A review of the book, The Gospel and the Land of Promise, appeared in a recent NZ Baptist. It is a compilation of essays by 11 biblical scholars on the vexed question of the land of Israel and the covenant promises of God. It seems to be a concerted repudiation of the increasing Christian voices that rejoice in the return of the Jews to their land and of a promise-keeping God.

Seven of the eleven (mostly New Zealand) scholars are on the staff of Laidlaw College. All eleven speak from “one side of the mountain” and espouse “inclusive fulfillment” views – as Tim Meadowcroft puts it in the closing essay. To be fair, Tim did wish that a different perspective had been presented and referred to the Catholic Second Vatican Council 1965 declaration Nostra Aetate.

Nostra Aetate was a complete reversal by the Catholic Church in its attitude toward the Jews. It includes such statements as: “The Church cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom God … concluded the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree into which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles. Indeed, the Church believes that by his cross, Christ Our Peace reconciled Jews and Gentiles, making both one in himself.” Tim Meadowcroft calls Nostra Aetate “a challenge to readers and writers of this volume” (of essays).

I would concur. There are Christians (scholars, ministers and lay Christians) who sincerely believe, with sound biblical reasoning, that the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland is God-ordained; the preservation of the returnees and their language a miracle; that Christians are not the ‘new Israel’; and that God has a plan for Israel distinct from that of New Covenant Christian believers.

The general thrust of the essays, with which we can all agree, is stated by Philip Church: “Whether or not the church is the new/renewed Israel is never raised in the New Testament. What is clear, however, is that followers of Jesus, whatever their ethnic background, constitute God’s people.”

Nonetheless, there is an identifiable grouping of people today – as there has been for thousands of years – called the Jews. They are not the Church. And the Church is not new Israel. That would set aside God’s many promises to Israel in the Hebrew Bible. Galatians 6:16 may refer to us as the new Israel if “and” (kai) became “even” but [it] is the only text in the New Testament doing so. Paul could simply be wishing peace upon his kin in keeping with the final blessing of Psalm 125:5. The question remains: Does God have a plan for Israel?

– Brian Hooper
Paraparaumu