ISRAEL in the New Testament Epistles pt. 3 (final)
So where does this leave Israel? Probably the best passage in all Scripture on this very subject by the one time Pharisee of pharisees himself, the apostle Paul, in the eleventh chapter of Romans.
1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew... 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
… 11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
… 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness.
… 25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. (Romans 11)
We encourage the reading of the entire chapter, but this should offer the gist. Better yet, begin with chapter nine. God planned for it, included gentiles into His plan of redemption, knew that Israel would fall when He made His promises in the first place and will keep them. Paul makes similar statements elsewhere. Again in Galatians he writes:
17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise... 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe...
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:17-29)
Throughout the epistles we read this common theme. It is not by keeping Law that keeps the promise, nor is it by disobedience that the promise becomes void, according to this passage. And it is not by law that the promise was made in the first place. An all-knowing God cannot be surprised by our activities. Yet he made the promise to Abraham. This is His mercy and grace.
Even as we read James, who do we find this letter addressed to? “To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.” (James 1:1) This indicates that Israel has not been “written off” as some would suppose, else why address a letter of exhortation to Christian believers among the twelve tribes? Even John's epistles that do not directly address Israel exhort the believer to fulfill true love for the Lord by keeping His commandments, revealing that His covenant with them is not only a thing of the past, but of great import for the believer today, whether Jew or gentile. And does not even Jude in his doxology not hearken to a time, promised for Israel by the prophet Jeremiah that the kingdom and dominion of the Messiah would be the place where the children of Israel would walk “forever and ever”?
then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. (Jeremiah 7:7)
So, how long is “forever?” Echos of God's promises to Israel are extant throughout all the New Testament writings. Again, as Paul indicates in Romans 11, we in this age of grace are grafted in but for a season, after which time Israel will be grafted back in once again.
We find that much confusion with respect to the disposition of Israel now and in the future is in large part a misunderstanding of this dynamic. Being a Jew is not Biblically belonging to or being an adherent to a certain belief system. Being a Jew, being an Israeli, is being a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is a mater of ethnicity. Promises were made to Abraham and his descendants, and by faith a few, the remnant Paul spoke of in Romans eleven, believed and are saved.
The “religion” if you will, is faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Not by ritual to “become a Jew” or a Christian. It has always been and remains a matter of faith in the one true God.
In Ephesians Paul reveals much about this “mystery” that devastates still further the notion that the church has somehow supplanted Israel. This is such a powerful passage that it is worthy of revisiting and examining in this light. When we referenced it before it was in the context of God including the gentiles in His plans. Now let's look at it from the other side:
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel. (Ephesians 3:1-6)
Logically, if one is now a sole heir, one is not merely partaking, but is the owner of His promise in Christ. Fellow heirs, or joint heirs, as some translations put it, carries the strong implication that Israel shares the other half as heirs and partakers. We might do as some and spend chapters on why and how this is so, but for economy of space and for brevity, why continue beating that dead horse? Sufficient enough are the Scriptures provided that we may safely be dogmatic.
Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote in Ephesians:
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)
This is the primary difference between the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. Prior to Pentecost believers did not enjoy the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit, what is known as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (notice it is not water baptism) our very bodies being the temple, with the dynamic of each and every one of us a member of a single organism in Christ. The Body of Christ in that unity.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1 Cor. 6:18-22)
But we are brought together by faith, just as Abraham was justified by faith. In Galatians Paul wrote:
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13, 14) and again,
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)
We have been adopted. As Paul had said in Romans 11, we were grafted in. All are joint heirs, co-equals in the promises when we believed. Note from above (and there are other passages, such as 1 Corinthians 11, 12 that tell us that baptism in the Holy Spirit applies to each and every believer. It is not something only a few enjoy with the manifestation of miraculous gifts. If one thinks so, go back and read that again. Once we believe in faith, we are all baptized into the body of Christ.
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit… 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ” - 1 Cor. 12:12, 13, 27
Recently we were challenged over the issue of indwelling, when it began and when it ends. This is not a devastatingly critical issue, but again, get ecclesiology wrong and you are likely to get eschatology wrong. Not always, but often. Israel has not been swept under the rug, cursed or replaced, as though she were something shameful; the black sheep of the spiritual family. Otherwise by the time Paul wrote Philippians it is doubtful Paul would have confidently referenced his own pedigree.
4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 2:4-6)
God is not finished with Israel and we witness in the Book of Revelation how gloriously the Lord saves out His promised remnant. We read that our Lord has special plans for a remnant of 144,000 from Israel, new converts to the gospel, sharing Messiah Jesus to the whole world in that very last time of Great Tribulation.
4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (Revelation 7:4) And the glorious result being:
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)
God's promises for Israel echo throughout the pages of the New Testament for all saints as we have been grafted in for a season, and Israel with Christ's church will forever partake in the riches of Christ's plan to all who are the called according to his purpose.