Israel in God's Plan

Israel in God’s Plan

In order to undercut the idolatry of nationalism in the United States many Christian thinkers have defended the proposition that God’s nationalistic agenda ended with Christ and that Christians are not to be conditioned by national or ethnic allegiances. I certainly agree that American Christians especially need to wake up and start treating Iraqi and Palestinian Christians for example, of which there are quite a few, on par with American Christians. In fact, American Christians need to start treating all people as those beloved of God. However, where does this put the Jewish question? Is God done with the nation of Israel/Jewish people. What is the theological significance of the State of Israel?
I want to argue that, based primarily on Romans 11, God’s national agenda for Israel has not ended.

Israel in the Teachings of Jesus

Israel certainly figures in the teachings of Jesus. Here are a few key texts:

Matthew 10:5-6: These twelve Jesus sent out commanding them saying: “Do not go among the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go instead to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”

Matthew 15:24: He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”

These two passages find indirect support from a comment made by Paul in Romans 15:8: “For I say Christ has become a servant of the circumcision on behalf of the truthfulness of God, and to confirm the promises to the patriarchs.”

In Matthew 10:5, the fact that Jesus sends out twelve, a number that harkens back to the twelve tribes of Israel, is highly significant. Also, Paul’s use of the word “circumcision” in Romans 15:8 is clearly directed to physical Israel and not some sort of spiritual Israel.

An historical argument is that a lot of theological spade work was needed to be done by Paul in order for the Gentiles to have equal standing in the Church. This begs the question "why?"

Romans 11

I contend that according to Paul, Israel is not a non-factor in God’s plans after Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is a pattern that Paul hits a couple of times:

11:12b their failure → riches for the Gentiles » their fullness → greater riches (implied)

11:15 their rejection → reconciliation of the world » their acceptance → life from the dead

By “fullness” Paul is probably referring quantitatively because that is also the use in 11:25 as applied to the Gentile. In context, the “their” in “their fullness” and “their acceptance” clearly refers to that which is contrasted with a remnant in 11:7: “the rest were hardened.” In 11:16, Paul uses two metaphors which again make reference to the whole of Israel:

Firstfruits [Jewish Christians and/or patriarchs] is holy → also the lump [the whole of Israel]
Root [Jewish Christians and/or patriarchs] is holy → also the branches [the whole of Israel]

All of this leads to 11:26: “and so all Israel will be saved.” The controversy concerns what Paul means by “all Israel.” Some take this to refer to the church, the entire spiritual Israel (see Gal. 6:16). However, Paul has used the word “Israel” in this section (9-11) to this point to refer to national Israel and not to a spiritual Israel. Paul wants to prevent Gentile boasting and it would undercut that purpose to all of a sudden invoke a term that includes Gentiles. Of course, “all” is hyperbolic and probably does not refer to each and every Jew, but only to a representative whole.

Some have argued that Paul was not referring to a large-scale Jewish conversion at the end. I find their arguments unconvincing.

(1) In 11:26 it is argued that "and so" better means "thus, in this manner" and not "in the end". We can grant the point without destroying the temporal aspects. The manner in which Israel is saved is by being provoked by jealousy which doesn't happen until [the until in verse 11:25 rules out giving no temporal weight to "and so" in 11:26] the fullness of Gentiles comes in.

(2) It is also argued that the addition of the "now" in 11:31 rules out the future interpretation of 11:26. A look at 11:30-31 is helpful as it informs our interpretation of 11:26.

For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy by their disobedience, so also they have now been disobedient for your mercy, that also they may [now] receive mercy.

The "now" in "they may now receive mercy" is (a) not in every manuscript and (b) if it is original it most likely is added only to highlight the eschatological imminence of this phase (so Dunn).

(3) It is also argued that Paul's quote of Isaiah 59:20-21 in 11:26-27a is referring to Jesus' past and not to the Parousia. However, the verb tense is future: "will come out of Zion the one delivering". Also, Paul's use of "delivering" elsewhere refers to eschatological events on par with the Parousia: Romans 7:24, 1 Thess. 1:10 (so Dunn again).

(4) Paul's use of Isaiah 27:9 in 11:27b ("when I take away the sins of them") is glossed by these arguers to be "whenever" in order to eliminate the temporal aspect. However, Isaiah 27:9 (from the "Isaiah Apocalyspe") was most likely chosen by Paul to highlight the eschatolocal timeframe and so is totally in-line with viewing 11:26-27a as the Parousia.

Once we establish that Paul is referring to a future Jewish salvation, we are now in a position to go back to 11:12b and 11:15 and took at how Jewish fullness and acceptance figure in God’s plan. Paul implies greater riches and “life from the dead.” That Paul is referring some sort of eschatological state is indicated by a comparison of 11:15 with 5:10: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved [future, cf. 13:11] by his life.” It would seem then that future role of national Israel is to have eschatological significance.

Theological upshot


If national Israel is to have eschatological significance, this ought to inform Christian theology. The Jewish Philosopher Emil Fackenheim claims that the Holocaust and the founding of the state of Israel are “root events” in Jewish history. I think it behooves us Christians to take these root events seriously and learn from them. Also, we might have a clue as to why the imminence of the Kingdom sensed by Jesus, Paul, and the early church has taken so long to consummate. The Jews have yet to realize their God-given mandate, a mandate lived out by Jesus the Jew.