Who Is Israel in the New Testament?
The New Testament's answer to the Israel-and-the-Church question is one people, not two — Jew and Gentile grafted into a single olive tree in Christ.
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Ask “who is Israel?” in most American churches and you will get one of two answers. Dispensationalism says Israel and the Church are two permanently distinct peoples, with separate promises and separate futures. The historic church reads the New Testament differently — and the difference is the hinge on which a great deal else turns.
One olive tree, not two
Paul’s defining image is in Romans 11: a single olive tree. Some natural branches (unbelieving Israelites) are broken off; wild branches (believing Gentiles) are grafted in; and broken branches can be grafted back. The whole point of the picture is that there is one tree, one root — not two trees standing side by side. And Paul aims it straight at Gentile pride: “do not be arrogant toward the branches” (Romans 11:18). This is not the Church congratulating itself for replacing Israel. It is the nations being brought into Israel’s own story.
“Abraham’s offspring”
Galatians presses the same conviction. “It is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7). “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). When Paul then blesses “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), the most natural reading, after three chapters of argument, is that he means that one believing people. Paul can even say flatly, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6), and that the real Jew is “one inwardly,” a matter of the heart (Romans 2:28–29). Peter hands the congregations language once spoken to Israel at Sinai: “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).
Not replacement — fulfillment
It is worth being careful here, because “the Church replaced Israel” is a slogan that has done real harm. The better word is fulfillment. The Church is not a new entity that elbowed Israel aside; it is the flowering of the one promise made to Abraham — “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3) — now opened to the nations exactly as God always said it would be. In Christ “the dividing wall of hostility” comes down and Jew and Gentile are made “one new man” (Ephesians 2:14–16).
And the Jewish people?
None of this licenses indifference, let alone contempt, toward the Jewish people. Paul opens this very section of Romans in anguish for his kinsmen (Romans 9:1–5), insists “God has not rejected his people” (Romans 11:1), and says his heart’s desire is their salvation (Romans 10:1). Confessional Lutherans hold both truths at once: there is one people of God in Christ, and we pray earnestly for Jewish people to know their Messiah. To love the doctrine and despise the neighbor would be to miss Paul entirely.
Go deeper
- Judeo-Christian Values? — the full confessional Lutheran reckoning with how the promises to Abraham are fulfilled in Christ, and what dispensationalism and Christian Zionism replaced.
- The field guide to dispensationalism — the larger system in which the two-peoples idea is the keystone.
- Worthy Is the Lamb — a free Revelation commentary; its excursus on the 144,000 shows the sealed of Israel and the countless multitude from every nation to be one people of God, not two.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Church the new Israel? The New Testament prefers a richer image than “replacement”: one olive tree (Romans 11) into which believing Gentiles are grafted alongside believing Israelites. The Church does not replace Israel so much as Israel’s promises come to flower in Christ and open to the nations. There is one people of God, Jew and Gentile together in Him.
What does “the Israel of God” mean in Galatians 6:16? In a letter whose whole argument is that those who belong to Christ are “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29), “the Israel of God” most naturally names that one believing people — not a separate ethnic track running alongside the Church.
Does this mean God is finished with the Jewish people? No. Paul is emphatic that God has not rejected His people (Romans 11:1), warns Gentile believers against arrogance, and longs for his kinsmen’s salvation (Romans 9:1–5; 10:1). Confessional Lutherans pray for the salvation of Jewish people in Christ. Affirming one people of God is never a license for contempt.