To the Jew first

Triablogue ^ | May 26, 2011 | Patrick Chan

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All of the following material is from Rev. Fred Klett who in turn cites other Reformed sources or authors.

The Westminster Larger Catechism on the Jewish people:

Has God promised anything regarding ethnic Israel? Good people are on all sides of this hotly debated topic. Among Reformed folk there are many points of view. Great men like Puritan John Owen spoke of the revival of the Jewish people and their restoration to the land. Others see the Jewish people as simply one of the peoples of the earth, certainly with a special history. What are the implications of the fact that the Kingdom of God is no longer centered in one geographical location or ethnic group? The meek now inherit the whole earth. Does that mean that the earthly Israel is no longer important? Are the Jewish people no longer of any special concern at all? And what about the Arabs? What is the answer? The Westminster Larger Catechism states:

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There is nothing in the Bible that gives the meaning of the number “7,” but you can determine the meaning. It’s an allegory. The fact that there are 7 churches adds significance.

There were seven real churches in Asia Minor. This fact alone in no way supports the notion that the churches somehow represent distinct and identifiable dispensations within the so-called church age. That is pure dispensational allegorizing.

What do you suppose the Jews are going to find when they go looking for food?

Nothing, since the church will be gone according to the dispensational theory.

According to the Bible and contra dispensationalism, the Church will be preserved until Christ returns at the Second Coming. It will hold forth the truth of the gospel to all nations until the end.

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That is pure dispensational allegorizing.

What criteria do you use to determine if a passage of scripture is an allegory? The Lord is my Shepherd. I see two allegories here. Shepherd and sheep. If we see the meaning of the allegory in this passage, is it the same elsewhere?

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What criteria do you use to determine if a passage of scripture is an allegory? The Lord is my Shepherd. I see two allegories here. Shepherd and sheep. If we see the meaning of the allegory in this passage, is it the same elsewhere?

It should spell out the allegory clearly, e.g., Galatians 4 where Paul used the images of the bondswoman/Mt Sinai and the freewoman as allegories of the two covenants; one depicting earthly Jerusalem and other the heavenly Jerusalem. Earthly Jerusalem is in bondage, while “the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

Revelation 2 and 3 have no characteristics of a biblical allegory. The notion that they depict dispensations/ages within a dispensation is pure invention.

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It should spell out the allegory clearly, e.g., Galatians 4

It looks like this is the only allegory in the whole Bible. The word appears but once in the KJV.

If you suspected that the number 7 had some specific meaning, how would you find it? It would require that the use of the number is consistent throughout scripture. It would also help if its use in nature is consistent with scripture. Has God done this? There may not be a lot of allegories in scriptures, but it is replete with metaphors, figures, types and shadows. The prophetic character of history in scripture also helps interpret.

Does the allegory in Galatians 4 apply to Abraham's descendants or does it end after one generation?