Let's Talk About the Jews

The Jews are in the news a lot lately. The “Jewish Question,” as it is sometimes called, has divided Christians, because most don’t know what to make of the biblical teaching about them in New Testament times. Since Christ has fulfilled the purpose of the nation of Israel, should we regard them as just another people group, no different from any other? Or should we give them special regard as God’s chosen people?

For my purposes here, I’m observing two primary groups. On one side, some hold conspiratorial claims that the Jews hold disproportionate power in our society, which they wield in ways that benefit the nation of Israel more than their own country. Some argue the Jews are deliberately destroying the moral fabric of our society for their own gain. In this space are names like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Ian Carroll.

On the other side is a more Zionist posture, that regards Israel as America’s #1 ally, to whom we should give total allegiance, and to criticize Israel is anti-semitic. In this space are Jewish names like Ben Shapiro, Yoram Hazony, and Mark Levin, and some Catholic names like Christopher Rufo and Rick Lowry. There are also evangelical names in this space, likely influenced by dispensational theology, such as Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Paula White, Robert Jeffress, and Tony Perkins. While dispensational theology is not as prominent as it once was, it still informs evangelicalism’s reflexes, leading people to believe that Christians should support Israel because they’re God’s chosen people.

Who are the Jews?

The Jews persist as a unique people in human history. They are the only people group whose religious identity has a genetic component, yet they are not confined to a single geography. No other ethnic group has maintained a distinct identity over four thousand years without being absorbed by surrounding cultures.

Globally, Jews represent about 0.2% of the world’s population, with a little less than half of them living in Israel and the rest living in a diaspora around the world.

The Jews also tend to thrive wherever they are. In the USA, about 2% of our population is Jewish, yet they represent roughly 1/3 of the four hundred wealthiest Americans. They hold the keys to cultural power, being a strong force in Hollywood, the music industry, banking, technology, the news media, and pornography.

The nation of Israel was founded in 1948 after World War II, and that nation has been at the center of geopolitical conflict ever since. The October 7th Hamas attack, the Gaza war, and American foreign policy debates — none of this is going away.

I’m not in an informed enough position to adjudicate these things, I’m simply reporting on the kinds of discussions unfolding online on a daily basis. Every time these subjects come up, Christians don’t know what to think, because we’ve been given two options: (1) uncritical support for Israel because “they’re God’s chosen people,” or (2) a vague discomfort that we’re not allowed to talk about any of this at all for fear of being labeled anti-semitic.

Paul’s Anguish

Since the Bible doesn’t mention America or China or Russia or Ukraine, Christians of good faith need to apply biblical principles to our understanding of geopolitics. But the Bible does mention Israel by name, and we do have a country on the map by the same name. My aim here is to identify who the Bible is referring to, especially in Romans 9-11, and what it means for us today.

In Romans 9:3, Paul describes feeling a personal anguish over the Jews because they, his “kinsmen according to the flesh,” have largely rejected their Messiah. Paul is speaking specifically of the biological descendants of Abraham, who are “are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” (v4). Ultimately, “from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (v5).

God adopted Israel as his own possession. He made a covenant with them, gave them the law, taught them how to worship, and promised to bless them as a people. He established the true faith through them. The genealogies of the Old Testament exist to preserve the Abrahamic bloodline because God’s purpose in choosing the Jewish people was to bring forth the Messiah. It was always about Jesus, even when it didn’t look like it, and the plan took over two millennia to unfold.

And when Christ finally came, they rejected him. Since God made these promises to the Jewish people regarding their Messiah—since God used the Jews to bring salvation to the world yet they did not receive it—Paul anticipates someone’s objection that perhaps “the word of God has failed” (v6). Did God’s word fail regarding the Jews?

Two Israels

Paul’s answer is a resounding “no,” and here’s the reason: there have always been two Israels.

Abraham has two kinds of descendants: (1) children of the flesh and (2) children of the promise. God promised to make Abraham a great nation, but he never promised that every single physical descendant of Abraham would be saved. God also promised that salvation would come through Abraham’s line, but he never promised that every individual in his line would be saved.

So God’s promise includes both a physical seed and a spiritual seed. Christians have been confusing them for a long time. Also, this is not something new, as though Paul is retroactively reading his experience back into the story of Abraham. Rather, Paul is exegeting the passages in Genesis to demonstrate that even within the first few generations of Abraham’s own family this distinction had always been made.

Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was the child of the flesh born to Hagar, and Isaac was the child of the promise born to Sarah. Even though Ishmael was physically Abraham’s son, he did not inherit the promise, because God’s promise was that Sarah would be the mother (not Hagar, Ishmael’s mother).

The same is true in the following generation. Isaac had twin sons. Esau was the child of the flesh, and Jacob was the child of the promise. In this case, both boys had the same mother, and yet, only Isaac was chosen to inherit the promise. God chose Jacob over Esau before either of them had done anything good or bad. The choice was entirely God’s, and it had nothing to do with ethnicity or birthright in the ordinary sense.

Therefore, even within Abraham’s own family, there have always been two Israels: children of the flesh and children of the promise. Throughout the generations of Israel’s history, there was always a larger nation comprised of Abraham’s physical descendants, and a “remnant” within that nation who were true believers.

The New Testament picks up this theme with John the Baptist. When the religious establishment comes to him with their credentials, he tells them: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Luke 3:8). In other words, faith matters more than blood. God is establishing a faithful people, not merely collecting Abraham’s biological descendants (cf Rom 2:28).

Now that Jesus has come and fulfilled the promise, the nation of Israel as a political and ethnic entity has served its purpose: the preservation of the Messianic line. God’s judgment fell on Israel as a nation in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed, exactly as Jesus predicted. The vehicle had delivered its cargo. Its special status was finished.

The Stunning Reversal

So, here is what Paul’s anguish is actually about: the tragic irony of Jewish unbelief.

The unbelieving Jews of Paul’s day saw themselves as Jacob, the line of promise, but actually they are Esau, mere children of Abraham’s flesh. The unbelieving Jews saw themselves as Isaac, the child of the promise, but actually they are Ishmael, the son of the slave woman (cf Gal 4:21-31).

This is one of the great scandals of the New Testament. The Jews, Abraham’s physical descendants, Paul’s “kinsmen according to the flesh,” saw themselves as God’s chosen people. They regarded the Gentiles as cut off from God. In reality, unbelieving Jews are the ones who were cut off from God, and believing Gentiles have become the true sons of Abraham, children of the promise, and the true Israel of God.

Galatians 6:15-16 explicitly says, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.”

Therefore, God’s word has not failed, it was just fulfilled in ways they didn’t expect. True Israel is reckoned according to those share Abraham’s faith (i.e., faith in Christ), not those who merely share Abraham’s DNA.

Thus, God’s purpose of election played out exactly as God intended. He chose Jacob over Esau before either was born. He builds his covenant people not on the basis of ethnicity but on the basis of sovereign grace operating through faith. The promise to Abraham was always bigger than Abraham’s family. It was always aimed at the whole world.

What This Means Practically

This being the case, what does it mean for Christians and Jews in our day? Here are three simple conclusions we can draw.

First, unbelieving Jews have no special covenant standing before God. This cuts against the dispensationalist view which has exerted significant influence in evangelical circles. Dispensationalism holds that ethnic Israel retains a separate covenant status and prophetic future distinct from the Church. That view is wrong. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, and there is no salvation apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 4:5-6). If you have an unbelieving Jewish neighbor or coworker, treat him like any other unbeliever. Be kind, share the gospel, treat him with respect, but do not defer to him or grant him a special status he does not possess. He has rejected his Messiah. That is the most important thing to know about him.

Second, the Bible does not require the United States to support the nation of Israel. This is the same principle as the above point at scale. Many sincere Christians believe America has a divine obligation to stand with Israel because the Jews are God’s chosen people. But that’s simply not true. The only people who can rightly be called God’s chosen people are Christians—we are the true circumcision, the true Jew, the Israel of God. Modern unbelieving Jews have no covenant standing with God. Just because the nation of Israel happens to be called “Israel” and occupied by Jewish people, it has no special status before God. We may choose to support them if doing so serves our national interests, but that is a political calculation, not a theological obligation. No verse of Scripture requires it.

Think of it this way: if the apostle Paul were walking through Tel Aviv today, he would not be talking about Iran or bombs or Bibi Netanyahu or the Gaza strip or foreign policy. He would feel grief in his soul because they are his kinsmen according to the flesh and they have rejected their Messiah. His concern would be for their souls, not their geopolitical interests. He would say, “These people need Jesus.” That is the right Christian posture toward the Jewish people: not political alliance, but evangelistic urgency.

So when you read about “Israel” or “the Jews” in your Bible, do not picture a country on a map. Picture a lost people group, some of whom live in the nation of Israel, and some who are scattered around the world, who need to receive their Messiah.

Third, God does have a future plan for the salvation of the Jewish people through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 11 does teach that before Christ returns, God will bring about a mass conversion of ethnic Jews. This is a genuine promise and worth taking seriously. But it does not mean that unbelieving Jews currently enjoy a favored status before God apart from faith.

Think of it this way. You might have unbelievers in your life that you care deeply about right now. Further, you don’t realize it, but suppose they are elect and God will one day bring about their faith and conversion to Christ. Even though that unbelieving friend will one day become a Christian, he or she has no covenant standing before God. He is simply an unbeliever who is elect and will become a Christian someday. That’s what Romans 11 is saying. God will bring a large number of Jews to faith in Jesus Christ at some point in the future because he cares for their souls. But that’s not the same thing as assuming those unbelievers have covenant standing before God. And when that day comes, they will not be saved because they are Jews, they will be saved because they have repented of their sins and placed their faith in Jesus Christ.