What Advantage has the Jew?

By Dr. Thomas S. McCall

This article appeared originally in the May 1993 Levitt Letter.

Those of you who take this newsletter realize that we have been debating with Dallas Theological Seminary about their views on Israel. Since one of their professors expounded anti-Israel views on a Dallas talk show, their position has been unclear to this ministry. But recently we acquired a book edited by two of the professors and quoting other faculty which reveals their true position. Our ministry theologian, Dr. Thomas McCall, presents their ideas and his refutation in the article below.

After proving in the first two chapters of Romans that both Jews and Gentiles are lost as sinners and desperately in need of salvation, the Apostle Paul asks a natural question, “Then what advantage has the Jew?” (Rom. 3: ABV).

If Jews are just as lost in sin as Gentiles, it would appear that whatever advantages Jews m a y have enjoyed before, now that Christ has come and the Church has been created, one would think that unsaved Jews and Gentiles are on a completely level playing field, and that one group has no advantage over the other from God’s point of view. We thus might mistakenly be led to answer Paul’s question in the negative, and say “None, the unsaved Jews has no advantage over the uns ave d Gentile.” We would be wrong.

To our surprise, Paul answers his question, “Much every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God.” Astonishingly, the apostle asserts that unsaved Jews have numerous advantages over unsaved Gentiles, and the primary advantage is that God has committed to the Jews His Word, both in writing and in preservation. Concerning unsaved Gentiles, however, Paul states the following:

“Wherefore, remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles … that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12).

The Apostle Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, taught that there was a distinct. covenantal difference between unsaved Jews and unsaved Gentiles. It is only in Christ that there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. Once we receive Christ and are placed into the Church, the middle wall of partition is removed, but outside of Christ there remains a great covenantal difference between unsaved Jews and unsaved Gentiles. Thus, he described humanity in three parts, “the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of God” (1 Cor. 10:32).

By and large, Christianity reaffirmed this distinction between Jews and Gentiles outside of Christ during the early centuries of the Church Age. However, with leading writers like Eusebius and Augustine, there was a decided shift in thinking. These church leaders began to teach that the distinct covenantal relationship between God and Israel has been terminated. This led them to assert that the future promises to Israel, including the future Millennium, were now null and void, or have been somehow transferred to the Church.

This has been the predominant (and practically the only) view of scholarly Christianity through the Dark Age, the Reformation, and up until this present century. Around the turn of the century, some Christian leaders began to rediscover the uniqueness of Israel in the plan and purpose of God. It is notable that the rise of interest in Israel in the Church was very much parallel in time with the rise in Zionism among the Jews. Did one give birth to the other, or were they totally separate phenomena?

At any rate, various teachers of the Word taught that there was a Biblical distinction between the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church, and that there was yet a national future for Israel, known as the Millennium, during which Christ will reign on earth along with the resurrected Church and with the regathered and saved Israel. Such a minority view within the church took on the names “premillennial,” because of the belief that Christ would return before the millennium, and “dispensational,” because of the view that God’s dealings with humanity through the ages have progressed through well-defined periods called dispensations, such as Law and Grace. Critics have accused them of stating that these dispensations were different ways of salvation, but they consistently taught that the only way of salvation in all of the dispensations has been by grace through faith.

Names associated with this movement are Darby, Scofield, Moody, Chafer, Walvoord, Feinberg, Pentecost, Talbot, Unger, Ryrie, Lindsey, Campbell and numerous others during the past century or so. Dr. Ryrie, in Dispensationalism Today explained that the most essential element in dispensationalism was the recognition of the distinction between the Church and Israel. Any confusion on this distinction would ultimately lead back to a denial of the Millennium and a return to the traditional amillennial Church doctrine.

One of the leading institutions defending dispensationalism and premillennialism for most of the twentieth century has been Dallas Theological Seminary. Out of its halls has come a great body of literature proclaiming the great truths of the Word of God, and numerous graduates have gone forth preaching Christ to the ends of the earth. Time Magazine once described Dallas Seminary as the “fortress of fundamentalism.” I personally have always been greatly honored to embrace Dallas Seminary as one of my alma maters, where I was privileged to earn the doctorate in Old Testament Studies under Dr. Unger and Dr. Ryrie.

Now, however, there appears to be a new breed of scholars at this renowned seminary, who are openly repudiating the views of their institutional and spiritual forbearers. Zondervan has recently published a book entitled Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church. It is a compilation of chapters by various scholars from around the country, brought together and edited by Blaising and Bock. Dr. Craig A. Blaising is Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, and Dr. Darrell L. Bock is Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary.

After extensively explaining that the essential element of dispensationalism (as defined by Dr. Ryrie) is a recognition of the distinction between Israel and the Church, Dr. Blaising proceeded to state that this entire approach was inadequate and too narrow. He thus disassociates himself from the earlier dispensationalism taught by Ryrie, Scofield and many others. Rather, he maintains, what is called for is a “progressive dispensationalism,” which minimizes the distinctions between Israel and the Church.

Dr. Blaising further describes “the present dispensation, in which divine blessings of the Spirit are going to Jews and Gentiles equally while national blessings are in abeyance.” The implication is that, outside of Christ during the Church Dispensation, Jews and Gentiles have equal standing before God, and that any national blessings regarding Israel have been suspended.

Is this view scriptural? As we saw in the opening of our article, there is a great distinction to this day between the status of the unsaved Jews and the unsaved Gentiles of the world. The Jewish people are seen to have a considerable advantage over the Gentiles in their exposure to the Old Testament Word of God. (Of course, Jews and Gentiles who have been exposed to the Gospel through Christian parents or friends would have a yet greater advantage than Jews or Gentiles who have not had that exposure.)

Therefore, it cannot be maintained that divine blessings are going to Jews and Gentiles equally in this age. It is only within the Body of Christ that true equality exists between Jews and Gentiles. and we are made one in Him.

Furthermore, the national blessings for Israel are not in “abeyance.” True, the Millennium has been postponed until after the Church Dispensation, but that is not the only blessing God has promised to Israel. There are many other covenantal blessings that are being provided for Israel now, in this present dispensation, which are not promised to any Gentile nation. Some of these blessings are enumerated as follows:

1. Preservation. God has promised to preserve Israel nationally to the end of time. There are many Gentile nations that have risen and fallen around Israel, but the Jews continue to survive as a distinct people. Some of the most strenuous efforts to destroy Israel have occurred during the Church Age, some, regrettably, at the hand of professing Christians, but Israel persists miraculously. This is a blessing which continues for Israel, but God has never made such a promise to any other nation.
2. Believing Remnant During Church Age. Another blessing God has promised to Israel is that there would always be a believing remnant in every age (Rom. 11:5). Just as in Elijah’s time, so in the Church Age, there is a perennial remnant of believing Jews according to the election of grace. God made no such promise to any of the Gentile nations. We are grateful that people of many nations are coming to Christ. but God is under no obligation to save individuals of any particular Gentile nation. We can be assured, though, that there will never come a time when no Jews are saved.
3. Oracles of God. As indicated above. the chief advantage the Jews have is that God has committed to them His Word (Rom. 3: 1,2). When God desired to bring His revelation to the world, He chose Israel to convey it. Jews are the writers of both the Old and New Testaments. Also, they are the continuing proclaimers of at least part of the Word of God. The first Church conference was concerned about the sensibilities of Jews around the world, since Moses was “read in the synagogues every sabbath day” (Acts 15:21).
4. Of Whom, As Concerning the Flesh, Christ Came. The crowning glory of Israel is, that when God became a man, He became a Jew. The world, and even some Christians, may wish to forget this, but Satan never has. In the vision of Revelation 12, the dragon (Satan) ruthlessly attacks the woman (Israel) who gave birth to the Christ. Only Israel, among the nations, has the honor and blessing from God to claim that they are the progenitors of the Holy One of God, according to the flesh (Rom. 9:5). Satan hates Israel for this, and we who believe in Christ must not join Satan in such hatred.
5. The Reciprocal Blessing. When God called Abraham, He told him, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (Gen. 12:3). This national blessing has never been revoked and continues in effect to this day. Those who bless Israel find themselves blessed by God, while those who curse the Jews sooner or later earn the curse of the Almighty.
6. Promise of Restoration to the Land. One of the great national promises to Israel is that the Jewish people would be returned to their original land. This promise is repeated over and over again throughout the Scriptures (Amos 9: 15), and to what else could Paul be referring when he reminds us Gentile Christians that to Israel pertains “the promises” (Rom. 9:4)? For nineteen centuries this national blessing certainly did seem to be “in abeyance,” as the Jewish people found themselves in the often devastating dispersion among the Gentile nations. But in our generation, one of the most remarkable ethnic miracles of all time is occurring before our very eyes. Over four million Jews have returned to the Land, more than at any time in their history. Ifwe who claim to believe the Word of God turn our backs on this astonishing development and say it means nothing, we would seem to have less spiritual discernment than those who ignored the first coming of the Messiah!
7. Under the Law. Paul said that to those who are under the law, he became as one under the law, that he might gain those who are under the law (1 Cor. 9:20). He considered that the Jewish people are still under the law, even in the current Church Age. We who are under grace and not under the law might wonder how much of a blessing this is, but compared to the Gentile nations, who have nothing, to be under the law is a great national blessing. The Law, the Torah, has been the guiding light for the people of Israel for all these centuries. How many Jews have been martyred, holding the scroll of the law to their breasts, crying aloud the immortal Shema, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”? The Law is a schoolmaster to Christ, and many Jews through the centuries have come to know Christ through the Law. To have the Law is an important national blessing for Israel, which has continued throughout this dispensation without abatement. The Jewish Law is the only effective international law in operation today.
8. Discipline from God. The writer of Hebrews states that one way we can know that we are true sons of God is that we are chastened, or disciplined by Him. This is true of the Church, and it is also true of Israel. In His covenantal relationship with Israel, God has continually manifested discipline in the following ways:
   1. Dispersed from the Land (Luke 21 :24)
   2. Without the Temple, sacrifice or priesthood (Hosea 3:4)
   3. Preserved through the persecutions of the Dispersion (Amos 9: 15)
   4. Restored to the Land, initially in unbelief in Christ as “dry bones” (Ezek. 37: 12)
   5. Prepared to receive Jesus as their Messiah through “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble,” the Tribulation, and through the witness of 144,000 Israeli believers in Christ (Rev. 7)
   6. National salvation of Israel at the Second Coming of Christ (Rom. 11 :26)
9. Exhortation to Church. There are several exhortations that the Apostle Paul gave to the Church about Israel. These exhortations show that the Church must consider Israel to be distinct in God’s dealings from the vast Gentile world.
   1. Gentile believers in Christ are not to boast against the Jews, just because they have replaced unbelieving Jews in God’s redemptive favor (Rom. 11:18).
   2. Gentile believers are urged to provoke the Jews to jealousy for their own Messiah (Rom. 11: 11).
   3. The Church is urged to follow Paul’s example of considering the Jews as primary candidates for the Gospel (Rom. 1: 16).
   4. The churches among the Gentiles are urged to support financially the “mother church” in the land of Israel, fro111 which they have received so much spiritual benefit (Rom. 15:26-27).
   5. The Church was to recognize that the current blindness of Israel is partial and temporary, and that all Israel (the Jewish people who survive the Tribulation) will be saved when Christ returns (Rom. 11:25-26).
   6. The Church is to understand that even though unbelieving Jews are now enemies of the gospel, the nation Israel is still loved by God for the sake of His covenant with the fathers. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Rom. 11:28).

With all of this evidence, how can we say that the national blessings to Israel are in abeyance in the Church Age? On the contrary, God’s covenantal relationship with Israel is just as strong and in effect now as it ever has been. We urge the evangelical Church, and especially all who consider themselves to be dispensationalists, to reject this effort of “progressive dispensationalism” to deny the important distinctions between Israel and the Church. We must return to the sound biblical roots of our spiritual forefathers of recent times and of the Apostolic era, and reject any attempt to accommodate with the false notions and unbiblical views of non-dispensationalists and amillennialists.

We must always love the brethren in Christ, but we cannot compromise the faith once and for all delivered to the saints for the sake of apparent unity.

Copyright © 1993 Zola Levitt Ministries