Bible Study Paul's use of the term Israel

[charlesj]

"Does Paul use the word Jew or Israel to speak of non-Jews? I don’t think he does. Let’s take a look at the book of Romans. "Jew" occurs eleven times, "Israel" occurs eleven times and "Israelite" occurs twice. Out of these twenty-four occurrences only two are disputed. They’re in 2:28-29 and 11:26. There is 9:6, of course, which has a varied history in the dispute.

I’m of the opinion that when Paul uses either word he means a physical descendant of Abraham through Jacob. But there are some Jews (as just defined) who have the faith of Abraham and have faith in Jesus Christ and some that have neither. A Messianic Jew is a physical Jew that has faith in Jesus Christ. He is an Israelite. The non-believing Jew is also an Israelite.

9:6 says that not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. There are some that have descended from Israel (Jacob) who are not Israel. He doesn’t say, "physical Israel isn’t Israel." He says, "not all physical Israelites are Israel." But notice that he is speaking of physical Jews!

The word "Israel" is understood by many to mean "true Israel" by which they mean the non-ethnic, cosmopolitan Christian church. But this is out of touch with Paul’s aim in chapters 9â€â€11, which is to vindicate God’s faithfulness. The claim is that God made promises to physical Israel and if Paul’s gospel is true then God has been faithless. And why is that? Because according to Paul the mass of Israel is unsaved. Part of Paul’s response is 9:6. He insists that not all physical Jews are part of Israel because it takes more than Jacob’s flesh to constitute (true) Israel. Not all Abraham’s descendants were his children (9:7-8). A true Israelite is a descendant of Abraham through Jacob that has the faith of Abraham. Acts 3:22-23 says that Jews who reject the Messiah will be "cut off from among his people."

Paul agreed with his Master (John 8:31-44) that there are Jews and Jews, Abraham’s children and Abraham’s children. Christ said he knew his critics were Abraham’s children and then he goes on to deny that they are Abraham’s children and that someone else was their father. Gentiles are nowhere near either John 8 or Romans 9:6-7.

This lays the groundwork for Romans 2:28-29. The real Jew, Paul insists, is the Jew that lives out the meaning of circumcision. We need to remember what Paul is doing in this section of Romans. He has shown that the Gentiles are under condemnation for sin and now he is bringing Israel under judgement. In this section he is showing that Israel, physical Jews, have bragged on possessing the Torah, the Sabbath and circumcision but it was all external to them because they didn’t have the torah written on their hearts. In this section when Paul implicitly denies their Jewish status it's on moral and spiritual grounds. The prophet Ezekiel insisted that his Jewish peers were Amorites and Hittites (16:45). They were Israel but they weren’t "true" Israelites. Neither the prophet nor Paul was saying that others were Israelites. They were denying that external Israellites were (true) Israelites.

The other text in dispute is Romans 11:26. In 11:2 Elijah appeals against Israel and in 11:7 what Israel sought she failed to get. In 11:11 God brings in Gentiles to make Israel jealous and Paul calls them his "own people" in contrast to Gentiles (11:14). Gentiles are warned not to dismiss Israel because God hasn’t jettisoned them. He would do the same to Gentiles if they turned to unbelief and he will save Israel if they come to faith (11:13-24). And how does he explain in 11:25-26 the Jewish rejection of the Messiah and the consequences that flowed from it? "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved." (See 11:7 on the hardening of Israel.) 11:28-31 continues to contrast Gentiles with "them".

To accept that "Israel" all the way through this section speaks of physical Israelites and then to make 11:26 a figurative, non-ethnic and cosmopolitan church is too difficult to swallow. And when we remember that "all Israel will be saved" is part of Paul’s defense of God’s faithfulness to his promises to Israel (see 9:1-6) we must allow "Israel" to be "Israel".

For Paul "Israel" was divided into two. Those who were Israel after the flesh and who rejected the Messiah and those who were Israel and had the faith of Abraham who believed that God could give life to the dead (see Romans 4:18-25). The non-believing and believing Israel were both Israel as you can see simply by reading the texts.

So what does he mean when he says, "all Israel will be saved"? Scholars like N.T. Wright say that "Israel" in that text is the New Covenant people regardless of ethnic background. I don’t think that’s correct. The Gentiles are tempted to arrogance, believing that God has dumped the people he made promises to (Israelâ€â€9:1-5) just to let them in (11:19). Paul insists that God has never been faithless to Israel and that not a single Israelite would be lost because the Messiah came from them to save them (11:26-29). But the true Israelite was an Israite that was not only physically kin to the patriarchs but one who had their faith (see 9:5). All of theseâ€â€without exceptionâ€â€will be saved." -- Jim McGuiggan

your servant in Messiah,
charlesj

 

[tim-from-pa]

There is a dualistic sense in Israel as you stated (assuming I understand you correctly).

However, there is the part of Israel (those which followed after the law (the Jew)) and the exiled house of Israel (the other ten tribes) which would follow after grace.

If one reads the Old Testament regarding Israel, we see a "contradiction" where in one sense, they follow the law and are thick-headed. IN another sense, Israel sounds "Christian" and many of those prophecies are stated in the NT regarding Christians.

My main premise and belief is that like most of the Orthodox doctrines that the church holds, but where I differ from the church is that Jew retained the law, but the Israelites became as Gentiles in their exiled state and actually accepted Christianity.

In other words, I am claiming that the church, and the nations that are traditionally Christian are not only spiritually Abraham's seed, but unbeknownst to themselves are actually his physical seed as well granted all the promises just like the Jew, and in fact, even more.

Instead of thinking "gentile" and "jew" as traditionally taught, think of two houses of Israel likened unto "Yankees" and "Rebels" in the United States. They are physically related, but one is of law and the other of grace.

This is how the promise to Abraham that his physical seed would become many nations---- the actual descendants became many nations and Christian ones at that. The Jew on the other hand kept the law.