A rather lengthy and rather confusing Facebook post I read this morning had, as it’s central point, that Jesus came ONLY for Israel and therefore, the New Covenant has nothing to do with Christian believers today. This post will focus on the two sentences used to ‘prove’ the author’s point.

Here’s the first sentence:

“Jesus said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Only in the Greek means only.”

First of all, the original post omitted the scripture reference for Jesus’ words, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It’s from Matt 15:24.

For the correct interpretation, those terms/phrases need to be examined in context, so let’s take a look.

Jesus spoke those words to his disciples after a Canaanite woman who had come to him for the healing of her demon possessed daughter. Jesus’ disciples told him to send her away, but she kept crying out for healing for her daughter. Jesus commended the woman for her faith and healed her daughter.

Key to the correct interpretation is understanding Jesus’ claim to be sent “only to the lost sheep of Israel”. Was that “sending” ever and always to be only to Israel, as some would want us to believe? Lets ask Jesus.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16)

Clearly, Jesus’ initial sending was to Israel but was extended to non-Israelites. To use Matthew 15:24 as ‘proof’ that Jesus was never sent to non-Israelite nations cannot be true, by Jesus’ own words!

On to the second sentence:

“Jeremiah 31:31 tells of who the new covenant is for and it’s not us.”

This time a scripture was offered, but not the actual text. Let’s look at that verse in context:

Jer 31:31-33  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. ³³For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Now let’s hear from some Bible commentaries:

“God’s New Covenant will give Israel the inner ability to obey His righteous standards and thus to enjoy His blessings. Ezekiel indicated that this change will result from God’s bestowal of the Holy Spirit on these believers (cf. Eze_36:24-32). In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit did not universally indwell all believers. Thus one different aspect of the New Covenant is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers (cf. Joe_2:28-32).” (The Bible Knowledge Commentary)

In principle, this covenant, also announced by Jesus Christ (Luk_22:20), begins to be fulfilled spiritually by Jewish and Gentile believers in the church era (1Co_11:25; 2Co_3:6; Heb_8:7-13; Heb_9:15; Heb_10:14-17; Heb_12:24; Heb_13:20). It has already begun to take effect with “the remnant according to the election of grace” (Rom_11:5). It will be also realized by the people of Israel in the last days, including the regathering to their ancient land, Palestine (chs. 30-33). The streams of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants find their confluence in the millennial kingdom ruled by the Messiah. (John MacArthur)

The old law could be broken Jeremiah 31:32; to remedy this God gives, not a new law, but a new power to the old law. It used to be a mere code of morals, external to man, and obeyed as a duty. In Christianity, it becomes an inner force, shaping man’s character from within. (Barnes)

This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel — That is, with those who are Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile, John 1:47, who are Jews inwardly, Romans 2:29, by the circumcision of the heart and spirit, spoken of and promised by God, Deuteronomy 30:6. I will put my law in their inward parts, &c. — In the times of the gospel God’s law is not abrogated and made void; for Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it: but it is written in the hearts of God’s true Israel by the finger of his Spirit; and they become obedient to it from their secret approbation of it as holy, just, and good, and from the delight they take in it after the inward man. (Benson)

To assert “Jeremiah 31:31 tells of who the new covenant is for and it’s not us,” is a gross and blatant misinterpretation of the context of God’s own words spoken through the prophet!

The original FB post was much longer than those two passages, however it was confusing, terribly verbose, and never actually explained how believers today are saved, if NOT through the New Covenant. So much for a Friday morning ‘spiritual exercise’, of a sort.  I’ll leave it at that.

The lesson to be learned in all of that is once again that the three main principles for correctly interpreting scripture are Context, Context, Context! We must approach and study the Bible with the all-important goal of determining what it says, not what we want it to mean. And remember, any text without a context is pretext for a prooftext! (R. Scott Clark, among others).

Be Blessed!