Which "Israel" Are You Talking About?

Well, what about the Jews? Has God rejected His people (Rom. 11:1)? They were God’s chosen people, right? If you look at Israel today as a nation, they have clearly fallen away from God by rejecting Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Is this not a failure on God’s part? Why is this even important for us to understand? Because, if God has failed on His covenant promises to Israel how can we still trust Him? How can we be sure that God will not fail us too? This is the main point of Romans 9-11. Paul wants us more than anything to understand that God is still for us and nothing can separate us from His love and faithfulness (Rom. 8:31-39) even if Israel has rejected Jesus Christ, the stumbling stone (Rom. 9:32-33). These are difficult chapters. As we have been going through these chapters, it is important for the sake of clarity to stop and notice how Paul uses the term “Israel” to describe four different types of people.

1- In Romans 9:6-8, Paul uses the term “Israel” to describe the group of ethnic Jews who have true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2- Paul also uses the term “Israel” to refer to non-believing Israel who do not trust in the Lord for their righteousness.

3- Paul also uses the term “Israel” to refer to the entire corporate nation that is made up of all ethnic Jews, those who trust in the Lord and those who do not (Rom. 11:2).

4- Paul also uses the term “Israel” to distinguish all of those who believe in Jesus for their righteousness, including both ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles.