I have to wonder about Acts 15, and how the Gentiles were not required to be circumsized, or to keep the Law. Only a few things that would have enflamed the sensitivities of those who heard Moses taught every week for their entire lives. But this doesn't seem as though they were counted within the New Covenant with Israel.'And some believed the things which were spoken,
and some believed not.
And when they agreed not among themselves,
they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word,
.. "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,
.... Saying, Go unto this people, and say,
...... Hearing ye shall hear,
........ and shall not understand;
.......... and seeing ye shall see,
............ and not perceive:
For the heart of this people is waxed gross,
.. and their ears are dull of hearing,
.... and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes,
...... and hear with their ears,
........ and understand with their heart,
.......... and should be converted,
............ and I should heal them.
Be it known therefore unto you,
that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and that they will hear it.'
(Act 28:24-28)
Hi @marks.
I agree: yet salvation was not 'sent to the Gentiles' independent of Israel, until Acts 28:28, approx. 40 yrs following the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Up until then gentiles were grafted into Israel's Olive Tree, in order to bring life to an ailing tree. Brought into the Kingdom in order to make Israel Jealous (Rom. 10:9 & 11:11), and bring them to repentance. This was the priority during that period in which the door remained open for the nation itself to come to repentance and receive their Messiah. For in Acts 3:19-21, Peter said to the men of Israel at the feast of Pentecost, 'Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.' These forty years was a time of probation for the people of Israel.
So it was only with the revelation of The Mystery to Paul, made known in the prison epistles, that it was revealed that Christ would be in (or among) them, their hope of glory, independent now of Israel, (which approx. a year later, in AD70, would be destroyed and scattered among the nations) equal and united in Christ Jesus their risen and glorified, Saviour, Lord and Head:-
'Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God
which is given to me for you,
to fulfil the word of God;
Even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to His saints:
To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in (or among) you, the hope of glory:'
(Col 1:25-27)
* This was the glorious good news for the Gentiles, who had been far off from God, and without hope in the world, that they, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, as their Saviour and Lord, could be brought into Christ, and thereby be part of the household of God: Sons of God, with an inheritance and a hope which is far above all heavens in Christ Jesus. God's own inheritance in the heavenlies, as Israel will be in the New Earth. Different spheres and type of blessing: For ours are All Spiritual Blessings, whereas redeemed Israel will be blessed in basket and store.
Praise God!
Forgive me Marks, I got carried away there.
In Christ Jesus
Chris
PS: If you disagree with me Marks, I will understand: for it is before God that we stand, isn't it? We need fear no judgment of man. It is God and His word by which we measure the truth of what is written or said by our fellow men.
Much love!