Why Context Is So Important Something Paul Says the Rest of the World(Gentiles) Did Not Have

By, Edward O’Hara, Fri 12/27/2019 12:24 PM…

When reading the Bible we always need to remember who the letter we are reading from is written to. Because while the whole Bible is written for us. The whole Bible is not written to us. For example, Even though all believers can glean truth from it’s teaching, Hebrews is written to, well… Hebrews. So when reading letters like this we must always remember that these are written to people who had a covenant with God before Jesus came. Something Paul says the rest of the world(Gentiles) did not have. Eph.2:12. 

So it was these people, and not Gentiles, to whom God said; “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer.31:31-34. 

When the church takes these passages and applies them to ourselves as if they are written to us, rather than “for our admonition” to show us how God dealt with Israel, we take from what God said He would do specifically with Israel and make it apply to the whole church. And when we do this we conflate the scriptural intent God has for those who were once under the law with the rest of the world who were never under the law. It is in doing this that we pervert Paul’s gospel and make the need Paul spoke of for Israel’s deliverance from the law in Rom.7, into a doctrine that gives men a sin nature that puts all men under the law. When nothing could be further from the truth. 

As I stated before, the letter to the Hebrews is obviously written to Hebrews. Hebrews are people who were under the law. It was a covenant they had with God before Jesus came. And all through Hebrews we see God speaking to them about how Christ is the fulfillment of the law that came so they could be delivered from it. In this letter, he covers everything pertaining to Israelites from sabbath to sacrifices. And he makes it clear that if they will trust in Jesus they will no longer be under the law. But, will then be in a “better covenant with better promises”.Heb.8:6. A covenant that has the Israelite no longer under law but under grace as Paul said in Rom.6:14. One that is written upon the Israelite’s hearts, rather than on tablets of stone that was “the ministration of death” as Paul says in 2Cor.3:7. And one that comes to them by Jesus’ once for all sacrifice “taking away the first that He may establish the second”.Heb.10:9. And in Heb.6 we see the writer explaining that Hebrews who were under the law who reject Christ when He comes is “crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh”. The writer lays it out like this. He tells them how in the Old Covenant they experienced all of the things that Hebrews6 says regarding being “enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.” Vs.4,5. So when the writer says this he is speaking of Israelites who had experienced all these things while still under the law. And that after having experienced those things, if they now reject Christ, it is impossible for them to be renewed again unto repentance”. 

This can not be speaking to the New Testament believer who experienced these things and then falls away. Because John says that the only reason that they leave us is that they were never of us. Not that they were of us and then fell away.1John2:19. So when we see Heb.6:6 say it is impossible “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame”, it is not in reference to New Testament believers. It is speaking of Old Testament Jews who were in covenant with God in that Old Covenant, and fall away from God because they never come to faith in Christ. 

This is because when they deny Christ and instead continue to look to the law for justification, they put Jesus to an open shame and personally crucify Him to themselves all over again. So it is the Hebrew’s rejection of Christ when they hear the gospel that is likened to them crucifying Him to themselves afresh. It is impossible for the New Testament believer to do this. Because John says that “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”1John3:9. The sin John is speaking of in 1John3:6-9 is the same sin that the Hebrew writer is speaking of in Heb.6:4-6 that causes the Hebrew to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. And is the same sin that Jesus was referring to in John16:7-11 that He said was the only sin He sent the Holy Spirit into the world to reprove it of. The sin of “they believe not on me”. Vs.9. 

So it is by reading the scriptures in context. And by understanding that the scriptures are all written for us, but not all scripture is written to us. That only then will we be able to “rightly divide the scriptures” as Paul said we must so that we will be “approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed”.2Tim.2:15. 
If you are reading this God is calling you. He loves you and wants you to know Him. Because knowing Him is eternal life.John17:3. So if you do not know Him please take the time right now to pray and confess Jesus as Lord of your life. And believe that He has raised from the dead. In doing this and really meaning it you will be saved from death to life. From sin to righteousness. And from the wrath to peace with God. Because you have left the old life behind where you trusted in idols, and have now trusted in Jesus. 

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StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com

God often uses men who are not of the best moral character. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Herod, and Trump (amongst others), to accomplish His will in events He orchestrates during human history. We either trust the sovereignty of God or we don’t. Nothing happens apart from Him…

The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back…

The Birth Pains Are Growing Stronger….

One of the signs of ruling class collapse is when they can no longer enforce the rules that maintain them as a ruling class. When the Romans started making exceptions to republican governance, it was a matter of time before someone simply decided the rules no longer applied to them. Perhaps the robot historians will consider Obama our Marius or Sulla. Maybe that person is in the near future. Either way, the rule of law is over and what comes next is the rule of men.

1. Corinthians 4:8-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
2. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9. persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10. always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

“Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.”

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