Has God disowned the Jewish people? Did he cast off Israel? Were the covenants canceled? Has God replaced Israel with the Church? Before considering this topic in depth, it might be helpful to review a few key texts from Scripture to put the topic in context.
“What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe?Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar…” (Romans 3:1–4 NKJV)
“But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” (Romans 10:21–11:2 NRSV)
“As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.” (Romans 11:28–31 ESV)
“Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: “For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.”And again he says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”” (Romans 15:8–10 NKJV)
It may be helpful to walk through some of these verses in more detail and also to examine the context in which they are found.
When Paul is talking about “the Jew” in Romans 3:1, he leaves us in no doubt about the people he is talking about— it is the “circumcision”. Paul goes on to ask “What if some did not believe?”; putting it into the context of Paul’s overall message he is asking, “What if some Jews have not believed the gospel of Jesus Christ?” What if some Jews reject Jesus? Does that cancel God’s promises?
Before going on, consider Israel at the time of Elijah and Ahab— an example Paul uses later. Was Israel the chosen people at that time? Was Israel the chosen people when it was in Babylonian captivity— a time when there was no independent Jewish nation, no national government? Was Judah the chosen people still under Persian and Greek rule? Were the people of Israel who were scattered among the nations in the inter-testamental times still the chosen people?
Paul makes it clear that he is talking about the Jewish people, descendants of Abraham and of the tribes of Israel— people who are a “disobedient and contrary people”. It is this “disobedient and contrary people”— those who “did not believe”— that he says God has not rejected. Putting all the pieces together, just like God did not abandon idolatrous Israel at the time of Elijah, God has not rejected his Jewish people who do not believe— who reject Jesus as Messiah. These are the people “as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake”— they oppose the Good News of Jesus. These are the people that Paul says God has not rejected. The unbelief of some Jews does not cause God to be unfaithful to his promises.
The book of Romans is Paul’s theological masterpiece. Why does Paul include this detour about the Jewish people in his work that is, so it seems, all about faith? When we examine Paul’s introduction to the book we see that he is primarily addressing the Gentile believers “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves” (Romans 1:5–6 NRSV). Later in the middle of his section on the Jewish people he again addresses his audience by name— “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.” (Romans 11:13 NRSV). Paul is not calling the Gentiles to a mere intellectual assent to some concepts about God and salvation— Paul is calling them to faithfulness, to the “obedience of faith”. Paul ends the book with the same point— “to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26 NRSV).
Paul explains why he is talking about the Jewish people to his Gentile audience. It is not a detour around his topic of faith; rather, it is his main point.
“Just as you [Gentiles] were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their [unbelieving Jews] disobedience, so they [unbelieving Jews] have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you [Gentiles], they [unbelieving Jews] too may now receive mercy.” (Romans 11:30–31 NRSV)
Paul ties all the pieces together later in the book.
“For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.” (Romans 15:8–9 NRSV)
Jesus has become a “servant of the the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs”. Jesus came to the Jewish people to show that God is true to his word— God keeps His promises that he gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why is Paul telling us this? “In order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:9). What mercy? The mercy that God grants to Israel— even unbelieving Israel (Romans 11:31).
How should we (Gentiles) respond to God’s faithfulness to Israel? We rejoice with His People, Israel. Paul also gives us some warnings about how we treat the Jewish people.
“But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.” (Romans 11:17–24 ESV)
Who are the branches that are broken off because of their unbelief? It is those from among the Jewish people who do not believe. Who is Paul speaking to when he says “do not be arrogant toward the branches”? He is speaking to “you Gentiles”— that means anyone who is not “an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham” (Romans 11:1). Paul is effectively saying, “You who are not of Jewish heritage, do not think badly of your Jewish brothers— don’t speak ill of them. They may not believe, but they are still the natural children of the promises”.
Ellen White discusses Romans 9-11 in Acts of the Apostles and expresses some of these same ideas with different words.
Even though Israel rejected His Son, God did not reject them. {AA 375.2}
Israel had stumbled and fallen, but this did not make it impossible for them to rise again. {AA 375.3}
There are many “everlasting” promises that God made with Israel in the Old Testament. Here are two examples.
“He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”” (Psalms 105:7–11 NRSV)
“Thus says the LORD: Only if I had not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, would I reject the offspring of Jacob and of my servant David and not choose any of his descendants as rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them.” (Jeremiah 33:25–26 NRSV)
God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable. What does that mean? Does it mean that the Jewish people have guaranteed personal salvation no matter the state of their relationship with God? No— not at all. God promises to bless the world through Israel— “to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:4–5 NRSV). God promises to look “favorably on his people and redeemed them” (Luke 1:68).
God has not disowned the Jewish people. He has not cast off Israel. The covenants have not been canceled. God has not replaced Israel with the Church.
