Is the Church Called “Israel” in Romans 9:6?

Romans 9:6 is a passage sometimes used by supersessionists to show that the church is explicitly called Israel.[1] This verse reads, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” Some see in the first mention of “Israel” a concept of Israel that goes beyond ethnic boundaries. Thus, Paul is allegedly making a distinction between ethnic Israel and a spiritual Israelthat consists of all believers including Gentiles. This is the view of Ridderbos: “Even the distinction Paul makes within national Jerusalem between who is and who is not a ‘Jew,’ between ‘Israel’ and ‘those who are of Israel’ (Rom. 2:28ff.; 9:6), tends to a usage that denotes the believing gentiles as well and therefore the Christian church as such as “Israel.”[2] In reference to Rom 9:6–8 Wayne Grudem declares, “Paul here implies that the true children of Abraham, those who are in the most true sense ‘Israel,’ are not the nation of Israel by physical descent from Abraham but those who have believed in Christ.”[3] In his comments on Rom 9:6, Robertson states, “It is those who, in addition to being related to Abraham by natural descendency, also relate to him by faith, plus those Gentiles who are ingrafted by faith, that constitute the true Israel of God.”[4]

This verse, though, is not a supporting text for supersessionism as most commentators on Romans 9:6 acknowledge. As Murray has noted, Rom 9:6 is teaching that “there is an ‘Israel’ within ethnic Israel.”[5] Paul is not saying that believing Gentiles are now part of Israel. Instead, believing Jews are the true Israel. William Sanday and Arthur C. Headlam make this point:

But St. Paul does not mean here to distinguish a spiritual Israel (i.e. the Christian Church) from the fleshly Israel, but to state that the promises made to Israel might be fulfilled even if some of his descendants were shut out from them. What he states is that not all the physical descendants of Jacob are necessarily inheritors of the Divine promises implied in the sacred name Israel.[6]

Thus, the true Israelite is one who is a Jew ethnically and one has believed in Jesus Christ (see Romans 2:28–29). Romans 9:6, therefore, is not a supporting text for Replacement Theology.

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[1] Those who view Rom 9:6 as including believing Gentiles in the concept of “Israel” include: Ridderbos, Paul, 336, n. 30; Grudem, Systematic Theology, 861; C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1932), 155; Goppelt, Typos, 140; Ellis, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament, 137; and James D. G. Dunn, Romans 9–16, WBC, vol. 38b (Dallas: Word, 1988), 540; LaRondelle, The Israel of God in Prophecy, 121; Bright, The Kingdom of God, 226–27. Commenting on Rom 9:6, Origen stated, “For if the judgment respecting the ‘Jew inwardly’ be adopted, we must understand that, as there is a ‘bodily’ race of Jews, so also is there a race of ‘Jews inwardly.’” Origen, First Principles 4.21, ANF 4:370.

[4] O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R, 1980), 40.

[6] William Sanday and Arthur C. Headlam, The Epistle to the Romans, ICC (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1923), 240. See also Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 574. About Rom 9:6, Gutbrod writes, “We are not told here that Gentile Christians are the true Israel. The distinction at R. 9:6 does not go beyond what is presupposed at Jn. 1:47. . . .” Walter Gutbrod, “’Israhl, k. t. l.,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 3, ed. Gerhard Kittel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 387.

So if we know that God established the New Covenant with Israel, and not the Church since the Church wasn't around when the New Covenant was established,

Jeremiah predicted that the new covenant would come in the future:

Jer_31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

Christ confirmed this new covenant and confirmed that his blood was the agency of this covenant:

Luk_22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Paul knew this and confirms that the new covenant was for the church that was established on Pentecost as seen in Acts 2:

2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,
2Co 3:6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Paul believed that the church were ministers of the new covenant and saw that the spirit of God, through Christ, was what made the new covenant a better promise...a promise of eternal life:

Heb_8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

and we know from promises God made to Israel, and not the Church, in the New Covenant that have not yet been fulfilled but which require a literal, functioning nation of Israel for fulfillment, then we know that it is impossible that the Church is Israel.

So God was lying when He said the following to the nation of Israel?

“A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD. 21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your [a]offspring, nor from the mouth of your [b]offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”"“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Has that promise been fulfilled? Do all the Jews, down to the last one, know Jesus Christ? And if it hasn't been fulfilled yet, did God lie when He made that promise to His covenant, chosen people?

How about this promise to Israel?

“My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. 25 They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will [b]place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. 28 And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’” (Ezekiel 37:21-28)

Is David currently king over the nation of Israel? Did God lie when He made that promise to the nation of Israel?

Fron the NASB Luke 2:22-25 And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “EVERY firstborn MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS.” And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) Has that promise been fulfilled? Do all the Jews, down to the last one, know Jesus Christ? And if it hasn't been fulfilled yet, did God lie when He made that promise to His covenant, chosen people?

Paul had to deal with the same question and he answered it in Romans 11...the whole chapter is instructive in that he compares Jews to natural branches of a tree and gentiles as grafted in branches on that same tree.

Rom 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Rom 11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "THE DELIVERER WILL COME OUT OF ZION, AND HE WILL TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB;
Rom 11:27 FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."
Rom 11:28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

Everything promised to Israel will happen. The promises of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Thank you. You finally admit that there is a physical, literal nation of Israel to which God made promises that He will keep and you admit that those promises made by God to Israel are valid, and true, and have not yet been fulfilled.

You admit that there is a nation of Israel which will come to faith in Jesus Christ, the true Israel with whom God made the New Covenant and you admit that it is that Israel, the physical descendants of Isaac, whom God calls the "children of promise" who will be reconciled to the Father through Jesus Christ and which be the nation that fulfills the New Covenant, not the Church. You admit that this nation, according to the very words of God, will have their sins taken away and be saved and redeemed.

Finally. Thank you.

You admit that there is a nation of Israel which will come to faith in Jesus Christ, the true Israel with whom God made the New Covenant and you admit that it is that Israel, the physical descendants of Isaac, whom God calls the "children of promise" who will be reconciled to the Father through Jesus Christ and which be the nation that fulfills the New Covenant, not the Church. You admit that this nation, according to the very words of God, will have their sins taken away and be saved and redeemed

Whoops...you almost snuck that past me... :-)

The church is under the new covenant and IS part of that covenant through Christ. Israel (physical Israelites and NOT necessarily a nation) have been blinded until the fullness of the gentiles has come in.

As Paul said:

Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—
Eph 2:12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Well, I gave you two already that didn't appear to be understandable to you for some reason, but here's another promise that God made to the nation of Israel:

Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their [a]dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:21-23)

Part of that promise has already been kept; part of it remains unfulfilled until the future. He has already reestablished them as a nation and promises to cleanse them. This is where the other promises that I posted to you come in. There has to be a nation of Israel for the promises to be fulfilled.

So in which part of that promise did God lie to Israel?

I support Israel as much as anyone, but not because of my eschatology. I fear many will miss Christ due to their obsession with the modern secular state named Israel. There are many who know the dispensational end-times timetable like the back of their hand yet they don’t understand original sin, substitionary atonement, propitiation, and all the other great doctrines upon which our faith is built.

Amen.

I recall an occasion, years back, when it became clear that the trinity was a take-it-or-leave-it secondary doctrine for a certain vocal member of the FR Dispensational Chorus.

Well, I gave you two already that didn't appear to be understandable to you for some reason

I'm not as thick as you think I am.... :-)

Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their [a]dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:21-23)

The verses you quote indeed refer to a physical nation that will be ruled over by Jesus Christ at his return. Physical Israelites will return to the holy land....a resurrected King David will be their king:

Eze 37:24 "David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.
Eze 37:25 Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.

However prophecies made to the "sons of Israel" can also apply to those who have been grafted into Israel through Christ. I think though that in these verses it's referring to physical Israelites.

Well, I gave you two already that didn't appear to be understandable to you for some reason

I'm not as thick as you think I am.... :-)

Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their [a]dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God." (Ezekiel 37:21-23)

However prophecies made to the "sons of Israel" can also apply to those who have been grafted into Israel through Christ. I think though that in these verses it's referring to physical Israelites.

However prophecies made to the "sons of Israel" can also apply to those who have been grafted into Israel through Christ.

Where does God make the slightest inference that when He is talking about the literal, physical nation of Israel, and when making promises to the literal, physical nation of Israel, that that includes Gentiles? How did the promises God made to the Jews in the Old Testament, thousands of years before the Church was established, possibly apply to the Church? Where in Scripture do you get the idea that the promises made to Israel include the Church?

Where is your supporting Scripture? God's program through the Church didn't even begin until Acts (Matt 16:18; 1 Cor 12:13; Acts 1:5; 11:15-16) while His program through Israel began in Genesis 12. Where is the Scripture that supports your claim that the promises God made to Israel include the Church?

It doesn't include gentiles. It includes former gentiles who have been grafted into Israel through the shed blood of Christ.

This was always God's intent...even when he established ancient Israel:

Lev_19:34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

God never intended that there be some artificial wall erected by the Jewish religion....his intent was to make worship of him inclusive, not exclusive.

How did the promises God made to the Jews in the Old Testament, thousands of years before the Church was established, possibly apply to the Church?

I think you're confusing the Jewish religion with the Israel that the Lord established. As you can see from the scripture above they were quite different. By the time of Christ the Jewish religion had made it a crime to associate with "strangers" gentiles, much less love them.

I think also that you're creating an artificial wall between the "Church" and Israel. They are one and the same through Christ.

Where in Scripture do you get the idea that the promises made to Israel include the Church?

When I first spotted this thread, it had 7 responses. I looked it over, and thought I'd maybe post a response after I got back from my bike ride. While I was gone, it ballooned to 50 posts, mostly the usual stuff.

Thus, the true Israelite is one who is a Jew ethnically and one has believed in Jesus Christ (see Romans 2:28–29). Romans 9:6, therefore, is not a supporting text for Replacement Theology.

I maintain one cannot reach this conclusion without having come to the text with the dispensational root assumption firmly in place.

A few things for you to contemplate.

When reading through the New Testament, make note in passing how many times terms and phrases that in the Old Testament were applied to Israel, are applied to the Church.
Who is the "true circumcision"?
Who is Jesus talking about when he twice mentions, in the letters to the churches in Revelation, "the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews and are not"?
2 Corinthians ch.6 v. 16-18. Where did Paul get this, and who is he applying it to?
And, a thought experiment: pick a year, safely at least a human lifetime away from any date of eschatological significance to any system. Say, 1825. A Jew hears the gospel preached, is by the grace of God regenerated to saving faith. What is his duty and status then? Is he not to join the Christian Church?
Again, Calvin, Institutes, Book II, chapters 10 & 11.

Aaaand, I fully expect there'll be a hissing denunciation in my ping list by the time I post this.

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