The oracles of God are no longer entrusted to and believed by the Jew only; those proclaimed by Paul are addressed to a far wider circle, saints who are in Christ Jesus. This is stated by Paul in Romans 1:5-7.
What we need to realize here is that by establishing dealings direct with all the Gentiles instead of with the Jew only, God was not inaugurating a brand-new departure, a special arrangement to meet special circumstances; He was simply reverting to conditions which held good before His covenant with Abraham. Abraham's circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of the faith which was in UNCIRCUMCISION (Rom. 4:11). Seen from this point of view, it was God's restriction of His dealings with humanity to a channel through one nation, Israel, which was new and abnormal; not the reversion to His previous methods. Present conditions based on the Secret of Ephesians 3:6¬12 are new and unique in nearly every respect but not in this.
For the first time since Abraham we find in Paul's Evangel something which in its terms does NOT contemplate the Gentiles as completely or even seriously subordinate to Israel. Admittedly, at the start it does not contemplate them as quite equal to Israel. Israel has priority, a precedence of honor, "To the Jew first;" but in Paul's Evangel, in itself, there is no chasm between Jews and Gentiles in this respect. Blessing comes to both in like manner, not as something left over after the Jew has had his fill. Moreover, it does not come to either as Jew or Gentile, but as a SINNER needing a Savior.
There is, and there was, no promise which Israel could, AS ISRAEL, partake of on equal terms with the other nations. In Paul's Evangel all prior right, such as is implied in the very name "Israel,” is put out of court from the start. This is why Israel is not mentioned in promulgating the Secret.
Israel, as Israel, must either be in the foreground of the picture or not in it at all. Other nations cannot be on an equality with them. The circumcision itself is the badge of fleshly privilege. Where covenant is in operation, there is the superabundance of the Jew and the profit of circumcision. Where the Secret is in operation, covenant cannot be; and since “Israel” is the name which implies covenant privilege; when that vanishes, Israel vanishes too; the Jew in effect ceases to be.
Thus, the whole Evangel, God's Evangel, is in view only in the first four chapters of Romans, where Paul is setting forth the fundamentals. Even in them, the circumcision aspect of it is actually, so far as we are concerned, only a foil to the uncircumcision aspect which is the essence of the Evangel entrusted to Paul.
The Gentiles appear prominently on the scene in Paul's earlier Church Epistles, while Israel's own affairs are already secondary. In Ephesians Israel appears once only, and that as something belonging to past history. As a present factor in the situation Israel has vanished away. This one backward glance marks the end of Israel in the Prison Epistles. Earthly standing and fleshly blessings, the superabundance of the Jew and the profit of circumcision, have disappeared from the scene. Our standing and our blessing have become wholly spiritual among the celestials. Nor is this confined to the Prison Epistles as some would have us think. Some believe that Galatians is the earliest Epistle, yet in it (6:15) we read that "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but there is a new creation.”
Israel’s unique possession of the oracles of God was a thing of the past when Paul began to write his Epistles. At some point a crisis must have occurred to bring about the change. Can we locate the exact moment of that crisis?
I suggest that it is Acts 13:46-48, which comes after Paul's first proclamation to Israel and its rejection (13:45) wherein he first speaks of being made righteous by faith (v. 39). Here the Apostle and Barnabas explicitly state that they are turning to the Gentiles, and here "the word of the Lord" comes to the Gentiles as such and they believe (v. 46-48). Note the careful double witness which is emphasized, "Paul as well as Barnabas said …." This is followed up by further events of significance. The two proceed to Lycaonia, where they evangelize the inhabitants to turn back to the living God. They continue their evangelizing mission until a breach occurs at Antioch. Nevertheless Paul continues the dual apostolic witness by singling out the Apostle Silas. He also calls the Apostle Timothy.
In the face of these facts, there can be no reasonable doubt that Acts 13:46-48 marks the point when Israel (with Gentile proselytes) ceased to be the sole believers of the oracles of God. This information is obtained from the historical book, Acts. It is important to notice that our knowledge of this truth is not derived from Paul's Epistles. It is not a "body-church" nor even a Pauline truth (*).
R. B. Withers
(*) But it is a truth which quite effectively disposes of the widely-held theory that Acts 28:28 marks the point of crisis as between Israel and the Gentiles. (C. J. Blay)
