Israel has been dominating headlines lately.

• Anti-Israel protests on college campuses.
• Sanctions against Iran for an attack on Israel.
• Updates on Israel’s war against Hamas.

Recently I taught a Bible class on the book of Romans. One section of Paul’s letter, Romans 9-11, is all about God’s dealings with Israel. Studying that section led me to explore key questions about Israel. Some people suggested I share the material more widely. I hope these posts will be helpful in sorting through some of the confusion about how Christians are to regard Israel.

Here are the questions I’ll address over three blog posts:

1. Who is Israel?
2. How does Israel factor into God’s plan of salvation?
3. How are Christians to regard the nation of Israel?

I don’t claim any special expertise on these topics, but after a period of study, I do have some thoughts to share.

Who is Israel?

One of my favorite Bible teachers, Reed Lessing, gave these definitions in a 2006 edition of The Lutheran Witness in an article titled “Whose Land Is It?”:

• Israelite: An Old Testament believer in Yahweh (the Lord), the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• Hebrew: Used by Israelites in the Old Testament to identify themselves to non-Israelites.
• Jew: This term means either an ethnicity or an adherent to “Judaism,” which is not the Christ-centered faith of the Old Testament.
• Israeli: A citizen of the 1948 state of Israel, which is not the same Israel of the Old Testament. Israelis are sometimes called “secular Jews.”

According to the definitions, three of these four existed in the Bible. Israelite and Hebrew are basically interchangeable terms, referring to the people of the Old Testament, the children of Abraham who worshiped the one true God. Jews also existed in the Old Testament; we see the development of Judaism in the New Testament with groups like the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The one group that did not exist in the Old Testament is Israelis. An Israeli is not the same thing as an Israelite. Israelites no longer exist. By the definition, this term no longer applied after the end of the Old Testament. Israelis came into being in 1948, when the modern-day nation of Israel was chartered.

“Israel” can be used in two ways today. One way is to refer to a nation that occupies a certain real estate in the Middle East, a nation whose flag has the Star of David on it.

The other way to refer to Israel is in a theological sense. The Israel of God is all who trust in the one true God for their salvation. Israel isn’t just those of Abraham’s bloodline. It’s those who share in Abraham’s faith. Galatians 3:7 says, “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.” In the same chapter, Galatians 3:29 says, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

The Israel of God is the Church, all who confess Jesus as Savior. Abraham believed in God’s promise of a Savior, and Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3) The Savior has come, and all who believe in Him are counted as Israel, the heirs of God’s promises.

Next: How does Israel factor into God’s plan of salvation?

Whose Land Is It?