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" ... if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ... For THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE between the Jew and the Greek: for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him" (Rom. 10:9,12).
When the first Gentile conversions began to take place in the early days of the apostles, the Hebrew believers
were compelled to admit that:
"God, Which knoweth the hearts ... put
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith"
NO DIFFERENCE
(Acts 15:8,9).
While there is no difference between one man and another before God in the question of his sin and the way of
salvation, it would be leaving a false impression did we not add that while there can be "no difference" so far as we
ourselves are concerned, the grace of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE. We can say
from the depths of our hearts:
"Whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25).
"Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8).
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13).
On one occasion, while Israel waited for deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, and God sent plagues to teach
Pharaoh the folly of his resistance, we read:
"I will SEVER in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there ...
and I will put a DIVISION between My people and thy people" (Exod. 8:22,23).
Here is a difference both of land and people, and if the reader will look at the marginal note in his Bible, he will
see that the word translated "division" is literally "a redemption". This is gospel truth in type and shadow.
So it was when the time came for Israel to be delivered from the bondage of Egypt by the blood of the passover
lamb.
The Lord put a difference
"Against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know
how that the LORD doth PUT A DIFFERENCE between the Egyptians and Israel" (Exod. 11:7).
Let us see some of the "differences" grace has made in those who by nature differed nothing among themselves.
There is no difference in any child of Adam in the matter of condemnation:
"By the offence of one judgment came upon ALL MEN to condemnation" (Rom. 5:18).
but look at the difference made by grace:
"There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS" (Rom. 8:1).
With all our boasted freedom, there is no difference when it comes to the slavery of sin:
"Sin hath reigned" (Rom. 5:21).
"When ye were the servants (slaves) of sin, ye were free from righteousness" (Rom. 6:20).
"The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
Now look again at the difference that Christ has made:
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by
(through) Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 5:21).
"For sin shall not have dominion over you" (Rom. 6:14).
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (Rom. 6:12).
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).