Y Not I

A recent comment to a post on Israel belonging to the Jews by Tom seemed to lay down a case for defining Israel. Although Tom did not come out and out say it, the idea seemed to be that the church is Israel.

I wanted to go over Romans chapter 11 to show in Scripture that Israel is Israel is Israel. To make Israel into a changing term turns all of Scripture into something much more nonsensical. Lets look at the verses and put in “the Church” to replace Israel in these verse and see if it still makes sense.

11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am a Churchite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against the Church?

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”

4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? The Church failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make the Church jealous.

12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon the Church, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And in this way all the Church will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,

31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Sounds silly and does not convey anything, doesn’t it? Well maybe Israel means true believers. Certainly Paul back a few chapters ago said that not all that are Israel are Israel, so Israel is only those that believe in Yeshua.

11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am a true believer, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against true believers?

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”

4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? True believers failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make true believers jealous.

12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.

15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,

18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon true believers, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And in this way all true believers will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,

31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

It seems that it is not easy to just replace Israel with the church or all true believers or anything else, unless everything bad that refers to Israel refers to the Jewish people and everything good, refers to the Church or true believers.

Let me ask this. Is everyone that claims to be a Christian a Christian? Is every Christian church a Christian church? I think most would agree that there are beliefs and those that profess Christian faith, that do not show any fruit of that faith. However the fact that there are those that are not really Christian in anything being a name tag they have chosen, does not indicate a replacement of the church has taken place and something else is now the church. Using the logic used by replacement theology, it would be easy for a group to come and say that because so many of the church have failed, this group is now the church. Of course there are groups that do make this claim. Muslims claim that later revelation and that they are the true people of God, replacing both Israel and the church. Mormons have similar theology. It is easy and simple to do this, yet it totally ignores the complexity of this human creation of God. It ignores much of the complex nature even described in Scripture of a man after God’s own heart sinning the way king David did. It ignores the way fathers of modern day Christianity and the faith and theology that was formed by them, also were some very sinful people, capable of incredible hatred and advocating things that are in direct violation of Scripture, yet claim to do so to bring glory to God.

I am of course referring to Martin Luther and his paper, “On the Jews and Their Lies.” If you have not seen it it can be read in full here. There is quite a similarity to the things that happened during World War II in Germany to the things Luther suggests concerning the Jews. All this is to suggest that Luther, that the Israelites of Torah and all of us are not perfect. To take away the designation of Israel and the irrevocable promises to Israel because of Israel’s sin is to open oneself up to the same standard. What happened to salvation based upon faith and not by works, so that no one may boast? If God can remove the promises from Israel because Israel failed to live up to the standard, then God can take all the promises to you away as well if your righteousness is not good enough, and you know what? Your righteousness is not good enough.

So who is Israel? Israel is the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. Israel includes those that live a life for God (call them spiritual Israel if you like) and those who do not. Things like converts can be debated, but I do not think it pertinent to the discussion.

The call to elitism to me seems to be behind such things as replacement theology. Groups want to feel they are God’s special people, that somehow they are better for whatever reason. Certainly Jews call themselves the Chosen People. There is also the Christian theology concept of election, indicating a Christian is a chosen elect people. However, whatever your views on these concepts may be, they seem to lose focus of the importance of God, and how we all are sinful and we all fall short. To focus on the fact that we are chosen, if you are of that belief, to me can only puff up one’s ego, for God chose you and ignored others.

I see the point of Scripture and the point of especially the Gospel and the New Covenant message to be not that we are elected and special, but that we need God, that we need the atonement of Yeshua, the Passover lamb who takes away sin. Whether it is limited, whether it is by election, etc. seems beyond this main point. We (however you want to define we) need salvation and the only way to get it is by the blood of Messiah. To change Israel into something that it would never be seen as prior to salvation going out to the Gentiles in large numbers would make God into somewhat of a deceptive being, telling a group of people that He knew He would reject, that they were special, that they were chosen, that they had eternal unchanging promises, only to later come and say, well, I didn’t mean them the way that you would naturally take these promises. I meant them in this way, that you would have no way of understanding.

Ignoring who Israel is and what Israel’s place is in God’s heart is to say we do not want life from the dead, for in Romans 11:15 it states that the acceptance of Israel will mean life from the dead. The teaching there is that the fact that Israel got it wrong and at first missed the Messiah (at least most did, many did not), that brought the blessing of salvation unto the Gentiles. The teaching is saying if the Jews of Yeshua’s day accept him as the Messiah that might mean no salvation for Gentiles. Of course God is in control and His plan went as planned and the good news went to all the nations, blessing them and bringing salvation to far ends of the earth. The teaching goes on to say if the fact that Israel got it wrong brought blessing, how much more blessing will there be when they get it right. To change Israel to the church is to remove this even greater blessing. How someone can read this and see the church as Israel is just beyond me.

The only thing I can see is the contrast to how Jews of even the Old Testament are portrayed in Christian teaching as compared to Christians. I think this type of teaching leads to a negative view, that naturally leads one to thing that God must not like Israel. I will have more about that in a coming post about some messages I have been listening to. To lsiten to a great message on this teaching of all Israel must be saved check out this teaching from Dr. Michael Brown.

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B”H