The Church: The New “Israel of God A major theme of Paul’s - TopicsExpress

The Church: The New “Israel of God A major theme of Paul’s and Peter’s theology is the recognition of the New Testament Church, Jew and Gentile united as one in Christ, as the spiritual Israel of God. The following texts make this quite plain. This truth does not of course exclude the fact that a remnant of what is now ethnic, physical Israel will be regathered in the future. This later conversion of Israel is discussed by Paul in Romans 9-11. At present the Church is clearly distinct from the physical nation of Israel (flesh and blood Israelites) but it is equated with the new spiritual “Israel of God.” Both these truths — that is, the use of “Israel” both for the Church and, in prophecy, for the nation of Israel — must be kept in mind for a proper understanding of the Apostles. To the Gentile Christians Paul wrote: “Remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth, and called ‘uncircumcision’ by those who call themselves ‘circumcision,’ were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise...But now you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (from Eph. 2:11-19). The contrast is between former exclusion from citizenship in Israel and present inclusion in the commonwealth of Israel, God’s people. So in Galatians 6:15, 16, Paul says of the Jew/Gentile church: “It does not matter if a person is circumcised or not; what matters is for him to become an altogether new creature. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, who form the Israel of God” (Jerusalem Bible). One may gain exactly the same sense by translating: “Peace and mercy on all who follow this rule [in Galatia] and on the [wider] Israel of God.” Paul means the Church. From Romans 9:6-24, we see that there are two Israels in Paul’s thinking: “Not all those who descend from Israel are Israel; not all the descendants of Abraham are his children…[true children of Abraham are here equated with the new spiritual Israel]...It is not physical descent that decided who are the children of God; it is only the children of the promise who will count as the true descendants…Well, we are those people, whether we were Jews or Gentiles, we are the ones he has called.” Paul here makes a clear distinction between Israelites, Paul’s flesh and blood relatives (Rom. 9:4), and the new spiritual Israel in Christ, which is the Church. Paul goes on to quote from Hosea 2:23, applying phrases which originally referred to the nation of Israel (and will refer to them again in the future) to the Church now: “even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. As He says in Hosea, ‘I will call them My people, who are not My people.’” This most important practice of quoting texts which originally referred to the nation of Israel and applying them to the Church is found very clearly in 1 Peter 2:9-10: “You [the Church] are a chosen people [quoting Isa. 43:20], a royal priesthood, a holy nation [Ex. 19:6], a people belonging to God [Deut. 7:6], that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light [Isa. 43:21]. Once you were not a people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy [Hos. 2:23].” In 1 Peter 2:5, we read: “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” This was exactly the function of Israel. The Church has for the moment taken the place of Israel, though Israel has not been finally rejected (Rom. 11). Individual Jews can by repentance and belief in Jesus as Messiah become part of the present Israel of the spirit. And the Jews, or a remnant of them, will repent nationally and collectively in the future, consequent upon the events of the Tribulation (Rom. 9-11; Isa. 19:24). The Church, as God’s new Israel, is now to perform all the functions of Old Testament Israel. None of this, we emphasize, means that physical Israelites will not in the future as a nation turn to God, and thus also become part of the New Israel of God. Formerly blinded Israel (not = church) will be saved (Rom. 11:26) at the Parousia. The importance of the identity of God’s Church as the New Israel is that we are a body with a real constitution based on the laws of the Sermon on the Mount and the covenant of the Kingdom of God made by God with Jesus (Luke 22:28-30). Carrying a passport in the Commonwealth of Israel, we reside as aliens (1 Pet. 2:11) in the various countries where we are domiciled. We are ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20) representing the Kingdom of God, and have become spiritually speaking “Jews,” circumcised not in the flesh but in the heart: “A true Jew is not the man who is merely a Jew outwardly, and real circumcision is not just a matter of the body. The true Jew is the one who is circumcised inwardly, and the true circumcision is of the heart” (Rom. 2:28, 29). Thus Paul asserts in Philippians 3:3: “We [the Church] are the circumcision, we whose worship is spiritual.” The crucial importance of Exodus 19:5, 6, the constitution of Israel as kings and priests, is seen by its frequent application to the New Testament Church, by Peter (1 Pet. 2:9-10, quoted above), but also by John in Revelation 1:6: “(Jesus) has made us a kingdom and priests to our God and His Father.” Again, in Revelation 5:10: “(Jesus) purchased men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation and made them to our God a kingdom and priests and they will reign on the earth.” This finds future fulfillment in Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign as kings with him for 1000 years.” Once again the original application to Israel (Ex. 19:6) has been transferred to the Church. No wonder then that Paul addresses the Church as “the Israel of God.” Salvation, after all, is “from the Jews” (John 4:22). The tragedy is that the Jews did not, and still do not, as a nation accept their Messiah. Those few who did, became the founding members of the New Israel of God which we as Gentiles are privileged now to join as brothers and sisters to the Apostles and Jesus, the Great Apostle. In Philippians 3:3 Paul states expressly that the Church is the spiritual Jew: “We are the true circumcision who worship in the spirit.” That Paul recognized the Israel of the Spirit is shown by I Corinthians 10:18 where he speaks of physical Israel as the “Israel according to the flesh” (see KJV or an interlinear). Why would Paul use this expression unless he recognized two kinds of Israel: the natural, national Israel and the true Israel of the Spirit? Remember again: “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Israel’s creed is the Christian creed. We must be incorporated into the Jewish Messiah to be saved. Thus Gentiles, too, can become the children of Abraham who is “the father of us all” (Rom. 4:16).