If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
//The apostle Paul was known for taking Jesus to the multitudes … the gentiles. How did he get away with this? By what authority did he steal the Jesus story from a very Jewish setting and give it to gentiles?
Through some very insightful theological wrangling, that’s how. The Jews were the children of promise, through the covenant of Abraham. More than that, this covenant dictated circumcision, a practice Paul didn’t even bother to try to talk gentiles into. This is hardly a minor issue, as the covenant makes clear:
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. — Genesis 17:10-11
Indeed, three verses later, God makes it clear that anyone who doesn’t submit to circumcision has broken the covenant.
Yet in Romans 4 and Galatians 3, Paul twice makes the argument that uncircumcised gentiles can be children of Abraham, too! How can this be?
The answer tomorrow.
