No Discrimination in
Salvation
Rom 10:9-15
1. There arose a
war again in the Middle East, the so-called “the
explosive warehouse of the world” and the most possible starting point of the
Third World War. It is between the Arab-backed Hezbollah and the US-backed Israel. Both
sides have some persuasive stories. As we know, Israel has a sad history. God chose
Abraham and made a nation of God with a great mission to all the nations of the
world but they became very proud and selfish people to forget the mission and
disobeyed God. So, God punished them and they lost their homeland to be
scattered and wandered for 2000 years. They have been hated, discriminated, and
even killed. The Nazi Holocaust made the world to feel sympathy to the Jews and
in 1947 the UN decided to establish a Jewish nation in Palestine, their homeland. However, it was
immediately rejected by Arab nations and Israel had to war to survive among
the Arab surrounding nations.
2. On the other
hand, Arab people have lived in Palestine
for a long time, even before the Jews. Even in Jesus’ time, Jews, blood-mixed Samarians,
and Arabs coexisted there. Herod the King was not a Jew. Since the Fall of
Jerusalem in AD 70, the most of Jews was forced to leave the country and Palestine has been
occupied by Arab people of Christian faith. Still a significant number of Arabs
in Palestine
are Christians, even though Mohammed and his followers forced them to convert
to Islam. Suddenly the UN decided to divide Palestine and establish two nations without
asking any agreement of them. They wanted their sovereignty but the newly
established Israel occupied
the whole Palestine
after 1967. They asked Israel
to keep the UN resolution and give their part of land to them to establish
their own nation, but Israel
hesitates to give the land back to them. The State of Palestine declared
independence in 1988 and about 100 nations recognized it. But Israel and USA among others do not recognize
the nation. Hamas struggle to make independence. And since Israel occupied southern Lebanon for a long time, Hezbolah was organized
to regain and keep their land from Israel. But Arab organizations like
Hamas and Hezbolah are criticized because they use inhuman terrorist
strategies.
3. Then, what is
the right attitude of Christians to this conflict? Some Christians support Israel for they believe that Israel is still the nation of God and Jesus will
come again and establish His millennial Kingdom in Israel. Some Christians support
Arab Palestinian for humanitarian reason to help the weak in world politics. Rom. 9-11 is
the most focused text on this issue. Paul was a patriotic Jew: “I speak the truth in
Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-- I have
great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself
were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my
own race, the people of Israel.”(9:1-3) However, he made
it clear that God has no favor to some particular people: “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord
of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved."(12-13)
4. Israel
was fallen and punished because of their national pride that God is their
national God exclusively and therefore they are the number 1 nation in the
whole world. However, God has never said this exclusivity and rather He made Israel to be
the missionary people for the world. But, many Jews still believe it. On the
other hand, Islam has the same danger. They believe that Allah is for Arab
people. In 7th C, Mohammed unified Arab people by the means of the
Koran and Islam religion. He claimed that Ishmael, not Isaac is the eldest son
of Abraham and therefore Ishmael’s descendents, Arabs, are the right people of
God. Even he misused Jesus for his purpose. He used sword to achieve his
purpose for 10 years and had 11 wives. Mohammed and his followers persecuted
and killed so many Christians in Turkey,
Syria, Palestine,
Egypt, and northern Africa, and forced to convert to Islam. In fact, it is
absurd that God is only for Arab people. God is neither of Israel nor of
Arabs in its exclusivist sense. God created not only Israel or Arabs but the whole world
and the whole nations. God rules not only Israel or Arabs but also the whole
world. God sent His Son not only to save Israel or Arabs but the whole world
because He loved not only them but also all the human being of every nation and
every people with no discrimination. Even though God punished Israel for a while, He did not exclude
this people from salvation: “Did God
reject his people? By no means!”(Rom 11:1); “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!”(11) Jews
are returning to Jesus, and far more Jews will return in the future. There is
neither favoritism nor discrimination to the Jews: “to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of
God and the wisdom of God.”(1Cor 1:24); “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus.”(Gal 3:28); “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”(Col 3:11)
5. The idea of a national God is a pagan and
ancient idea. The true God is one and the Creator and Ruler of the whole world
and universe. Therefore, a national God is not a true God but a selfish
creation of alteration or divinity. God has no favoritism to any nation. God
loves every nation including Israel
and Arabs. God loves Korea
and USA
as any nation in the world. After all, all the human beings originate from the
same ancestor and same Creator. We are brothers and sisters. Therefore, God
wants for all the nations and peoples to co-exist peacefully. Nationalism and
national pride inevitably results in some form of conflict and war. America is a
hard but good experiment that different peoples could co-exist peacefully,
though still we have a long way to go. Heaven is the place where peaceful
co-existence makes the perfect realization. Personally, I hope that Israel and Palestinian would share the land
peacefully, following the original UN partition plan and Arab nations would
accept Israel
as their neighbor. God does not discriminate peoples, and why men discriminate
peoples?
6. Jesus Christ came to the world as the Reconciler
and Peacemaker. Whoever believes Him will be saved in the sense of being
reconciled. Salvation is reconciliation! The Bible says that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is
Lord’… you will be saved.”(9) Why? Our confession that Jesus is our Lord
means that we give up our own lordship and self-centered ego including our
national pride. Then, Jesus becomes “the
same Lord” to all the Christians from different nations. Human society
still discriminates people in many ways, even some churches do, but God does
not discriminate any, poor or rich, learned or ignorant, white or black, Asian
or Hispanic. Therefore, God demands this confession: “Jesus is Lord”.
7. God wants our heart, so “if you…believe in your heart” the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus
for your sin, “you will be saved”; “it is with your heart that you believe and
are justified.”(9-10) But it is not enough! God wants our mouth! God wants
our mouth to speak out what we believe and confess! So, Paul says that “it is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved.”(10) With your mouth, speak out that Jesus is my Lord and He can
be your Lord too, and that Jesus is not only of my people but also of your
people. We need to send and support missionaries to speak to every nation that
God loves your people too! Because if we do not speak out, nobody will hear the
Gospel and be saved: “How, then, can they call on the one they have not
believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they
preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"(14-15)
For "Everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved," and they will be reconciled in Christ. It is
an amazing grace that “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same
Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.”(12)
