Some "Israel Only" advocates are advancing a deconstruction paradigm that would shift the Christian view from "all nations" to "the lost ten tribes of Israel" as the real Gentiles of the Bible.
The paradigm is trying to make a case for the exclusiveness of the term 'Gentile' by showing how Israel Onlyism [IO] could prove the "not God's people" standing of the ten northern tribes of Israel while seemingly looking at them getting "swallowed up by [foreign] nations" (Hosea 8:8) during the Diaspora period. The result is that now, if you're non-IO, you're doing it wrong if you're seeing yourself as a Gentile in the biblical narrative about salvation.
The IO proponent would say, "The Gentiles are the Elect [Israelites] of Diaspora. You want to be grafted into the Olive Tree that represents Israel, become an Israelite first to be added and get saved, alright?"
Much of the IO versus Christianity debate is dedicated to critiquing doctrines and here the non-IO would suffer from cognitive dissonance because the IOist would aim at them using their most valued weapon: "audience relevance."
Audience Relevance and Confirmation Bias
The audience relevance concept is simply giving an emphasis to whatever the text or the words in the Bible meant to the original hearers or readers. The principle has been an effective asset for a deconstruction paradigm that would change mindsets but the IOist is using it as an instrument of confirmation bias.
In the debate, the IOist looked for instances that would link the word 'Gentile' to the "not God's people" idea. S/he would seek info from the Bible and discover that 'Loammi' [not my people] is the appropriate term for it. So the IOist would confirm to a non-IO and say, "The Gentiles are the Loammi, the lost tribes of Israel."
Here are the Hosea verses about the Loammi:
Hos 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Because of the Loammi, the IOist is backing up their "not God's people" idea with an "Israelite equals Gentile" belief. S/he is reinterpreting, possibly changing, the facts based on a past belief that the Gentiles are not God's people.
Convincing a non-IO that the 'gentile' [nation] term is not neutral but a restricted word for the ten tribes of Israel would make the IOist feel better because it would put the IOism school of thought in a good light but the opposing ones in a bad light.
SO WHAT CAN A NON-IO DO ABOUT IO?
The right approach would be to think about the "Israel Only" assumption with an open mind, then search for information to figure out the right perspective.
Tip #1: Give to Israel what is due to Israel only
No IOist has ever liked my plea, "Give to Israel what is due to Israel only." That's because the IOist is already realizing that the non-IO Bible-believers are claiming doctrines and beliefs that are for Israel Only.
Satires and memes with #ThingsJesusDidNotSay might work for a while to dismantle traditional views about salvation and church, but real Bible-believers would not want the mocking.
So to balance everything, let me say again: "Give to Israel what is due to Israel only."
Loammi is about the children of Israel being branded as "not God's people" because they were rejected by God. They were treated as foreigners or strangers because of their sin and God no longer sees them as His people.
Hos 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
The IOist should remember Loammi as a symbolic name for sinful and rejected Israelites. Loammi is not about nameless nations.
When you are seeing Loammi for the first time, remember that it's a tag to identify the unwanted Israelites, not Gentiles.
The IOist would agree with you when you notice that Loammi is about Israel.
Next, consider too that God has desired to see the Loammi Israelites becoming His people again. In Hosea, you would also see the tag 'Ammi' for Israel in the state of restoration.
Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, quoted Hosea in Romans 9:25-26 and he knew that the tags Loammi and Ammi are for Israelites only.
Tip #2: Give to the Gentiles what is due to the Gentiles
You've heard about Paul speaking to the Gentiles, taking pride in his work as the apostle of the Gentiles.
Rom 11:13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
You do notice that, in this letter, Paul is addressing the Romans and he's calling them Gentiles, right?
It is easy to comprehend. The Romans are Gentiles, they are not Israelites.
So Paul has an audience — the Gentiles — and he says to the Romans, "I speak to you Gentiles!"
If you can recall Paul's missionary journey and how his worldwide preaching would affect his life, you should go back to the Bible and reread the Holy Spirit's prediction about his arrest.
Acts 21:11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Do IO advocates know this? That the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would bind Paul and hand him over to the Gentiles meant he was going to become a prisoner.
And who were the Gentiles who had jurisdiction over Paul's case?
You know that Paul was being accused by the Jews of Asia that he was defiling their temple by bringing the Gentiles into it.
Acts 21:28 "People of Israel!" they shouted. "Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some Gentiles into the Temple and defiled this holy place!"
~ Good News Translation
Let your eyes zoom onto the hearers or audience of the Jews — the People of Israel — and then let's try to replace the Gentiles term with "People of Israel" using the same passage.
Acts 21:28 "People of Israel!" they shouted. "Help! This is the man who goes everywhere teaching everyone against the people of Israel, the Law of Moses, and this Temple. And now he has even brought some ["People of Israel"] into the Temple and defiled this holy place!"
Would that altered passage make sense to you? It sure won't! Even if you'd try "The Lost Tribes of Israel" there, it would give you an inconsistent interpretation.
If that area of the Holy Place got defiled by a Gentile because of Paul, that would validate their outcry. But the Jews had their confirmation bias too, so they exaggerated the accusation by mentioning the name of Trophimus.
Trophimus is an Asianoi, a native of the Roman province of Asia (Acts 20:4). He is also branded by Jews as Trophimus the Ephesian. You don't just label anyone as a Gentile if you have no knowledge that he's really a Gentile, a non-Jew or a non-Israelite.
If you want to find out the other companions of Paul and Trophimus if they were non-Israelites, check their background in the Book of Acts.
Now, going back to the prediction of the Holy Spirit about Paul's arrest, he made a statement about it and identified those who took him from Jerusalem.
Let's examine:
Acts 28:17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
We can fully conclude that Paul, as a prisoner, was turned over to the Romans. The non-Israelites who put Paul in custody against the fury of the Jews were Lysias, the chief captain of Roman troops in Jerusalem, plus Felix and Festus, the Roman governors.
From Paul's own words I've presented to you, dear Bible-believers, the true sense of the term 'Gentile.' Paul even acknowledged the Greeks and the Barbarians as among other Gentiles (Romans 1:13-14).
We can finish this issue by affirming that:
THE GENTILES ARE NOT THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL.
THE GENTILES ARE NON-ISRAELITES.
There's a horizontal truth [truth throughout all ages]. The Bible narrative about the Gentiles [non-Israelites] is about receiving the light, the brightness of God's glory [gospel, grace, truth, righteousness, faith] in Jesus Christ's Name (Isa 11:10, 42:6, 49:6, 62:2; Mal 1:11; Rom 15:12, 16; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:6; 1 Tim 2:7).
To say that God's program is for "Israel Only" is to deny His LOVE for all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Tim 2:3-4).
The 'saving' that JESUS did for Israel and the ancient Gentiles is about the removal of Jewish myths, man-made commandments, and superstitions of all nations that divided everyone. The 'ignorance' [sin] that is IN people is about 'not knowing' the TRUE GOD and His attributes (Acts 17:30; Rom 1:16-32). That's the principle of salvation [freedom from lies] that people today and the next generations should believe and learn.
THE TRUTH IS THE ONLY WAY TO FREEDOM.
JESUS said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."
Deconstructing a text from an Israel Onlyism [IO] perspective by means of finding a connection between the signified [concept] and the signifier [word] could shake up any established faith. If you're not familiar with the cultural meanings of the words, you need to study meaning-making. If words can be used to tell the truth, they can also be used to tell a lie.
So if you're a truth-seeker, be a truth-teller as well.
Remember this: Give to Israel what is due to Israel only and to the Gentiles what is due to the Gentiles!