew and Gentile, it's a caution not to impose something on others even though it might be right for you (based on what your faith calls you to do) but not in fact may not be right for someone else (based on what their faith calls them to do). It can result in individuals rejecting the assembly because they are being asked to do something that is against their faith. A broader conversation about an aspect of this exists in Romans 14. And especially if we approach Romans 14's reference to food as a metaphor for cultural teachings and practices, the message becomes clear.
If we use weightlifting at the gym as an analogy, in Romans 14 Paul
is saying "
don't give someone who just joined 100 pounds to lift. It's too much, they will fail and leave discouraged". Paul
isn't saying "
don't go to the gym if you don't want to because there's no need to lift any weight anymore."
This interpretation is consistent with what the council arrived at in Acts 15; to not
overburden the new gentile converts "
because Moses [i.e. the law] is preached [to them] every Sabbath day". In other words, they will grow stronger in it the more they hear the law of God.
Consider this: if neither group was/is obligated to follow anything then what logical sense was there to give the new coverts
anything to do? That was James' opportunity to make it clear - especially to new converts - that they weren't necessary to do anymore, wasn't it? They could've started fresh. Why burden them with any of it at all? Occam's razor.
The quoted interpretation does not hold water when we consider it was a nonissue for Paul and other Jewish converts not to follow the old covenant ordinances of the law.
We often conflate two elements of the law to our detriment when reading Paul. There's:
A) Things to do to keep one from sin
B) Things to do to cleanse one after sin (when "A" is broken)
...to use biblical terminology...
A = Laws, Statutes, Commandments
B = "Works of The Law" including cleansing rights, etc. (when "A" is broken)
...a summary...
- "A" was given to Israel as terms of their covenant
- "B" was introduced when Israel broke "A"
- All have broken "A" and fallen short of the glory of the Living God
- "B" has always been a placeholder, prophesying that The Messiah would perform the true work.
- "B" could never take away sin
- "B" is the schoolmaster pointing to Messiah and His work
- "B" has no power to cleanse
- "B" was nailed to the cross
Paul and other Jewish believers who understood Messiah's work didn't follow "B" anymore and fiercely preach against anyone who continued to follow "B"...but they
still continued to follow "A", because to not follow "A" is to sin. Paul emphasized this in Acts. if someone does break "A" they have an eternal advocate now in heaven to perform "B" for them.
Acts 21:20-25 [Bracket mine]
When [Elder James and Elders] heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.
21 But they are under the impression that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or observe our customs.
22 What then should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.
23Therefore do what we advise you. There are four men with us who have taken a vow.
24 Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.
Acts 22:3, 12-13
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I am just as zealous for God as any of you here today.
12 There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,
13came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him.
Acts 24:14
But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
Acts 25:8
Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”
Acts 26:4-5
Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem.
5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.
Jew by faith (because they were given the law)...Gentile through faith (who weren't given the law)
"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:" - Romans 2:14 KJV
Gentiles always had law.
I feel that I don't quite understand this "BY" vs. "THROUGH" nuance you are trying to illustrate. If it is premised on the idea that Gentiles were without a law, I would disagree (but certainly they would have been without the OT law ordinances). It may not have been the same law as OT Hebrews and Jews, but it was a law nonetheless. And now under Christ, both groups are under the same law (the law of Christ).
Paul is talking about The Law of God.
When a gentile, who was not given the Law of God, naturally does something that is found in the Law of God...even though they weren't given the law of God, that thing becomes an article of the law that they will be measured by at the end of days. Because
ALL will be measured by the law of God at the end of days whether outside of it or within it: Those outside it will die, and those inside it will be judged by it (
Romans 2:12).
So if a gentile naturally believes stealing is wrong, having never heard the law of God preached to them, that commandment is what that person will be measured by in the end.
Israel, who was
entrusted with the very law of God, must have faith in the law they're obeying (i.e. "walk it out
by faith"). That's what was always missing; faith in Messiah to complete it all. Gentile believers were never entrusted with the law so it's only
through faith in Messiah that they are grafted into
Israel and partakers of the promises. The tree is Israel.
In a post-crucifixion world, I don't agree with the premise that ethnicity would be a dividing factor that would determine categories of missions...[...]...I see no Biblical evidence for that even if it were possible to somehow determine perfect genealogies for every Christian alive today.
Well, the Living God knows who's who. Romans 11 distinguishes between "natural branches" vs "wild". "Natural" represents the ethnic descendants. There are promises specifically made to them and not to Gentile believers. One is
Deuteronomy 30:1-5.
So the children of Israel will:
- Be gathered from the nations of the world; "from the four winds" (
Matthew 24:31)
- Reclaim specific possession of the land that belonged to
their ancestors
- Have
their fortunes restored
- Grow more numerous
There has never been a time in history when the people were scattered to every nation under heaven until
after the 70AD destruction of Jerusalem, so we can't presume the promise of regathering & restoration was ever fulfilled anytime
prior to 70AD.