A Biblical Response to Replacement Theology — Keith Malcomson

A Biblical Response to Replacement Theology

Praise God, we're gonna go to the Word of God. I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 17, Proverbs 18, 17. You might think that's a strange place to begin preaching when I'm on Israel and having just dealt two messages with replacement theology and what the Word of God says.

And it is a strange scripture, but it's very important. My message tonight, part eight on this series concerning Israel, part eight, a biblical response to replacement theology. A biblical response to replacement theology.

I'm not gonna give a full response. I'm not gonna deal with a hundred issues. I'm not gonna deal with all the fundamentals. I'm gonna narrow it all down and almost just deal with one primary issue. And you know what that issue is?

It's an issue of identity theft. And I'll say a bit more about that in a second, but let's read the scripture here. Proverbs 18, verse 17. He that is first in his own cause seemeth just, but his neighbor comes and searcheth him.

Sorry, let me say that again. But his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. Strange scripture. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the Word of God tonight. Just your hand upon us. Father, heal those that need a healing touch of your hand.

Father, I pray that you quicken them, that you touch them in their physical body, that you touch us as an entire church. Father, I pray that you stir our hearts, that you make us to love Jesus in a chaotic hour, in a distressful hour, in the midst of the nations.

Father, we pray that we be consumed and on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord God, pour oil into our lamps tonight. Oh God, set us ablaze, set our hearts aburning. Oh God, fill us with the Word of God.

Lord God, lead us by your truth. And oh God, let your Word be a wise guide to us, protecting us from error and heresy, confusion, and lies and deception. My God, that your Word would guide us into truth, that you'd give us a beautiful, balanced view of the entirety of Scripture.

Now, Lord God, help us to focus on what is most vital in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. A Scripture of chosen here, in common, a biblical response to replacement theology. Proverbs 18, 17. He that is first in his own cause seemeth just.

Testing the First Argument We Hear

Just. In other words, the person who comes and speaks first, especially if you're a younger believer or a simple believer, whoever comes and speaks to you on a doctrinal issue, it's very easy just to accept what they say.

But it says here, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him. The first person to speak always seems to be right until someone else comes and says, but the Bible says, or what about this Scripture? It's a fact of reality.

I've watched it through the years, and it takes a few years before you get grounded in the Scripture, that you're not affected by that. That's why you ought to be very slow in presumption, judgment, or conclusion.

That's why you need to know the Word of God. And I'd exhort you, whether you're young in your walk or old in your walk, get into the Scripture. Stay in the Scripture. If you're young, you're vulnerable.

If you're old in your walk, you can say, well, I know it all. And you don't spend time in the Word of God. Both are a very dangerous situation. It says, he that is first in his own cause seemeth just.

The word there, own cause, actually means controversy or a grappling contest of words in an argument. So the first person to speak, I don't know whether online or YouTube, you've ever watched a debate, someone who is replacement theology, and then someone who's against replacement theology.

And so it says here, the first person who speaks first in the controversy or in grappling over, debating a doctrinal issue. When you hear them and they give you Scripture after Scripture after Scripture, an argument, and they speak persuasively, you go, well, he sounds right.

And then another man stands up and he says, but the Scripture says this and this and this and this. And then you go, oh, he sounds right. I don't know where you've ever had that dilemma. I'm not talking about the foundations of being born again or the blood.

I'm just talking about other doctrinal issues. And then it says, but his neighbor cometh, that means someone who lives next door, someone who's very close, someone who he knows, someone who's maybe on the same level, but his neighbor cometh and searcheth him.

That means to penetrate or to examine or to question or to quiz or to challenge. So you've always gotta be careful on these issues. In Proverbs 18, just before this, listen to what it says. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

And I've met those sort of people. They are strong, they are dogmatic, they are answering. They haven't even heard the issue yet. They don't even understand it. They don't even know the Scriptures and they're hot or dogmatic.

They don't know what they're talking about. When you come to Israel on replacement theology, I'm gonna give you a warning at the beginning tonight. There are very godly people who believe in replacement theology that the church has replaced Israel, very godly.

And there's very godly who believe that is error and that is wrong. So you need to be very careful tonight as we come to this. When you come to the subject of replacement theology and of the teaching of Israel in the Scripture, but especially this, you get many diverse, different preachers who preach and teach replacement theology.

And you know we're against that. I'm against it, I've taught against it. But there are many different people, different denominations, different styles of preachers who all preach replacement theology.

Let me just mention a few in passing. There's Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios. I've seen him speak on some things and they're very good. Then I noticed recently I'm sitting with a big cigar in his hand and a glass of wine in front of him.

No, I'm not so impressed, I wanna tell you. He teaches replacement theology, that we are Israel, that we are the Jews. Well, I'm not very impressed. There's Stephen Anderson, that fundamentalist. He also is adamant, dogmatic on it.

John Piper, who's premillennial but been affected by reformed teaching. He believes that we've replaced Israel. There's N .T. Wright, the heretic, a very smooth man. You listen to him and go, he's intelligent, he knows what he's talking about, but I haven't got a clue what he's just said.

He is so profound, he says absolutely nothing. He's a dangerous man, he's an erroneous heretic, but he also believes we've replaced Israel. Then there's Stephen Sizer, who's probably the main person in the United Kingdom today.

He's calm, gracious, very nice, very dogmatic, but in such a way you can't help but love him. But he's one of the main people teaching on this, and he goes into Bethlehem, into Israel, and he does conferences there, or speaks at conferences, very pro-Palestinian.

And so you get all these mixed men. You get Sam Storms as well, a man who I think is a very godly man, very upright, very knowledgeable in the word of God, but he preaches replacement theology. So do you hear what I'm saying?

There are men, some of them are heretics, some of them are men of God, and they're all in different churches, different nations, but these men are influencing the body of Christ, saying we have replaced Israel.

Never dogmatically despise a man purely for believing in one of these things that we don't believe in. You may have someone who denies tongues, or you may have someone on some other issue that we disagree on, but it's not a salvation issue.

It's an important issue. It can have consequence, but I'm not gonna cut someone off just because they don't believe like me, unless it's a fundamental, unless it's an issue of the blood or the cross or Christ himself.

So I'm just at the beginning of this. I'm cautioning you. What's it say in Proverbs 18, 13? He that answers the matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him. If you're dogmatic on this subject, and if you're alarmed and against anyone who believes we replaced Israel, but yet you don't know the arguments, you don't know the scriptures, you don't even know how persuasive they can be, you don't even have an answer to their arguments, but you're against them and say, well, I don't believe what you believe.

Well, then respond to it, oh, I don't know. You may be shocked how many scriptures they present you don't have a single answer for. I could answer them. I know what they're saying. And so tonight, I simply, this is me.

I wanna narrow down all the subjects in this, and I could cover a hundred issues on hundreds of scriptures. I'm gonna narrow it down to one issue, identity theft. Do you know identity theft is very, very serious?

I believe identity theft is the cornerstone, the capstone, the chief stone in the building of replacement theology. That these Christians have stolen the identity of Israel and said, we are Israel, we are Jews.

And in that position, they steal the inheritance. And they deny Israel their right to the inheritance. That's very serious. See, in our society, online, through computers, if you steal or in the bank system, has anyone ever done that to you?

They somehow steal your identity and they get money out of your bank account. How they do it, I haven't got a clue, but they can do it. And if they composes you, they can then get what is yours. They can take it.

Or in olden days, there was some cases of this, of a man turned up claiming to be someone else. I don't know whether, I forget the name of her, but she turned up some years later saying that she was part of the Russian royal family.

She was the little girl who never got killed. She said she was the only one from the family, from the Tsar, who actually didn't get assassinated and she survived. And she turned up and made a claim for royal lineage, but never managed to pull it off.

I don't know whether she was a crank or what, but she made a plea. See, identity, if you can say, I am this person, this is who I am, I self-identify as Israel and as a Jew, then you can claim an awful lot.

You can claim things that actually don't belong to you. So I'm gonna narrow the whole issue of replacement theology right down to this one single issue. We have dealt with other things in the two previous weeks.

We will deal with other things in the weeks to come, but I'm gonna narrow this down and make it so simple tonight and this is the one issue I'm dealing with, is the issue of Israel and Jew, the term, the name, the identity, who does it belong to?

And we're gonna look at this, but in order to do it, I wanna take you through several. I don't have points. I don't have a nice sermon tonight. All I've got is scripture after scripture that they use.

I wanna tell you what they say about scriptures. Some of these scriptures we normally wouldn't go to. We don't in our week-to-week basis, but I simply, in the light of this, a biblical response to replacement theology.

I just want to take you scripture by scripture, tell you what they say. I want you to understand what they're saying. I wanna present that first, like what it says in Proverbs 18, 17. I'll let them tell you what that scripture means.

Then I'm gonna step up and tell you my response to it. So it allows you for a few moments to go, don't be just dogmatic about something you don't even know or call someone a heretic and you don't even know how they think of the scripture, but at least be careful.

Have a little bit understanding and I want you to be like that tonight. I want you to understand the scripture. I know as younger believers in Christ, you may not need to know this. This may go over your head, then fine, but at least learn the lesson.

Walk carefully, talk carefully in the light of God's word. So let me start. Let me just give you my initial statement of what I believe. Then I'll take you to them. Let them speak, then I'll speak. Israel is mentioned some 75 times in the New Testament.

Israelites twice, Israelite twice. So in total, the term Israel, Israelite or Israelites is mentioned 79 times in our New Testament, 79 times. I actually believe that it almost always, without even a question or a doubt, means national Israel after the flesh as a nation, as a people descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now, why did I say almost always? There's only twice Israel is mentioned in our New Testament. There can even be a doubt or a question over. So I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt tonight. I'm actually gonna allow just these two points.

We're gonna look at them and just see if there's any weight. Well, one of them is in Revelation 7 and verse 4. Don't go there, it's not an important one tonight. You know what it is, the 144 ,000. Listen to what it says about the 144 ,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Now that's one of the 79 times that I'm going, well, maybe you could say it's not literal Israel. It's in a vision, it's symbolic. Personally, I do believe it's Israel. I believe that's talking. It's a vision, it's given a number, but it means that people actually believe it is talking about Israel, but I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt.

So this is one of the two times that I go, I can understand if they say Israel could be spiritually the church. I can understand them saying that, but I disagree with it. That's one of the only two times in the whole New Testament that there could be a question over.

Then again, 197 times in our New Testament the word Jew or Jews is used. Now that term Jew is again always speaking of Israel. By the time of Christ and the apostles and the early church, they were synonymous, they weren't separate.

See, originally Jew had just came out of those that were of Judah, one of the 12 tribes, but it became synonymous with the entire nation. Just like Israel, Jacob was called Israel, that become what the whole nation was called.

It's the same with Jew, it's exactly the same. And again, there's only twice out of 197 times where I believe it could be challenged that maybe the word Jew could mean spiritual Jew, only twice. And again, we're gonna look at this tonight and we'll take a quick glimpse.

Do you see where the playing field is tonight, what we're dealing with? It's a bit different tonight than what I've been dealing with, but I just wanna give you a feel. This is gonna be very simple, very basic, but we just wanna understand individual scriptures that are absolutely fundamental for them.

If you understand these scriptures, their entire teaching begins to crumble at its very core and center. Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 10 .32, he says, give none offense. And notice he mentions three groups and this is very important.

He doesn't deny that any of the three exist, neither does he confuse the terms, neither does he say they're synonymous. He's talking about three distinct groups in our world. Notice what he says, give none offense, neither to the Jews.

That means he recognized in his day, he's an apostle. He's right in the midst of all this controversy. Jews are an actual people. Then secondly, he says, nor to the Gentiles. Then thirdly, nor to the church of God.

In other words, he makes a difference between Jew and Gentile, but also more importantly, Jew and the church of God. He doesn't confuse the terms, say, now today, we're all Jews. The church is Jews. He doesn't say that.

He actually says there's Jews, there's Gentiles, and there's a church of God. You cannot confuse them. You can't confuse the church with Gentiles, do you? You're not gonna do that. Gentiles are on say pagans.

They're the people of the nations of the world, but he does not confuse the term, the word Jew and church of God. You see, in our Bible, words are clear. If you spiritualize words when they're simply meaning what they say, you're gonna get confused, I wanna tell you.

Listen to this other scripture, and in fact, just with that, he says, do not give offense to Jew, Gentile, or the church of God. Don't just say, oh, we don't give offense in the church, but the Jew, and pour out scorn upon them.

Don't give offense to the Jew, or to the Gentile, or to the church of God. To give an offense is what it means. Do not cause them to sin. Don't you, by your words and attitude, be a means of them stumbling.

Don't do that at all. You see, there's certain scriptures in our Bible that get quoted by these groups to defend their teaching. Let me give you an example. Luke 13, 34, Jesus speaking to Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto you.

How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen does her brood, under her wings, but you would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. Jesus is speaking to Israel, to the Jew, to Jerusalem, and he's warning of coming judgment, what's about to happen.

And we know it come in AD 70. What does he say? Your house is left to you desolate. These that teach replacement theology, they say Israel's under judgment. It's left desolate, it's rejected. There's no future for Israel.

And do you know what? If you just read this scripture and say, but the Bible says that they are left desolate. If you just accept that and don't consider it, but listen very carefully, what Jesus actually goes on to say straight after this.

Listen, Luke 13, verse 35. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me until the time when ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Do you see what's just happened? If you take half the scripture and I say, Jesus said that Israel is left desolate. If I stop there, full stop, you're gonna get an idea and say, they're right. Christ has finished with Israel.

They're rejected, they're desolate. No, finish the sentence. Don't just take half a sentence or a comment and say Jesus said that or the Bible says that. If you don't take all of scripture, see as soon as I read the rest of the scripture, it means something very different.

Yes, they're left desolate. Of course they are. Jerusalem is gonna be desolate. But until he actually prophesies, you're gonna be left desolate. The temple's gonna be destroyed. The walls are gonna get torn down.

You, Israel, are gonna be left desolate until, until when? He says, until you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He's not only prophesying their desolation, but he's prophesying a time they're gonna accept the Lord Jesus Christ back again.

And you know what? In that hour, they're only desolate until that time when their eyes begin to open up again towards the Lord Jesus. Do you see how careful you've gotta be? Or in Luke chapter 21, 24, listen to what it says.

And they, Israel, shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles. If I stopped there and said, Israel's finished, rejected under judgment, that's true.

But listen to what else Jesus went on to say. Until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Do you see how careful you have to be with scripture? You hear one man, and he sounds right, until this other neighbor comes and says, ah, but, let's read the rest of it.

You've gotta be very careful how men argue on YouTube, and you listen videos, and you listen preachers, or someone gets in your ear, or someone comments under these videos. Don't be impressed when someone throws out a few scriptures at you, and you don't have an answer, and you don't know what they're talking about.

And it seems right. Be very slow and careful. Be very careful. Now let's get into this. That's just to warm you up, to make you know where I'm going. Let's start in these scriptures. The first scripture, Galatians 3, verse 16.

Galatians 3:16 and the Seed of Abraham

It says, now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. He said not unto seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Listen to what they say. Is there one people or two people?

There's only one people of God. One of these teachers, Stephen Sizer, what he says about this scripture is very cunning. He says, if you belong to Christ and Abraham, you only get in through Christ. He is the seed.

He actually taught, and he said, at the cross, standing there, were only a few people as Christ hung on the cross. And he was that seed. He was the only seed. He was the remnant of Israel. He was the last real Israelite.

All the rest weren't. And he is the remnant, the last one hanging on the cross. He is the seed. Now listen to scripture again. Unto Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Who were the promises made to, Israel or the church?

Well, he said one seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds, plural, or many, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. So who are the promises made to? Christ, only Christ.

All the promises are only in Christ. So who is the seed of Abraham? Christ is the seed of Abraham. This is what these men argue, and they use this scripture all the time. They say Christ is the seed. Everything is in Christ.

And you know what? I agree with them. Isn't it a scripture? Isn't that the teaching? Doesn't the Bible say Christ is the seed? Imagine Israel claiming to be the Abrahamic seed, or the seed of Abraham.

When Christ is the seed, doesn't it say one, not many seeds? Doesn't it say that? So how can Israel be the seed of Abraham? When it says in this verse, there's only one seed, and all the promises are only in him.

Do you see how persuasive I can be with one scripture and giving you, and I'm not even preaching on it, and I don't even believe what they say. But what's your response? When someone says, how can Israel be the seed when Christ alone is the seed?

Only one seed, and all the promises are made to him, and only to him, and in him. Listen to what else the Bible says in Romans 4 .16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, and not to that only which is of the law.

Do you know there's three realms of seed in our New Testament? It talks about the seed of Abraham being Israel, all the physical descendants of Israel. Secondly, it talks about every Christian who believes in Christ, they're the seed of Abraham.

You are the seed of Abraham. We sing in here, I am the seed of Abraham. My voice has gone tonight, forgive me. So we are the seed of Abraham. Believers in Christ, I am the seed of Abraham. And then third of all, Christ is the seed of Abraham.

They emphasize and say Christ is the seed of Abraham, not physical Israel. I'm telling you, all of it is true. Therefore it is of faith. The seed, it's to make sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

The seed of Abraham in the New Testament is referred to in different ways, not just one way. The man says, Christ only is the seed. Yes, that's true, but it's not the full truth. There are other scriptures that say we are the seed of Abraham in him.

And it doesn't deny that Israel is still the seed. In Romans 4, 16, he explains this. He talks about that seed. He says, sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, not to only that seed of the law, Israel.

The promises aren't only sure to the seed, which is natural under the law, which is Israel, he says, but to them also, which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. So look what it's saying here.

Both Israel is the seed and the church is the seed. We're all the seed. Romans 9, 7 says this, neither because they, I hope some of this is going over your head for some of you because this is how they begin to argue.

And you know what? When you begin to listen then, you're gonna begin doubting, what do I actually believe in this? I'm explaining it to you accurately. Romans 9, 7, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, he's talking about Israel now.

Remember Romans 9 to 11, he's talking about Israel and the Jews. Listen to what he says. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children. That's a powerful statement. Listen to what he's saying.

They use the scripture. Just because they are the seed of Abraham, doesn't mean they are children. What a statement. In Isaac shall I seed be called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh.

These are not the children of God. The children of the flesh are Israel. He's just said they're not children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as the seed. They will use a scripture like this in Romans 9 and say, see, look, doesn't it say Israel are not children of God?

And in fact, it clearly says, just because they're the physical seed of Abraham, they're not the children of God. It clearly says that. But instead it actually says, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

You've got to be very careful of taking one scripture, separating it from other scriptures. Because other scriptures do say that Israel is the natural seed. They are the seed of Abraham. We are the seed of Abraham by faith.

Christ is the seed of Abraham. But don't let someone pluck a verse out and confuse you. That's only my first scripture. I'm just starting to make you think for a moment. Let me take you to a second scripture, Galatians 3 .26.

Jew and Gentile in Christ

And I want you to go to these scriptures if you can, as we go through them. Galatians 3 .26. For ye all are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. See if someone says, we're all children of God.

All people in the city, this city are children of God. God loves us all. We're all children of God. That's not true. We're not all children of God. Mormons aren't children of God. Catholics aren't children of God.

You've gotta be born again to be a child of God. So it says here, for ye all are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now this is the verse.

There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Verse 29, and if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

Notice what he says here. There's neither Jew nor Greek. If you're in Christ, if you put faith in him, if you're a real child of God, there's no Jew in this. There's no Gentile or Greek in this. So in other words, Jews are done away with.

What some would say is it's of no consequence at all. But do you know what this scripture is? Well, some have said male and female. In Christ, there is no male and female. They then say in the home, the man isn't dead because it's neither Christ, it's neither male nor female in Christ.

In Christ, all of that gets done away with. In the church, there's no distinction between men and women because in Christ, we're all the same. They begin to argue. Hold on, it's not saying that as well.

It's saying we are Abraham's seed that in Jesus Christ being born again, there's neither Jew nor Greek. It's not doing away with you being Greek. You know, if you're Irish and you get born again, you're still Irish.

Thank God you're a saved Irish man or a saved woman. But you don't suddenly say, oh, I've got no nationality or I don't need to identify with my culture or I have to try and lose my accent or something on my culture.

You don't do that, you're born again. Being male does not give us an advantage as far as grace over a woman in this salvation. If you're the seed of Abraham, you don't have an advantage as a man or a Jew or as a Gentile because in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ, none of that affects salvation.

This is a salvation issue. Jew and Gentile don't affect it. Being a Jew doesn't make you more spiritual or saved. Anyone who says a Jew doesn't need saved, like you, or repent. That is heresy, that is error, that is dangerous.

And there's certain groups in America, they are Zionist groups, they are pro-Israel. They're against replacement theology. But I tell you, they're in error because they do not evangelize Jews. They say Jews are already saved.

That is dangerous, very, very dangerous. It says in Colossians 3 and 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision. I wanna tell you, if you have been circumcised, when you got born again, that didn't go away, okay?

That is still a fact of reality. There's neither barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is in all and in all. So you begin to see these are scriptures people can use in a wrong way. I'm not giving you profound revelation, I'm just telling you what they mean.

“The Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16

Galatians 6, verse 16, and this is a very important one, maybe the most important one tonight. And as many as walk according to this rule, or this line, this biblical line, talking about those who walk according to the scripture, peace be on them, and mercy.

Notice this very carefully, it's a very important verse, and upon the Israel of God. Do you see what I said about the term Israel that we have used? There are 79 mentions. One time in Revelation, we can say, maybe you could question that or spiritualize it somehow.

I said, of all of the rest, 77 times there's no question, Israel is Israel. But what do we do about this scripture? Listen again what it says, and upon the Israel of God. This entire letter of Galatians, it is to Galatia, the churches in Galatia, Gentiles who become Christians born again.

Do you know what happened? Jewish Christians from Jerusalem come to Galatia and start saying, you need to get circumcised to be saved, to be a real Christian. You need to be circumcised. You need to keep the laws.

You need to keep the feasts. You need to keep special days. You need to look at the moon to be a real born again Christian. You've gotta be there with Moses. You've gotta have all this there. And here, right at the end of his letter, Paul says he gives a benediction.

Remember in chapter one, he was given a curse. Cursed, he brought an anathema on all those, those who had changed the gospel of grace for another gospel. He called a curse upon them. Cursed be you until Jesus comes back.

If you take the real gospel of believing in Christ and you begin to change it, if you twist it, if you believe a lie, do you realize you could destroy your soul by twisting the gospel and going back to a Judaism?

In order to be saved, I've gotta keep the feasts. I've gotta keep all the Old Testament commandments. I've gotta act like a Jew. You could destroy your soul. You could be bringing a curse on yourself by that means, by trying to find your Jewish roots to an extreme realm.

It's very, very dangerous. And so Paul starts Galatians with a curse. But at the end, he brings a blessing. Look at this blessing. And as many as walk according to this rule, he's talking about the word of God, the grace of God being born again.

Peace be on you and mercy and upon the house, upon the Israel of God. See here, he says, and upon. Some people are trying to work this out. This statement, Israel, and I wanna tell you, could it mean that the church is Israel, the Israel of God?

Because he's not talking about national Israel, is he? So why is he talking about the Israel of God? Why is he using that term? So if this one statement is speaking about the church, it's the only time in the entire New Testament, the only single scripture.

So if this is calling the church Israel, it's the only scripture on our entire Bible. And look how he phrases it, the Israel of God. He didn't just say Israel. He always talks about Israel, but not here.

He says the Israel of God. So if this is Israel, and it doesn't bother me either way, I don't mind. It doesn't affect what I teach or preach, but it could affect what they preach and teach. Because if you take this one scripture away, they don't have one single scripture in the entire New Testament, not one.

It all hinges on this, on this one scripture. But listen, many teach in the scripture have said, is he talking about two groups here or just one group? Because it says upon those that walk according to this rule and upon the Israel of God, they say it's two different people.

Those who walk according to the rule of God is the church, the real believers in Galatia. But then he adds another benediction and the Israel of God. Those in Israel who have really believed on Christ, who are really born again, the remnant in Israel, who really are saved by grace.

And so he could be talking about two groups here. Those who walk according to the rule and upon the Israel of God, or he could just be talking about one group and it could all be one. The people argue about this and they say it's grammar.