Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

For this lesson, we stepped aside from directly studying the book of Revelation so we could study a topic that has huge impact on the way we interpret end-times prophecy.

God has been making promises and giving hope to His people ever since He promised Adam and Eve that they’d live if they ate from that tree and die if they ate from that other one.

Through most of the Old Testament, God’s promises and the hope he offered were directed at the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — the nation of Israel.

I would strongly encourage you to read a separate article I wrote–  A Brief Sketch of Israel’s History — before continuing this lesson. Although we didn’t cover it in class, I think it will be helpful in understanding what follows. I tried to keep it truly brief (laid out in bullets) without sacrificing usefulness.

As a people, Israel frequently vacillated in its allegiance to God. In fact, during a large part of their Old Testament history they abandoned Him to worship other gods and follow the ways of the world around them.

By the way, I’ve done that too. So have you.

Yet, most of God’s promises — the big ones — were unconditional. And therein lies the tension. How would God faithfully carry out His unconditional promises to Abraham regarding his offspring when they had abandoned Him?

We’ll answer that, but not without first studying a fair amount scriptures.

What you’ll see below are a number of quoted scriptures (from the NIV) with comments. In the end, I’ll try to pull it all together to explain my own understanding of all this.

Please understand that this is a huge topic that has resulted in a lot of controversy because people have a lot of different viewpoints and it affects a lot of other issues.

How significant is this issue? By way of extreme example, as much as Martin Luther positively impacted Christianity during the Reformation, he was a true anti-Semite. He considered the Jews to be practically unsavable. I won’t include the harsh words here that he used against Jews, but they were strong and reduced ethnic Israel to a very low life form.

Much later, Adolf Hitler told the Germans that he was finishing the job that Martin Luther began. That’s how the Nazi’s justified the Holocaust.

Now, don’t go taking this too far… There’s every reason to believe Luther would have detested Hitler as much as you or I. But as always, please study the scriptures for yourself. Don’t accept a teaching just because you like a teacher. I take teaching the Bible very seriously and prayerfully try to be as responsible as possible, but I need checked, too.

OK, enough intro. Here’s the first passage to consider:

Matthew 21:33-46
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

A simple reading of this parable suggests the landowner (God) rented a vineyard (God’s kingdom) to some farmers (Israel - Jacob’s descendants). When the landowner sent people (the prophets) to gather the fruit they were supposed to grow for him, tenants beat and killed them. He tried again with the same result. Finally He sent His own son (Jesus) to gather the fruit, but they killed him too. So the landowner evicted those tenants and gave it to others who would produce fruit for him.

This leads some to conclude that Israel is out, Gentiles are in. But that’s not entirely correct.

There’s an important distinction to be made. The first tenants couldn’t have been all of Jacob’s descendants. Every one of the apostles, most of the first Christians, and Jesus Himself fell into that category!

Rather than all Israelites, the first tenants would have been the physical descendants of Jacob who rejected the Messiah. That would include the very people Jesus was talking to, but not all ethnic Jews.

So what the parable is really saying is that God asked Jacob’s descendants to keep watch over the kingdom and bear fruit. But some of them rejected His son, the Messiah. Those people were evicted from the kingdom of God, and it was given to other people who did not reject Jesus.

OK, stop. Make sure that’s clear in your head — it’s significant. God didn’t reject the nation of Israel, he rejected the people from the nation of Israel that rejected Jesus.

The basic premise in this lesson is this:

• Before Christ, the nation of Israel was the people of God
• They were promised a Messiah
• The Messiah (Christ) came, and as a nation they rejected Him
• Jews who rejected the Messiah surrendered their role as the people of God
• Jews who rejected the Messiah also rejected salvation through grace
• All who allow themselves to be saved by grace through Christ are now part of the church, which is true people of God, the true Judaism
• This can include ethnic Jews (such as all of the apostles) and ethnic Gentiles
• All who are saved are the children of the promises to Abraham, the true Israel of God
• Jesus did not come to establish a new religion. Christianity was not a new religion in the first century. Christianity is a continuation of the same religious faith Abraham had
• The church did not replace ethnic Israel as the people of God, it continues it

Next passage:

Acts 3:22-23
22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.’

Moses told Israel that someone would arise from among the nation of Israel. They needed to either listen to everything He said or else they would be cut off. Plain and simple.

Ephesians 2:11-19
“Formerly you who are Gentiles by birth were … excluded from citizenship in Israel. But now in Christ Jesus you … have been brought near through the blood of Christ. … He destroyed the barrier. … His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two … to reconcile both of them to God. … Through Him we both have access to the Father by one spirit. … You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people.

Paul here clearly told Gentiles that Jesus destroyed the barrier between ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles. Jesus formed both into one body. God’s people are composed of both Jews and Gentiles equally.

Romans 9:24
24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” 26 and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ’sons of the living God.’

Paul quoted Hosea 1:10 and Hosea 2:23. If you read those passages in their native context, they refer to the literal nation of Israel. But here Paul deliberately applied them to the church. The church (which is made up of Jews and Gentiles) is the people of God and fulfills the promises of Hosea.

Romans 4:11-17
11 And [Abraham] received … a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith… 16 the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring–not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”

Three significant points on this passage:

• Abraham is the father of both uncircumcised believers (v. 11)  and of circumcised believers (v. 12) — both Gentiles and Jews who believe.
• Everyone who shares Abraham’s faith is called his offspring (v. 16)
• Everyone who shares Abraham’s faith is included in the “many nations” Abraham became the father of in God’s covenant with him (vv. 16-17)

Galatians 3:7-18
7 …those who believe are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. 10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse…11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” …13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us … 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus… 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. … 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

Once again, Paul plainly writes that the children of Abraham (which implies the benefactors of God’s promises to Abraham) are “those who believe” (v.7) – including Gentiles (v.8). Additionally, anyone who relies on observing the Law — which means anyone who rejects grace through Jesus – is “under a curse” (v.10). The blessing given to Abraham is offered to the Gentiles, too (v.14).

Then Paul makes everything abundantly clear in vv.16 and 18: The inheritance God promised to Abraham’s seed were given to one person: Christ, the Messiah. All who are part of Christ are heirs of that promise. That could be ethnic Jews or ethnic non-Jews, it doesn’t matter. But believing in the Christ-Messiah is the only way to receive those promises.

Romans 2:28-29
28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

Who is a Jew, according to Paul? Someone who is one inwardly, whose circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit rather than by the “written code” (the Law).

Philippians 3:3
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh

Keep in mind that “the circumcision” and “Jews” and “Israel” are synonyms. So who is Israel? Those who “glory in Christ.” That is you and me, if we are Christians.

Galatians 3:29
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise

Could Paul say it any clearer than that?

—–

OK, now we come to a somewhat difficult passage, but a very important one to understand if you want to work out this whole issue of the salvation of Israel. Someone someday is likely to ask you how you understand Romans 11:26, because many use it as a litmus test to classify you into one camp or another.

Before proceeding, make sure you are clear on what we studied above. Briefly, we’ve learned that ethnic Jews who reject the Christ-Messiah can no longer truly be called Israel or Jews or heirs of the inheritance God promised to Abraham. On a human level we might still use the term “Jew” to refer to an ethnic group, and we might still use the term “Israel” to refer to a country, but in theologically those are inaccurate. Only those who believe in Christ have spiritual citizenship in Israel.

Additionally, anyone else in the world whose salvation is through Christ - regardless of nationality or ethnic descent - is also a true Jew and a citizen of Israel, theologically speaking.

So here’s the difficult passage. Read it a couple of times through, and try to work out v. 26 for yourself before reading my comments:

Romans 11:23-26
23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.”

Here’s the thing. In the context of Romans 11:26, Paul didn’t write about anything even related to the salvation of ethnic Jews. Nor does he mention it after these verses. If that’s what these verses meant, they wouldn’t fit the context.

His topic is that ethnic Jews who did not believe in Christ were cut off from the “olive tree” (which is simply the body of God’s people) and that Gentiles were grafted into that tree. Paul clearly states that if ethnic Jews will believe, they will be grafted back in. After all, they are the natural branches of the tree. If God is willing to graft unnatural branches (Gentiles) into the tree, how much more readily would He graft Israel back in?

Now, about that phrase: “And so all Israel will be saved.” We need to explore the first two words, “and so.”

The words is Greek are kai houto, (και ‘ουτω). This common phrase could be translated “in this way” rather than “and so.” It’s translated that way several times in the New Testament. Here are a few examples:

Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ (1 Corinthians 8:12)

What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. (Galatians 4:1-3. “So also” clearly means “in this way” here)

If we read Romans 11:26 with the words “in this way,” it more closely aligns with the rest of Paul’s statements here and elsewhere:

“If Israelites will believe, they will be grafted back into their own olive tree.

In this way, all Israel will be saved (or, ‘This is the way for all Israel to be saved’).”

In other words, any Jew who is saved will be saved in the same way a Gentile is saved - by being grafted in by God through grace.

This is the gist of one of Paul’s sermons to the Jews in Acts:

Acts 13:32-38
We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus… Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

OK, I’ll list again the basic premise in this lesson:

• Before Christ, the nation of Israel was the people of God
• They were promised a Messiah
• The Messiah (Christ) came, and as a nation they rejected Him
• Jews who rejected the Messiah surrendered their role as the people of God
• Jews who rejected the Messiah also rejected salvation through grace
• All who allow themselves to be saved by grace through Christ are now part of the church, which is true people of God, the true Judaism
• This can include ethnic Jews (such as all of the apostles) and ethnic Gentiles
• All who are saved are the children of the promises to Abraham, the true Israel of God
• Christianity was not a new religion in the first century. Jesus did not come to establish a new religion. Christianity is a continuation of the same religious faith that Abraham had.
• The church did not replace ethnic Israel as the people of God, it continues it

Do you agree or disagree? Feel free to leave a comment below!