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NASB | Deuteronomy 7:9 "Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Deuteronomy 7:9 "Therefore know [without any doubt] and understand that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who is keeping His covenant and His [steadfast] lovingkindness to a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; |
Bible Question:
Jews tell us today that targeting them for evangelism is 'anti-semitic' and claim that the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament, unequivocally states that their covenants are never-ending; their priesthood is perpetual (Exodus 40:15, Numbers 25:13); their statutes are forever (Leviticus 16:34); and their practice of circumcision is to be everlasting (Gen.17:13). Consider Deuteronomy 7:9: ‘Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.’ (25,000 years if taken literally?) Does the universalistic saving covenant established in Jesus Christ really cancel the antecedent everlasting Jewish covenant. I think it is very difficult to maintain that the Sinai covenant is impermanent in the view of the Old Testament’s promises. Why are faithful Jews who follow the earlier covenant not saved. Surely to answer this properly we have to do more than use verses which counter the abovementioned 'proof-texts' and incorporate ALL the Bible teaches in our response. Robin |
Bible Answer: Hi Robin, If this claim were correct, then we could dismiss and discard much of the Book of Romans and Paul wasted a lot of paper. Romans has been rightly said to be the 'Theology of the NT'. It must be understood. Paul makes the case in Rom. 3:23. Then, in Romans 10:1, we have the only prayer by Paul for unbelievers- Israel!: "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." Why, if they're already saved? In answer to your question, "Why are faithful Jews who follow the earlier covenant not saved?". Romans again provides the answer in 8:3: "For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh," While God doesn't change, his method for dealing with His fallen creation does when we shift from the OT to the NT. It is found in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking the Truth in Love, BradK |