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Yankee said:
A Reformed Baptist insists upon a pure Church (believers baptism). The nation of Israel was not pure (believers only) so how can it be called the Church (by Baptist) in a consistent way it can't and this leads to a sometimes subtle difference between the Testaments.

First of all somewhere along the line you decided that Reformed Baptists don't believe in the visible/invisible church distinction. This is in error I fully believe that the visible Church consists of both false professors and true professors, tares and wheat if you will, this doesn't meant that the Church shouldn't strive to maintain true professors in the congregation. What is true church discipline if not identifying those that deny the faith inside the Church?

So in the same way that not all Israel was Israel (Rom. 9:6) I along with Paul and point to the existence of the true Church in the midst of Israel in the same manner that I can point to the true Church in the midst of both the false and true professors in the visible Church. As for the subtle differences between the testaments this has been hashed over and over again in the BCT vs CT discussions and frankly I choose not to get involved.


Peter

If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself. Augustine of Hippo