Romans 3:29
29 Is he [e] the God [theos] of the Jews [Ioudaios] only
[monon]? is he not [ouchi] also [de] [kai] of the Gentiles [ethnos]?
Yes [nai], of the Gentiles [ethnos] also [kai]: KJV-Interlinear
29 Or
is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of
Gentiles also, ESV
There are a number of religions or cults, that have
adopted the false belief that they are the only ones who God has favored or
selected or adopted as His.
But that whole system of belief is false.
God receives all who believe in Him, namely in Jesus
Christ. No one is excluded, except that
they themselves reject by means of unbelief.
The Jews of Pauls day had presumed that since God had
chosen them as a race, or as His people, that they alone were the chosen.
But the real issue is that God chose based on faith,
not on race.
Prior to Abraham, the Jews did not exist. In fact the term, Jew, did not exist until
just a few centuries prior to the First Advent of Jesus.
Abraham was a gentile, as all people on planet earth
were gentiles, as it were. But He
believed in the one true God, crossed over the river heading to the promised
planed as ordered by God, and that crossing over, from unbelief to belief,
gained him a designation of Hebrew. The one who crosses over. And, even though He crossed over a river and
some land, the real crossing was in faith.
These days there are many organizations that claim
exclusivity with regard to God. Whether
it is Islam or some of the more current religions or cults, it is all the same
false principle.
Faith has always been the prerequisite of entrance
into Gods favor, into Gods family, into Gods nation, and so forth. Entrance is and has always been open to
everyone, excluding no one.
But there are those who claim some special favor with
God, based on their membership rules, and they always tend to pick and choose
who they will allow into their group, which is mostly a prejudice driven
attitude of some type.
But Paul makes it clear, as does the Old Testament
itself, that all are received by faith, that no one is rejected, unless they
themselves choose to reject God. In
which case God always allows each person to make and keep their choices. God only warns of the repercussions of
unbelief.
