New Life Presbyterian Church of La Mesa

Who are God’s people?  For the majority of the last two thousand years Christians have with one voice affirmed that Christians, the church, are God’s people and that membership is open to any and all who would join the church through faith in Christ, baptism and repentance.  However, the last two hundred years, or so, have seen an emergence of another idea.  God’s people should not be limited to the church, we are told, but should also include the nation Israel.  As the Baptist Standard put it:

“Evangelical Christian theology undergirding some reaction to the Arab-Israeli conflict hinges on one pivotal notion--that the Jewish people are God's people, God's chosen ones who must be protected.”

Hundreds of recent quotes could be marshaled to demonstrate that this had become the prevailing view among American Protestants.  However, for our purposes, two interesting things are clear from this.  The first is that unequivocally the “Jewish people” are said to be “God’s people, God’s chosen ones.”  Thus, according to this position, since we know that the church also holds such a privileged place, we must conclude that there are two peoples of God and by extension two ways of salvation; unless it doesn’t really matter much eternally if you are “God’s people, God’s chosen ones.”  Second, note the political posture that arises from this theological position.  Evangelical Christians must side with Israel against the Arabs not for the advance of democracy or capitalism, but because the Jews are God’s people and the Arabs are not.  The theology behind this is dispensationalism. 

In contrast to this is covenant theology which sees God graciously calling out one people to be his own.  This began in Genesis 3 and continues to the second coming of Jesus.  All of God’s people share a common identity:  they are fallen sinners, saved by God’s grace and because of Christ’s death and resurrection.  Of course some have suggested that this is a “replacement” theology, God replacing Israel with the church.  This misses the point, though.  The church does not replace Israel but is rather the fulfillment of Israel.  In Paul’s words, the church is the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16) and a “chosen race…a holy nation.  Once you were not a people but now you are God’s people…” (1 Pet. 2:9-10).

Hopefully you can see how covenant theology helps you make sense of the Bible.  And hopefully you can see how making sense of your Bible impacts how you make sense of the world.

For further reading consider The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff