Which is it?

[Elijah John]

Matthew 15.24

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

or

Matthew 28.19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What was Jesus mission, his intended audience?

How does one reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statements?

Is the "Risen Christ" on the same page as the pre-Easter, "historical Jesus"?

[Wootah]

[Replying to post 8 by ttruscott]

It seems to wreck your theology ttruscott. How can the elect have already saved themselves if they are born in sin? They will need to choose Jesus in this life in order to wash that off.

[Monta]

Matthew 15.24

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

or

Matthew 28.19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What was Jesus mission, his intended audience?

How does one reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statements?

Is the "Risen Christ" on the same page as the pre-Easter, "historical Jesus"?

Jews were custodians of the Word - the revealed Scriptures.
They failed to uphold its laws and instead perverted them. Jesus came to restore Divine Truths that is why repentance/John the Baptist was of paramount importance.
This opened the doors to restoration which Jesus Christ performed.

Huge difference between the Risen Christ and pre-Easter historical Jesus.

[Elijah John]

Matthew 15.24

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

or

Matthew 28.19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

What was Jesus mission, his intended audience?

How does one reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statements?

Is the "Risen Christ" on the same page as the pre-Easter, "historical Jesus"?

Jews were custodians of the Word - the revealed Scriptures.
They failed to uphold its laws and instead perverted them. Jesus came to restore Divine Truths that is why repentance/John the Baptist was of paramount importance.
This opened the doors to restoration which Jesus Christ performed.

Huge difference between the Risen Christ and pre-Easter historical Jesus.

So would you say that the "Risen Christ" believed he had a different mission than the historical, "pre-Easter" Jesus understood himself to have had?

Seems the "Risen Christ" commissioned the apostles to a mission historical Jesus didn't actually teach, perhaps?

Is there any Gospel instance where the pre-Easter Jesus made it clear to his apostles that they were to preach to the Nations?

[JP Cusick]

Matthew 15.24

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

or
Matthew 28.19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

How does one reconcile the two seemingly contradictory statements?

The intention of having the chosen people of Israel was for them to lead the rest of humanity into salvation.

When the people of Israel failed to lead humanity into salvation then all of humanity became the lost sheep of Israel.

Israel was not to be the sheep - Israel was to be the Shepherd - and the rest of humanity (all nations) were the lost sheep.

[Petrameansrock]

[Replying to post 13 by Elijah John]

Well He did tell the Samaritan woman this: 21“Believe Me, woman,� Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. 24God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.� It seems like He is making the transition here. Recognizing that up until this time the Jews had the keys to salvation, but after the true worshipers would be those who worship in Spirit and in truth, even a non-Jew Samaritan, or a Gentile. (as an aside I believe worshiping in the Spirit to be praising in tongues)

[bjs]

I feel like I should make my signature on this site “Context matters� because of how often I say it (or something like it), but I will say it again: Context matters.

The context of Matthew 15:24 is what is clean and unclean. The chapter began with Jesus giving a lengthy teaching on clean and unclean food. He took the food that the Jews, including his disciples, thought of as unclean and declared that those foods are clean to eat.

He then brought out a greater application of this teaching by applying it to people. Immediately following the story about clean and unclean food, Matthew records an interaction between Jesus and a Canaanite woman. The Canaanite was the kind of person his disciples thought of as “unclean.�

When the woman approached asking for help Jesus responded with, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.� When the woman then showed faith Jesus granted her the help she sought. In this context that line about the lost sheep of Israel appears to be a foil – an argument intentionally set up so that it could be knocked down.

In the overall context of this story Jesus was trying to remove people’s bigotry towards those that they thought of as unclean (or unworthy, immoral, or somehow “less� than me). He taught this lesson by subverting expectations. The expectation of the disciples and most Jews at that time was that Jesus would reject this woman and leave it at that. However, when we continue reading the story we see that Jesus accepted this woman based on her faith, regardless of her background, and he tore down the idea that he was only interested in Israelites.

If we pull a single line out of its context then we can use it to say that Jesus was only interested in Israel. When we put this line in its context then Jesus was teaching a more universal love well in line with the Great Commission.

[ttruscott]

[Replying to post 8 by ttruscott]

It seems to wreck your theology ttruscott. How can the elect have already saved themselves if they are born in sin? They will need to choose Jesus in this life in order to wash that off.

Here's how: You seem to be using 'born' to mean 'created' in sin, what I consider a base blasphemy. We were sinners before we were 'born' into the earth, Matt 13:36-39.

First, we the sheep of Christ aka Israel, aka the good seed, all made our commitment and put our faith (our unproven hope) in YHWH as our GOD and in HIS Son as our promised saviour from any and all future sin (no sin yet) while others egregiously rejected HIM as a false GOD and repudiated HIS Son as a saviour deeming warnings of hell as manipulative lies.

Once we were safe under HIS promise of salvation (just in case HE was our true GOD) we felt secure enough to rebel against HIS call for the judgement of those who followed Satan, the demonic reprobate, and so became ourselves sinful and evil (as HE warned), losing our faith to sin and even though we saw the creation of the physical universe (Job 38:7, Rom 1:20) we repressed our memories of our earliest experiences to our sinfulness and HIS deity as the rest of Rom 1 explains.

Then during our lives on earth GOD grants us the grace to fulfill HIS promise of election to us by returning us to our faith in HIS Son and training us in righteousness so we are heaven ready, since no sinner can free himself from the enslaving addiction to evil by himself.

All sinners are sent to earth for the redemption of the elect remnant.
ONLY sinners by their free will are born on earth.
No one was created as a sinner nor created to go to hell.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

Jesus said "*I* was sent" only to the Israelites

Just before leaving the earth, Jesus told HIS DISCIPLES...

"(you) Go teach what I taught to all the other nations"

Where exactly is the contradiction?

[Elijah John]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

Jesus said "*I* was sent" only to the Israelites

Just before leaving the earth, Jesus told HIS DISCIPLES...

"(you) Go teach what I taught to all the other nations"

Where exactly is the contradiction?

Putting aside who was the agent of the message at which time, the contradiction is the apparent target of the Father's message. Was it the Israelites? Or the Gentiles?

Unless, of course, you are suggesting that Paul and company had a different message that that of Jesus.

[Monta]

[Replying to post 16 by bjs]


"If we pull a single line out of its context then we can use it to say that Jesus was only interested in Israel. When we put this line in its context then Jesus was teaching a more universal love well in line with the Great Commission."

"For God so loved the world...that whosoever...".