The church is the new Israel. Paul explicitly calls the church the “Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”
Some argue that Paul distinguishes two groups in this verse. For example, a Christian Zionist paraphrases the verse this way: “For all [Gentiles] who walk by this rule [the new creation], peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God [Jews who walk by the new creation].”
But this is simply an impossible reading of the text. For one thing, the entire letter of Galatians argues that Jew and Gentile believers are one in Christ. There is no way Paul would suddenly break them apart into two groups at the very end of the letter. Paul summarizes the theological argument of the letter in Galatians 3:28: “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.” There is one Israel of God – and it includes both Jews and Gentiles who are untied to Jesus by faith/baptism.
So what is Galatians 6:16 saying?
Galatians 6:16 is a fitting conclusion to the letter: just as Paul began the letter with the threat of a curse, a malediction, so he ends the letter with a promise of blessing, a benediction. But since Paul does not know if the Galatians will heed the warnings in this letter, he has to formulate his blessing in conditional terms: “as many as walk according to this rule…” will be the recipients of peace and mercy.
Further, it is likely that in 6:16 Paul is echoing a familiar Jewish blessing, “The Blessing of Peace” from Shemoneh Esreh, used in ancient Jewish synagogues, but now repurposed by the Apostle for the use in the church: “Bestow peace, happiness, blessing, grace, and loving-kindness, and mercy upon us and upon all Israel, your people.” In this benediction, the “us” is not a group distinct from “all Israel,” but a subset of “all Israel.” The “us” is the locally gathered people; “all Israel” is the entire covenant community. So it is here. We can paraphrase Paul’s benediction this way:
“And as many as walk according to this rule that circumcision and uncircumcision do not count for anything in the new creation, may peace and mercy be upon them in your community, and upon the whole Israel of God of which you are all a part.”
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Of course, this is not the only place the NT makes it explicit that the church is Israel in new covenant form.
In Ephesians 2:11-13, Paul says, “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Gentile believers were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, but in Christ, they have now entered Israel as full citizens. The covenants of promise belong to all Christians. Gentiles who trust Jesus have been brought into Israel as Gentiles.
In Romans 4 and Galatians 3, Paul answers the question, “Who are the children of Abraham?” and the answer is clear: Those who have the faith of Abraham are his heirs. Those who trust in the promises Seed (Jesus) as Abraham did are Abraham’s children. And to be in Abraham’s family is to be Israel.
In 1 Peter 2, Peter does not call the church Israel per se, but he does take several OT titles for the people of Israel and applies them to the new covenant church: “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ..But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Calling the church a “spiritual house,” a “holy/royal priesthood,” a “chosen generation,” a “special people,” and “the people of God” is equivalent to calling them “Israel.” Each one of those titles is an OT description of Israel, drawn from the OT Scriptures.
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The NT is also clear that ethnic Jews/Israelites who rejected Christ as their promised Messiah are no longer the Israel of God. John the Baptist told the Pharisees physical descent from Abraham did not make them immune to judgment (Matthew 3). Paul called unbelieving Jews “broken out branches,” no longer attached to the covenant tree (Romans 11). In Revelation 3, Jesus says the synagogues of those who reject him are now “synagogues of Satan;” they may say they are Jews but they are not. Jesus told the Jewish leadership the kingdom would be taken from them and given to a people who bear its fruit (Matthew 21:43).
This judgment came to a culmination in 70AD, when the temple was destroyed and the old covenant vanished away, as Jesus prophesied (Matthew 23-24) and as the book of Hebrews confirms (Hebrews 8:13).
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To summarize:
Gentile believers have been Israelized.
Unbelieving Jews have been Gentilized.
Christians are the true Israel of God. Unbelieving Jews are not the people of God.
Christians who are united to Jesus by faith are God’s Israel, God’s temple, God’s priesthood, God’s holy nation. Christians are branches on the covenant tree. We are the children of Abraham, the possessors of the covenants of promise.
Unbelieving Jews are no longer a covenant people. They broke covenant with God so they have been broken out of the covenant tree. They can be grafted back in by faith in Christ; they can be welcomed into the Israel of God, the church, but they must repent of rejecting Jesus.
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