The Present Truth, vol. 16
August 16, 1900
“The ‘Return of the Jews’” The Present Truth 16, 33, pp. 515, 516.
“FOR there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.” PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.1
It will be of interest to notice the scriptures which discuss the great truth that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. Here is one passage of divine argument as to the relative standing, and the true standing, of the Jews and the Gentiles:— PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.2
“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.3
“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.4
“For circumcision [being a Jew] verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision [the Gentile] keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision [the Gentile] which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee [the Jew], who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.5
“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:17-29. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.6
Now, how would it be possible more forcibly to show that there is not, and can not be, any sort of difference between Jew and Gentile; for the whole question of the relation of either to God, turns upon character. “There is no respect of persons with God;” there is respect of character. And the sole standard of character is the righteousness of God, which is expressed in his law. And when a Jew disregards the law of God, in character he is a Gentile, and in person he is as a Gentile. And when a Gentile keeps the righteousness of the law, and so fulfills the law, he becomes in character a true Jew, and in person is as a Jew. This because being truly a Jew consists altogether in character, in the true circumcision “of the heart, in the spirit,” which is, indeed, “the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh,” and having the love of God shed abroad in the heart, which love is manifested in the keeping of the his commandments. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 515.7
Since, then, when a Jew according to the flesh, wanders from God, and by transgression of the law of God his circumcision is made uncircumcision, and he becomes a Gentile in character, and as a Gentile in person; and when a Gentile comes to God, and his uncircumcision becomes circumcision, and he becomes in character truly a Jew, and in person is as a Jew, what is this but a return—a true return—of the Jew? PTUK August 16, 1900, page 516.1
And even so says the Scripture, in another place: “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 516.2
“That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9:6-8. And, “WE, brethren [Galatians—Gentiles], as Isaac was, are the children of promise. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 516.3
“But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” Galatians 4:28-30. And when the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman, how much less shall he be heir above the son of the freewoman, as the theory of the “Return of the Jews” represents him! PTUK August 16, 1900, page 516.4
And all this is simply to say again that the only way of return for the Jews is the way of the faith of Jesus Christ, the way of the truth of the one Gospel of Christ, the way of return of all sinners alike: even as is demonstrated over and over in the books of Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews especially, as it is also in the other books of the New Testament, as well as in the very essence of the whole plan of the Gospel itself. PTUK August 16, 1900, page 516.5
A. T. JONES.
(To be continued.)