Why the Jewish People are not the Chosen People of God

There is a false teaching in the church that promotes the idea that the Jewish people are the elect people of God. The error is rooted in not reading, nor interpreting the Bible correctly.

The apostle Paul, himself a Jew, wrote extensively on the subject of election. Nowhere does he write of the exclusive nature of salvation being isolated to this one ethnicity. In fact, in Romans 9–11, he writes of how the Jewish people have been cut off from the Messiah for their unbelief.

Old Testament Israel served as a type of the true Israel of God. The Israelites were of a certain blood line descended from Abraham. They were a family, who grew into a nation, while enslaved in Egypt (1876–1446 B.C.). As the typical people of God, they had a relationship with the God of heaven and earth, who revealed Himself to them by covenant and law.

The relationship between Yahweh, the God of Israel and the Hebrew people, was personal. It remained typical, however. The leader-types of the Israelites revealed the intimate nature of the relationship. Moses, Aaron, and Joshua met God in His tent of meeting. David wrote with every emotion of the heart about the relationship. Yahweh came directly to the prophets and spoke His word to them. The pinnacle of communion, however, was the incarnation of Jesus Messiah (Jn 1:14).

The God-man dwelt among the Jewish people, as the fulfillment of the Scriptures. God Himself was fulfilling His Word to His typical people. They did not receive Jesus, for they did not comprehend His identity (Jn 1:5). They could not see His works, as the works of God. They could not hear His words, as the Word of God. The devil had blinded their minds from seeing God, in the flesh, in their midst (2 Cor 4:4).

The Jewish people in Jesus’ day were unbelievers, save for a remnant, who received Him by grace and through faith. Unbelieving Jewish people, then and today, do not belong to the Israel of God. Jesus Christ is the Israel of God (Is 49:3), being the sole seed of Abraham (Gal 3:17), who has brought God’s blessing to the nations (Gen 18:18). He has done this by receiving elect believers from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev 5:9). They come to Jesus as their Leader (Mt 23:10), their federal head (Eph 1:22; 5:23; Col 1:18), because His Holy Spirit has called them to come to Him, through Spirit-filled preaching of God’s Word (Rom 15:19; 1 Cor 2:4). They obey because they are the true circumcision, the sheep of His pasture (Ps 23, Jn 10), the ones who have the circumcision of the heart (Col 2:11).

Spirit-filled believers in Jesus, from every nation, comprise the body of Christ, which is the Israel of God (Gal 6:16). God has granted faith, the same faith He granted to Abraham, to trust in the Word He has spoken to them (Rom 10:17; Phil 1:29). He has performed the miracle work of conversion by giving them His Spirit. They are born again into the true family of God, calling God their Father (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). They have become a holy nation (1 Pet 2:9), having been delivered from their bondage to sin and the world.

The baptism God has brought them through, has put a song of salvation in their heart. They are a new creation, a people for God’s own possession (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; 1 Pet 2:9). They serve as a royal priesthood, and as prophets, proclaiming the excellencies of their exalted Deliverer.

These are the chosen people of God. They are the elect from every nation. Christ has redeemed them by His blood. The Spirit has washed and renewed them. They rest in the promise of God, found in the Word of God, that speaks of a covenant of grace.

These are the people of God, people of grace, believers from every nation, chosen by God to be the Israel of God.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

October 5, 2021