Windham/Mowery Debate on Who is Subject to the Gospel

 
 
 Proposition: 
 Like the old covenant, the new covenant is only for the physical descendants of 
the twelve tribes of Israel.

Affirm: Brian Windham
Deny:  Dub Mowery

It is my honor to engage in discussing who is subject to the gospel of Christ with 
Mr. Brian Windham. I do not question Brian’s sincerity, or his conviction 
concerning the above stated proposition. May the two of us, as gentlemen, engage 
in this discussion in earnestness and with respect of one another!

Brian states: 
I want to thank Mr. Mowery for his willingness to engage in discussion publicly 
making this debate possible. And I thank the heavenly Father for His Word and 
the opportunity to discuss it with a fellow Christian and pray He guides us with 
His Holy Spirit to search and accept the truth on this matter.

Dub here: 
There are two primary points that Brian makes in the above statement in which I 
wish to address at this time. Not knowing him personally, I thought maybe he was 
of the Jewish faith because of his contention for the above proposition. However, 
in the above statement, Brian professes Christianity. Brian, are you a physical 
descendant of the Jewish race? If you are not a Jew by race, then according to 
you’re above proposition, you are not under the new covenant. If you are not 
under the new covenant, how can you be a Christian?

The only media or means that the Heavenly Father exercises in communicating 
unto us concerning His will for us is the inspired Word referred to as the Bible. 
The Holy Spirit does not audibly speak unto us or communicate unto us in any 
way except by the Bible. Therefore, He provides for us the truth on who is subject 
to the new covenant only by way of the inspired Word of God known as the 
Bible.

Brian states:
The Bible is a book to and about one nation of people and the people from which 
she sprang. That nation is physical Israel. There is little doubt that the OT is about 
physical Israel. The Old Covenant (OC) was with this very people. The OC was a 
contract between God & Israel.

Dub here: 
Although God selected the physical nation of Israel for Jesus the Christ to be 
born; the theme of the Bible is not about that one nation. The theme of the Bible is 
about redemption through the Son of God. At John 3:16, the Son of God declared, 
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Also at 2 Tim. 2:4-
6, we learn that God would “…have all men to be saved, and to come unto the 
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and 
men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in 
due time.”

Brian and I agree that the old covenant was given to the physical nation of Israel. 
However, that covenant had a specific beginning period as well as a definite time 
when it ceased to be in effect. At Deut. 5:1-3, Moses speaks of when the old 
covenant (Law of Moses) began. “And Moses called all Israel, and said unto 
them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this 
day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a 
covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but 
with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.” In the New Testament, the 
Apostle Paul reveals when the old covenant ceased to be binding on the Jews. It 
was when Jesus the Christ died physically upon the cross. At Col. 2:14-17, the 
Apostle Paul states, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against 
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, 
triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or 
in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a 
shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” 

Of course, the old covenant was more than a contract between two equals. God 
being the superior set the stipulations for that covenant, while the nation of Israel 
was obligated to submit unto it (Deut. 5:1-33).

Brian said: 
That’s what the New Covenant is all about. The telling of the redeeming of lost 
Israel. That’s what Christ did. He redeemed His people (Luke 1:68). That’s why 
Christ said He was sent ONLY to Israel (Mt. 15:24). That’s why He sent His 
people ONLY to Israel (Mat. 10:5-6). That’s why the New Covenant is with the 
House of Judah and the House of Israel (Heb. 8:8).”

Dub here:
In all due respect to Brian, he presents only an incomplete picture of who is 
subject to the new covenant. In comparison, Abram (Abraham), while in Egypt, 
insisted that his wife Sarai (Sarah) tell the Egyptians that she was his sister. This 
was true, but she was also his wife (Gen. 16:11-20; 20:12). All humanity (both 
physical Israel and Gentiles) is subject to the new covenant. Brian, you fail to 
properly handle aright and rightly divide the truth, 2 Tim. 2:15). Do you 
understand that the New Testament and the new covenant is one and the same 
thing? If you do not, then how can you profess to be a Christian unless you are 
Jewish by race?

Solomon stated, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose 
under the heaven:” (Eccl. 3:1). The prophets first foretold the birth and life of the 
Son of God here upon the earth. John the Baptist was the harbinger to prepare the 
way for the coming of the Lord (Luke 1:8-17). In like manner, the Jews were not 
prepared during the personal ministry of Jesus Christ to accept Gentiles as equals 
before God. 

Therefore, the Son of God stated, “…I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). This is also why He sent His disciples on “the 
limited commission” to the house of Israel. The scripture states, “These twelve 
Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the 
Gentiles, and into the city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the Lost 
sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5-6). 

Dub Mowery