The Israelites were special because they were chosen by God; they weren’t chosen by God because they were special. There’s a key distinction there.
God established them as an indicator of his presence in the world and his authority over it. He established covenants with various Hebrew leader whom he chose, such as Abraham, Jacob, and David. We tend to forget, however, that
God established another covenant, way before even Abraham.
In Genesis 9, following the flood, God establishes a covenant with Noah. In verse 3, he tells Noah about food.
Every moving thing that lives shall be for you as food. As I gave the green plants to you, I now give you everything. — Gen 9:3 (LEB)
In the Garden of Eden, the food source was described as plants (fruit, vegetables, etc.). Here, with Noah, God declares fish, animals, and birds as food sources for humanity. Dietary restrictions show up many centuries later after the establishment of Israel and their eventual release from slavery in Egypt in the Exodus. Until the Exodus, the distinction between the Israelites and Gentiles was circumcision.
After the Exodus, God provided additional rules for this new community he was molding into a nation. These rules were specifically for them and designated some things as clean and some as unclean. These were ceremonial issues, not sins (e.g., menstruation and childbirth caused women to be “unclean” for a certain amount of time and obviously had no sin attached).
Likewise, with certain foods. The descriptions in the Bible show Yahweh saying to Moses, “Tell the Israelites…” and “This shall be unclean for them.” Them, not everyone else, and not for all time. God was setting the Israelites apart from their contemporary culture by the way they dressed, acted, and ate. These were boundaries that defined who they were, and by extension, who wasn’t.
Being a light to the Gentiles (ethnos, or nations), required a clear distinction between “us” and “them.” After all, how can “they” ever become “us” if “we” can’t tell who “we” are?
Those boundaries lasted for centuries until Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection expanded them. The boundaries had been cleared marked by Mosaic Law, but now as Paul was telling the Church in Corinth (and other places), the
boundaries were changed. “Us” became all the people whom the Holy Spirit had drawn into this new family, and many of “them” were becoming “us.”
Jewish Christians expected that the new Gentile Christians would have to be brought within the boundaries of Mosaic Law in order to become part of “us.” The new boundaries, however, established belief and obedience in Jesus
through the Holy Spirit as the distinctive identifiers of the new “us.”
Paul tells the Corinthian church in his letters that he had been part of the old boundaries, and although he knows God’s people now transcend those boundaries, he stays within the old ones when with people who still viewed them as necessary in order to establish their trust so he could show them the new boundaries.
When he was with those who recognized the new boundaries, he didn’t have to restrict himself to the old ones. Let’s look at the text.
For although I am free from all people, I have enslaved myself to all, in order that I may gain more. 20 I have become like a Jew to the Jews, in order that I may gain the Jews. To those under the law I became as under the law (although I myself am not under the law) in order that I may gain those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as outside the law (although I am not outside the law of God, but subject to the law of Christ) in order that I may gain those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, in order that I may gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, in order that by all means I may save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, in order that I may become a participant with it. — 1 Cor 9:19–23
Who are we willing to be in order to let more of “them” become part of “us”? In every culture, there is a “them” whom that community don’t particularly want as part of “us.” As Jesus showed the lawyer who asked him “Who is my
neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-37), all of “them” are our neighbors and loving our neighbors as ourselves (which Jesus requires of us) means wholeheartedly accepting the parts of “them” whom God makes part of “us.”
It’s difficult to do, as we are always more comfortable around “us” than we are around “them,” at least until they become “us.” Then we get used to it, until we discover a new “them.” Loving one another is simple—nothing at all
complicated about it; but it’s not easy. Jesus rarely gives us something to do that is.
So be all things to all people so that, like Paul, you might save some. It’s what “we” are called to do.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Austin