Are the Jewish People Still God’s Chosen People?

Since the second century, Christians have frequently asserted that the church has become the new people of God and that the Jewish people are no longer a part of God’s plan. They hold their view because the leadership of Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah. And, most of the Jewish nation has followed that decision. This point of view is called “replacement theology” or supersessionism. But is this view valid? Are the Jewish people no longer God’s chosen nation? Let’s look at what the Scripture says.

God’s Faithfulness to Israel

It seems that the New Testament-era church in Rome may have been the first to develop an early form of replacement theology. That’s why Paul corrects that view and clarifies the status of the Jewish people in his letter to the Romans. In several places within that epistle, the apostle reminds his readers of God’s faithfulness to Israel.

God Is Faithful Despite Israel’s Unbelief—Romans 3:3-4

Paul begins by reminding the church at Rome of the advantages God gave the Jewish people, specifically that God entrusted them with “the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:2) or the Scriptures. Then, he turns to the problem of Jewish unbelief in Jesus. He asks and answers, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (vv. 3–4). The apostle’s point is that although most Jewish people did not believe in Jesus, God would always remain faithful to His promises. God will not abandon the Jewish people. He will protect and preserve them and, ultimately, fulfill every promise He ever made to them.

God’s Promises Still Belong to Israel—Romans 9:4-5

In context, these verses indicate that Paul is speaking of unbelieving Israel, his deep compassion for them, and his desire for them to believe in the Messiah Jesus. Nevertheless, in Romans 9:4–5, Paul describes the blessings and promises God has granted to the Jewish people, saying they “are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” These verses are governed by the present-tense verb “are,” indicating that all these gifts from God still belong to the Jewish people, even those who do not believe in Jesus the Messiah. This means that every blessing God gave to Israel still belongs to them, with the greatest one being that God the Son became incarnate in Jewish humanity.

God Has Not Rejected Israel—Romans 11:1-5

It might seem logical that, since Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as the Messiah, God would reject them. In response to that conjecture, Paul exclaims “May it never be!” or “Absolutely not!” (Rom. 11:1). To prove his point, Paul uses himself as an example of a Jewish believer in Jesus. He then points to history. In Elijah’s time, God worked through a believing remnant to preserve 7,000 faithful Israelites (vv. 2–4). So, Paul argues, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (v. 5). God has not abandoned or rejected the Jewish people, claims Paul. In every age, from the Old Testament to the present day, there will be a remnant (a small part of the whole) of Israel that will remain faithful to the Lord, until the day when the entire nation turns in faith to their Messiah Jesus (v. 26).

God Chooses and Loves Israel Despite Unbelief—Romans 11:28-29

The most significant passage about the status of the Jewish people is found in Romans 11:28–29. At the outset, it asserts that “from the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake.” This does not say that Jewish people are enemies of God or of Christians. It does acknowledge that they are opposed to the gospel. Except for a remnant of Jewish people who have become followers of Jesus (cf. Rom. 11:1–5), tragically most Jewish people do not believe in Jesus and reject the good news that Jesus is the Redeemer of Israel. What is so sad about this rejection is that Jewish people need Jesus to experience God’s eternal forgiveness. Nevertheless, this verse is plainly describing Jewish people who do not believe in Jesus.

Despite their unbelief in Jesus, verses 28 and 29 also say Jewish people will continue to hold a special status as God’s people. This unique national identity (which is different than their spiritual status) has three important aspects:

First, despite their unbelief in Jesus, the Jewish people remain God’s chosen nation. Romans 11:28 continues by saying “but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.” The word choice refers to God’s choice of the people of Israel. This goes all the way back to God’s choice of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 12:1–3; 26:3–4; 28:10–14) and their physical descendants to be the people through whom God would make His name known throughout the earth.

We might wonder, Aren’t all believers in Jesus chosen? Clearly, Ephesians 1:4 says that believers were chosen before the foundation of the world. But this verse refers to God’s spiritual choice for salvation, not God’s national choice of Israel. The Jewish people remain God’s chosen nation.

Second, the Jewish people remain God’s beloved nation. They are loved not because of anything intrinsic in themselves (Deut. 7:7–8), but because of God’s choice and His commitment to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We might ask, Doesn’t God love Gentiles too? Of course, He does. John 3:16 says “God so loved the world.” But throughout Scripture it is clear that God has a special love for the Jewish people. This is similar to me saying that I love all my students (and I do), but I have a special love for my own sons.

Just as God is faithful to Israel, so He’ll be faithful to all followers of Jesus. Even if we fail Him, He will never fail us. 

Third, despite their unbelief, Jewish people retain God’s unbreakable promises. Romans 11:29 says “for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” God’s gift of special blessings and His call to the Jewish people to represent Him to the world are irrevocable. The gifts God gave Israel include the Scriptures (Rom. 3:1–2) and those mentioned in Romans 9:4–5 (the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants including the land covenant, the law, the temple worship, the promises of the Abrahamic covenant, and Jesus, the Messiah of Israel). This means that every promise that God made to Israel still belongs to the people of Israel. One day, the whole nation of Israel, alive at the return of the Lord Jesus, will believe in Him, and the whole nation at that time will be saved (cf. Rom. 11:26). God intends to fulfill every promise He ever made to the Jewish people.

The question remains, if Romans is so clear that God is faithful to Israel and has not rejected His people, why do people think otherwise? To answer, let’s consider two central passages which are used to argue that the identity of Israel was changed from the Jewish nation to the church.

The Identity of Israel

There are two main passages that are often cited as supporting the alleged change of meaning of Israel from the ethnic Jewish people to all followers of Jesus, Jewish or Gentile. However, both actually speak of ethnic Jewish people.

The True Israel—Romans 9:6

Immediately after pointing out that God’s national promises still belong to Israel (Rom. 9:1–5), Paul comments, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed” (Rom. 9:6a). Despite Israel’s failure to believe in the Messiah Jesus, God’s word remains true. The evidence is in the righteous remnant of Israel, the Jewish followers of Jesus. Paul describes them when he says, “For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Rom. 9:6b hcsb). Although some have taken this to mean that God has expanded Israel into a spiritual Israel, consisting of both Jewish and Gentile believers, that is not what Paul means. Rather, he is speaking of a sub-group within Israel, the Jewish believers (or the remnant of Israel). Jewish followers of Jesus are Abraham’s descendants by both physical and spiritual descent, and so they are considered the true Israel. The context of this passage helps us understand this as a narrowing of Israel, referring to Jewish believers, rather than an expansion of Israel to include Gentiles.

This position is supported by the use of the word Israel in the New Testament. It is used 73 times, and in 71 of these uses it is undisputed that Israel refers to ethnic Jewish people and not Gentiles. It seems extremely unlikely that Paul would use the word Israel here to include Gentiles. In context, understanding this passage as speaking of Jewish followers of Jesus makes more sense.

So we can deduce that Paul views Jewish believers in Jesus as the true Israel because of both their physical descent and their spiritual relationship with God by faith in Jesus the Messiah. A good paraphrase of Romans 9:6 would be, “God’s word is true—there is a faithful, believing Israel, the faithful remnant, within collective Israel.” Consequently, according to Paul, God keeps His promises to the Jewish people through the true Israel, the Jewish followers of Messiah Jesus.

The Israel of God—Galatians 6:16

The only other passage in the New Testament that allegedly uses the word Israel to describe the church is Galatians 6:16. But this verse (just as Rom. 9:6) also refers to Jewish followers of Jesus, not to a combination of Jewish and Gentile believers in the church. At the end of Galatians, Paul pronounces a blessing on those who follow his teaching about justification by faith alone, saying, “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (v. 16).

God’s faithfulness to Israel should bring assurance to all believers today.

There are three reasons this passage can be understood as referring to Jewish believers and not the church. First, we should take careful note of the simple conjunction “and” in the phrase, “and upon the Israel of God.” Some take this word in an explanatory sense, translating it as “even” as if it were explaining that all that walk by Paul’s rule (Jew and Gentile alike) are the Israel of God. This would then be describing the church as the Israel of God. On the other hand, this same conjunction in Greek is most commonly used in its simple sense of “and,” meaning “to give additional information.” If understood this way, Paul is blessing all who follow his teaching and additionally, “the Israel of God.” Renowned New Testament Greek scholar S. Lewis Johnson, when commenting on this verse, said, “We should avoid the rarer grammatical usages when the common ones make good sense.”46 It makes sense for Paul to bless all who follow his teaching and to bless Jewish believers. This view fits the purpose of the book of Galatians.

Second, understanding this verse as a special blessing for Jewish believers fits better within the context of Paul’s letter. In the book of Galatians, Paul was dealing with some Jewish teachers who were calling for Gentiles to convert to Judaism and be circumcised. Paul rebukes them for adding a work to God’s grace. Some might have considered Paul’s sharp rebuke as a condemnation of all Jewish followers of Jesus. So here at the end of the book, Paul gives a blessing to all believers, with an added special blessing for the Jewish believers who were faithful to the truth.

Third, the New Testament uses the word Israel 73 times; 72 of these refer to ethnic Israel. It seems highly unlikely that in just one case, Galatians 6:16, the word Israel would refer to the church. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, the word Israel refers to ethnic Jewish people.

Final Thoughts

Once, during the Q & A part of a lecture I was giving, someone asked, “Why is it so important to understand God’s faithfulness to Israel?” In response, I pointed the audience to Paul’s letter to the Romans, particularly chapters 9–11. Romans 8 ends by stating that nothing can ever separate believers from the love of God (vv. 31–39)! Paul frequently answers the challenges of an unseen objector in the book of Romans and here he anticipates what the objection might be: If God rejected Israel, certainly He could reject a disobedient and unfaithful follower of Jesus! Paul’s answer in Romans 9 to 11 is designed to vindicate God’s faithfulness. His point is that despite Israel’s failure to believe in Jesus, God would remain faithful to the national promises He made to Israel. Even better, one day He will bring the nation to faith in Jesus! God’s faithfulness to Israel should bring assurance to all believers today. Just as God is faithful to Israel, so He’ll be faithful to all followers of Jesus. Even if we fail Him, He will never fail us.