The Israel of God

Galatians 6:12-16; Romans 9:1-8

"As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised (physically) keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I (Paul) should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the ISRAEL OF GOD."

"I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh (the Hebrews), who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. FOR THEY ARE NOT ALL ISRAEL WHO ARE OF ISRAEL, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, 'In Isaac your seed shall be called'. That is, those who are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed."

Jacob, the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham, was given a new name by God: Israel; because he would not let go of God. He persisted toward Him and overcame by Him. 'They are not all Israel who are of Israel' explains that not only the descendants of Jacob are Israel (or named so), but each one who receives, believes and trusts in God through faith in Jesus Christ. Their deeds "boast" in His cross and resurrection!

.....Having Been Perfected, He Became......(Hebrews 5:5, 7-11)

"So also, Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten you.' Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, for He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. AND HAVING BEEN PERFECTED, HE BECAME the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him."

It sounds as if Jesus had to be fully persuaded (understanding and willing), ready for what His calling was prior to moving forward as Teacher and ultimately the Lamb of God. Scripture reads that He was PERFECTED, made mature and complete, empowered by what He learned in/through the things which He suffered. I would say this suffering was before the cross, experiencing the wickedness of men in the face of the righteousness of God. For the saint of God in Christ Jesus, suffering with Him (Romans 8:16-18) results in glorification together (with Him is implied), as Paul had written. 

In the epistle to the Philippians, third chapter, Paul writes that he is willing to count "all things loss FOR the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith IN Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith".(v.7-9)

Paul writes that he has not "already attained nor is already perfected" but presses on. This could refer to v.10,11 where he summarizes what faith in Christ looks like: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead".  

Jesus fulfilled His calling to High Priesthood over salvation to God through His understanding of what His calling was and willingness to persevere with the Father in it, by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. To be perfect and complete in this, the believer must "arm themselves with the same mind" (1 Peter 4:1) as He reveals Himself to us.