The Church is the Continuation of Israel, not the Replacement

[Dylan569]

"Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God." (Gal 6:16 RSV)

Vincent's Word Studies
"It seems better to regard it as simply connective. Then ὅσοι[as many as] will refer to the individual Christians, Jewish and Gentile, and Israel of God to the same Christians, regarded collectively, and forming the true messianic community."

John Calvin
"In a word, he gives the appellation of the Israel of God to those whom he formerly denominated the children of Abraham by faith, (Galatians 3:29,) and thus includes all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were united into one church."

John Wesley
"And as many as walk according to this rule - Glorying only in the cross of Christ. Being crucified to the world. And, Created anew. Peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel, that is, the Church, of God - Which consists of all those, and those only, of every nation and kindred, who walk by this rule."

Jamieson-Faussett-Brown Commentary
"Israel of God — not the Israel after the flesh, among whom those teachers wish to enroll you; but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith (Gal_3:9, Gal_3:29; Rom_2:28, Rom_2:29; Php_3:3)."

Matthew Poole
"The apostle doth not promise, or prophesy, mercy and peace to all Israelites, but only to the Israel of God; that is, to believers, that received and embraced Jesus Christ offered in the gospel."

Matthew Henry
"all the Israel of God, by whom he means all sincere Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, all who are Israelites indeed, who, though they may not be the natural, yet are become the spiritual seed of Abraham; these, being heirs of his faith, are also heirs together with him of the same promise, and consequently entitled to the peace and mercy here spoken of."

John Gill
"The 'Israel of God', or as the Arabic version reads it, 'Israel the propriety of God'; which he has a right unto, and a claim upon; who are chosen by him, Israel his elect; who are redeemed by him, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; who are called by his grace, and are styled Israel his called;"

Albert Barnes
"And upon the Israel of God - The true church of God; all who are his true worshippers; see the note at Rom_2:28-29; Rom_9:6, note."

Joseph Benson
"and upon the Israel of God — That is, the church of God, which consists of those, and only those, of every nation and kindred, tongue and people, who walk by this rule."

Cambridge Bible
"These are ‘the Israel of God’, whether Jews or Gentiles, for ‘the Jew is he who is one inwardly in the spirit, not in the letter’. Rom_2:29. So that the blessing is invoked on all who walk according to the rule enunciated, and so in fact on the true Israel, not Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of the promise and of God."

Peter Pett
"But now there is a new Israel. They are, like Isaac, the children of promise (Galatians 4:28). They are the children of the free-woman (Galatians 4:31). They are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). They are adopted as sons and heirs of God (Galatians 4:5-7). They are reckoned as righteous by faith, just as their father Abraham was (Galatians 3:6-7). They have received the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14). They are children of the new Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Galatians 4:26). They are born after the Spirit (Galatians 4:29). They are the new people of God. And they consist of believing ex-Jews and believing ex-Gentiles (Galatians 3:28). They are ‘the congregation (church) of God’ (Galatians 1:13), the Israel of God."

The Expositor's Greek New Testament
"καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ: yea upon the Israel of God. καί is not properly copulative here, but intensive. Those who walk by the rule of the Spirit are declared to be indeed the true Israel of God, not the Jews who have the name of Israel, but are really only children of Abraham after the flesh."

It is true that most Protestants in the past believed there would be a mass conversion of Jews before the Second Advent, but they would be converted to Jesus Christ, into the church of Jesus Christ. The idea of a future renewed Old Covenant Israel in the promised land, with a temple and sacrifices, is a modern heresy.

 

[Dylan569]

"Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God." (Gal 6:16 RSV)

Vincent's Word Studies
"It seems better to regard it as simply connective. Then ὅσοι[as many as] will refer to the individual Christians, Jewish and Gentile, and Israel of God to the same Christians, regarded collectively, and forming the true messianic community."

John Calvin
"In a word, he gives the appellation of the Israel of God to those whom he formerly denominated the children of Abraham by faith, (Galatians 3:29,) and thus includes all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were united into one church."

John Wesley
"And as many as walk according to this rule - Glorying only in the cross of Christ. Being crucified to the world. And, Created anew. Peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel, that is, the Church, of God - Which consists of all those, and those only, of every nation and kindred, who walk by this rule."

Jamieson-Faussett-Brown Commentary
"Israel of God — not the Israel after the flesh, among whom those teachers wish to enroll you; but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith (Gal_3:9, Gal_3:29; Rom_2:28, Rom_2:29; Php_3:3)."

Matthew Poole
"The apostle doth not promise, or prophesy, mercy and peace to all Israelites, but only to the Israel of God; that is, to believers, that received and embraced Jesus Christ offered in the gospel."

Matthew Henry
"all the Israel of God, by whom he means all sincere Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, all who are Israelites indeed, who, though they may not be the natural, yet are become the spiritual seed of Abraham; these, being heirs of his faith, are also heirs together with him of the same promise, and consequently entitled to the peace and mercy here spoken of."

John Gill
"The 'Israel of God', or as the Arabic version reads it, 'Israel the propriety of God'; which he has a right unto, and a claim upon; who are chosen by him, Israel his elect; who are redeemed by him, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; who are called by his grace, and are styled Israel his called;"

Albert Barnes
"And upon the Israel of God - The true church of God; all who are his true worshippers; see the note at Rom_2:28-29; Rom_9:6, note."

Joseph Benson
"and upon the Israel of God — That is, the church of God, which consists of those, and only those, of every nation and kindred, tongue and people, who walk by this rule."

Cambridge Bible
"These are ‘the Israel of God’, whether Jews or Gentiles, for ‘the Jew is he who is one inwardly in the spirit, not in the letter’. Rom_2:29. So that the blessing is invoked on all who walk according to the rule enunciated, and so in fact on the true Israel, not Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of the promise and of God."

Peter Pett
"But now there is a new Israel. They are, like Isaac, the children of promise (Galatians 4:28). They are the children of the free-woman (Galatians 4:31). They are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). They are adopted as sons and heirs of God (Galatians 4:5-7). They are reckoned as righteous by faith, just as their father Abraham was (Galatians 3:6-7). They have received the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14). They are children of the new Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Galatians 4:26). They are born after the Spirit (Galatians 4:29). They are the new people of God. And they consist of believing ex-Jews and believing ex-Gentiles (Galatians 3:28). They are ‘the congregation (church) of God’ (Galatians 1:13), the Israel of God."

The Expositor's Greek New Testament
"καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ: yea upon the Israel of God. καί is not properly copulative here, but intensive. Those who walk by the rule of the Spirit are declared to be indeed the true Israel of God, not the Jews who have the name of Israel, but are really only children of Abraham after the flesh."

It is true that most Protestants in the past believed there would be a mass conversion of Jews before the Second Advent, but they would be converted to Jesus Christ, into the church of Jesus Christ. The idea of a future renewed Old Covenant Israel in the promised land, with a temple and sacrifices, is a modern heresy.

It may surprise most that in centuries past, symbols of Israel are applied to the Christian Church. Also hundreds of times in the OT, men of old spoke of Israel as the church.

From John Trapp's Commentary published between 1647 and 1662
"Eze_40:1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.
Ver. 1. In the five and twentieth year; &c.] After the defeat of Gog and Magog cometh, in these last nine chapters, a new prophecy, aptly depending upon the former, concerning the Christian Church, and the spiritual state and constitution thereof; which is here prefigured by types of rebuilding the temple, restoring the Levitical rites, and repossessing the promised land. To those Jews who here hence expect a most glorious temple and state at the coming of their imaginary Messiah, and for whose sakes these high things are thus expressed, Christ may well say, as afterwards he did to Nicodemus, {Joh_3:12} "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I telI you of heavenly?" The wiser of their Rabbis, {a} as Galatinus testifieth, convinced by good reasons, understand these chapters not of an earthly building according to the letter, but of a heavenly, and in a mystical sense. And John the divine so interpreteth this scripture {Rev_21:1-11; Rev_21:22-27; Rev_22:7} - viz., of the heavenly Jerusalem, that mother of us all. It is ordinary with the prophets to speak figuratively of the amplitude, splendour, and magnificence of the Christian Church; as Isa_54:11-12, "I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundation with sapphires," &c. - that is, I will erect and raise my Church and temple among the Gentiles, and adorn and deck it with lustre and variety of precious graces. Divines observe, that God here showeth Ezekiel a new temple larger than the old Jerusalem, and a new Jerusalem larger than all the land of Canaan; yea, according to the account of some learned Rabbis, larger than all the world; for {Eze_48:35} it was round about eighteen thousand measures - i.e., leucas, say they. Now in opening of this prophecy, it must not be expected that something should be said to every verse, as elsewhere hath been done; and yet we must know that there is nothing in Holy Scripture that is not useful and profitable, {2Ti_3:16} though at first sight it may seem otherwise. Metals lie hidden in hardest quarries; wholesome herbs are found often in the roughest places, and precious stones in barren sands. Hippocrates saith that in the faculty of medicine there is nothing small, nothing contemptible. {b} Aristotle saith in all nature nothing is so mean, vile, and abject that deserveth not to be admired. The Rabbis have a saying that there is a mountain of sense which hangeth upon every apex of the Word of God, &c."

John Gill, an 18th century Baptist, and also a premillennialist, wrote on Ezekiel 40:1 the following piece -
in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month; the Jews had two beginnings of their year, the one on civil accounts, which was in the autumnal equinox, in the month Tisri, which answers to part of our September; and if this is meant here, the tenth day of it was the day of atonement, in which the Jews were to afflict their souls; but on this day the prophet has a view of the Gospel church, which receives the atonement by the sacrifice of Christ: the other beginning of the year, which was on ecclesiastic accounts, was in the vernal equinox, the month Nisan, which answers to part of our March; and the tenth day of it was the day that the passover lamb was separated from the flock, and kept up till the fourteenth; the time between Christ's public entry into Jerusalem, and his being sacrificed as the passover for us. Some interpreters go one way, some the other: it is not easy to determine which is meant; though I think more probably the latter, since church affairs are chiefly here represented. This, according to the Talmudists (n), was the year of the jubilee: Bishop Usher (o) places it in the year of the world 3430 A.M., and before Christ 574; and makes the day to be the thirtieth of April, and the third day of the week (Tuesday); and, as to the year, Mr. Whiston (p) agrees with, him:

 

[Sue J Love]

"Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God." (Gal 6:16 RSV)

Vincent's Word Studies
"It seems better to regard it as simply connective. Then ὅσοι[as many as] will refer to the individual Christians, Jewish and Gentile, and Israel of God to the same Christians, regarded collectively, and forming the true messianic community."

John Calvin
"In a word, he gives the appellation of the Israel of God to those whom he formerly denominated the children of Abraham by faith, (Galatians 3:29,) and thus includes all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were united into one church."

John Wesley
"And as many as walk according to this rule - Glorying only in the cross of Christ. Being crucified to the world. And, Created anew. Peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel, that is, the Church, of God - Which consists of all those, and those only, of every nation and kindred, who walk by this rule."

Jamieson-Faussett-Brown Commentary
"Israel of God — not the Israel after the flesh, among whom those teachers wish to enroll you; but the spiritual seed of Abraham by faith (Gal_3:9, Gal_3:29; Rom_2:28, Rom_2:29; Php_3:3)."

Matthew Poole
"The apostle doth not promise, or prophesy, mercy and peace to all Israelites, but only to the Israel of God; that is, to believers, that received and embraced Jesus Christ offered in the gospel."

Matthew Henry
"all the Israel of God, by whom he means all sincere Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, all who are Israelites indeed, who, though they may not be the natural, yet are become the spiritual seed of Abraham; these, being heirs of his faith, are also heirs together with him of the same promise, and consequently entitled to the peace and mercy here spoken of."

John Gill
"The 'Israel of God', or as the Arabic version reads it, 'Israel the propriety of God'; which he has a right unto, and a claim upon; who are chosen by him, Israel his elect; who are redeemed by him, out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation; who are called by his grace, and are styled Israel his called;"

Albert Barnes
"And upon the Israel of God - The true church of God; all who are his true worshippers; see the note at Rom_2:28-29; Rom_9:6, note."

Joseph Benson
"and upon the Israel of God — That is, the church of God, which consists of those, and only those, of every nation and kindred, tongue and people, who walk by this rule."

Cambridge Bible
"These are ‘the Israel of God’, whether Jews or Gentiles, for ‘the Jew is he who is one inwardly in the spirit, not in the letter’. Rom_2:29. So that the blessing is invoked on all who walk according to the rule enunciated, and so in fact on the true Israel, not Israel after the flesh, but the Israel of the promise and of God."

Peter Pett
"But now there is a new Israel. They are, like Isaac, the children of promise (Galatians 4:28). They are the children of the free-woman (Galatians 4:31). They are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:29). They are adopted as sons and heirs of God (Galatians 4:5-7). They are reckoned as righteous by faith, just as their father Abraham was (Galatians 3:6-7). They have received the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:14). They are children of the new Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Galatians 4:26). They are born after the Spirit (Galatians 4:29). They are the new people of God. And they consist of believing ex-Jews and believing ex-Gentiles (Galatians 3:28). They are ‘the congregation (church) of God’ (Galatians 1:13), the Israel of God."

The Expositor's Greek New Testament
"καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ: yea upon the Israel of God. καί is not properly copulative here, but intensive. Those who walk by the rule of the Spirit are declared to be indeed the true Israel of God, not the Jews who have the name of Israel, but are really only children of Abraham after the flesh."

It is true that most Protestants in the past believed there would be a mass conversion of Jews before the Second Advent, but they would be converted to Jesus Christ, into the church of Jesus Christ. The idea of a future renewed Old Covenant Israel in the promised land, with a temple and sacrifices, is a modern heresy.

The Lord has had me write on this subject quite a bit over the past 20 years. And I have been publicly accused falsely of being a heretic who should be burned at a stake for taking such a biblical view of Israel, too. It is a hot button issue for many people who believe otherwise. So many people have been indoctrinated from birth that Israel is only the Jews, regardless of whether or not they believe in Jesus Christ. And they treat the physical nation of Israel as though it is the Israel of God, but most of that nation is anti-Christ. And I have been accused, too, of teaching "replacement theology," but it is not replacement. Believers in Jesus were grafted into the Israel of God and those who did not believe in Jesus were cut out, but they can be grafted back in by genuine faith in Jesus Christ. There are plenty of Scriptures in the New Testament that let us know that biblical Israel, the Israel of God, is all who believe in Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth. And those who are Jews by physical birth who do not believe in Jesus are no different from their Arab neighbors.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:6; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13;1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; Jude 1:5; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]