"Now, read Acts 15:7. It says in there that Peter was the one to take the gospel to the Gentiles and not Paul."
No. Peter had taken a message to the Gentiles. Peter had believed that they were saved by grace.
g, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and
brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice
among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of
the gospel, and believe [Acts 15:7]. g, it certainly would not have been
consistent with his character. No, I’m of the opinion that he
had already put in his two bits worth before this. But now he is
going to sum up the whole thing. This is not a new decision for
Peter. Peter had already declared this same thing at the time of
the conversion of Cornelius. Remember that Peter himself had
been shocked by the truth of it. He was told to go into the home
of a Gentile and preach the gospel without the Law. The people
were uncircumcised, they didn’t follow the Mosaic system, they
ate pork—and yet they were saved!The Kingdom of God in the mind of Jesus was esoteric; I mean within each one of us (Luke 17:21)."
The kingdom of God includes heaven and earth who bow to the name of Jesus.
"[T]he Kingdom of heaven is within us when we take upon ourselves to understand each other and to work towards universal peace. There are a lot of good people working towards universal peace, who don't even know about the idea of receiving Christ."
Men have always come to God the same way--by faith. In Christ, the law is fulfilled. We come to Christ with a repentant heart and accept him as Savior. Salvation is about his grace not our works (Isa 64:6).
"All you have to do now is to carry it out."
Yeshua carries us.
[Acts 15:13]
Simon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name [Acts 15:14].
"Now, all you have to do is to prove to me with a quotation in your own NT that Peter was told to go and preach the gospel without the law, because what we have is that his converts would become staunch defenders of the Law. (Acts 21:20)."
"There is a huge difference...between Paul saying do not steal, and the law saying do not steal. The difference is that the law comes with an inescapable curse: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them " (Gal 3:11)...
...A good mom and dad do not need a law to keep them from poisoning or burning their child. Only wicked parents would need such a law. For "the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless" (1 Ti 1:9)...What will better motivate a believer to righteousness? the law, or the Spirit? The law or grace? The law or faith? What works? "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed (Ro 3:21)." (The Plot, pg. 173-174).
"What does it mean, that Jews are narrow-minded? I wonder why only 14 million of them on earth are granted half of all Nobel Prizes while more than 5 billion of the rest of Mankind are allowed to share the other half. Jews can hardly be narrow-minded People."
No argument here. The Jews are God's chosen people and a blessing to the world.
"Break the Law and be taken to Court. Before the Judge, tell him you have been saved by grace."
If we break civil or criminal law, God expects us to pay the price (believers and non-believers).
"This Peter you are talking about must have not been a Jew. Jews do not observe the Law for this kind of salvation you are talking about. There are only two kinds of salvation. The personal salvation which comes from being in peace with oneself through the Law, (Psalm 119) and collective salvation which is depended on the existence of Israel as a People before the Lord. (Jer. 31:35,36)."
People have always been saved in the same way--by faith.
Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
[The kingdom of God] "This is Greek Mythology. A Jewish man cannot be God."
Neither you, nor I can ever be a god as Mormons teach, for example. God is the creator. We are his creation. The church and the kingdom of heaven are in the kingdom of God.
See:
Notes & Outlines Matthew by J. Vernon McGee pg. 3
"The Pharisees were not hostile to Jesus, and neiter were they godless. The gospel writer is describing Paul's hostility against the Pharisees because these never allowed Paul to build a church in Israeli soil. The Pharisees could not be hostile to Jesus, because Jesus was of the pharisaic line himself."
The Pharisees had no love in their heart. We have the same today, in synagogues and visible "Churches". The true church is the bride of Christ in love with him. This includes Jews and Gentiles on earth and those who have departed this world in a right relationship with Yeshua. There is a big difference between law and love.
Response to comment [from a Jew]: "[Ac 15:14] This is Replacement Theology, a Pauline Policy. (Gal. 4:21-31) Peter could not have said that."
The apostle Paul did not teach Replacement Theology.
"They are not the good news of Jesus, but of Paul's..."
The mystery was revealed by Paul. It is his gospel of Jesus Christ. It is good news for Jews and Gentiles.
"The good news of Jesus would make of the converts staunch defenders of the Law. Read Acts 21:20."
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
"The Tabernacle of David has never fallen. Heaven and earth are still here. It means Israel has not ceased as a People before the Lord forever..."
If Yeshua "son of David" does not keep his promises to Israel, he does not keep his promises to us. God is not finished with the nation Israel.
"Jesus could not be from the line of David because you do not acknowledge that he was a biological son of Joseph's, who was the one from that line."
"There
are three other covenants in the
Old Testament mentioned as such.
There's the Noahic Covenant, a
Covenant God made with Noah,
never to destroy the world again
by water. There is also a
Priestly Covenant in the Old
Testament that God would provide
for Israel a perpetual
priesthood. And there is also
the Mosaic Covenant, that is the
law of Moses by which God
expressed His moral and
ceremonial requirements. Now we
know that those are not saving
covenants. The Noahic Covenant
had no saving component. The
Priestly Covenant had no saving
component. And no one can be
saved by keeping the Mosaic Law.
In fact, the people knew that.
But there were covenants that
embraced salvation. The promise
of God to Abraham would only
come true through redemption.
The promise of God to David
would only come through...come
true through redemption. And the
New Covenant WAS the Covenant
that brought salvation, that
opened the door to the
fulfillment of both the Davidic
and the Abrahamic Covenants. So
this is a monumental moment and
Zachariah, that old priest, knew
it. And he also had it
reinforced by the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit and he launches
his praise being filled with the
Holy Spirit in verse 67, he
prophesied, or speaks, saying,
"Blessed be the Lord God of
Israel for He has visited us and
accomplished redemption for His
people and has raised up a horn
of salvation for us."
Notice how he talks about it in
the past tense, as if it has
already happened. Well, in a
sense, it has because the child,
John, has just been born. In
fact, this may well be on the
very day of his...on the very
day of his circumcision, eight
days after his birth which is
described in the prior passage.
And Zacharias knows that this
son is to be the forerunner of
Messiah, great in the sight of
the Lord, filled with the Holy
Spirit from his mother's womb,
etc. And with the birth of that
son he knows God has begun
messianic fulfillment. So he
launches into this great
benedictus, the Latin for
blessed...blesses God for
visiting and bringing redemption
through the horn of salvation
which is a reference to Messiah.
The horn of salvation, "horn"
being that notation from the
animal kingdom that speaks of
power, killing power as well as
power to move and push and power
of authority, expression for
power to conquer...a common one
in the Old Testament used here
to describe the Messiah Himself.
Zacharias then is filled with
excitement because the birth of
John triggers messianic
fulfillment, and he knows it. He
knows it. Now the first Covenant
that he refers to, we mentioned
to you last week, let's look at
it this morning.
"He says that the coming of the
horn of salvation is...verse
69...in the house of David, His
servant, as He spoke by the
mouth of His holy prophets from
of old." Why does he bring that
in? Because this is the
fulfillment of Davidic promise,
the Davidic Covenant. He knows
what every Jew knew that the
Messiah would come in the royal
line of King David and would
restore the kingdom, the great
kingdom of David. David was the
great king. David was the
righteous king. David was the
defining king, the king who was
God's king, the king who
established the great kingdom
which began to decline through
his son and certainly didn't
exist in his predecessor Saul.
By the time Solomon got done
with David's kingdom, it had
been split. By the time the
split kingdom disappeared,
everything was gone. But the
great apex was the kingdom of
David. And they longed for the
restoration of the greatness of
the Davidic kingdom when Messiah
came. And the Jews all expected
that to happen.
By the way, as a note, somebody
might think that Zacharias is
giving a song of praise for
John, his son. But this makes
that impossible because the
"horn of salvation" is in the
house of David and both
Zacharias and Elizabeth, as we
learned earlier, were from the
line of Aaron. They were both in
the priestly line, not at all
descendants of David. Clearly he
is indicating the Messiah here
and not his son. He does refer
to his son in verse 76, "A new
child will be called the prophet
of the Most High." But this is
primarily a song about the
Messiah.
It also indicates to us that
Mary was of the line of David.
Mary, as I said, had been three
months living with Zacharias and
Elizabeth, certainly Zacharias
had learned about her
background. She had not married
Joseph though she was betrothed
to him. Zacharias had no way of
knowing whether she ever would
because it hadn't happened, but
she was with child and the child
was the Messiah and the fact
that he says, "This Messiah is
in the house of David" is plenty
of evidence that Mary was in the
line of David, which I think
would be borne out in her
genealogy given in Luke chapter
3. So the father of Jesus is
indicated by the genealogy of
Matthew 1 was in the Davidic
line, and he was the legal
father, not the physical father.
The mother of Jesus was also in
the line of David so that from
her He received His royal blood.
From His father He received His
royal right. This was a Son of
David. In Psalm 132 and verse
17, Messiah is even called 'the
horn of David.'" Full
text: Zachariah's
Song of Salvation: The Davidic
Covenant Luke 1:67-80
"And the Lord (God) said to my Lord (David): Sit at My right hand till I make of your enemies your footstool." As you can see, Paul adulterated the text."
[Ex 4:22-23]
"Peter had been commissioned to go preach the gospel without the Law. I asked for a quotation to prove your assertion and you come up with Paul."
Peter had difficulty understanding the teachings of Paul; but he finally understood. There is one gospel--one of grace not works. Peter and Paul agreed on this (Roman Catholics do not teach historical, biblical Christianity).
[Break civil or criminal law, God expects us to pay the price (believers and non-believers).] "That's the same with God's Law. Obey the Law and you are in peace with God. Break the Law and you are liable to Judgment..."
If you wish to be judged by the law you will be--but no man will stand before a holy God. If you break the law in one area, you are guilty of breaking it all (James 2:10).
[People have always been saved in the same way--by faith] "The faithful of Jim Jones were all killed and not saved by their faith. If they had used Reason, the tragedy would not have happened."
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). The object of our faith matters. Jim Jones was a cultist.
"Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' (Ga 3:6)"
"[Ps. 119:1–2] Thank you for confirming my views. Testimonies here in this Psalm is a synonym with the Law."
How are you doing keeping the law?
"This is a lying charge of the Hellenistic Gentiles who wrote the gospels, as a result of a Pauline grudge against the Pharisees, because they never allowed Paul to build a church in Israeli soil."
Explain the change in the life of the apostle Paul. This fact alone has brought many Jews to a saving faith in Yeshua.
"God's Law was given as a result of His love for Mankind."
The law could only bring wrath (Ro 4:15). The law is a mirror--to let a man know who he is and why he needs a savior (Ga 3:24). "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17)."
Response to comment [from a Jew]: "Explain the change in Muslims who throw themselves to their death for the sake of Slam..."
Intellectual ascension will not lead a person to a saving faith in Yeshua. Even the demons know that Jesus is the Lord (Jas 2:19). Do not confuse the apostle Paul with Mohammed. Mohammed was motivated out of his hatred for Jews and Christians (Enyart). The apostle was a Jew motivated by love to reach out to Gentiles. Mohammed perverted Christianity.
See:
Does the Bible prophesy the coming of Muhammad?
Why do Jews and Arabs / Muslims hate each other?
davidbrainerd View Post
...[U]nbelieving Jews aren't chosen either.
Everyone is chosen (Jn 3:16). Respond (Ac 17:27).
CrowCross View Post
Especially those that get tossed into the lake of fire.
They chose poorly.
He Chose Poorly
CrowCross View Post
There was no choice involved...
Everyone gets a choice (Josh 24:15, Joe 3:14).
See:
Replacement Theology