1. If the Jews are the chosen people of God where do the Gentiles fit in to God's plans?
2. What is the Abrahamic Blessing in Galatians 3 :14?
3. How could the gentile Believers be assured of their Inheritance in Christ? Ephesian 1:13-14
4. Where is our certainty (we Gentiles) that our future is secure? Romans 15:13?
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The inclusion of the Gentiles in the End-time People of God with the Jews as One People of God on the basis of the Work of Christ on the Cross and the Gift of the Holy Spirit is the theme of this section. compare Romans and Galatians.
Rom 15:5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,
Rom 15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 15:7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Rom 15:8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
Rom 15:9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name."
Rom 15:10 And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
Rom 15:11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him."
Rom 15:12 And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope."
Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Gal 3:14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Here the Blessing given to Abraham = the Promise of the Spirit. They have experienced the Holy Spirit as a living and dynamic Reality. The Blessing of Abraham is not simply "Justification by faith" - it refers to the life of the Future now available to both Jew and Gentile achieved through the death of Christ but applied by the dynamic life of the Spirit - all by faith.
Eph 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
Eph 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
Here he addresses these Gentile Ephesian Believers directly when he says, "the Holy Spirit of Promise." This guaranteed the final inheritance for Jew and Gentile alike. [Note: our/your (you)] Jews and Gentiles all receiving the promised Holy Spirit as God's "down-payment" or deposit of our final inheritance.
This is a fulfillment of Deut. 30:1- 6, compare Rom. 2:29 and Eph. 4:1-3
Deu 30:1 "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,
Deu 30:2 and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul,
Deu 30:3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
Deu 30:4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.
Deu 30:5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.
Deu 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Cp. Rom 2:29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Eph 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Eph 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Eph 4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Isa 11:10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
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