Exclusiveness

The keeping of a distinctive group identity by drawing clear boundary lines, to separate those within the group from outsiders with whom they are unwilling to associate.

The practice of exclusiveness by God's people, grounded in God's claim to exclusive worship

Exodus 20:3 parallel Deuteronomy 5:7 See also Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:14–15; 2 Kings 17:35–39; Isaiah 42:8

You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exclusiveness in Israel, a practical expression of being a people set apart

An expression of being set apart for God

Leviticus 20:26 See also Leviticus 15:31, Leviticus 20:23–24; Deuteronomy 7:1–6

You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.

An expression of being set apart from others

Numbers 23:9 See also Joshua 23:7; Ezra 6:21; Nehemiah 13:1–3; Ezekiel 44:9

For I see them from atop the rocky cliffs, and I watch them from the hills. Behold, a people dwelling apart, not reckoning themselves among the nations.

The practice of exclusiveness

Expressed in the avoidance of marrying outsiders

Nehemiah 10:30 See also Deuteronomy 7:3–4; Ezra 9:1–4, Ezra 10:9–17; Nehemiah 13:23–27

We will not give our daughters in marriage to the people of the land, and we will not take their daughters for our sons.

Expressed in a refusal to eat with outsiders

Matthew 9:10–11 parallels Mark 2:15–16, Luke 5:29–30 See also Luke 15:1–2; Galatians 2:12

Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

The marks of Jewish exclusiveness

Circumcision

Genesis 17:9–14 See also Exodus 12:48; Leviticus 12:3; Acts 7:8

God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant— you and your descendants in the generations after you. This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. You are to circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Generation after generation, every male must be circumcised when he is eight days old, including those born in your household and those purchased from a foreigner — even those who are not your offspring. Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant. But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Festival observance

Exodus 12:14–16 See also Exodus 12:17–20; Leviticus 23:26–29; Numbers 9:13

And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals — that is all you may do.

Observance of food laws

Leviticus 3:17 See also Leviticus 7:22–27, Leviticus 11:1–47, Leviticus 17:10–14; Acts 15:29 While food restrictions were not a requirement of the gospel, Gentile believers are here asked to respect the scruples of Jewish Christians in those areas that were traditionally important to them.

This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”

Sexual relations restricted

Leviticus 18:6 See also Leviticus 18:7–30, Leviticus 20:10–21; Deuteronomy 27:20–23

None of you are to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.

Effects of Jewish exclusiveness

Division between Jews and Samaritans

John 4:9 See also Ezra 4:1–3; Matthew 10:5–6 Jesus Christ was here dealing with his priority for that time; Luke 9:51–53

“You are a Jew,” said the woman. “How can You ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Division between Jews and Gentiles

Acts 10:28 See also Matthew 10:5, Matthew 15:21–28 parallel Mark 7:24–30 Jesus Christ restricted his earthly ministry in general to the people of Israel, but instigated a mission to the Gentiles after his resurrection; John 18:28

He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

The problem of Jewish exclusiveness among the first Christians

The negative evaluation of Gentiles

Acts 11:1–18 See also Galatians 2:11–13, Galatians 2:15

The requirement that Gentile believers be circumcised

Acts 15:1 See also Acts 15:5; Galatians 5:2–6, Galatians 6:12; Titus 1:10

Then some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Jewish exclusiveness overturned

By God giving his Spirit to the uncircumcised Gentiles

Acts 15:8 See also Acts 10:44–11:18; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:2–5

And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.

By the argument of justification by faith

Galatians 2:15–16 See also Acts 15:9–11; Romans 3:28–30, Romans 4:9–12

We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.