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NASB | Matthew 10:5 ¶ These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 10:5 ¶ Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them: "Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not go into a city of the Samaritans; |
Bible Question:
I have been taught in the past that not all scripture is to be interpreted as for us today. Matthew 10:5-15 is one of those passages that is not supposed to be for us today, however v.16 is often applied to us as we go about our daily lives. The reasoning given for not applying this literally to us today is that Jesus was speaking directly to the people there with Him, v.5 and not in general. My question is why then is Matthew 28:18-20 applied literally to us today as the great commission. Jesus was only speaking to those there with Him v. 18 "And Jesus came and spoke to them..." and not generally. I am told that the phrase in v. 20 "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." makes this passage applicable to us today, but the word "age" could mean their age and not ours. Does anyone have any input on this? later...wdc |
Bible Answer: An important thing to remember with any biblical teaching is that, from God's perspective, there are 2 basic covenants. There is the Mosaic covenant (Law) given only to the Jews (to show them their sinfulness so they would come to Messiah) and there is the New Covenant that Christ instituted at His death. Both the books of Galatians and Hebrews make it clear that believers are no longer under the Law and that Gentiles never were. Because the New Covenant did not go into effect until Christ's death, our Lord taught under law and, mainly, to the Jews. He did, however, proclaim that the New Covenant was coming when His blood would be shed. Remember the Lord's Supper? "This is the New Covenant in My blood..." So, what we call the Great Commission was given to believer's after the New Covenant (Grace) when into effect. And the rest of the New Testament (Acts, Romans, etc.) were all written under the New Covenant. Another good example of this is that, in the Lord's prayer, Christ says, "If you don't forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive yours." But the rest of the New Testament (Covenant - same word in the Greek) makes it clear that God has forgiven ALL our sins because of Christ's offering of Himself to "take away the sins of the world." Let me also add that we must rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. As you have said, not everything in the Bible has direct application for us as New Testament believers. We must consider the context of all the teachings in Scripture and understand who we are in Christ in order the correctly discern the Word. I hope this helps. |