TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 66: 88, What is a Saint?

TruthVid's 100 Proofs that the Israelites were White, Part 66

As it may have become evident throughout recent portions of this series of our 100 Proofs, proving that the Israelites were White goes far beyond examining Old Testament verses which describe or allude to the color of their skin. Rather, if the apostles of Christ had brought the Gospel to the White nations of Europe exclusively, and if time and again we can demonstrate that they themselves had believed that they were bringing the Gospel to the people who were descended from those Israelites who were scattered abroad in ancient times, then each aspect of that belief, as the apostles themselves had expressed it, is also a sure proof of our assertions. So last week we described What is a Church, and this week we will discuss a related subject, which is What is a Saint?

88) What is a Saint?

In the Old Testament one Hebrew word which is typically translated as saint is qadesh or qadosh, קדש or קדוש, and it refers to someone or something which has been sanctified or separated for a particular reason. Sometimes, unfortunately, another word translated as saint is chaciyd or חסיד, but that word really only describes someone who is merely faithful or pious. In the King James Version of the New Testament, the word translated as saint is always from the Greek word ἅγιος, which Liddell & Scott define primarily as “devoted to the gods”, although in the Bible we would say God, or properly, Yahweh. But after that definition, even they go on to provide the typical Church definitions of the word, sacred or holy, without any further explaining those definitions in relation to the primary meaning.

There are other words which merely mean pious in Greek, as there are also in Hebrew. One of them is the word ὅσιος, which, unfortunately, was also translated as holy. For example, in the King James Version, ὅσιος is holy describing Christ in Acts 2:27 and 13:35, and also of the holy things assured to David in Acts 13:34, of hands in 1 Timothy 2:8, of people in Titus 1:8 and Hebrews 7:26, and even of God in Revelation 15:4 and 16:5. While ὅσιος appears in the New Testament only on those 8 occasions, its having been translated as holy helps to obscure the full meaning of the word ἅγιος, which describes things that are holy because they are separated and devoted to God, whether those things are objects, land or even people.

In truth, what is sacred or holy is something which has been devoted to a god, and it becomes the property of that god. The Hebrew word for holy, qadosh (Strong's # 6918), means sacred or set apart. This word appears as saint in the King James Version on approximately 18 occasions, such as in Psalm 106:16 or Daniel 8:13, and six times in Daniel chapter 7. More often, the cognate word qadesh (Strong's Hebrew # 6944) appears as saints but in Daniel it is in a supposedly an Aramaic form, קדיש or qadiysh. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon primarily defines qadesh as apartness, holiness, sacredness, or separateness. The Greek equivalent is ἅγιος or hagios, as these words were translated throughout the Septuagint, and ἅγιος more fully means set apart for the purposes of a god, according to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon Of the New Testament.

Thayer defines the verb ἁγιάζω to mean “to make ἅγιον [ἅγιος], render or declare sacred or holy, consecrate. Hence, it denotes: 1. to render or acknowledge to be venerable, to hallow… 2. to separate from things profane and dedicate to God, to consecrate and so render inviolable… 3. to purify… a. to cleanse externally… to purify levitically… b. to purify by expiation, free from the guilt of sin…” Within that definition Thayer gives examples, but we would contend that in the Bible where it is used to describe people, neither the verb ἁγιάζω or the noun ἅγιος can be correctly interpreted apart from the fact that Yahweh Himself had chosen the children of Israel to be His peculiar people, and He sanctified them alone, He separated them, which is His explicit word.

So, for example, where he says that ἁγιάζω means to “free from the guilt of sin”, Thayer cited 1 Corinthians 6:11. There Paul wrote: “9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” Those who commit fornication and idolatry are race-mixers, as fornication is the pursuit of different flesh. That is in violation of God’s having separated Israel. One sort of idolatry is to worship the gods of aliens, but another is to commit fornication with those aliens. Adulterers can be race-mixers as well as marriage violators, and “abusers of mankind” is a reference to Sodomites. It is not removal of the guilt of sin that sanctified these people whom Paul had addressed in that passage. Rather, it is the cessation of these sins and the act of repentance and having separated themselves from such sinners which sancitifed these people, once they recognize and accept that they had been forgiven and sanctified by Christ.

Earlier Paul had instructed them, in chapter 5 of the same epistle, upon receiving a report of a fornicator among them, that “9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” The assembly could not be holy unless they separated themselves from the wicked, even if Christ had justified and sanctified them.

The word ἅγιος is saint only once in the King James Version New Testament, but it is saints on sixty-one occasions. On the other occasions where ἅγιος appears, it is holy. Where it appears in the singular in Philippians 4:21, Paul tells his readers to “21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus.” There it may be evident that there are saints who are not, or not yet, in Christ Jesus as Paul had written those words. This we shall see, beginning with the Old Testament.

Apart from the description of the consecration of the seventh day in Genesis chapter 2, the words related to qadesh, which as a verb is to sanctify in its primary use, does not appear again until the phrase “holy ground” in Exodus chapter 3, and then in Exodus chapter 12 in reference to the Sabbath once again. Then, in Exodus chapter 13 where it first describes the people in general, the status of being sanctified is expressed where we read “2 Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine.” So what is sanctified in Scripture is what belongs to God.

The word sanctify there is the same word, the verb qadosh, קדש, which when it is used as a noun to describe people is often translated as saint. We see another command for Moses to sanctify all the people, in Exodus chapter 19: “10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, 11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.” Then later, he was commanded to sanctify the priests: “22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD, sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.” Following that Moses was even instructed to sanctify the land around Mount Sinai: “23 And Moses said unto the LORD, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.” So just like the land, and just like the seventh day, when people are sanctified they too have been set apart for God for a particular reason. Being sancitifed, the land was marked off so that nobody would walk upon it.

Moses was told why Israel was being sanctified earlier in that same chapter: “3 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” In the phrase “holy nation” the word for holy is also qadosh, which is a separated, sanctified nation. This same passage was later cited by Peter in chapter 2 of his first epistle, where addressing the Christians of the provinces of Anatolia he wrote: “9 But ye are a chosen generation [race], a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light…” In the verse which followed, he cited a passage from Hosea which is relevant only to the scattered children of Israel. The word Peter used for holy is also ἅγιος, so he was describing a people separated, or set apart, not a people who merely acted piously.

So there may be pious people, people described with the words chaciyd or ὅσιος. But one does not have to be pious in order to be a saint. The children of Israel were certainly not sanctified because they were pious, as they were clearly stiff-necked sinners. Shortly after they were sanctified, Moses went up to Mount Sinai, and the children of Israel sinned with the golden calf. But in spite of that, in Deuteronomy chapter 33 they are still described as saints, in the blessing of Moses upon Israel where he spoke of Yahweh God and we read: “3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.”

This same thing we also read much later in a prayer of Solomon, in 1 Kings chapter 8: “50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: 51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52 That thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto thee. 53 For thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.” So we see in that prayer that the children of Israel could sin and be in need of forgiveness, but they were nevertheless the people of Yahweh, and by Him they were still considered separate from all other peoples, even if they disobeyed Him.

Now we shall see similar circumstances described in two of the Psalms of David. First, from the 16th Psalm: “1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. 2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. 5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.” There, even though the saints in the earth are called saints, David speaks of the multiplication of their sorrows on account of their idolatry.

Then from the 30th Psalm: “1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” In verse 4 of that passage, the word for saints is actually chaciyd, which is pious, but the word for holiness is from the same Hebrew word qadesh, which is separateness or apartness. Even if Yahweh has cause to be angry with His saints, His pious ones will give thanks when He remembers His holiness, because He favors them. Where David continues in the Psalm he offers himself as a model for repentance, but here it is clear that the saints are nonetheless saints even when they sin, and even when they suffer His wrath for their sin.

Anyone can be pious, but in the ancient world, if one has been sanctified on the altar of a god, then one has been accepted by a priest of that god, and becomes the property of the god. Temple slaves were dedicated on altars and thereafter devoted to the services of a god. They may have been a burden on their parents and given up to a temple, or they may have been men, women or children who were taken in war and devoted to the god of some temple. So in the ancient pagan world, whether they were male or female, they often became “holy prostitutes”, selling themselves for money for the temple. Therefore, while the Hebrew word זנה or zanah (Strong’s # 2181) may be a harlot, as it can mean harlot or adulterer but it is related to a word that means to provide food or to be fed, another word used to describe a harlot is קדשה, qadeshah, a feminine form of qadesh which refers to a temple prostitute, to one engaging in prostitution because they had been dedicated, or sancitifed, at a temple for the use of the pagan god.

The ancient Greeks set something apart, or dedicated something to a god by placing it upon an altar in the temple of that God. Once that was done, the object, or even the person, became the property of the god of the temple, and fell under the authority of the priests. So as it is described in Genesis chapter 22, when Abraham placed Isaac on the altar at the command of Yahweh, Abraham was surrendering his authority over his son, and dedicating him to Yahweh whereby Isaac became the only man ever dedicated to God by the explicit will and at the explicit command of God. In the ancient world, a man truly could not sanctify himself to a god unles he went through a priest. In the Bible, one cannot truly devote himself to Yahweh unless Yahweh demands it or unless it is in accordance with His law.

The children of Israel were therefore sanctified to God in the loins of Isaac, as He demanded it. Then they were purified for His purposes and set apart by Him once again through the Levitical priests, and after they sinned, Christ became their priest, and He sanctified them, as the Scriptures had announced. If Christ had not cleansed a man, if he is not of Israel, then he cannot announce himself cleansed. After Christ washed the feet of His disciples, He announced that “Ye are not all clean”, referring to Judas Iscariot.

Much later, Paul explained in Romans chapter 9 that the seed of the promise is that seed which was born of the promises made to Abraham, Sarah and Rebecca, who gave birth to both Jacob and Esau. So because Abraham had other sons, he wrote that “7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh [the children of the other sons], these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed [the children of Isaac of whom it was said ‘In Isaac shall thy seed be called’].” Then Paul went on to further explain that of the sons of Isaac, Yahweh God hated Esau and loved Jacob, and that the Israelites are vessels of mercy, while the Edomites are vessels of destruction.

So all of the children of Israel were dedicated to God in the loins of Isaac, and when they separate themselves from the world and turn to Christ they are accepting that fact and expressing their obedience. That is the call of the Gospel, as we had discussed here recently, and that is what it means to be holy, sanctified or a saint in the New Testament. This we can also read in the promise of a new covenant in Ezekiel chapter 37: “27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen [or properly, nations] shall know that I Yahweh do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” Once again, that word for sanctify is the same Hebrew word qadesh (Strong's Hebrew # 6918).

The popes cannot designate a saint. Only Yahweh has already designated the saints. In Matthew chapter 27, of the very moment of the Passion of the Christ, we read in part: “52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Those were Old Testament saints who had never heard of Jesus before they died, yet they were nevertheless saints. There was no Pope at that time to declare them saints.

So twenty five years later, Paul of Tarsus had addressed his epistle to the Romans saying: “7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He addressed his first epistle to the Corinthians likewise: “2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours…” In the King James Version in both of those verses, we see the words “to be” are added in italics, and that means they are not in the original text. They are not found in the Greek of either passage. The translators made a lie when they added those words, because Paul never used saint in such a context, that someone could somehow become a saint. In fact, the word for called is not a verb. It is κλητοῖς, which is an adjective of the plural Dative form, modifying the plural Dative noun ἁγίοις, as Paul was writing to called saints, or saints who were already called. So he was telling them that they are saints, and since he wrote the epistle to the Rmoans long before he ever went to Rome, many of the saints among the Romans he had not even met when he wrote that epistle. The same phrase, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις, was used by him in those passages in Romans and in 1 Corinthians.

So we read also in the second epistle to the Corinthians where Paul addressed it “unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia”, and his intended readers were already saints, but in that context the King James translators could not add the words “to be”. However where they did add the words, the impression is given that a Christian may hope to become a saint, and was being called to be a saint, contrary to the truth that every Christian in keeping with the commandments of Christ is already a saint, if he is of the previously sanctified children of Israel. The children of Israel were already called, and they were already saints. All they were expected to do was to accept the Gospel and return to obedience to their God.

Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is addressed in part “to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons”, and while the true meanings of the words bishop and deacon are outside of the scope of our purpose here, we see that those who have positions of authority in the assembly are among the other saints, people whom Paul had already considered saints as they were living. In that context also, the King James translators could not add the words “to be”. Then he ended that same epistle by saying, in part, “21 Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. 22 All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.” At the time, Paul was a prisoner in Rome, he had already seen at least one trial there, which he mentions in the epistle, and he had evidently won converts to Christianity even in the household of Caesar, whom he referred to as saints. Where he said “salute every saint” he was asking his readers to greet all of the Christians in Philippi on his behalf. These are all average everyday Christians whom Paul considered to be saints, and not the artificial saints which may have been designated as such by the popes of the Roman Catholic Church. They cannot make saints, as Yahweh has already declared who are His saints. The true saints are the children of Israel, and it is they alone who are called to sanctify themselves in Christ by separating themselves from the sins of the world.

The designation never changed from the time of the Old Testament. Otherwise at the time of the Crucifixion, those saints who rose from the dead would not have been described as saints. So we read in the opening verses of the Song of Moses: “1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. 2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. 3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” Then, as we discussed here recently, in Revelation chapter 15 we read: “3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.” We cannot imagine that the saints of Deuteronomy are people other than the saints of the Revelation, as it is the same song which they sing.

The saints are the children of Israel, and they were destined by the will of God to suffer trials in this world, as we read in Daniel chapter 7, after the passing of the four beast empires: “18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” If the saints of the most high, a label with which Daniel referred only to the children of Israel, would ultimately possess the kingdom forever, then the kingdom of Heaven is indeed going to be inherited by those same saints, and their identity has never changed.

So Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 1, from the King James Version: “1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” In that passage, ἅγιος is saints in verse 1, and ἅγιος is holy in verse 4. Furthermore, Christians having been predestinated to be holy, only the children of Israel received that predestination in the Old Testament, and the new covenant was made with them alone, the covenant in which they would be sanctified (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 37)).

Every White Israelite Christian is a saint, and nobody else can possibly be a saint in relation to Yahweh. When Yahweh sanctifies Israel once again, He shall be separating Israel from all other nations, and they shall know it, as we read in Ezekiel.

Roman Catholic sainthood is heresy, and absolutely contrary to everything which we have just presented from Scripture. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, we read: “All Christians are called to be saints. Saints are persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation.” They did not state that all Christians are saints, as Paul of Tarsus wrote to all of the assemblies in his epistles. Rather, they followed the same thinking reflected in the added words of the King James Version, claiming that Christians are merely called to be saints. That perpetuates the lie, so that the Church can claim to have the authority, but that authority was never granted to the apostles by Christ, and the apostles never claimed to have any such authority.

So the popes pretend to make saints based on certain criteria. Where the bishops continue we read: “In official Church procedures there are three steps to sainthood: a candidate becomes ‘Venerable,’ then ‘Blessed’ and then ‘Saint.’ Venerable is the title given to a deceased person recognized formally by the pope as having lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life. To be beatified and recognized as a Blessed, one miracle acquired through the candidate's intercession is required in addition to recognition of heroic virtue or offering of life. Canonization requires a second miracle after beatification. The pope may waive these requirements. A miracle is not required prior to a martyr's beatification, but one is required before canonization.”

However with recent political pressure on the Church from certain Catholic groups in the United States to create some Negro saints, we read in a recent article published by the Catholic News Service that Pope Francis Announces New Path To Sainthood. In the article, which features a photograph of Pope Francis embracing a negro female, we read: “For centuries, consideration for the sainthood process required that a Servant of God heroically lived a life of Christian virtues or had been martyred for the faith. The third, less common way, is called an equivalent or equipollent canonization: when there is evidence of strong devotion among the faithful to a holy man or woman, the pope can waive a lengthy formal canonical investigation and can authorize their veneration as saints. While these three roads to sainthood remain unchanged, they were not adequate ‘for interpreting all possible cases’ of holiness, the archbishop wrote in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, July 11.”

Here in the language there is also a “bait-and-switch” since what was once described as three distinct steps that is required of every so-called saint is now described as just another separate path that the life of any saint may be interpreted as having fulfilled.

So, as if the Pope could possibly write a truly apostolic letter, we read: “According to the apostolic letter, any causes for beatification according to the new pathway of ‘offering of life’ would have to meet the following criteria:

• Free and willing offer of one’s life and a heroic acceptance, out of love, of a certain and early death; the heroic act of charity and the premature death are connected.
• Evidence of having lived out the Christian virtues — at least in an ordinary, and not necessarily heroic, way — before having offered one’s life to others and until one’s death.
• Evidence of a reputation for holiness, at least after death.

One more specification is really just an afternote describing a common qualification, as it refers to each of the different paths:

• A miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession is needed for beatification.”

Of course, Roman Catholics were never in want of a miracle when they sought to conjure one. We should expect the Church to announce a Negro saint any day now. As recently as December 15th of this year, we read in an article at the Religion News Service that “It is embarrassing to many of us that in the church where we worship, there are no United States African American saints recognized by the highest church authorities.” But the truth is that only the White children of Israel could ever be saints, and all of them are saints. No Negro could ever be a saint.

From Hebrews chapter 2: “11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. 13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

First, if it were not important to be an Israelite, why would it be important that Christ took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, so that He could be one of the brethren? The statement serves to prove that it certainly is important, and for that reason He took part in the same flesh and blood since only they are His brethren.

The word for sanctifieth in that passage is ἁγιάζω, the verb form of ἅγιος, the word translated as saint which we had discussed earlier. So here we learn that it is Christ who sanctifies, who makes saints, and here Paul informs us that He sanctifies the seed of Abraham, who are the children of Israel, just as it is promised in the law and the prophets. This is just as Yahweh had promised in Ezekiel chapter 37, which we have already cited: “28 And the [or nations] shall know that I Yahweh do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.”

This will actually bring us to discuss the many New Testament appeals to the law and the prophets, which is the substance of our next proof.