4. Israelites. Paul does not call them “Hebrews,” which would distinguish them by language, nor “Jews,” which would mark them by race. He uses, instead, the title that designates their position as the chosen people of God. As descendants of Jacob, who received from God the name “Israel,” they are heirs of the promises given to the fathers (Eph. 2:12). In the NT the title is transferred to the Christian church, which Paul speaks of as “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).
Adoption. See on ch. 8:15. Here the term implies the relationship between God and Israel announced in Ex. 4:22, “Israel is my son, even my firstborn” (cf. Deut. 14:1; Deut. 32:6; Jer. 31:9; Hosea 11:1). The call of Abraham and his seed to be God’s peculiar people marked the beginning of this “adoption.” See Vol. IV, pp. 25–27.
The glory. See on ch. 3:23. In this case the reference seems to be to the visible token of the presence of God. This was seen in the pillar of cloud and fire, the blazing light on Mt. Sinai, the Shekinah in the tabernacle and in the first Temple (see Ex. 16:10; 24:16; 40:34, 35; 1 Sam. 4:22; 1 Kings 8:10, 11; Heb. 9:5). Only Israel among all the nations had been privileged to have such a manifestation of God’s presence. See on John 1:14.
Covenants. These are “the covenants of promise” to which the Gentiles were “strangers” (Eph. 2:12, 13; see also Gen. 17:2, 7, 9; Ex. 2:24). The Jews seemed to regard these covenants as placing God under obligation to favor them with divine protection and blessing. At the same time they ignored their own obligations and failed to fulfill the conditions upon which the covenants were based.
Giving of the law. The reference is doubtless to the laws given at Sinai. Israel, above all other nations, had been favored with a revelation of God’s will (Deut. 4:8; Neh. 9:13, 14). Paul has already rebuked the Jews for assuming that the mere possession of the law, without obedience, would bring blessing (see Rom. 2:17–29).
Service of God. Gr. latreia, translated “divine service” in Heb. 9:1. The reference is doubtless to the service of the sanctuary (see Heb. 9:6, where latreia is again translated “service of God”). Since the whole purpose of the ceremonial system was to develop a holy people and to teach them the provisions of God’s plan of righteousness by faith in the coming Redeemer, the Israelites had been highly favored by being entrusted with the “service of God.” But this privilege had been seriously abused (see Matt. 21:13; John 2:14–16).
Promises. These are especially the OT promises concerning the Messiah and His kingdom and Israel’s glorious future (see also Acts 26:6; Gal. 3:16, 21; Heb. 7:6).
SDA Bible Commentary
——>Be careful, belonging to a modern cult can be more than ignorance.
I’m proud to belong to THIS cult:
Revelation 12: 17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the REMNANT of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Funny that you should mention Balaam, as that situation relates to YOUR church (Catholic) and not mine, in the mixing of Paganism with true religion.
Things sacrificed. The two practices here mentioned had been expressly prohibited by the council at Jerusalem (see on Acts 15:29; Rom. 14:1; 1 Cor. 8:1). Balaam influenced Israel to commit “whoredom with the daughters of Moab,” to sacrifice to Moabite gods, and to “eat,” presumably of the meat sacrificed to these gods (Num. 25:1, 2, 31:16). These two sins led to a mixture of paganism with true religion. Applied to Christian history, this portrayal is peculiarly appropriate to the situation in the church in the period following the legalization of Christianity by Constantine in A.D. 313 and his nominal conversion some 10 or 12 years later. He pursued a policy of blending paganism and Christianity at as many points as possible, in a studied attempt to unite the diverse elements within the empire and thus strengthen it. The favorable, even dominant, position he accorded the church made it a prey to the temptations that always accompany prosperity and popularity. Under Constantine and his successors, almost all of whom continued his favorable policy, the church rapidly became a politico-ecclesiastical institution and lost much of its former spirituality.
SDA Bible Commentary
“I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate” (Revelation 2:14, 15).
And, let’s not forget about the Nicolaitans, who believed what modern OSAS/OJAJ believe (the group that RWC and Syncro belong to, among many, many, many others)
Jesus connects “the doctrine of the Nicolaitans” with “the doctrine of Balaam.” He summarizes Balaam’s doctrine as:
1: eating things offered to idols and
2: sexual immorality.
The doctrine and works of the Nicolaitans came forth from a wrong interpretation of the grace of God that was preached by the apostles. They misused the Grace of God and the liberty in Christ to fulfill their carnal (sexual) lusts and desires.
They believed and said that a person is saved by grace and therefore it doesn’t matter how you live. By faith in Jesus Christ, the spirit of a person is saved, but since you are bound by the flesh, in which evil is present, you will always remain a sinner and always keep on sinning. You serve God through your spirit, but you keep serving your flesh and it’s lusts and desires during your life on earth.
“Doctrine of the Nicolaitans.– The doctrine is now largely taught that the gospel of Christ has made the law of God of no effect; that by ‘believing’ we are released from the necessity of being doers of the Word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly condemned.” E.G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, 957, and Signs of the Times, Jan 2. 1912.
“The doctrine of the Nicolaitans appears to have been a form of antinomianism (see SDA Com 7:957). Nicolaitans of the 2nd century seem to have continued and extended the views of the 1st-cent. adherents, holding to the freedom of the flesh, and teaching that the deeds of the flesh had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to salvation.” SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 8, p. 771.
Definition of antinomian: a believer in the doctrine that faith alone, not obedience to the moral law, is necessary for salvation.” Websters New World Dictionary.
2 Peter 3:17: Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
Jude 4: For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 6:
4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
2 Peter 2:20-22:
20For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.