Romans 9:6
“But the present condition of Israel does not mean that the Word of God has failed.”
This passage is an outstanding rebuttal to those who fall for various forms of replacement theology & anti-Zionism, usually believing that 1) God’s plan for the Jews failed, and thus that the goal of Messiah was to bring a new plan to the Gentiles instead, and that 2) the re-establishment of the nation of Israel is not a part of God’s plan because Messiah has not returned yet or because Israel is currently being governed by non-believers. These beliefs both hinge on faulty thinking, mainly that 1) God’s covenants are not permanent and 2) people have to be perfect to be a part of God’s plan.
Most of us recognize the first faulty idea and can easily refute it — the whole idea behind God’s covenants is that they are permanent. If they were not permanent it would undermine the divinity of God. The second faulty idea, however, is more sinister. Many of us believers tend to forget that God works through imperfect people. We subconsciously assume that because God is using someone for His Kingdom, that this person must be worthy to be used by God. But we know that no one is worthy of God’s salvation — God even uses the least worthy for His will, so that no one can boast about it. And no one was more aware of this than Paul, who went from being public enemy #1 of the followers of Yeshua (Jesus) to being their most prominent emissary (apostle) and teacher.
And so, while we should all be well aware that Israel is by no measure a perfect country, and actually bears a number of problems that should not be ignored, and moreover its leadership is not of God and may even be openly opposed to His Son, this passage from Romans (9:1–9:9) is a clear reminder that God’s covenant with Israel is permanent and Israel continues to be a part of God’s plan. And it is really quite interesting that in the one book of the Bible that is often cited as containing the clearest message of salvation, especially for Gentiles (entire guides to salvation have been written on Romans alone, and Romans is often cited by Christian preachers and teachers), there happens to be a clear repudiation of replacement theology and anti-Zionism that infects a large part of Christianity, clear as day right in the middle of the book. Do people often skip right over this passage? Or is it possible that they fail to understand it?
A core belief of replacement theology is that “Israel” in the New Testament and in prophecy refers not to the physical land of Israel or the descendants of Jacob who was called Israel, but to a new group of people (the Gentiles) who would form the body of Messiah, sans any believing Jews (yes, there are even some in the replacement theology camp that think Jews can’t follow Jesus, I kid you not). In the very next sentence of Romans 9:6, we can see how someone might arrive at this conclusion:
For not everyone from Israel is truly part of Israel;
But a further careful reading of the text will illuminate what Paul is actually saying. He goes on to teach us that many of Abraham’s descendants, while being a part of Abraham’s physical ‘seed,’ are not actually part of the covenant with Israel (in other words, not part of the Jewish tribe). He points out that while Abraham had many offspring, only Isaac was considered part of Abraham’s ‘seed’ with the respect to the promise concerning Israel, and furthermore, God explicitly designated this promise to Jacob and not Esau, even though Esau was the firstborn.
What Paul is really giving us here is a refutation of those who believed that God’s covenant with the Jews required the salvation of all Jews — anyone who believed this would assume that God’s covenant had failed, since so many Jews had rejected Yeshua (Jesus), and would thus believe that God was done with the Jews, again, since so many rejected Yeshua. Paul refutes this by explaining that God’s plan always involves saving a remnant — that it is within God’s covenant that many Jews would not be saved, and therefore even though many Jews were not saved, it did not mean that God was done with the Jewish people!
Finally, Paul goes on to point out that the remnant of Jews that are saved will be saved only by faith, just like the Gentiles — no legalistic observance of Torah will accomplish the goal for the Jews here (see Romans 10:11–12). And if you are wondering, yes, there are people in this day and age who teach, incorrectly, that the Jews can still reach heaven by observing Torah, while the Gentiles will reach heaven through Jesus. Again, do these people read Romans?
Fortunately, we do :)
