My Response To Dr. Andy Woods

On January 12, 2012, Dr Andy Woods of Sugar Land Bible Church published an article on Bible Prophecy Blog entitled, “Israel-Church Differences.” He began his article by stating:
“One of the rules of basic Bible interpretation is to recognize that the church and Israel represent separate programs of God. They are two trains running on separate railroad tracks.”

Dr. Woods did not cite any specific source for this so called “rules of basic Bible interpretation.” He just declared it as if it were a fact. Since Dr. Woods used the train and tracks analogy to illustrate the Israel-Church distinction, here is how I would use that same analogy. There has been only one train from the start. After Christ’s finished work, we now have a longer train with additional cars, and a new and improved engine that is running on more tracks.

Dr. Woods’ goes on to support his “two trains running on separate railroad tracks” premise by citing twenty differences between the Church and Israel. Here is how he referenced his source on these twenty differences:
“Theologian and founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, Lewis Sperry Chafer, noted twenty-four differences between Israel and the church. [1] Here are a few.” (emphasis mine)

Dr. Woods’ footnote: [1] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 vols. (Dallas: Dallas Seminary, 1948; reprint, [8 vols. in 4], Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1993), 4:47-53.

The thing that aroused my curiosity over the twenty differences, is that Dr. Woods quantified them as just “a few” of Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four differences. To me, twenty out of twenty-four does not seem like “a few.” However, I realized why Dr. Woods might have written “a few” when I compared the twenty differences to Dr. Chafer’s original twenty-four. The twenty differences cited by Dr. Woods are about 45% of the size of Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four. The twenty differences cited by Dr. Woods were “a few” from a proportional standpoint in terms of total word volume as opposed to an item by item comparison.

Dr. Woods gave his readers the impression that the twenty differences that he cited were copied directly from Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four, and that those twenty differences were written by Dr. Chafer himself. Come to find out, Dr. Woods was the author of those twenty differences. Dr. Woods reduced and rewrote Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four differences and even mixed in a few original concepts of his own. I don’t fault Dr. Woods for doing this. However, I do fault Dr. Woods for not being more forthright with his readers and telling them that those were HIS twenty differences and that they were BASED ON Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four.

Dr. Woods’ twenty differences between the Church and Israel can be divided into different categories. The first category of differences is what I would consider to be improvement differences.
• Second, Israel gave birth to Christ (Rev 12:1-5) whereas Christ gave birth to the church (Matt 16:18).
• Fourth, king-subject imagery is used to depict God's relationship to Israel (Isa 33:22) while head and groom imagery is used to depict Christ's relationship with His church (Eph 5:22-33).
• Fifth, God's program through Israel began in Genesis 12, and His program through the church began in Acts 2 (Matt 16:18; 1 Cor 12:13; Acts 1:5; 11:15-16).
• Eighth, Israel is a nation (Ps 147:20). As such, she is always biblically portrayed as an independent nation with borders and a capital. Even today Israel is among the nations of the earth, just like Japan, Argentina, Canada, or any other country. By contrast, the church is not a nation (Rom 10:19) but rather is comprised of people from all nations (Gal 3:28; Eph 2:11-22; 3:6, 15). Rather than taking her seat among the nations of the earth, the church is a mere pilgrim in the world system (1 Pet 2:11).
• Ninth, while Israel fought physical wars with various enemies such as the Philistines, the church is engaged in spiritual warfare with angelic enemies (Eph 6:10-20).
• Tenth, the Scripture assigns numerous a quo and ad quem statements to Israel (Gen 15:13-16; Jer 25:11; 29:10; Ezek 4:5-7; Dan 9:24-27). These are timing statements with a specific beginning and ending point for each period. One searches the New Testament in vain to find comparable timing statements for the church.
• Eleventh, Israel had a priesthood with all her priests coming from the tribe of Levi and the line of Aaron. By contrast, the church does not have a priesthood because it is a priesthood (Rev 1:6). The New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet 2:5, 9). Every Church Age believer is a priest with direct access to God the Father through God the Son.
• Fourteenth, although the gates of the New Jerusalem are named after the twelve tribes (Rev 21:12), who were the foundations of Israel, the foundations of the eternal city are named after the twelve apostles (Rev 21:14) who are the foundations of the church (Eph 2:20).
• Fifteenth, people become members of the commonwealth of Israel through physical birth. By contrast, membership in the church is only attained by spiritual birth (John 3:1-9; Titus 3:5).
• Seventeenth, the Holy Spirit indwelt and filled Old Testament Jews selectively (Joel 2:28), temporarily (1 Sam 16:14; Ps 51:11), and subsequent to salvation to enable for a special purpose (Exod 31:3). By contrast, the Holy Spirit indwells all Church-Age believers (1 Cor 12:13) permanently (John 14:16) and at the point of salvation (Rom 8:9). Thus, the Spirit's work in and through Israel cannot be used as a pattern to depict the believer's normative experience with the Holy Spirit in the present age (John 7:37-39; 14:16-17; Acts 1:5).
As you can see, all of those differences marked notable improvements from the Israel era to the Church era. None of those differences validate the “two trains running on separate railroad tracks” theory. I can just as easily make the claim that they validate the improved and expanded train from one track to several tracks theory.

The second category of differences is what I would call the Scriptural Governance category:
• Sixth, while four-fifths of the Bible pertains to Israel, only one-fifth of it deals with the church.
• Sixteenth, Israel was directly governed by the Mosaic Law (Ps 147:19-20). By contrast, the controlling authority for the church is New Testament revelation. While all Scripture is for the church (2 Tim 3:16; Rom 15:4), only the New Testament's epistolary literature is directly about the church.
• Twentieth, while Israel's program is revealed in the Old Testament, the church's program was unknown in Old Testament times. Because the church is a New Testament mystery (Eph 3:3-6), or something previously hidden and now unveiled (Rom 16:25-26), Church Age doctrine comes exclusively from the New Testament (Matt 16:18; John 13‒17) rather than the Old Testament. Noting such differences should caution us against taking prophecies and promises that are specifically aimed at Israel and misapplying them to the present dispensation of the Church Age.
Dr. Woods acknowledged that the all Scripture (including the Old Testament) is for the Church. However, the New Testament as we know of today was not formulated and recognized as an official part of the cannon until 325 A. D. So, from the day of Pentecost in 33 A. D. until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D. (about 292 years), the only official Scripture that the Church had was the Old Testament. When Paul wrote 2 Tim 3:16 and Rom 15:4, he was speaking specifically about the Old Testament because the New Testament did not exist at that time. Dr. Woods seems to think that OT prophecies and promises do not apply to the Church. What about Acts 2:14 -21 where Peter credits the events on the Day of Pentecost as being a fulfillment of Joel 28-32?

The third category of differences that I consider to be ad hominem differences:
• Third, Christ will return to rescue Israel upon her national conversion at the end of the Tribulation period (Matt 23:37-39). Conversely, He will return to rescue the church at the rapture (John 14:1-3).
• Twelfth, while Israel will be resurrected at the beginning of the millennial kingdom (Dan 12:2; John 11:23-24; Rev 20:4-5), Church-Age believers receive their resurrected bodies at the point of the rapture (1 Thess 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15:50-58).
• Thirteenth, Israel's judgment will take place on earth, at the end of the Tribulation period, in the wilderness (Ezek 20:33-44). By contrast, the only judgment the New Testament reveals for the church is the Bema Seat judgment of rewards in heaven following the rapture (Rom 14:10; 1 Cor 3:10-15; 2 Cor 5:10).
In order to accept these set of differences as being factual and true, you would first have to buy into the pre-tribulational/premillennial eschatological system and accept it as being factual and true. As Christians, we can all agree that Jesus will come again, and there are Scriptures that support this notion. However, going beyond that and predicting a sequence of events that will transpire before the Lord’s return is a matter of interpretation and speculation. So, that makes these differences a matter of speculation as well.

The fourth category of differences are the miscellaneous, what’s that got to do with anything differences:
• Seventh, although Israel was a direct party to the biblical covenants (Jer 31:31-32), the church was not a party to these covenants since the church was not yet in existence when these covenants were made. The church's relationship to these covenants can best be described as one of a third-party beneficiary rather than a direct party to them. Therefore, the church benefits from the covenants as opposed to being a direct party to them.
• Eighteenth, while Christ's farewell address to Israel (Matt 24:15; 20) is recorded in the Olivet Discourse (Matt 24‒25), His farewell address to the church (John 16:12-13) is found in the Upper Room Discourse (John 13‒17).
• Nineteenth, although Israel is referred to as God's first-born son (Exod 4:22), the church is never given this same designation or title.
Whether or not these differences are factual and true is irrelevant. The fact is, none of them make the case for Israel and the Church being “two trains running on separate railroad tracks” just as all the other differences don’t.

The fifth category of differences is the non-difference, difference:
• First, Israel is the wife of Jehovah (Isa 54) while the church is the bride of Christ (Eph 5:22-33).
If anything, this phase illustrates what Israel and the Church have in common. What is the difference between a wife and a bride? What is the difference between Jehovah and Christ? Isn’t Christ a manifestation of Jehovah?

Whether it’s Dr. Woods’ twenty differences or Dr. Chafer’s twenty-four, these differences in and of themselves do not make the case that Israel and the Church are “two trains running on separate railroad tracks.” The differences written by Dr. Woods and Chafer are nothing more than a bunch of dispensational red-herrings. So, do not buy into this smoke and mirrors trick.

I am glad there are differences between Israel and the Church and the two do not have to be “two trains running on separate railroad tracks” in order for these differences to exist. Here is one big OBVIOUS difference between Israel and the Church that neither Dr. Woods or Chafer cited: Israel needed to sacrifice and shed the innocent blood of animals on an ongoing basis in order to achieve atonement for their sins; The Church has the gift of the ultimate and final sacrifice of Jesus and His shed blood that has atoned for our sins forever. The gift is available to anyone (including the Jews) who wants to receive it.