I just finished teaching a class on the Plan of God in the covenants. One of the issues we covered concerned the differences between Covenant and Dispensational theology. Going over this material reminded me how foundational the issue of “identity markers” is for us to be able to understand the source of tension between Jew and Gentile within the church—precisely when the New Covenant era was beginning. I truly believe that if we get a better handle on what identity markers represented, then we will be able to understand the relationship of the church and Israel much better.
Identity Markers–When He set apart the Jews as the people of God in the Old Testament, God proscribed various means by which His people could be distinguished from the nations around them (the goyim or the ethne–Lev 20:26). The primary marker that identified His people was the sign of circumcision. There were also various other means of distinguishing them as well: including dietary laws, Sabbath keeping, and various purity practices. All of these identity markers that set apart national, ethnic Israel as the people of God, were subsumed under the overarching rubric known as “The Law”. It was the Law that served as the identifying feature, which delineated or demarcated who was and who was not a part of the people of God. Those who were a part of God’s family looked and acted in a certain way, so as to display His holiness and set themselves apart as distinct from the surrounding nations who did not know God.
In the New Testament we see the phrase “works of the Law” referring to Israel doing the things which express Jewish identity. It was essentially Israel’s part in responding to the grace that had been given them, in being chosen as the people of God. They were to display that righteous living in gratitude for God’s gracious choice. The Law then served as a protector of the inheritance God had promised them, in that it regulated obedience for blessing in the land of promise. It was not a matter of works righteousness. The Law was not a way for them to make themselves right before God. It was a response in gratitude for what they had been given.
As time progressed, Israel’s sense of ‘set-apartness’ grew into a sense of privilege and exclusivity. They had ostensibly forgotten that they were set apart in order to be a light unto the nations; to draw all nations to the glory of the One who called them. Instead, to a great extent, they were doing what the Law had proscribed in order to display, or even flaunt that set-apart status rather than to live truly holy lives. This separated Israel even further from the nations around them.
This sense of privilege and pride prevented them from fulfilling the role God had intended them to fulfill. The identity marker became more important than what it identified. So, when the New Covenant arrived, Israel was not prepared for the fact that the Law was no longer going to serve as the identity marker of the people of God.
It was not as though this extreme concern about staying separate and distinct evolved in a void. When the Jews were allowed to return to the land following the Babylonian captivity, they clearly understood it was their sin that had caused the captivity. It was their idolatry brought on by the influence of marrying foreign women that caused their downfall. Thus, the number one thing they were told by the prophets was to keep their race separate, distinct and pure—and not let other nations come in and pollute their minds and draw them into worshipping other gods. So, keeping separate from the other nations and maintaining their national identity as the people of God became a point of obsession with them.
Coming out of the intertestamental period, as well, in which the Jewish distinctive lifestyle was constantly under attack, preserving that separateness became a matter of extreme passion and fervor for the Jews in Jesus’ time. So, when Paul shows up indicating that all these (fleshly) identity markers (for which many Jews had literally died) are no longer applicable, they would naturally have assumed that their national distinctiveness was simply under attack again.
Just as circumcision and the Law defined and demarcated the boundaries of who comprised the people of God under the Mosaic covenant; it is the gift of the Spirit that serves this purpose under the New Covenant. Scholar J.D.G. Dunn says that, “…membership in God’s family was no longer defined as being bar mitswah (“son of the commandment”), but as one who has been adopted by God and shares the Spirit of God’s Son”( J. D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998).
The radical change from an outward, fleshly sign of belonging, to an inward, spiritual sign of belonging is what was so difficult for the Jews to understand. This difficulty was what made the Judaizing offer of Paul’s opponents so appealing. The outward signs were all they ever had known.
The focus of the debate within the New Testament; what was causing so much friction between Jew and Gentile; was that the Law had served as the identity marker of God’s people under the Old Covenant—and it was now being made clear that under the New Covenant the identity marker of God’s people was to be the indwelling Holy Spirit. Understanding that this specifically was the issue at hand helps us see more clearly how this was a transition between ages. And it helps us see how the issue they were dealing with was not, as Replacement theology would argue, an issue of Jewish exclusion. It was a question of Gentile inclusion. Gentile believers were being grafted into the family, of which Israel was the original and primary member.
Paul’s railing against the Law and reliance upon ‘the works of the Law’ is not an attack upon Israel, or against the fact that the Jews were the chosen people of God, or an argument that the Jews had forfeited anything—nor it is an attack on any supposed theology of works-righteousness. It is an attack against the anachronistic thinking that living a Jewish lifestyle is what defined being a member of the family of God.
So when Messiah came and instituted the New Covenant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, the makeup of the people of God changed. The family of God was no longer a distinct people called out from among the nations. It was now comprised of people called out from many nations. The people of God were no longer a nation, a monarchy, ruled by God. They were now many peoples from many different nations comprising this new organism called the church, the bride of Christ.
When we see how crucial identity markers were for Israel in the New Testament, we can understand the source of much of the strife described in Paul’s writings. And we can also see how this new identity marker of the indwelling Spirit now unites the people of God.
- Jeremy Livermore’s upcoming class “Introduction to Apologetics” will be starting Thursday January 15th, 2015. If you plan to attend, please register by December 30, 2014.
- Bob will be back (virtually) in January to resume teaching his morning and evening Tuesday class, “The First Regathering.” Keep an eye on your email or hadavar.org for the first class date of the new year. Please keep Bob in your prayers as he prepares his new office for recording.
- Ways to Serve: We love to give away free Bibles in many languages at our book table at UCI! And we are frequently asked for Vietnamese versions of the Bible. However these are fairly expensive so we rarely have them on hand. We have been given the opportunity to purchase a quantity of these Bibles, but we would love if you would prayerfully consider sponsoring this effort. Contact jaimi@hadavar.org for more info.
HaDavarniks, thank you for being part of our ministry team.
– Jeff
P.S.: Chanukah Chanukah falls on the evening of December 16 through the evening of December 24, 2014. Send a Chanukah card to your Jewish friends and wish them Hag Sameach!