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NASB | John 14:6 Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. |
Subject: What makes Christianity different |
Bible Note: Hi, Johnny. Paul answers your question in his epistle to the Romans: 'But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: "THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED." That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.' --Romans 9:6-8 We see that the seed referred to is not all of the descendents of Abraham. Paul goes on to show that the Ishmaelites (descendents of Ishmael) and Edomites (descendents of Esau), although physical descendents of Abraham, were not in view of the covenant promises of God. Paul goes on to talk about a partial hardening of the ethnic nation of Israel, and olive shoots being broken off of the tree of promise, while Gentile believers have been grafted in as wild olive shoots into the tree and are partaking of God's promises to Abraham through Christ. The Spirit goes on to say: 'For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."' --Romans 11:25-27 Therefore, as Galatians 3:28-29 says, we are children of Abraham according to the promise, but apparently God is not done dealing with the ethnic Jews yet, either. When the "fulness of the Gentiles" has been reached, then God will graft the natural branches on again. Of course, this does not mean that there are two plans of salvation. Just as every individual Old Testament Israelite was not saved, so every Jew living today is not guaranteed a place in heaven. Salvation for them, like for Gentiles, is by God's grace through faith in Christ. One could say, looking back at Romans 9 and Galatians 3, that "spiritual Israel" consists of " even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles." (Romans 9:24) God will keep his covenant with Abraham and with his Seed, Christ (Galatians 3:16). And it seems that before the end many more ethnic Jews will find their Messiah. --Joe! |