This content clarifies the multifaceted biblical meaning of "Israel" and explains how believers in Jesus, both Jewish and Gentile, are incorporated into God's family under the New Covenant, not by ethnic assimilation but through faith.
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Many of our Hebrew Roots friends claim that believers in Jesus are “grafted into Israel,”
or have been made citizens in the commonwealth of Israel. One teacher says, “We’re not Christians,
we’re not Jews, we are Israel.” And I’ve heard a number of Torah-keepers claim that once you come
to faith in Jesus, you’re no longer a Gentile. This is a topic that breeds a lot of confusion.
What are we grafted into? What does it mean to say we are Israel? And so I want to take some
time today to see if we can maybe untangle it a bit and gain some clarity on what it
means for believers in Jesus to be grafted in.
To help us understand this issue, let’s trace
the evolution of the name “Israel” in the Bible, because we need to use Scripture’s definition of
that word, not our own. The story starts in Genesis 32:28, where the Lord said to Jacob,
lō Ya’akov yē-amr ôd šēm-kha kî-im Y’israel. Forgive my poor Hebrew, but I wanted us to hear it
in its original language. Because this is the very first place anywhere that we find the word Israel,
Y’israel. This is the ancient text that introduced the word “Israel” to mankind. It’s the account of
Jacob wrestling with God. And God tells him “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel
,” and it goes on to add, “for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
So the word “Israel” in Hebrew comes from śrh which means to strive or contend or struggle. And
‘ēl, which means God. So the word Y’israel, means “he who contends or strives with God,” which Jacob
did in Genesis 32. So the word “Israel” began as the name of a man, Jacob. And, of course, that
name was then passed down to Jacob’s descendants through his 12 sons, who the Bible refers to as
the 12 tribes of Israel, or the Israelites, since Jacob was renamed Israel. So the name “Israel”
also refers to the family or blood relatives of Israel, or what the Bible sometimes calls a "house,"
as in the “House of Israel.” It’s the people who have descended from Abraham, through
his son Isaac, and through his son Jacob. The Israelites all share that same common ancestry.
And, of course, this house or family of Israelites eventually fell into slavery in
Egypt where they grew over several centuries and were ultimately rescued by God. At Mount Sinai,
the multi-generational descendants of Jacob, the family or house of Israelites, officially became
the nation or kingdom of Israel. This happened when God made His covenant with them.
Exodus 19 says, “Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said,
“This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of
Israel.” He’s not referring to two different people groups here. This is classic Hebrew
parallelism. Because Jacob’s name is also Israel. So “saying to the descendants of Jacob” means the
same thing as “telling the people of Israel.” It’s a repetition for emphasis. And God commanded Moses
to tell them, verse 4: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried
you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant,
then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you”
(oh Israel) “will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” God is calling the Israelites
as a nation. And he tells Moses, “These are the words you are to speak to” who? “the Israelites.”
So Israel is the name of Jacob, and the name of the people who descended from Jacob,
and the name of the nation or kingdom those people became. And, of course, the nation of
Israel entered into a covenant relationship with God. This is called the Sinai or Mosaic covenant.
And as part of that covenant God said, in verse 5, if they obey Him fully and keep His covenant,
He will make them into a kingdom or a nation. And don’t miss that connection between obedience
and keeping the covenant. If we keep reading here in Exodus and throughout the rest of the Torah,
we learn that what the Bible calls the law of Moses was given to Israel as the terms of
this covenant. God says if Israel obeyed that law they would keep the covenant,
if they broke the law they would break the covenant. And as part of that covenant,
what did God promise them? He promised them a land. And what does the Bible call this
promised land? Israel. So the word “Israel” also refers to a land, a geographic region.
So follow me on this: the land of Israel was given to the nation or kingdom of Israel,
which consisted of the Israelites, who were the family or house of the man God named Israel.
So we could say that Israel beget Israel, who became Israel and lived in Israel. So we haven’t
even left the Torah yet and already we have a collection of distinct (yet very closely-related)
entities that the Bible all refers to as “Israel.” And that’s not all. Because, as you probably know,
after King Solomon the kingdom of Israel experienced a civil war and split in two. There
were the two tribes in the south were called the kingdom of Judah. And the ten tribes in the north,
that the Bible calls the kingdom of, you guessed it, Israel. So Israel is
also the name of the northern kingdom. And guess what? On top of all this,
the prophet Isaiah refers to the messiah as “Israel” in Isaiah 49. In fact, Scripture
portrays Jesus as the ideal Israel, the man who represents the entire nation. John Martin writes,
“The Messiah is called Israel because He fulfills what Israel should have done. In His person and
work He epitomizes the nation.” And this is a theme found in the New Testament, most notably
in the Gospel of Matthew and the book of Hebrews. Jesus is cast as a new Israel who succeeded where
the nation of Israel failed. So it’s interesting to note that back when the family or house of
Israel was in slavery in Egypt God told Moses, In Exodus 4, “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus
says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.’”
So there is a sense in which God considered the ancient people of Israel His firstborn son.
And the New Testament also refers to Jesus, the Son of God, as firstborn several times.
Hebrews 1:6 calls him “the firstborn,” Romans 8:29 calls Him “the firstborn
among many brothers,” Colossians 1 calls Him the “firstborn of all creation,” and “the firstborn
from the dead.” So there’s that connection between Jesus and Israel. But I digress.
So there are all kinds of distinct uses of the word “Israel” in the Hebrew Scriptures,
the Old Testament. This isn’t just coincidental. It’s not as if God couldn’t think of any other
names so he just kept reusing Israel. No! These different uses of the word “Israel”
are connected and interwoven in profound ways. And this brings up something we’ve talked about
before, about the difference between the mindset of the ancient eastern authors of the Bible,
and the mindset of the modern Western readers of the Bible. And in the description below,
I’ll link to that previous teaching where we go into that in some depth. But in a nutshell,
the Western thinker uses a linear logic that flows in coherent and rational steps from a beginning to
an end. Each step is linked closely to the next. But the ancient eastern Hebrew thinker uses block
logic, which groups things together according to their similarities. This is a big reason why we
see the authors of the Bible using the single word Israel to refer to so many different entities.
And this is also one of those astounding moments where we see the voice of the One True God
speaking through the writings of multiple human authors over the span of centuries—through the Law
and the Prophets and the Psalms and the Gospels—to communicate one message. It’s a message that
points us to the Messiah, Jesus. Jesus taught that the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament
pointed to him. So Jesus, the Messiah, is the man, and those who believe in Him are His family,
His is the kingdom, and Jesus is even in a sense the promised land, according to Hebrews chapters 3
and 4, which talk about how the ancient Israelites weren’t initially allowed to enter the promised
land—which the Bible also calls God’s rest—because of their unbelief. But the author of Hebrews says
that today believers in Jesus still have a chance to enter God’s rest, the new promised land, as it
were, through Jesus if we hold fast to our faith. So this is all about Jesus. And on that note,
let’s continue to trace the Bible’s use of the word “Israel” and move now into the New Testament.
The New Testament introduces a new concept into this discussion about the word Israel. And,
the foremost passage discussing this topic, of course, is found in Romans chapters 9 through 11.
So let’s walk through this passage and pick up a few important details about this entity or concept
that the Bible calls Israel. And remember that Romans was written by the apostle Paul,
who refers to himself as an Israelite. Paul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He is a direct,
physical descendent of the man, Israel, and the family of Israel, and the nation of Israel.
And in this section of Romans, Paul is talking about how God was fulfilling His promises among
the Gentiles at that time, meanwhile many of the people of Israel refused to believe in their own
Messiah. He’s lamenting the fact that so few Jews were coming to faith in Jesus. He says
this in Chapter 9, starting at verse 1: “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying;
my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing
anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from
Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites…”
Paul, as an Israelite, refers to the people of Israel, as “my kinsmen according to the flesh,”
my blood relatives. And he is in such anguish about their lack of belief that he says he
would be willing to give up Christ if it meant that the people of Israel would come to faith
in Jesus. And remember that, at this point, the ancient kingdom or political nation of
Israel no longer existed. By the time of Jesus, while many Israelites still lived in the land,
they were under Roman rule. And Paul goes on to say, “and to them (to the people of Israel)
belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” He’s pointing out what a special relationship
Israel has with God. He says God adopted them as His chosen people, and His glory resided
among them in the tabernacle, and God made covenants with them (He was their bridegroom,
so to speak), and He gave them the holy Scripture, and taught them how to worship Him. And God gave
Israel alone the promises, and it was through Israel that Jesus the Messiah came. In John 4,
Jesus says, “Salvation is from the Jews.” So, Paul is talking about all of these Israel’s
here in the Old Testament—the man, the family, the kingdom, the Messiah. Paul’s heart is broken
because his “kinsman according to the flesh” are denying everything their own Hebrew Scriptures
foretold about their Messiah. Think about it, of all the ways God could have chosen to do things,
he randomly chose—I say “randomly” from a human perspective, God obviously had His own reasons—but
he randomly chose some guy named Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, and miraculously called
forth the people of Israel from the womb of his 90-year-old barren wife, Sarah. And all of this,
all of these Israel’s flowed from God’s sovereign will. This isn’t a random series of events,
this isn’t happenstance, this is the will of God. And Israel plays a special role
in God’s holy, cosmic plan of redemption. And Paul goes on to describe how the fact
that many Jews don’t believe in Jesus is also part of God’s sovereign plan. Picking up at verse 6,
“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from
Israel belong to Israel.” Whoa. “And not all are children of Abraham because they are his
offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children
of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”
Paul is introducing a new type of “Israel” here! He says, “not all who are descended from Israel
belong to Israel.” What does that mean? He says not all who are descended from Israel, the man,
Jacob, belong to Israel, the family of God. Since when? Under the Old Covenant everyone
who descended from Israel belonged to Israel. So something has changed. Paul is telling his fellow
Israelites that under the New Covenant your blood lines no longer matter when it comes to having a
special relationship with God, when it comes to being a member of His family. In verse 8 he says,
“it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the
promise are counted as offspring.” This is the exact same thing he teaches in Galatians 3.
He’s giving his Jewish readers a history lesson, a reminder about how God promised Abraham and Sarah a son,
but they grew impatient and took matters into their own hands and Abraham had a son named
Ishmael through Sarah’s servant Hagar instead of his wife. So Ishmael is the son of the flesh, the human effort,
the works of Abraham. And Paul says Ishmael’s descendants are not the children of God. And then,
as you know, when Sarah was 90 years old, God finally gave them the son He had promised,
and this was Isaac. Isaac is the son of the promise, and his descendants, which Paul calls the
children of the promise, are the children of God. He's reminding them about their common ancestry.
But there’s this shocking statement in verses 6 and 7: “But it is not as though the word of
God has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all are children
of Abraham because they are his offspring.” Track with me here. God promised Abraham in
Genesis 12 that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” All the families. Not
just the descendants of Abraham. Not just the people we would come to call the Jews. Long
before Jesus and the Gospel, and long before Jacob who was named Israel, God promised Abraham that
through him, even the Gentiles would be saved. All families. So while Jesus came through the lineage
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, His mission from the very beginning was to save the entire world,
both Jews and Gentiles. And here in Romans 9, Paul is revealing yet another biblical aspect of this
word or concept of “Israel.” Because the Messiah promised through Abraham had arrived and completed
His mission by defeating sin and death, Paul is now differentiating between the Old Covenant
family or house of Israel which was based solely on ethnicity, and the New Covenant family or
House of Israel where “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” In other words,
being a member of ethnic Israel a blood relative of Jacob, no longer automatically
qualifies you to be part of God’s family. What now qualifies you to be a part of the family of
Israel is faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah. This is a huge change! It’s a paradigm shift in
how God relates to His people, and it comes as a result of the incarnation, and the sacrifice and
resurrection of Jesus. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. So let’s add that new
definition. The idea of “Israel” now also refers to believers in Jesus. This is who I believe Paul
refers to in Galatians 6:16 as the “Israel of God.” And jumping down to verse 30, Paul asks,
“What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it,
that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead
to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith,
but as if it were based on works.” So now Paul introduces faith into
the equation. He says that the Gentiles, who are not a part of the ethnic family of Israel,
achieved righteousness through their faith in Jesus. But ethnic Israel who pursued the law
lacked the necessary faith. So in terms of being children of God, of being members of God’s family,
faith now trumps ancestry. That was not the case under the Old Covenant,
but it is the case under the New Covenant. And then Paul goes on in chapter 10 to continue
unpacking the relationship between a salvation of works which is oriented around the law, and a
salvation based on faith in Jesus. And the heart of his discussion in that chapter is his desire
and prayer for the salvation of his fellow Jews. And then in chapter 11, Paul teaches that ethnic
Israel’s rejection of Jesus was all part of God’s sovereign plan to bring salvation to the Gentiles,
who did not descend from the man, Israel. And he goes on to show that God is not yet finished with
ethnic Israel as His chosen people. A remnant of Israel, he says, will ultimately be saved.
And then we get to the famous passage about Gentiles being grafted in. We’re in chapter
11, verse 13: “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles,
I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.”
The idea is that Jews will be made jealous because of the special relationship that Gentiles now
have with the God of Israel through faith in His son. Paul says this has been God’s plan from the
beginning. And he goes on to warn them. Verse 16: “If the dough offered as firstfruits
is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.” In other words,
the only reason the believing Gentiles are holy and special to God is because Israel was holy
first. And he goes on to use the metaphor of an olive tree. “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, 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. Then you will say,
“Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken
off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud,
but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.”
He says if ethnic Jews are kicked out of God’s family because of their unbelief,
because they deny Christ, and you, as a believing Gentile are grafted in because you believe,
don’t be arrogant about it. Be grateful that God, in His grace and mercy, has grafted or
adopted you into His family. You’re now His child only by the grace of God through faith.
And if God won’t spare his natural children, the ethnic Jews, because of their unbelief,
you Gentiles will not be spared either if you don’t hold firm to your faith.
He goes on to say, “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. And even they,” speaking of the ethnic Jews, the natural branches, "if
they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft
them in again. 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.” Paul is talking about the salvation of ethnic
Israel. If God is now letting Gentiles into His family, how much more will these natural
children be welcomed back into God’s family once they come to faith in Jesus. And he goes on in
the rest of the chapter to talk about this mystery of the salvation of ethnic Israel.
And, by the way, there is a very important concept in all this that we don’t want to
miss. The distinction between Jews and Gentiles does not go away under the New
Covenant. There is some confusion on this issue among our Torah-observant friends. Some point to
Ephesians 2 which talks about Jews and Gentiles being made into one new man in place of the two,
or Galatians 3:28-29 or Colossians 3:11 which both say there is neither Jew nor
Gentile because we’re all one in Christ Jesus. What we need to keep in mind is that these
passages are not statements of ethnicity, they are statements of salvation. They’re talking
about this same idea of Gentiles being grafted or adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus.
What these and other passages teach is that the distinction between Jews and Gentiles is no longer
a factor in who God considers His family, His children. Under the Old Covenant all who descended
from the man Israel were considered members of the family of God. But Romans 9:6 says that now,
under God’s New Covenant, “all who descended from Israel are not (automatically) Israel” the family.
Membership in God’s family is now determined by our faith in Jesus, the promised Messiah,
not our ancestry. Therefore, all who have come to faith in Jesus are equally the family of God,
we are one in Christ. So when read a verse like Galatians 3:28, which says, “There is neither Jew
nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.” This doesn’t mean that the distinction between Jews and Gentiles no longer exists,
any more than it means the distinction between men and women no longer exists.
So, ethnically-speaking, the body of Christ is comprised of people from every nation,
both Jews and Gentiles. Romans 1:16 says the Gospel is first for the Jew and also the Gentile.
1 Corinthians 1:24 says, “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks.” Revelation 7 talks
about a great multitude from every nation, and all tribes and peoples and languages,
including the 12 tribes of Israel, who are standing together in unity and worshipping God.
This is why the idea that the Church replaces Israel—which is the concept known as Replacement
Theology or Supersessionism—is not biblical. And equally unbiblical, is the idea that once a
Gentile comes to faith in Jesus, they’re no longer a Gentile. This is a popular idea in the Hebrew
Roots Movement. I refer to it Subsumptionism, because it teaches that the Gentile identity
is subsumed or absorbed into Israel. No, the Bible teaches that God established both Jews
and Gentiles as separate people groups, and that both are saved through faith in Jesus,
and together they make up the body of Christ. Both will be found in the kingdom
of God. God’s kingdom is all about unity among diversity, it includes people from every nation,
from all tribes and peoples and languages. The Bible teaches in no uncertain terms that
God is the God of both Jews and Gentiles. Romans 3 says this explicitly in vv. 29-30:
“Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since
God is one—who will justify the circumcised (the Jews) by faith and the uncircumcised (Gentiles)
through faith.” And Romans 10:12-13 says, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” So, again, the statements about a lack of
distinction between Jews and Gentiles are not about ethnicity, they are about salvation. And
when a Gentile comes to faith in Jesus and they’re “grafted in,” they don’t cease to
be Gentile. And that raises the question, what are Gentile believers grafted into?
Paul’s analogy of grafting branches into an olive tree is talking about how Gentiles are
joined to the family or house of Israel. How do we know that? Well through the process of
elimination we know we’re not grafted into the man called Israel (or Jacob) who died long ago.
We’re also obviously not joined with the land of Israel. Are we grafted into the Messiah who
was called Israel? I suppose there’s a sense in which we could say we are “in Christ” when we
come to faith in Him. But that doesn’t match the grafting analogy in Romans 11, where Paul talks
about the natural branches and the wild branches. So could Paul be saying that we’re grafted into
the nation of Israel? Well, no, because the nation or kingdom of Israel ceased to exist
in 522 BC. It was long gone by the time of Jesus. So Paul must be talking about the family or house
of Israel. And the language he uses to describe this grafting or joining bears that out. It’s the
language of family. Throughout Romans, Paul uses phrases like “adoption as sons” and “children of
God.” This is familial language. And Ephesians 1:5 says that God “predestined us for adoption to
himself as sons through Jesus Christ.” Galatians 4:7 says, “you are no longer a slave, but a son,
and if a son, then an heir through God.” John 1:12 says, “But to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Hebrews 2:11
says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. And of course, Scripture
consistently refers to God as our Father. This is all family language. So in Romans 11 when Paul talks about the
wild branches being grafted in, he’s using an analogy of an olive tree to represent the family
or people of God. He’s talking about Gentiles being adopted into the
ancient family of God that goes all the way back, even past Jacob, to his grandfather, Abraham.
And this is why our Torah keeping friends are so far off base when they teach or imply
that we have been grafted into the ancient kingdom of Israel, and therefore, they say,
followers of Jesus today are required to keep the law that God gave to that ancient nation under
the Old Covenant. They completely miss the facts that (a.) back when that law was given to Israel,
membership in Israel was defined by ethnicity alone. Under the Old Covenant, all who descended
from the man Israel were Israel. And (b.) the Old Covenant and it’s law were given to the nation or
kingdom of Israel. So the only people who were expected to keep that Old Covenant law were the
physical descendants of Jacob, who comprised the nation of Israel. And (c.) neither the ancient
nation of Israel, nor the covenant God made with them exists anymore. Jeremiah tells us that the
nation of Israel broke the Old Covenant and that’s why God made a New Covenant. And when the Old
Covenant was broken, the law that was given in the context of that covenant, and that served as the
terms of that covenant, came to an end. Romans 7:6 says, “Now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and
not in the old way of the written code.” The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
So membership in God’s family is no longer defined by ethnicity, as it was under the
Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, membership in God’s family is made available to every nation
through faith in His Son, Jesus. And here’s the thing, under Jesus and the New Covenant,
things have changed dramatically. We have a new set of "family rules," so to speak. Under the New
Covenant, not all who descend from Israel are Israel. And many of the things God required
of the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant, such as the repeated animal sacrifices for sin,
the physical temple, and the Levitical priesthood are not required of God’s people under the New
Covenant. For example, Jesus, who is not from the tribe of Levi as the law required,
is now our High Priest, and Hebrews 7:12 says, “When there is a change in the priesthood,
there is necessarily a change in the law as well.” And so if we take that understanding into the
passage in Ephesians 2 that our “Torah-keeping” friends often interpret as teaching that Gentiles
are now citizens in the commonwealth of Israel, we find that’s not quite what is says. In Ephesians
2:12, the author, Paul, says to the Gentiles: “Remember that you were at that time,” So this
is a statement about that past, “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
He’s describing Gentiles under the Old Covenant. They were not allowed to be citizens in Israel,
they weren't part of the covenants and promises, they didn't have God and therefore had no hope
in the world. And then something happened. Verse 13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far
off (you Gentiles) have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” And jumping down to verse 18,
“For through him we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access in one Spirit to the Father. (There’s that
family language again). So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are
fellow citizens with the saints and members of (what?) members of the household of God.”
That’s more family language. So, in contrast to their previous status,
Gentiles are now included in the family or household of God through God's generosity in Jesus.
Paul isn’t talking about literal citizenship in the political nation of Israel. He’s saying that
although Gentiles used to be outsiders and strangers, they are now sons and daughters and belong to God’s family.
When our Torah-keeping friends says things like “We’re not Christians, we’re not Gentiles, we’re
not Jews, we are Israel,” they’re not using the Bible’s definition of those words. And therefore,
they’re causing confusion and clouding the issue. According to the Bible, Christians are those
who follow who Christ. And followers of Christ include both Jews and Gentiles. And what about the
statement “We are Israel.” Personally, I find that statement far more confusing than helpful. But,
sure, I suppose there’s a sense in which followers of Jesus could be called Israel,
or as Galatians 6 says, the “Israel of God.” We could maybe say that “we are Israel” in the sense that
we’re grafted into, or adopted into, the family or house of Israel. And if we think of it that way,
we just need to remember we are under the new family rules for the people of God,
not the Old Covenant rules. Shalom.
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