Are the Jewish people still the Chosen People?

Today, the Christian community is divided between the issue of whether or not the Jewish people are still the “chosen people of God” (identified in scripture as “Israel”). While this issue may appear to be a minor issue (at least from a Christian perspective), its theological and eschatological implications run deep. For this reason, proponents and opponents of either side of this issue have a tendency toward defending their positions vehemently.

To determine whether or not the Jewish people are still the chosen people of God according to Christian theology, we must begin by breaking down this issue. To answer this question we must first answer the following questions:

• According to Scripture, what made the Jewish people “chosen”?
• How did God confirm the Jewish people were chosen?
• Was (or is) the Jewish people’s position as “chosen” conditional?
• What is the new covenant’s relationship with the old covenant?

According to Scripture, what made the Jewish people chosen:

The relationship the Jewish people had with God as God’s chosen people began with Abraham. According to Scripture God selected Abraham because of his faith:

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about-but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Romans 4:1-4

According to Scripture, the descendents of Abraham were heirs of this covenant. Not because they share a genetic lineage that can be traced back to Abraham; but because they share Abraham’s faith:

It was not through the law Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heirs of this world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only those who are of the law but also those who are of the faith of Abraham.

Romans 4:13-16

Later, Moses was given the laws of God. These laws, found in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, represented God’s covenant with the Jewish people. It was by practicing these laws that the Jewish people demonstrated their faith in God.

How did God confirm the Jewish people were chosen:

After establishing his covenant with Abraham, God promised the land of Canaan, which would become what we know today as Israel, as the promise of his covenant. In essence, the land of Israel was God’s signature agreeing to and confirming the promise he was making with the Jewish people:

I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Genesis 17: 7-8

Was (or is) the Jewish people’s position as “chosen” conditional:

Time and time again, in the Old Testament, the Jewish people are reminded that their covenant with God is conditional. The first illustration we are given of the covenant being conditional is found early on when God commands Abraham to circumcise his descendents:

Then God said to Abraham, “as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendents after you for generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendents after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you. For generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-those who are not of your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.“

Genesis 17: 9-14

After Israel is established as God’s covenant promise and the laws of Moses established as the representation of God’s covenant, we see time and time again that Israel is taken away from the Jewish people when the Jewish people fail to follow the laws of God.

In other words, the covenant of God (the covenant which distinguishes the Jewish people as “God’s chosen people”) is a two-way street. If the Jewish people demonstrate their faith by following the laws of God, then God will bless them and allow them to live in the land of Israel. However, if the Jewish people lose faith in God and deviate from the laws of God, then God will take away his covenant and the promised land of Israel.

When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king. Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and cause them to commit a great sin. The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he had warned them through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken away from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

2 Kings 17: 21-23

Then the Lord said to me, “There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will bring on them disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to gods of whom they burned incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes.

Jeremiah 11: 9-12

Do not rejoice, O Israel;

do not be jubilant like the other nations.

For you have been unfaithful to your God;

you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.

Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people;

the new wine will fail them.

They will not remain in the Lord’s land;

Ephraim will return to Egypt

and eat unclean food in Assyria.

Hosea 9: 1-3

Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jeremiah 25: 8-11

Clearly, according to Scripture the covenant God made with Abraham is conditional. While God will always honor and remember his covenant with the Jewish people, that is not to say the Jewish people do not have the option of walking away from God’s promise.

What is the new covenant’s relationship with the old covenant :

According to Christian theology the old covenant served as a precursor to the new covenant. The laws of the old covenant were designed to condemn us as sinners and demonstrate a clear need for a Savior. The Levitical traditions were designed to outline for us the theological nature of Christ’s sacrifice. It is by the old covenant that we are shown to be condemned as sinners. By the new covenant, we are given the option to accept redemption and salvation.

According to the author of Hebrews, the new covenant is the fulfillment of the old covenant. In other words, the old covenant is God’s promise of salvation and the new covenant is God’s fulfillment of this promise. The author goes on to say that with the fulfillment of the old covenant, the old covenant has now been made obsolete:

By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

Hebrews 8:13

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Hebrews 9:15

Even the prophet Jeremiah warned Israel centuries before the arrival of Christ that a new covenant would be established. That the covenant which condemn them as sinners would be replaced by a covenant which offers them salvation:

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD,

“when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant

I made with their forefathers

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they broke my covenant,

though I was a husband to them,”

declares the LORD.

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel

after that time,” declares the LORD.

“I will put my law in their minds

and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

No longer will a man teach his neighbor,

or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest,”

declares the LORD.

“For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more.”

This is what the LORD says,

he who appoints the sun

to shine by day,

who decrees the moon and stars

to shine by night,

who stirs up the sea

so that its waves roar-

the LORD Almighty is his name:

“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”

declares the LORD,

“will the descendants of Israel ever cease

to be a nation before me.”

This is what the LORD says:

“Only if the heavens above can be measured

and the foundations of the earth below be searched out

will I reject all the descendants of Israel

because of all they have done,”

declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:31-37

Conclusion: Are the Jewish people still the Chosen People

To say the Jewish people are still the chosen people of God begs the question: how and why? Abraham was chosen because of his faith. The descendants of Abraham were chosen because of their faith. Clearly, God “chooses” those who have faith. Whenever Israel lost faith and violated the covenant, God took away his promise; the land of Israel.

According to Scripture, those who are called “Israel” are those who have faith in the God of Abraham. According to Christianity the God of Abraham became a man and died for our sins. The Jewish people chose to reject this God; the God of Israel. The Jewish people today do not have faith in the God of Abraham. According to the Christian faith the Jewish people practice a false religion and worship a false God.

God provided the title of “chosen” through the promise of his old covenant. The Jewish people accepted this title by having faith in God and his promise. However, the Jewish people today have rejected the fulfillment of God’s promise. Therefore, the Jewish people reject the title of “chosen” that it granted.

To say the people of Israel (the chosen people) do not constitute the people who have faith in the God of Israel (i.e. Christians) but, instead constitute people who are of a particular race (i.e. the Jewish race) is to say that God is somehow a racial supremacist; “choosing” only those who are of the Jewish race with no respect to their faith.

No. The Jewish people are no longer the chosen people of God. The covenant which identify them as “Israel,” God’s chosen people, has been made obsolete. The faith that was required for one to accept this title is no longer maintained by the Jewish people. Therefore, the Jewish people are no longer the chosen people.

The chosen people (known in Scripture as “Israel”) are those who have faith in the God of Abraham, those who have faith in God’s promise of redemption and salvation. The title of “chosen” was never a matter of race; it was and has always been and will always be a matter of faith.

It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descendents from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the natural children who are of God’s children but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.

Romans 9: 6-8