As therefore all these statements refer to Christ and the Gentiles, you should consider that those others do also. For the proselytes have no need of a covenant, since, as there is one and the same Law for all who are circumcised, the Scripture speaks about them as follows: And the Stranger too shall be added unto them, and he shall be added unto the House of Israel.Isaiah 14:1 And (again) because a proselyte who is circumcised with the object of joining the people is like one who is native-born; but we who have been deemed worthy of being called a people are likewise a (Gentile) nation because we are not circumcised.
Besides, it is even ludicrous for you to think that the eyes of the proselytes themselves have been opened, and not your own, and to hear yourselves spoken of as blind and deaf, but them as enlightened.
And you will see that it is still more ludicrous, if you affirm that the Law has been given to the Gentiles, though you yourselves do not know that Law.
For you would have regarded the wrath of God, and not been lawless sons, and vagrant, troubled at hearing Him saying always, sons, in whom there is no faith,Deuteronomy 32:20 and, Who is blind but my servants, and deaf, but they who lord it over them? And the servants of God were blinded. Ye saw often, and ye did not keep guard. Your ears were open, and ye heard not.
Is God’s praise of you good? And is God’s testimony such as is comely for His servants? You are not ashamed though you hear this often; nor when God threatens do you tremble, but surely you are a foolish and hard-hearted people. Therefore, behold, I will again remove this people, saith the Lord, and I will remove them, and will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of them that understand will I hide.Isaiah 29:14 Deservedly so. For you are not wise nor understanding,Jeremiah 4:22 but sharp and cunning; wise only to do evil, but incapable of knowing the hidden will of God or the faithful covenant of the Lord, or of finding the everlasting paths.Jeremiah 6:16
Therefore: I will raise up to Israel, He says, the seed of man and the seed of beasts.Jeremiah 31:27 And by Isaiah He says thus about another Israel: In that day shall Israel be third among the Assyrians and Egyptians, blessed in the land which the Lord of Sabaoth blessed, saying, Blessed shall my people be which is in Egypt and among the Assyrians, and my inheritance is Israel.
When therefore God blesses, and calls this people Israel, and cries aloud that it is His inheritance, how is it that you do not repent, both for deceiving yourselves as though you alone were Israel, and for cursing the people that is blessed of God? For also when He was speaking unto Jerusalem and the countryside round it, He again added: And I will beget men upon you, my people Israel, and they shall inherit you, and you shall be a possession for them, and you shall no more be bereaved by them of children.Ezekiel 36:12
What follows? said Trypho; Are you Israel, and does He say all this about you?
If, said I to him, we had not spoken at length about all this, I should certainly be in doubt whether you asked this question as not understanding what has been said. But since we have concluded our study of this subject with proofs to which you have agreed, I do not suppose that you either are ignorant of what has been already said, or desire to be contentious again, but are challenging me to bring forward the same proof to these other friends.
As he nodded in assent, I said: In Isaiah again, if you do but listen when you hear with your ears, God, speaking about the Christ, calls Him in parable Jacob and Israel. Now He says thus: Jacob is my servant, I will help him; Israel is my chosen, I will set my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgement to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any hear his voice in the broad places; a reed that is bruised he will not crush, and flax that is smoking he will not quench. But he shall bring forth unto truth, he shall take up judgement, and he shall not be broken until he sets judgement on the earth. And on his name shall Gentiles hope.
As therefore from that one Jacob, who was also surnamed Israel, your whole nation was addressed as Jacob and Israel, so also we who keep the commandments of Christ, are, by virtue of Christ who begat us unto God, both called and in fact are, Jacob and Israel and Judah and Joseph and David, and true children of God.