{"id":5092,"date":"2018-05-16T07:20:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T12:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=5092"},"modified":"2024-02-27T07:40:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T13:40:08","slug":"israel-jerusalem-jews-christians-and-gentiles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/symbols-signs-types-copies-shadows-and-patterns\/nations\/israel-jerusalem-jews-christians-and-gentiles","title":{"rendered":"Israel, Jews and Jerusalem"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT’S NOT ABOUT ETHNICITY OR GEOGRAPHY<\/strong>
\nBible readers are always challenged to understand the spiritual meaning of biblical people, places and objects. Most bible readers err by assuming that biblical references to Israel, Jews and Jerusalem are to real places and physical people. This page corrects those errors and provides clues to the spiritual meanings of Israel, Jews and Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Religious bible readers err in their interpretation of the bible because they do not understand the “first the natural, then the spiritual”<\/a> principal which says that we should always look for the spiritual meanings of scripture and not be satisfied with literal interpretations. They also do not understand that the bible is full of\u00a0Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Allegories, Copies, and Shadows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is extremely hard to adopt these principles to bible study because we are trained in schools, synagogues and churches to interpret what we read literally. Because Israel, Jews and Jerusalem appear throughout the bible so frequently, it is critical to understand the spiritual meanings of these places and people. Bible readers who do not learn these\u00a0 principle will never understand God or religion.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Land, Earth and the Promised Land<\/a> for understanding of the symbolism of physical places. Also see Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1 of 3,\u00a0<\/a>Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2 of 3\u00a0<\/a>and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 of 3.<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel is a good place to begin because it appears in the bible 1,700 times.\u00a0Jerusalem is mentioned 767 times. Jews are mentioned 67 times in the Old Testament and 129 times in the New Testament. When we compare these numbers to mentions of Jesus (925), we conclude that these are very important terms to understand.<\/p>\n

The state of Israel is a real, geographic place that can be found on maps.\u00a0 Biblical Israel, however does not appear on maps because biblical Israel is people<\/a> — not a geographic place.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0People<\/a> for understanding of how to interpret biblical characters.<\/p>\n

Thinking of Israel as an ethnic tribe, a religious group or legal government is not the correct interpretation of Israel. We must always think in terms of the hearts of people — not just physical people because encounters with God always and only occur in the hearts of people. <\/a>Religions teach that encounters with God occur in physical places like the Holy Land, temples and churches, but this is only one example of religious lies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fact that Israel is a spiritual place begins to explain why it is mentioned so often. This is exactly what we would expect from a spiritual book for which the goal is to train us in righteousness. If we read the bible to be entertained, to memorize scripture so we can memorize it or recite it to our religious friends, we are reading with the wrong motives. If we read to learn historical facts and geography, we have chosen a poor resource to study.<\/p>\n

Jerusalem, like Israel, is also a real geographic place, but biblical Jerusalem does not appear on maps because it too is a spiritual place. Similarly, ethnic Jews are real people who live throughout the world, but spiritual Jews are not easily identifiable because true Jews (i.e. spiritual Jews) are not the same as ethnic Jews.<\/p>\n

It is extremely hard to adopt these principles to bible study because we are trained in schools and in church to interpret what we read literally. People who do not learn this principle will never understand God or religion. Because Israel, Jews and Jerusalem appear throughout the bible, it is critical to understand the spiritual meanings of these places.<\/p>\n

It impossible to comprehend the spiritual nature of Israel, Jerusalem, Jews and Gentiles while thinking of these well-known places and people in terms of ethnicity and geography. Getting to the spiritual understanding is difficult because of the Strongholds<\/a> of thinking we learn during our associations with Old\/First Covenant religions and because of our training in the natural world.<\/p>\n

In religion, school and the news we have been trained to believe that the Bible’s representation of Israelites and Jews as God’s chosen people, <\/a>as possessors of the Promised Land<\/a> and citizens of Jerusalem where God has chosen to place his name in the Temple<\/a> must be interpreted in literal terms. Coming to the symbolic\u00a0 understanding of these people and places requires nothing less than renewal of the mind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Bible, the picture we get is that the citizens of Israel and Jerusalem are all righteous, religious Jews who have an unconditional right to\u00a0 occupy the Promised Land<\/a> because God promised it to Abraham<\/a> and his seed<\/a> (i.e. descendants<\/a>). We also get the picture that there is something especially holy about the physical city of Jerusalem and the various temples and altars that were built there<\/a>. People who have been trained in religion don’t understand that these images of natural people, places and structures are all symbolic pictures of spiritual truths. These physical places have no value to God except to represent spiritual truth. The places never were holy and will never be holy. Israel and Jerusalem have no spiritual value for God except for training in righteousness.<\/a> Therefore, religionists err when they assign spiritual value to these places.<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1<\/a>, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2<\/a> and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3<\/a> for understanding of how God uses natural people, places and objects to represent spiritual truth.<\/p>\n

Also see Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns, <\/a>Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings <\/a>and Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages<\/a> for other examples of natural things that are used by God to represent spiritual truth.<\/p>\n

Also see this link<\/a> for understanding of holiness.<\/p>\n

Beyond the examples mentioned above, it must be said that all pages of Religion Detox Network contain examples of how God uses natural people, places and objects to represent spiritual truth.<\/p>\n

Since God uses natural people and natural places to represent spiritual truth for training in righteousness<\/a>, we must always be careful that we never apply spiritual value to natural things. Study of geography and history are interesting intellectual pursuits but they are not useful for training in righteousness.<\/p>\n

Because the nature of spiritual things is that they cannot be seen, it is foolish, and even dangerous to say that things which can be seen are spiritual. Since faith is the conviction of things not seen,<\/a> those who aspire to possess true faith must always be careful that they do not fall into the religious trap of putting faith in things they can see and touch. Religion is what happens when people do put their faith in things that they can see and touch.<\/p>\n

One of the dangers of looking at Israel and Jerusalem as uniquely holy places is that this way of thinking ignores other Biblical facts that argue against the idea that they are holy. Specifically, while Israel was indeed the land promised to Abraham and Israel, it was always occupied by other non-Jewish nations (i.e. Canaanites<\/span>, Hittites<\/span>, Amorites, Per’izzites, Hivites, and Jeb’usites) who practiced\u00a0 their own unique brands of pagan religion. The indigenous occupants (i.e. Palestinians) of this so-called “holy land” have practiced the religion of Islam since 622 CE are considered to be spiritual brothers to Jews because of their biblical Abrahamic heritage.<\/a><\/p>\n

It is difficult for Jews and Christians to reconcile their theology, religion and politics with the fact that the bible reports that Israelites lived as minority foreigners and strangers in the Promised Land.<\/a> The bible also says that possession of the promised land is conditional on obedience to God’s laws and that disobedience leads to destruction of the land.<\/a> These facts clearly deny theology that says that the state of Israel or heaven are the promised land.<\/p>\n

Recorded history does agree with biblical reports that the physical land of Israel would suffered a long succession of invasions and occupations by a variety of warring, colonial interests.<\/a> And history reports that Israel didn’t have any legal right to occupy and govern the land until 1947 when the United Nations partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian states.<\/a> However, these facts do not alter the spiritual meaning of Israel, Jews and Jerusalem in any way. Spiritual truths are timeless and transcend the arc of natural history.<\/p>\n

Knowledge of the bible and recorded history should inhibit any tendency to call the physical land of Palestine\/Israel holy. If holiness is equated with peace and tranquility, the land never was holy because it has never been peaceful for very long. Even in these modern times Israel and Jerusalem is a place of never ending violence and contention. This fact demands a new understanding of what it means to be holy.<\/a> In particular, the facts should destroy the idea that the physical land of Israel\/Palestine is the holy land promised by God. It makes no logical sense that God’s promises are fulfilled for ethnic Jews who are always on alert to secure the promise through military power and diplomacy. It does make sense, however, that God’s promise is conditional on obedience to his spiritual laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And what about Jews and Christians who do not live in Israel? How do they receive the benefits of the promised land if they do not live there? The clear message of the bible is that the Promised Land is accessible to everyone and anyone — no matter where they live, regardless of their ethnicity — if they obey God’s\u00a0spiritual laws.<\/a><\/p>\n

Cities, Kingdoms and Nations <\/a>explains that\u00a0the non-Jewish nations that occupied the Promised Land<\/a> should be interpreted as religions that worshiped other gods — not as geopolitical<\/a> nations. Therefore, the territories they occupy cannot be holy because physical things and places cannot be holy because they obey religious laws<\/a> \u00a0— not God’s spiritual laws. Pagan, religious nations can live in the physical land of Israel but they cannot possess the spiritual benefits of the spiritual promised land because they obey their own religious laws<\/a> — not God’s spiritual laws.<\/p>\n

With this understanding we see that the correct interpretation of Israel is of people — not as a physical place. And to be precise, Israel should be interpreted in terms of the hearts of people. But saying that Israel symbolically represents hearts doesn’t go deep enough because hearts can be either clean and pure<\/a> or evil and impure.<\/a> It is necessary, therefore, to know how to differentiate between clean pure hearts and evil, impure hearts. Only God has the ability to see into the hearts of man, but anyone can observe the lifegiving fruit<\/a> or evil fruit<\/a> that flows from hearts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of the characteristics of clean pure hearts<\/a> and this link for understanding of the characteristics of evil, impure hearts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The story of the bible is of the ongoing conflict between people with clean, pure hearts and people with evil, impure hearts. This story is presented in graphic terms of wars, intrigues, deceptions and murders that represent the efforts of people with evil, impure hearts to marginalize, murder, occupy and control the physical territory of people who have clean, pure hearts. These conflicts\u00a0 represent the battle between good and evil at the global, national, family and personal levels and are\u00a0discussed in Religion is the Enemy<\/a>, Gods at War<\/a> and Sibling Conflict.<\/a><\/p>\n

The story is difficult to follow and understand because the characters (e.g. Jews, Israel, Jerusalem, etc.) sometimes have clean pure hearts and sometimes have evil impure hearts. It is a mistake, therefore, to assume that the Jews and Israel are always righteous (i.e. they have clean, pure hearts). Sometimes they have clean hearts and other times they have evil, impure hearts. The only way to know is to evaluate them with respect to the characteristics of clean pure hearts<\/a> and the\u00a0characteristics of evil, impure hearts<\/a>. These are not academic studies of history and geography.<\/p>\n

When their hearts are clean and pure they are at war with surrounding nations\/peoples\/religions who have evil, impure hearts. These conflicts symbolically represents the battle between Old\/First Covenant<\/a> and New Covenant<\/a> religion. When their hearts are evil and impure they are more or less assimilated into the religious cultures of their religious neighbors in an uneasy peace.<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See Religion is the Enemy<\/a>, Religion is Injustice, Slavery and Oppression<\/a>, Cities, Kingdoms and Nations<\/a>, Egypt and Babylon<\/a>,\u00a0Gods at War\u00a0<\/a>and Strongholds<\/a> for understanding of how to interpret the other nations that occupied the Promised Land and the nature of warfare with them.<\/p>\n

Also see Warriors\u00a0<\/a>for spiritual understanding of warfare between Israel in the nations that occupied the land.<\/p>\n

It is important to acknowledge that the land called Israel in the bible is a symbolic reference to the people who lived there — not to the physical land. See\u00a0Land, Earth and the Promised Land<\/a> for understanding of this symbolism.<\/p>\n

It is also important to recognize that the Israelites in bible times were not always practitioners of pure, undefiled religion<\/a>. It all depended on the hearts of their religious leaders\/kings.<\/a><\/p>\n

And it is even more important to recognize that the ethnic Jews who live in modern times are practitioners of defiled, Old Covenant<\/a> religion like their Muslim neighbors who are descendants of the Canaanite tribes who occupied biblical Israel as neighbors to the tribe of Israel. The forms of their religions are different but they are all Old Covenant religions. In God’s eyes, Jews and Christians are no more righteous than Muslims because neither Jews, Christians or Muslims practice Pure, New Covenant<\/a> religion. People who practice New Covenant religion do not identify with religious organizations because they have no need to make names for themselves.<\/a><\/p>\n

When we have the right understanding of the symbolism of Israel and Jews we see that the wars reported in the bible preview the entire contentious natural history of wars between religious movements for control of the hearts and minds of people who are inclined to join one religion or another. These wars are found throughout the natural world, but the “holy land” that Palestinians and Jews fight for in the modern, legal state of Israel is not and never was holy because physical objects like land cannot be holy. The only places that qualify as holy are the clean, pure hearts of New Covenant<\/a> disciples<\/a>. But neither Jews, nor Christians, nor Muslims understand this because they all interpret the bible literally. And so the wars continue.<\/p>\n

Jews and Christians who interpret the bible literally do not understand that Israel is a spiritual place — not a unique geographical place. Nor do they understand that biblical Jews\/Israelites are not a unique ethnic people chosen by God. The biblical story of Jews, Israel and their Canaanite neighbors (i.e. modern day Palestinians) prophetically anticipates all religious conflicts in the world of religion — not just in the literal, legal state of Israel. However, since religion and politics are so closely integrated, the conflict is played out in political — not religious — terms.<\/p>\n

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See World of Religion<\/a> for more discussion of the symbolism of the world. Also see this link<\/a> for understanding of the symbolism of holiness. Also see this link<\/a> for understanding of the promised land.<\/p>\n

WHERE GOD PLACES HIS NAME<\/strong>
\nMany scriptures lead religious people to believe that God favors Israel, Jerusalem and the temple in Jerusalem as the place where he dwells.<\/a> Other scriptures describe Israel as the Promised Land<\/a>. When these scriptures are interpreted literally, Jews, Christians, and perhaps others<\/p>\n

physical locations such as Israel and temples because he said Israelites were his chosen nation and he called Israel the Promised Land.<\/p>\n

There is a subtle inference that\u00a0 This belief ignores the truth that God’s presence is embodied in his character. That is why the Third Commandment<\/a> exists.<\/p>\n

The place where God’s presence\/character\/name exists is not a physical place. It is in the hearts of New Covenant<\/a> disciples.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Place Where God Will Place His Name <\/a>for understanding of the heart.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

TWO KINDS OF JEWS<\/strong>
\nOnce we learn to interpret the Bible symbolically<\/a>, we see that words can have two or more meanings. Knowledge and Wisdom<\/a>,\u00a0for example, can be either worldly or Godly. And there are religious laws<\/a> and spiritual laws<\/a>. Therefore, great discernment is required to know the difference between good and evil.<\/a><\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil<\/a> and Tree of Life<\/a> for understanding of these two concepts.<\/p>\n

<\/a>In his letter to Roman Jews, the Apostle Paul reveals what it means to be a spiritual Jew:<\/p>\n

Romans 2:23-29<\/a>\u00a0You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. 29 He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: Boasting in the law means boasting about personal obedience to religious laws.<\/a> God does not want people to obey religious laws written down by men because they lead to spiritual death.<\/a>\u00a0 He wants them to obey his spiritual laws<\/a> written on their hearts because they lead to spiritual life. People who have God’s laws written on their hearts have no need or desire to boast because they know that what they possess is a gift from God that they did not earn through human effort.<\/p>\n

The book of Romans is written to Jews who live in Rome. If true Jewishness is a matter of where you live, ethnic Jews who live in Rome and anywhere else outside of Israel, would not and cannot be true Jews. If they are not true Jews, what are they? The answer is that they are cultural, religious, ethnic Jews. They are not real Jews because their hearts have not been circumcised. They observe Jewish traditions and receive praise from other Jews for their faithfulness, but God does not acknowledge them as true Jews because he judges them by their hearts — not their religious activity. <\/a><\/p>\n

The book of Romans is also written to Christians and followers of other religions. Christians believe that saying they are followers of Christ, embracing a few basic beliefs<\/a>, and obedience to a few guidelines for Christian living<\/a> are what they need to do to get to heaven. These attitudes are the same as religious Jews who believe that their ethnicity and obedience to Jewish religious rules <\/a>are their qualifications for righteousness.<\/p>\n

The main point of this scripture is that the status of being a real Jew is not fixed in the flesh, where flesh may refer to circumcision or ethnicity, or any external, physical feature, label (i.e. Jew, Christian, etc.), or religious activity. Paul uses the example of circumcision because it is the key attribute of ethnic Jews. But he says clearly that the condition of being spiritually circumcised depends on obedience to God’s spiritual laws — not on where Jews live or what they do to observe religious laws with their bodies (i.e. their flesh<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Because the book of Romans was written to all Romans<\/a> (i.e. to both Jews and Gentiles), it has application for all religious people because boasting about faithfulness to observe religious laws<\/a> is always a feature of religion. Jews, therefore, symbolically represent all religious people because all religious people boast in one way or another about their religious activities.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See\u00a0Pride, Arrogance, Boasting, Power and Humility\u00a0<\/a>for understanding of how these characteristics are intertwined with religion.<\/p>\n

Scripture uses the example of Jews and their rigid adherence to circumcision to make the point for all religious people that all religious laws lack any spiritual value. Paul makes his point by saying that such boasting is the equivalent of blasphemy.<\/p>\n

The relationship between Jewish and Gentile believers that Paul addresses here continues to exist today. Jews boast that they have favor with God because they are faithful to keep all the points of the law of Moses — including circumcision. For Jews, their righteousness is based on keeping the letter of the law. Gentile believers — which includes Christians — also believe that righteousness depends on obedience to religious laws, doctrines and rituals, but the difference between them and Jews is that, with the exception of the Ten Commandments, they focus on a different set of laws. Both religions err for lack of understanding that God’s view of righteousness is based on the condition of the heart and not on external, physical facts<\/a> — not on literal application of any human religious law.<\/p>\n

By making this particular point regarding circumcision, Paul makes the general point regarding literal obedience to the Law of Moses which God considers to be the Old\/First Covenant<\/a>. In many places, the bible compares Old\/First Covenant religion to the New Covenant (i.e. where the law is written on the hearts of people)<\/a>. Paul says that anyone (not just ethnic Jews) who is physically circumcised as a matter of religious obedience (i.e. keeps the written code of the law regarding circumcision, and all other religious doctrines) actually breaks God’s spiritual law<\/a>. This principle is made clearly in the following scripture:<\/p>\n

1-Corinthians 7:18-19: <\/a>Was any one at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was any one at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. <\/span> 19<\/span> For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. <\/span><\/p>\n

What we read here is that being a Godly Jew is not a matter of ethnicity, legal citizenship, geographical residency or of circumcision, or of obedience to religious laws or activities which are designed by, enforced by, and observed by men<\/a>. People who do such outward things receive praise for their religious behaviors from men — not from God<\/a>. This is a hard principle for any religious person to accept.<\/p>\n

When we read the bible carefully, we see that Godly Jewishness is a spiritual condition that is a matter of having a circumcised heart <\/a>which only God can see. With this spiritual understanding we can then see that ethnic Jews can be spiritual Jews or not — depending on the condition of their hearts. Similarly, ethnic Gentiles can also be spiritual Jews or not — depending on the condition of their hearts. In other words, God only looks at the condition of the heart — not at the external person, his\/her ethnicity, nor his\/her religious beliefs and practices (e.g. circumcision, etc.).<\/p>\n

Religion that is displayed in the flesh, (e.g. circumcision, obedience to\u00a0 the Mosaic law, baptisms, rituals, singing, going to church, paying tithes, etc.) and done in public where it can be observed by others, does not matter to God. He calls all these activities flesh<\/a>. Religion is also represented in labels by which people self-identify themselves<\/a> so that they will gain acceptance in religious communities. All of these external markers that people invent and use to create a public, religious identity and an image of holiness have meaning to other people, but they have no meaning to God — except to the degree that they break the Third Commandment<\/a>.\u00a0 What matters to God is the condition of the heart. In fact, he hates all religious rituals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: Biblical references to the heart are always symbolic of the New Covenant <\/a>where the law is written on the heart. See Faith, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Love, Heart, Glory, Blessing, Spirit and Truth<\/a> for understanding of code words that refer to the heart.<\/p>\n

See Circumcision<\/a> for the spiritual meaning of this physical event.<\/p>\n

The spiritual understanding of circumcision confirms that neither ethnicity nor religious beliefs and practices matter to God. Therefore, when Gentile Christians read about Israel and Jews, they should not think of them as ethnic or religious identities. At times they are true\/spiritual Jews and at times they are simply ethnic Jews who are no more righteous in God’s eyes than Gentiles. The same is true for spiritual Israel and ethnic Israel which is are aggregations of Jewish individuals.<\/p>\n

Because the bible does not give any clues as to when Jewish biblical characters, and Israel, are\u00a0 spiritual or ethnic, bible readers who do not have God’s spiritual laws written on their hearts will always wrongly interpret biblical Jews and Israelites as being both spiritual and ethnic Jews. This default interpretation leads to gross misunderstanding of the bible that leads to the formation of religion. New Covenant<\/a> disciples<\/a> do not make these mistakes because Godly wisdom written on their hearts informs them about the heart motives of bible characters.<\/p>\n

In modern times it is impossible discern cultural Jews from true spiritual Jews. Jews who make a big deal out of their ethnicity and their religion will always be just ethnic\/religious Jews. True Jews, on the other hand, are impossible to identify because they do not identify themselves as being Jewish or as adherents to any other religion. They are New Covenant<\/a> disciples<\/a> who will not do anything to make religious names<\/a> (i.e. Jew, Christian) for themselves. They understand that God knows their hearts and rest with that knowledge. They have no need or desire to advertise the condition of their hearts. They are content to let their words<\/a> and deeds<\/a> testify about their righteousness.<\/p>\n

Ethnic Jews teach and believe that their righteousness is established and confirmed by their ethnicity and religious practices. They believe this because they do not understand that God is only interested in the condition of their heart — not on their ethnicity or their religious practices (e.g. circumcision and observance of the letter of the law).<\/p>\n

Christians make the same mistake because they also do not understand that God is only interested in the condition of their hearts. Both Christians and Jews believe that their righteousness is established in them because they were born into Jewish or Christian cultures that permit them to call themselves Christian or Jew and\/or because they observe religious practices and claim to have certain beliefs that are commonly associated with Judaism or Christianity. They ignore what God says about the condition of their hearts and focus on their religious beliefs and traditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a result, both Jews and Christians are deceived in to thinking that their righteousness is based on their religion. They do not realize that their respective religions are Defiled Religions and not Pure Religion<\/a>. In other words, true spiritual Jews area New Covenant disciples<\/a> with clean, pure hearts<\/a> who practice Pure Religion, and do not practice Defiled Religion.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Jews of the bible, of course, should have always been faithful practitioners of Pure Religion but they were not always faithful. To their credit, the bible reports that they were faithful some of the time but they also had\u00a0 seasons of backsliding <\/a>when they slipped into practicing Defiled Religion. Applying the definition of a spiritual Jew to the Israel’s back-and-forth transitions between Pure Religion and Defiled Religion, we must conclude that in God’s eyes, being a spiritual Jew is not a condition that is absolutely fixed. It changes when a spiritual Jew slips back into Old\/First Covenant religious behaviors.<\/p>\n

We find this principle in the following scriptures in Deuteronomy:<\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 30:1-6\u00a0<\/a>“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, <\/span> 2<\/span> and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; <\/span> 3<\/span> then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. <\/span> 4<\/span> If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; <\/span> 5<\/span> and the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. <\/span> 6<\/span> And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: When Israel sinned, God exiled it to foreign nations<\/a> where Old\/First Covenant religion was practiced. But, although Israel had broken its covenant relationship with God, he remained faithful to his part of the covenant by returning them from exile and restored them to their possession in the\u00a0 Promised Land<\/a> which is back to the New Covenant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Matthew 22:36-40: 36<\/a> \u201cTeacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?\u201d 37<\/a> Jesus replied: \u201c \u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.\u2019 38<\/a> This is the first and greatest commandment. 39<\/a> And the second is like it: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 40<\/a>\u00a0All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See How to Love Your Neighbor<\/a><\/p>\n

Deuteronomy 10:12-16 <\/a> “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, <\/span> 13<\/span> and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I command you this day for your good? <\/span> 14<\/span> Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it; <\/span> 15<\/span> yet the LORD set his heart in love upon your fathers and chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day. <\/span> 16<\/span> Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. <\/span><\/p>\n

COMMENTARY: It is not a good practice to reduce God to a list of do’s and don’ts. The result of this practice is laws which are the essence of Old\/First Covenant religion. Nevertheless, we find in this series of verses a succinct summary of God’s expectations for his people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n