Three Groups God Still Recognizes: Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God
Introduction
There are some verses in the Bible that are so plain, so direct, and so perfectly worded that a man has to be trained out of believing them. 1 Corinthians 10:32 is one of those verses. Paul says, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). That is not foggy. That is not mysterious. That is not a verse that needs to be dragged into a theological laboratory and dissected by a committee of professors who lost their Bible somewhere between the Hebrew department and the coffee machine. The Holy Ghost gives you three groups in one verse: the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church of God. Paul writes that after the cross. Paul writes that after the resurrection. Paul writes that in the present church age. So if a man says the Church replaced Israel, he has a problem. His problem is not with me. His problem is with the apostle Paul, and more than that, with the Holy Ghost who inspired the apostle Paul to write what he wrote.
The reason this verse matters is because replacement theology depends on blurring lines that God drew. It takes promises made to Israel and hands them to the Church. It takes prophecies spoken to Israel and spiritualizes them into vague religious poetry. It takes covenants rooted in a real people, real land, real promises, real fathers, real prophets, and real future fulfillment, and it melts them down into a church system that wants Israel’s blessings but not Israel’s tribulation, Israel’s kingdom but not Israel’s chastisement, Israel’s promises but not Israel’s history. That is not Bible study. That is religious pickpocketing with a hymnbook under one arm. Paul does not teach that. Paul says, “neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). If the Church replaced Israel, then why does Paul still identify the Jews as a distinct group? If the Church is simply Israel under a new title, then why mention the Church separately? If God no longer recognizes Israel as Israel, then why does the apostle to the Gentiles keep talking about Israel as Israel?
Now understand the point carefully. In Christ, a saved Jew and a saved Gentile are one spiritually. The Bible says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 12:13). That is true. The Bible says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek” in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). That is also true. But those verses do not erase Jews and Gentiles from the face of the earth. They teach spiritual standing inside Christ, not the cancellation of every earthly distinction outside Christ. A Jew outside Christ is still a Jew. A Gentile outside Christ is still a Gentile. A saved Jew or saved Gentile is a member of the Church of God. That is why 1 Corinthians 10:32 is such a clean defensive verse. It holds all three truths together without confusion. God still recognizes Israel. God still recognizes the nations. God is now calling out a body from both, called the Church of God.
Chapter One: The Bible Divides Mankind the Way God Divides It
The Bible does not divide mankind according to modern politics, racial theories, social movements, denominational loyalties, or religious institutions. The Bible gives God’s division. In 1 Corinthians 10:32, the apostle Paul writes, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” There is the Jew, connected to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the covenants, the promises, the law, the prophets, the land, and the coming kingdom. There is the Gentile, the nations outside Israel, originally alienated from Israel’s covenants and promises. Then there is the Church of God, the spiritual body of saved people in this age, made up of believing Jews and believing Gentiles who have been placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. That is the biblical map. You do not need Rome,