On December 4, 2007, the Nederlands Dagblad (Daily Newspaper) organized a public debate with the question: “How inseparable is our bond with Israel for us?” What led to this debate was a fairly critical editorial in our newspaper about the book Hope for Israel,.  In addition to the reviewer of the book, H. de Jong, retired minister of the Netherlands Reformed Church, M.C. Mulder, director of the Center for Studies on Israel, H,. Poot, protestant minister and board member of the institution, Christians for Israel, and I, took part in the debate. My contribution to the exchange of ideas ended up as a plea for the so-called fulfillment model.

Introduction⤒🔗

In this article, I will illustrate three theological models which define the relationship between Israel and the church. From this point on, I will refer to them as the substitution model, the incorporation model and the fulfillment model. Naturally, with each model, shades of intensity are possible, and even necessary, but for the sake of a clear furtherance of understanding, it is important to clearly differentiate the different approaches from one another. Therefore, I will ignore the nuances in order to be able to offer a sketched oversight of the most important models which circulate within the Reformed tradition.

1. The Substitution Model: the Christian Church Has Come in the Place of Israel←⤒🔗

According to the Old Testament, the people of Israel were chosen by the holy God. It is a holy nation.  Because of that, it received a separate status in the world, different from any other people. This privilege would then have been transferred to the New Testament congregation after the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost.  Israel — which has turned away from Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, as the Messiah — is replaced by a new people of God, the Christian church.

The positive part of this approach is that much emphasis is placed on the fact that Israel, after the coming of Jesus as Messiah in this world, could not continue in the old way, as if nothing had happened.  Through his death and resurrection, everything indeed changed.

But, there are also three important problems with it:

• It has been suggested too strongly that Israel has been permanently rejected. The Christian church has never been willing to put away the Old Testament. God does not reject his people (Rom. 11:1).  God’s covenant is one, with an old as well as a new dispensation.
• To which do the Jewish Christians, such as the congregation in Jerusalem belong? It is well known about James, the brother of the Lord, also known as James the Righteous, that, until shortly begore his death, he, as a Jew, faithful to the law, went to the temple.
• All exclusivist references to God’s people (the only true people of God) can now simply be applied to the church. But that only works through Jesus Christ: the titles of honour of 1 Peter 2:9, 10 are given after the call to come to the living Stone!

What is lacking in too great a degree with the substitution model is the notion of the fulfillment of law and prophets with the coming of the Messiah into the world. At the same time, this Messiah also appears to be the fulfillment of Israel as failing “son of God”.  It would then be better for one to say that Jesus Christ came in the place of Israel, namely through his substitutionary suffering and death. 

A variant of the substitutionary model that partially deals with these difficulties is the carrying on or growth model: God’s church grows from youth to maturity.

But also in this approach, it is suggested that the “Israel period” is more or less behind us as a past phase in church history. In short, in these approaches, in my opinion, too little attention is given to the continuity of God’s covenant with people.

2. The Incorporation Model: the Christian Church is Incorporated in Israel←⤒🔗

God remains faithful to his chosen people because of his covenant.  Even though the largest portion of Israel rejected the Messiah, the Holy One, in the future, will have mercy over all of his people.  This mercy is already shown now, by God, to many who are not Jews: by their faith and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, they are incorporated into the covenant with Israel. Just as wild branches are ingrafted into the noble olive tree, so the Christian church is ingrafted into Israel.

What is positive in this approach is that it does justice to Paul’s adage: “first the Jew and also the Greek”. The gospel did not begin with us. First the apostle Paul always deliberately went to the synagogue in order to dispute with the Jews present there.

But also here, there are three important objections:

• This model is often coupled with the image of the olive tree in Romans 11, but Paul does not develop a complete model there. In front of him, he sees two trees, the wild and the noble olive. Paul focuses on the branches that are grafted into the noble olive where branches were broken off. Verse 16 and 17 speak about the nourishing root, in which people have been given a share, that is, the messianic promise.  What is the root of Israel?  Abraham and the other fathers, as is often stated?  But that can not be seen apart from the son of Abraham who makes the tree holy.  “Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” (Rom. 11:18) Noteworthy is that the glorified Christ, in the book Revelation  is called the root of David (Rev. 5:6; 22:16). He is not only of the lineage of the Jews, but he has always been the source and the strength of the people. He even predates Abraham (John 8:58). In any case, it cannot be said that Israel or the Jewish people is the root that carries us.

Does this model not lead to a disguised form of a doctrine going in two directions? Did Christ only come for those who are not Jews? As the proselytes, are we only entering into Israel? But also the Jew, Paul, had to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 9:18).The expression, “count them as having being born in Israel” occurs only in our rhymed psalm version (Ps. 87:4). In Psalm 87, it says, “The Lord records as he registers the peoples, ‘This one was born there.’” They are members of the household of God.

In short, according to my understanding, too much continuity is suggested if the Christian church is incorporated into Israel. It would be better to say that the church is incorporated into Jesus Christ; namely through baptism, that is to say through our immersion into his death and resurrection (Rom. 6). Paul’s expression “in Christ” beautifully illustrates how intense the covenant of faith with our Lord is for all Christians.

3. The Fulfillment Model: Jesus Christ, the Messiah out of Israel, is the Saviour of the World←⤒🔗

A stance that removes the one-sidedness from both lines of thought and brings them together is the model which I call the fulfillment model. Jesus Christ did not come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. His love is the fulfillment of the Torah. He also came in this manner to fulfill Israel. In a substitutionary role, and in the place of the people, he went the way of righteousness. Up to and including his death on the cross, he bore the curse of God on everyone who does not do what is written in the book of the law.  All who approach are welcome with God. He has compassion over those who are not Jewish; his name has been proclaimed over the peoples. A complete people of God is gathered around the central figure of Jesus Christ.

The nation of Israel is concentrated, thanks to the grace of God, in one person who does go the way of righteousness and at the same time, pays for the guilt of others (such as the suffering servant of Isaiah, the Son of Man in Daniel). That creates room for all people who are baptized in his Name. The only prerequisite is, according to Peter, that man must repent and allow himself to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  He is namely of Jewish nationality, but does not belong to the Jews. The first people who were baptized were Jews, but, thanks be to God, it did not remain that way! Thus the one person increases again to become a complete people of God, consisting of Jews and non-Jewish people, according to the rule; first the Jew but also the Greek (This can even be designated as God’s intention — see Acts 13:46).

Scriptural Support For the Fulfillment Model←↰⤒🔗

John 10:16, “and I have other sheep that are not of this fold” says the good Shepherd, sheep that do not come from the sheepfold of orthodox Jewry. “I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one Shepherd.” The key is listening to the voice of Jesus Christ.

Romans 11: The growth of the number of non-Jewish believers is, according to Paul, intertwined with the future of Israel.

Romans 11:13, “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles; inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.” This is obviously the perspective from which Paul speaks about the mystery of the future of Israel. God’s mercy was first for Israel, now apparently for the nations, and why not, in the future, again for Israel? Possibly Paul expected that God would use the converted heathens as a means to bring Israel to conversion.  That is to say, through their intercession and their Christian behaviour.  But the Saviour of the world will come from Zion!

Ephesians 2:19: Non-Jewish believers are fellow citizens with the saints (the believers out of Israel), and thus fellow citizens with God: the Christian family. Together Jews and non-Jews form a building on a Christian foundation, the New Testament temple and dwelling place of God.

Ephesians 6:2: The Biblical promise of long life in the land (OT: that the Lord gives you), connected to the second commandment, is expanded by Paul to a long life on earth! The Christian church therefore does not have the same promise of land as the people of Israel did.

Hebrews: Land, temple, and city are not below, but above, and for us, in the future. See especially Hebrews 13:14: “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”

According to the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem descends from above to the earth.

Giving Shape to the Fulfillment Model←⤒🔗

A complete turn around is demanded from every person, first of all, from the Jew, a complete reorientation of their faith in God; namely the acknowledgment that Jesus, the Messiah, is the only way to the Father. But also, from those who are not Jews, a new orientation of belief in the God of Israel, via Jesus the Messiah who is the Saviour of the world, is required.  In this manner, a new people of God begins wherein Jesus Christ is the heart, the spring and the root,  with the believing Israel as the innermost circle around the Messiah, around that the Arabian Christians, and encircling that the non-Jewish believers (according to A.v.d.Beek). Every circle is fed by and is focused on related people who have stayed behind.  Therefore perhaps, the proclamation of the gospel to the Jewish people can best be done by their Messiah-believing compatriots.  In any case, what we can exchange with the orthodox Jews is the explanation of Holy Scripture. What should we say about the congregation, BethYeshua, in Amsterdam who confess the Messiah while practicing Sabbath celebration, laws of food, and circumcision?  That seems unnecessary to me, but allowable as long as it is helpful for the Jew to confess the Messiah of Israel as Saviour of the world.  See especially what the Jew, Paul, writes in Galatians 5:6,  “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (namely the bond of love between those who are circumcised and those who are not). In Christ, the Jewish identity is not made of no account but is seen relative to his work.

The Biblical expectation of the heavenly Jerusalem, on the one hand limits the meaning of the earthly Jerusalem, but, on the other hand, does not exclude it.  Still, precisely a city such as Jerusalem, given its name, should be the world center of the Biblical shalom. Given this, the politics of the state of Jerusalem receives a complicated assignment. No Jewish exclusivism! No unrighteous hunger for land!  No aggravation of Palestinians; whether Christian or Moslem!

Jews who confess the Christ and Arabian Christians (the two inmost circles around the Messiah) should, according to my understanding, be pioneers together for a unity in the church on a world-wide scale, in the confession of Jesus the Messiah as Saviour of the world.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

In light of the fulfillment model espoused by myself, I would like, in conclusion, to attach two well known one-liners for contemplation. First, “An inseverable connection with the church of Israel” should become “an inseverable connection of the church with the Messiah of Israel”. Secondly, “Jerusalem as an unshared capital of Israel” would have to be “the new Jerusalem as the shared capital of God’s kingdom”.