Monday, June 8, 2015

Was Jesus only sent to Israel?

Often times Muslims will use Matt 10:5; Matt 15:24; John 4:22 to say Jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

But what they tend to ignore is that in 1 Cor 14:6-28; Matt 28:19; Col 3:16; John 3:16; John 10:16 these passages insinuate that Jesus is for all nations.  And they also ignore many other passages as well.

Acts 13:47 "The Lord has commanded us, saying, I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth"
Acts 18:6 "Henceforth, I (Paul) will go unto the Gentiles"
Rom. 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Rom. 15:16 "I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles"

“Matt. 10:5 refers to a specific mission, the sending forth of the seventy, and says nothing that can be construed as a permanent, all-time, everybody directive against Gentile evangelization. The second verse is spoken by Jesus and refers to the mission Jesus had while on earth, which was primarily to the Jews. It says nothing about a permanent directive, and indeed is not said to disciples at all.” –[James Patrick Holding]

What is interesting about Matt 15:24 is that this passage was directed to a specific person, that being A Canaanite Woman’s Faith. As we see in Matt 15:28 Jesus said her faith was great, and her request was granted. This was used as a test for the woman’s faith [Jesus as the rich young ruler in Mark 10:18].

Dr. Constable notes:
[“A good teacher may sometimes aim to draw out a pupil’s best insight by a deliberate challenge which does not necessarily represent the teacher’s own view—even if the phrase ‘devil’s advocate’ may not be quite appropriate to this context!”]


What is also interesting is that during Pentecost, they were speaking in tongues. Why would tongues be utilized if not for people of all nations which have different languages? Clearly the gift of tongues was to reach those outside of Israel and to nations that didn’t speak Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic.

Speaking in tongues in Acts 2.

Take a look at who was in the crowd when Peter preached on Pentecost:

Acts 2:8 How is it that each of us can hear in our own native language?

9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,

10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking the magnificent acts of God in our own languages.”

Luke says Arabs were there, but not a word about them being Muslim!


Source:
http://www.tektonics.org/qt/sheepjourney.php