There are some who believe that, during His earthly ministry, when Jesus Christ spoke He spoke only to the Jews. One of the last utterances Jesus Christ made before being crucified was to tell Pilate, “EVERY ONE that is of the truth hears my voice” (See John 18:37). Notice, Jesus did NOT say, “Every JEW hears my voice,” but “Every one THAT IS OF THE TRUTH hears my voice!” If in hearing Jesus’ words Pilate had believed Him, then Pilate would have been of the truth, or open to receiving the truth. It mattered not what was their nationality, race, or genealogy and it matters not today.
In sending forth the apostles with the gospel message, Jesus commanded them, “Go y therefore, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit), TEACHING THEM (yes, ALL nations) to observe all things WHATSOEVER I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Greek “age”)” (Matthew 28:19-20). Note well, whatever Jesus had taught these Jewish apostles was now to be taught ALL NATIONS – ninety nine percent which were Gentile!
Jesus warned, “He that rejects me, and receives not my words (claiming He spoke only to the Jews), has one that judges him. The word that I have spoken (during His earthly sojourn), the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). So, friend, you better read the four gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John very carefully as Jesus Himself said YOU will be judged by those words someday regardless of whether you are a Jew or a Gentile!
“If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him.” He did not say, “If a Jew loves me the Father would love that Jew and the Father and Son would fellowship with him.” (See John 14:23). It was not to the Jew alone this promise was made. Jesus went on to say, “He that loves me not keeps not my sayings” (See John 14:24). Those who refuse to obey the Lord’s teachings in the gospel accounts are quite eloquently saying, “We don’t love Jesus Christ!” Let’s call a spade, a spade. Jesus does so.
Men step off into profound error when they misinterpret what Jesus meant when He told the Canaanite woman, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (See Matthew 15:24). They then misinterpret that to mean everything Jesus said was meant for the Jew alone to hear and obey. That, of course, is obviously absurd and clearly shown to be such by many other things Jesus said, as in the samplings given above. All Jesus was saying was that the call to the Gentiles to come to God was still future, though near at hand. And when a Gentile establishes a relationship with God through submission to Jesus Christ that Gentile becomes a spiritual Israelite, too. (See Ephesians 2:11-22).
Where men fall into gross error is when they take one or two statements of scripture and build a doctrine on those statements while ignoring a multitude of other texts. This holds true in most, if not all, doctrinal errors. God help you to understand is my prayer.
Christ’s Aged Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley