Where In The Bible Will I
Find:
The Jews Being Saved Without
Obedience To Christ?
The
Jews, under the Old Law, were God's chosen people. God dealt with them, and
blessed them, in ways that He did not with Gentiles. But when Jesus died on the
cross, that Old Law died with Him, for He "...took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2:14).
Jesus
said, "...if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your
sins" (John 8:24). Jews must now believe and accept Jesus as their
Savior. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor
free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Peter was shown that God is no respecter of
persons when Peter witnessed the Holy Spirit falling on the house of a Gentile
in the same manner as He did the Jews (Acts 10).
The
apostle Paul discusses the salvation of the Jews, "For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek ... Hath God cast away his people? God
forbid ... because of unbelief they were broken off..." (Rom. 10:12;
11:1, 20). The apostle, having shown that Gentiles are saved by their "obedience
of faith" in Christ (Rom. 1:5; 11:20), then says of the Jews: "And
they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is
able to graff them in again. And so all Israel shall be saved..."
(Rom. 11:23, 26).
The
word "so" in this passage is an adverb describing
"manner." Therefore, the Jews, if they are saved at all, will be
saved in the same manner as the Gentiles, by obedience to the gospel of Christ.
In the great commission, ten days before the ascension of Christ, the apostles
had their assignment to "...Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be Saved; but
he that believeth not shall be damned" (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark
16:15-16).
There
is no Scripture that indicates that God will deal with the Jews in a different
way than he will with the Gentiles ‑ either now or at His second coming.
In fact, He had made it crystal clear that He will deal with all Jews and all
Gentiles in exactly the same way, as Peter said to his fellow Jews concerning
the Gentiles: "And God ... given them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us; And put no difference between us and them..." (Acts 15:8-9).
The
only way any Jew can be saved is through faith and obedience to Christ. God,
through Jesus Christ, makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The Jewish
nation lost their relationship with God when they rejected Christ by saying to
Pilate: "...We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).
Peter
says that Christians are now God's chosen people, "But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..."
(I Peter 2:9-10). "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a
truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).
This shows clearly that God deals with Jews and Gentiles in exactly the same
way, on the same basis.