WHY GOD MADE ABRAHAM, NOT MOSES, THE “FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”

By Edward O’Hara

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?” Rom.6:23-7:1. 

Question; Is this statement true for all men? Answer; NO! Let me show you why. In the very next verse Paul says he is speaking to them that know the law. And those who know the law are not all people, but only Hebrews. Because only Hebrews were ever given the law and required by God to meditate upon it to keep it. This is what God says to Israel in the Old Testament. And what Paul says in Eph.2:11-13.

So when we talk to someone who is not a Hebrew about coming to a saving faith in Jesus we need to be careful not to use scriptures like these, as those who rely on the Roman road style of witnessing, for them to know why they need to be saved. Because if they are not a Hebrew they have never been under the law. Nor have they ever been required by God to keep it. So they need no deliverance from it. 

They do not need deliverance from the law as Paul says these do in the verses that follow these where Paul says the Hebrew, the one who “knows the law”, must be dead to the law before they can be married to or joined with Christ. Here is that quote from Rom.7:3,4; “…but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” 

So when Paul taught that “the wages of sin is death” he was paraphrasing Ez.18:20 that says “the soul that sinneth it shall die”, which then must apply only to Hebrews when sharing the gospel with them to be saved. And Gentiles have no such problem and should never be subjected to this kind of “witnessing”. 

Paul taught both Hebrews(Jews) and Gentiles how to be saved. But, since they have different points of origin that need to be addressed for their conversion, they need the messages to be tailored to their respective points of origin in order to address them. And even though the message may be tailored to their respective experience, it’s still the same Jesus that saves both the Jew and the Gentile. 

If you are either a Jew or a Gentile and have confessed that Jesus is Lord. And have believed in your heart that He has raised from the dead, then you are saved. And if you are saved then witness to these respective groups as Paul did. Telling the Jew he must be dead to the law to be joined with Christ. And telling the Gentile he must be dead to his idols to be joined with Christ. 

When the Jew considers the law dead, and the Gentile their idol, that is repentance. Because they have turned from their old way of believing to trust in the true and living God. By grace through faith without works. Just as Rom.6:23-7:4 says to the Jew. And 1Thes.1:9 says to the Gentile. 

See you there or in the air! This message can also be heard at: Rumble