I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid.
(Romeinen 11:1a)
How should we as Christians relate to the Jewish people today? As we have read in the above text, God has not rejected His people. This verse and the rest of chapter 11 are therefore often used to suggest that we should support Israel, because the Jews are apparently still God’s people, even today. The suggestion is that the Jews in the present day can still claim Old Testament promises based on the various covenants that God is believed to have made with the Jewish people. Israel is, after all, the noble olive tree, and although Gentile Christians may also reap some of the benefits, this does not alter the fact that Israel, i.e., the Jews, is God’s people and that God’s ultimate plan primarily concerns the Jews
This interpretation of Romans 11 is mainly due to the work of John Nelson Darby in the mid-nineteenth century, who developed a new theology for its time, which we now know as “Dispensationalism.” It would be going too far to make an extensive study of this here, but I would like to highlight a number of key concepts that are characteristic of this theology, namely:
– that the church and Israel are two distinct entities that should not be confused with one another,
– that God’s plan of salvation is primarily focused on Israel,
– that the church or congregation is merely an intermediate step, which resulted from the Jews’ rejection of Jesus at that time.
– that God will complete the plan of salvation with Israel in the end times, after the congregation has been raptured into heaven
– and that during the so-called “Millennium,” Israel will again be at the center.
This line of thinking has become commonplace among 80% of evangelical churches in the Western world, including in the Netherlands, due to various influences.
However, upon closer examination, I have come to a completely different conclusion, namely that Romans 11 is being misinterpreted. You have to consider things such as context and definitions. By context, we primarily mean the entire section from Romans 9 through chapter 11, so our interpretation of Romans 11 must be in harmony with what Paul states in chapters 9 and 10. But you also have to take a broader view, considering the entire epistle to the Romans, and it must also be in harmony with all the other epistles Paul wrote, and of course it must also be in harmony with the way Jesus dealt with his Jewish contemporaries and the teaching He gave.
It is also important that we proceed from the correct definitions, such as who is meant by Israel, who are God’s people, what does Paul mean by the concept of circumcision, and other such matters. If we get this wrong, it will have major consequences for the rest of our interpretation of various Bible passages, including our explanation of Romans 11.
Interpretation of the section
In order to arrive at a satisfactory explanation, we must first examine the situation at that point in time and all of its consequences. There is a new situation after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, followed by his ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the great day of Pentecost. Everything is clearly no longer the same. The death and resurrection of Jesus did put an end to the importance of all the ceremonies surrounding temple service, but the temple was still a reality at that point in time. In Acts 21:20, we read that the Jewish Congregation in Jerusalem was still fully involved in temple service, which in my opinion had become superfluous. What we can conclude from this is that at this stage, two covenants still existed side by side: the old covenant with Israel, linked to the temple in Jerusalem, and the new covenant in Christ intended for the church, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles. In Hebrews 8, Paul says the following about the transition from an old to a new covenant:
13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
(Hebrews 8:13)
At the time Paul wrote this, the old covenant and everything associated with it had been declared obsolete, but had not yet disappeared. He wrote this around the year 65 AD, a few years before everything connected with Jerusalem and its temple came to an abrupt end when Jerusalem and its temple were levelled to the ground in the year 70 by the hand of Titus and the Roman army, killing an estimated one million Jews and taking the rest away as slaves. Paul wrote the letter to the Romans during this intervening period, in which he saw the destruction of Jerusalem foretold by Jesus approaching. In chapter 9, he describes his heartache over the fact that the majority of his Jewish peers had rejected Jesus and were therefore under judgment and in danger of being lost.
1I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
(Romans 9:1-5)
In chapter 11, Paul describes how God, in His sovereignty, made use of the unbelief of the majority of the Jews by first opening the door to the Gentiles, including the scattered Israelites, most of whom still lived in the area north of the land of Canaan. The unbelieving branches that were connected to the noble olive tree on the basis of the old covenant, that is, the majority of the Jews, were broken off because they did not willingly accept Jesus as Messiah, and the detached branches of the wild olive tree, the ten tribes of Israel together with the other peoples, are grafted onto the noble olive tree instead, which means that they share in the rich sap flow that is connected to Jesus Christ. He is the new temple, He is the new Israel. However, this does not mean that the door has been closed to Jews, rather the invitation to accept Jesus as Messiah remains open to them. If they will revert from their unbelief and rejection, they too will be grafted back into their original place, and Paul compares this to “life from the dead.”.
Historically, this is what happened. All Jewish Christians fled to the mountains around Pella near the Dead Sea in the year 67 and were therefore not killed in the destruction of Jerusalem. Another part of the poor population did not perish either and, upon seeing the destruction of Jerusalem, converted and also became part of the church of Jesus Christ. They are no longer considered Jews and have thus become an integral part of the church in the Middle East. This also applies to Palestine, so many Palestinians are descended from these groups. The return of the remnant of the Jewish people into the ranks of the church has been a great blessing to it, although the destruction of the city and the temple meant that they had to say farewell to everything that still connected them to Jerusalem.
The old covenant has completely disappeared, including its temple and ceremonies; Old Testament Israel no longer exists. Rabbinical Judaism, which originated in the year 90 AD through the efforts of a small group of Pharisees, is not a continuation of Old Testament Israel but pure idolatry based on the teachings (Talmud) of the Pharisees and scribes, with which also Jesus was constantly at odds, as evidenced by the descriptions in the Gospels, particularly in the Gospel of John.
Paul ends his plea with a beautiful laudation:
33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36)
What Paul sees here is not only God’s masterful action, but also the glorious impact on the church, especially on the Jews who have joined it. The old covenant with all its ceremonial aspects pales in comparison to the glorious new covenant of which we are a part, thanks to Jesus Christ and His shed blood. God has not rejected His people, but has transferred them to this glorious new covenant, of which they are a part together with all peoples..
