Paul's Use of the Term "Israel"
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 9—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
(Israel—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 Israelite that was not only physically kin to the
patriarchs but one who had their faith (see 9:5). All of these—without
exception—will be saved. More on this later with a brief look at
Galatians 6:16. See All Israel will be saved (1).
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.