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Is there a Curve?

Words of Faith Final

Is there a Curve?

Words of Faith 7-26-2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2021

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

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Romans 3
    What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? [2] Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
    [3] What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? [4] Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
    "So that you may be proved right when you speak
        and prevail when you judge."

        The great theologian Popeye once said, "I am what I am!"  Actually, the Apostle Paul said this profound truth first.  "… by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect" (1 Cor. 15:10). The truth here is that we cannot choose to be Jew or Gentile.  This we simply are.  I am what I am.
        So Paul asks a very good question.  Is there any particular advantage to being Jewish, or has grace somehow washed away that value of Judaism?  Paul's response to his own question could not be more emphatic: There is much value and in every way!  
       Were it not for Jews, we simply would not have the Word of God.  Is that big enough for you?  Even when we consider New Testament writings, virtually the entire Bible was written by Jewish people.  In the New Testament, only Luke and Acts were written by a Gentile.  The simple fact is that God chose the Jewish people as his instrument to create a covenant relationship with humanity and reconcile himself to a lost world.  
        God chose to entrust His very words to humanity under the stewardship of the Jewish people.  God instilled in His covenant people an enormous unequaled reverence for the Word of God.  The meticulous Jewish copyists called Masoretes handed us virtually perfect manuscripts of what God said thousands of years ago, unchanged for centuries!  
       There is a wonderful heritage of covenant relationship and reverence to God's Word that should be celebrated by any person who claims a single drop of Jewish blood.  And is it not remarkable that God brought the Word made flesh into this world through a Jewish family and home?  God entrusted to Jewish people the very Words of God, and then the very Word of God made flesh.
        One may be quick to point out that some did not have faith in the time before Christ even though they had the Word of God.  What if some did not claim and stand upon the promises of God entrusted to them?  Will this unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?  We know that God and his promises are forever true. Paul will develop the topic of God's faithfulness in spite of the unfaithfulness of people in chapters 9-11.  
         So is there an "advantage" for Jewish heritage in matters of God's grace?  By definition, there can be no real advantage regarding that which is a free gift, only the wonder of being part of His grand plan.  There can be only the advantage of rich heritage and the advantage of reverencing God's Word in a way that welcomes with awe the Word made flesh.  What a lovely advantage.  I am what I am by the grace and providence of God.  We are what we are, Gentile or Jew.  But what a lovely advantage.

        Lord, give me an appreciation for Your chosen people.  Give me a love for Jewish heritage.  Give me a sense of honor for Who You were as a Jewish boy and man.  Give me a greater appreciation of who I am as a Jew or as one grafted into the chosen people.  I give thanks for Your providential plan to bring the Word of God to the world.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2021 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.