Israel
the “Israel of God”: The Church
The Church, the Body of
Christ, is the “true Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16)
as opposed to the “Israel according to the flesh”. (1 Corinthians
10:18)
“We are the real people
of the Circumcision”. (Philippians 3:3)
“Not all who are
descended from Israel are Israel… nor are they all Abraham’s children… It is
not only the natural children who are God’s children, but also the children of
the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring”.
(Romans 9:6-8)
“Merely by belonging to
Christ you are the descendants of Abraham, the heirs he has promised”. (cf.
Galatians 3:22-29)
“You are the people
God, he loved you and chose you for his own”. (Colossians 3:12)
“You are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart”.
(1 Peter 2:9) The words of Moses to the Jews at
Mount Sinai are now addressed to the Gentile Christians of Rome. The address is
by Peter who as a Jew refused to baptise Gentiles for 13 years after the
Ascension until he got a vision at Simon the tanner’s house in Jaffa.
Immediately he set off to baptise his first Gentile, Cornelius the Roman
centurion.
Then Peter was to utter
the remarkable words:
“The
truth I have now come to realise is that God does not have favourites but that anyone
of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him”.
(Acts
10:34)
Israel: “No Sword of
Their Own Won the Land”: Contra Zionism.
To
plant them you uprooted the nations, to let them spread laid peoples low.
No
sword of their own won the land, no arm of their own brought them victory.
It
was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face for you loved them. (Psalm
44)
Beware
of saying in your heart, “My own strength and the might of my own hand won this
power for me”. Remember Yahweh your God: it was he who gave you this strength
and won you this power. (Deuteronomy 8:17)
And
that all this assembly may know that it is not by sword or by spear that Yahweh
gives the victory. (1 Samuel 17:47)
Then
God said to Gideon: “Israel might claim the credit for themselves at my
expense: they might say ‘my own hand as rescued me’”. (Judges
7:2)
You
rely on your swords, you engage in filthy practices, you each commit adultery
with your neighbour’s wife; are you likely to retain possession of the land?
the Lord said. (Ezekiel 33:26)
But
my love shall go to the House of Judah and through Yahweh their God. I mean to
save them – but not by bow or sword or battle, horse or horsemen. (Hosea
1:7)
Not
by might and not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. (Zechariah
3)
Victory
in war does not depend on the size of the fighting force; it is from heaven
that strength comes. (1 Maccabees 3:19)
When
you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, those who held Jericho fought
against you, as did the Ammonites and Perizzites, the Canaanites, Herites,
Girgashites, Hivtes and Jebusites but I put them all into your power. (Joshua
24:11)
Jews
and Gentiles
“Their
(Jews) sins occasioned the salvation of the Gentiles and again the incredulity
of the Gentiles will occasion the conversion of Israel. You will find both in
the Apostle (St Paul)”, (St Jerome, commentary on the Song of Songs, Homily 1).
“Seeing
the Gentiles abusing little by little their grace, God will recall a second
time the Jews”. (St John Chrysostom, Homily on Epistle to Romans 2.
“St
Paul announces that the accession of Jewry to the faith will take place after
‘the full number of Gentiles enter in’”. (Romans 11:25)
“What
I say, will such an admission effectuate, if not that it brings the Gentiles
back to life? The Gentiles would be the believers whose faith has grown cold;
or even that the totality deceived by the Antichrist, fall and are restored to
their pristine fervour by the admission of the Jews”. (St Thomas Aquinas,
Commentary on the Epistle to Romans 11:15).
All
from Elias Friedman. O.Carm. Jewish Identity, Miriam Press, N.Y. p. 130
