THE BODY OF MESSIAH

APPENDIX TO STATEMENT OF FAITH

THE 13 PRINCIPLES OF A MESSIANIC BELIEVER

PRINCIPLE NO.8

I believe the congregation of believers, (AKA the church), the body of Yeshua, is the habitation of YHVH and His Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her great commission.  Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the body of Messiah. I believe in my duty to uplift the fellowship of believers and to refrain from harming my brothers and sisters in Messiah.

I believe in the unity of all believers in Yeshua, both Jews and Gentiles, the One New Humanity.  I do NOT believe in the doctrine of replacement theology in which YHVH has replaced Israel with the church.  YHVH has not rejected his people Israel.  I believe that Gentile believers in Yeshua are grafted into the Olive Tree of Roman 11, symbolic of Israel; therefore, making them fellow citizens and full-participants with the Commonwealth of Israel.  I believe the final plan for the “Body of Yeshua” is to bring remnant of both faithful Jewish and Gentile believers back together and unite them into one holy people under one Shepherd, namely Yeshua HaMashiach; thus completing the tearing down of the wall of partition. This is a necessary part of the restoration of all things spoken by the prophets.  I believe the unity of Jews and Gentiles makes for a more effective witness to the world when preaching the gospel to all people.


BIBLE REFERENCES:

THE BODY OF MESSIAH:
Hosea 1-2, who was Hosea
Hosea was a prophet of the kingdom of Israel, just before its destruction in 722 BC. He called on Israel to repent its sins of apostasy, the worship of false gods, and warned of the coming judgment from YHVH if they did not repent. Hosea was commanded to take Gomer for a wife, a prostitute, as an example of Israel’s unfaithful relationship with YHVH.  Hosea prophesied of a future time when a people who where not his people would become a new people for YHVH.  This new people is the body of Messiah, also called the Bride, a congregation of believing Jews and Gentiles, the One New Humanity.

Hosea 1:10, 2:23 & Romans 9:25-26
I will call them “my people” who are not “my people;”
and I will call her “my loved one” who is not “my loved one,” and
In the very place where it was said to them,
“You are not my people,” there they will be called “children of the living YHVH.”

John 17:17-23
(Yeshua prays for all believers)
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

ROMANS 11
THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL
I ask then: Did YHVH reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. YHVH did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to YHVH against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”a ? And what was YHVH’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.  ”So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

A SPIRIT OF STUPOR
What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written:
“YHVH gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear to this very day.”  And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”

SALVATION TO THE GENTILES, THE INGRAFTED BRANCHED
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

GRAFTED TO THE NATURAL OLIVE TREE
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if YHVH did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of YHVH: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for YHVH is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for YHVH’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to YHVH have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy, as a result of YHVH’s mercy to you.   For YHVH has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Ephesians 1:22-23;
And He (the Father) put all things in subjection under His (Yeshua’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the congregation of believers, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 2:13-22
RECONCILIATION OF JEWS AND GENTILES
But now in Yeshua HaMashiach you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to YHVH through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with YHVH’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Yeshua HaMashiach himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which YHVH lives by his Spirit.

Acts 3:21
Heaven must receive him until the time comes for YHVH to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

Mark 16:15
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Ephesians 4:11-13
So Messiah himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Messiah may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of YHVH and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah.

Acts 3:21
Heaven must receive him until the time comes for YHVH to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.


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