"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect.
First of all, that they were
entrusted with the oracles of God
What then?
If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify
the faithfulness of God, will it?"
(Rom 3:1-3)
The Protestant Reformed tradition puts great emphasis
on Sola Scriptura
(Scripture alone as the highest and final authority in all
matters of faith and practice),
and on the importance of exegeting the Scriptures in their original languages (the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament). I find it ironic, therefore, that many within the Reformed tradition actually believe that the Church replaced Israel considering the fact that it was unbelieving Israel who faithfully preserved the Hebrew Scriptures. For nearly a thousand years, the Western Church had studied and preserved the Bible in Latin.
It was the Jewish people who not only gave the Reformers the Hebrew Bible,
but even taught them how to read it.
If history has anything at all to teach us it is this:
God never revoked Israel's calling to preserve the oracles of God... even in their unbelief.
The Protestant return to the Hebrew Bible, therefore,
serves as proof, not that the Church replaced Israel,
but rather, that
"the gifts and the calling of God
are irrevocable"
(Rom 11:29).
First of all, that they were
entrusted with the oracles of God
What then?
If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify
the faithfulness of God, will it?"
(Rom 3:1-3)
The Protestant Reformed tradition puts great emphasis
on Sola Scriptura
(Scripture alone as the highest and final authority in all
matters of faith and practice),
and on the importance of exegeting the Scriptures in their original languages (the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament). I find it ironic, therefore, that many within the Reformed tradition actually believe that the Church replaced Israel considering the fact that it was unbelieving Israel who faithfully preserved the Hebrew Scriptures. For nearly a thousand years, the Western Church had studied and preserved the Bible in Latin.
It was the Jewish people who not only gave the Reformers the Hebrew Bible,
but even taught them how to read it.
If history has anything at all to teach us it is this:
God never revoked Israel's calling to preserve the oracles of God... even in their unbelief.
The Protestant return to the Hebrew Bible, therefore,
serves as proof, not that the Church replaced Israel,
but rather, that
"the gifts and the calling of God
are irrevocable"
(Rom 11:29).
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