God's Unconditional Promise To Israel

January 8th, 2025
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel…

The “word of God” in v. 6 is Paul’s way of referencing the OT Scriptures, specifically the promises given to ethnic Israel in the OT. But does God’s word now mean nothing since He has seemingly abandoned Israel? Has God reneged on His words to Israel and given them to the Church instead, or were His promises always just for the Church? If so, can Christians trust that God will not abandon them like He did Israel and move on to another select group?

Since God cannot lie, He can never renege on His word. Paul never denies that ethnic Israel continues as the people of God (9:4-5; 11:1-2, 28). What he does deny is that Israel’s corporate election entails that each individual one of them will be saved. For salvation is never about one’s ethnic descent but about faith and trust in God (cf. 2:1-29; 4:1-16). In other words, Paul means that all who are descended from Israel physically do not necessarily belong to Israel spiritually.

Israel of course is a people who descended from Jacob, Abraham’s grandson. God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” in Genesis 32:28, and his 12 sons became the 12 tribes of Israel. Within the physical nation there consists a spiritual remnant of believers. Some claim that spiritual Israel is the Church of Jesus Christ, believers stemming from both Jews and Gentiles. Romans 4:1-16 says as much in that Abraham’s true progeny are all those who believe. To the Galatians, Paul said that Christians are “children of promise, like Isaac” (4:28). Likewise, in his epistle to the Philippians, Paul said that all Christians are “the circumcision” (Phil. 3:3), whether Jew or Gentile. So, from these texts Paul clearly used titles from the OT that were used for ethnic Israel in relation to the Church in the NT. So, it seems as if Paul is including Gentile Christians in the second reference to “Israel” in v. 6. Notwithstanding, this is not be the best rendering for Israel.

In Romans 9:1-5 Paul set the parameters of his argument concerning the nation of Israel, and any interpretation of Romans 9-11 must take this into account. Paul is specifically talking about ethnic Israel, for he meticulously distinguishes between two specific groups throughout these chapters, namely between Gentiles and Israel/Jews. Paul explains in Romans 9:7-13 what he means in v. 6 concerning God’s choice of His people from within ethnic Israel. They are the “remnant,” according to Isaiah 10:22, chosen according to God’s grace from among the larger group of Israelites that Paul points to in 9:27-29. To be sure, Gentiles will also be called out as chosen vessels for salvation as Hosea 2:23 says (cf. 1:10), for God will also call them “My people.” Yet it is notable that the Gentiles are a separate group and distinguished from the remnant of chosen ones called out from the nation of Israel itself. They are clearly distinct.

Therefore, the spiritual Israel Paul speaks of in v. 6 refers to a smaller group of believers from within Israel, a spiritual body of believing Jews who come from within the larger ethnic group. These are the remnant chosen according to God’s grace. Paul does not direct the reader to believe that he is speaking about a spiritual overlap of Gentile Christians to be included in this group in this passage or context. So, he is not saying, “Only those who are of Israel are Israel.” But he is saying, “It is not all those who are from Israel that actually are Israel.”

Food for Thought

All through the Bible the nation of Israel is an entity all its own, distinct from the Church. Therefore, the Church must never be identified as the “new Israel.” There is both spiritual unity in salvation between Jews and Gentiles and a future role for Israel as a nation. As a nation, Israel will be both saved by believing in Jesus Christ and restored with a unique identity and function in Christ’s future millennial kingdom on the earth. God promised such, and He doesn’t lie.