>> “How does He write them?” <<
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I don’t think he ever said how.
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>> “What criteria does He use?” <<
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That we are the remnant of the House of Israel, his remarried bride of Romans 7:2
He died that he might remarry his bride.
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Ya just can't make this stuff up!
....>>We are the remnant of the House of Israel, his remarried bride>>.....
No we arent’t...
Scripture states the Church is not Israel the nation,... but ‘a separate entity’ under an entirely ‘new covenant’.
Further,.... Israel is called ‘the wife of Jehovah’ in the Old Testament..... while the Church is called ‘the bride of Christ’ in the New Testament...........Our God is a God of “distinctions” and He’s made it quite clear in how He relates to each.
The word Israel is ‘always’ descriptive of the ‘physical descendants’ of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob..... It was Jacob whose name was changed to Israel and had 12 sons that became the nation of Israel. It is the physical posterity of Jacob that is Israel,..... this is what makes one Jewish.
There was no Church in the Old Testament because there was no incarnation, no revelation of the Son, nor his sacrifice that broke down the middle wall of partition that separated the Jews from the Gentiles.
Eph.2:14 States....” For the Church is made up of both believing Jews and Gentiles”,.... not so for Israel.”
Gal. 3:7 ........”Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.”....................
..... Being a son of Abraham does NOT make one a Jew, being a son of Jacob does, so a gentile can be a son of Abraham.... But Jew’s are a son of Abraham AND of Jacob.
The Church is never called spiritual Israel or is a new Israel replacing the old. ..........Nor does it say believers become Jews.
Both gentiles and Jews participate together in the New ...............as Eph. 2 addresses..... the middle wall of partition being broken down and God making ‘a new entity’. The two put together make “one new man”... a third entity that is not Israel nor gentile.
* The word Israel is used 73 times in the New Testament, not once is it used for the Church.