Transcript
Ben Fallon: Paul has a question for you today, Paul, and for context for the listener, this question was submitted after the October 7th, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, and amidst all of the fighting in 2024 and 2025 between Israel and its enemies. So here's a question. “Can you please share your view on Israel in this current time as it pertains to the Scriptures? Do you identify Israel and the Jewish people as God's chosen land and race, or do you go down the road of replacement theology?”
Paul Tripp: Well, again, I'm thankful for this question because I think the recent events in Israel and Gaza have resulted in so many things being written or posted that are less than biblical. And as I always do, I want to root my answer in the Word of God, in Scripture, because it really doesn't make any difference at all what Paul Tripp thinks about this issue. What makes a difference is what God says about these kinds of things.
Let me start with Galatians 3:26–29, this is a foundational passage.
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s (Now this is where it gets interesting.), then you are Abraham's offspring, and heirs according to the promise.
I mean, how could it be stated any clearer? First, Paul says grace has destroyed all the national identities that separate us because it doesn't matter where you're from; doesn't matter your national identity; we are all one in Christ. That's powerful in its own.
But then he says, “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.” The people who are the God-ordained inheritors of the unshakable promises made to Israel, hear this, are not now national Israel, but all those who have put their faith in Christ. To say anything less is a denial of the plan and purposes of the Redeemer. Or who is in that great multitude finally standing before God's throne. Revelation 7:9–10 tells us:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Again, the picture is clear. It's not national Israel that's standing before the throne, but people from all tribes, all languages who've been saved by the blood of Jesus, dressed in white robes and singing songs of salvation. Or 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will father you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Since you have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Now what's important about this passage is the Apostle Paul takes a quote from Isaiah, first spoken to the nation of Israel, and now applies it to the church and says, “This Old Testament passage is actually about you. You are the place where God has made his dwelling. You are his special people. You are the place where his great and precious promises are fulfilled.”
Now it's quite current out there, this is being spoken and posted all over, that what I've just spoken is replacement theology because God's replaced the church with Israel, but that is a very unfortunate term. The church, the believing people of God, saved through the grace of Jesus, are not the replacement people of God as if God was caught by surprise by the Jewish rejection of the Messiah and had to cobble together a plan B. Everything that happened to Israel, to Jesus and the church that followed the work of Jesus was written into God's plan before time began. The church was always going to be God's final people. It was always going to be the final place where he would dwell. It was always going to be the final place where God's promises would be fulfilled. The church is not plan B. The church has always been plan A, and Peter makes it very clear in the Sermon on Pentecost, Acts 2:22ff:
Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know–this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,
“I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand…”
And the passage goes on. Jesus says that Jesus was delivered up by the “hands of lawless men,” but it was according to the foreordained plan of God. So the rejection of the nation of Israel, the crucifixion of Jesus, was all part of God's plan. Jesus is not the victim of Roman execution. He laid down his life of his own accord, knowing exactly what he would be doing, and knowing who would be the people that would inherit the victory of the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension.
So, “No, the nation of Israel and the ethnicity of Jews are not God's chosen people, and Israel is not the special place where he dwells.” The church of Jesus Christ is his special people and is the temple where he dwells. It's not the Jewish people, but those who are in Christ that are Abraham's descendants and the ones who inherit the promises God made to them. I'm going to say it clearly, “Christian Zionism is not a biblical position.” Should we uphold justice for Israel? “Yes, as we would for any other nation.” Are we biblical-bound to defend Israel? “No, no more than we are bound to defend any other group of oppressed people.” Should we work for peace in Palestine? “Yes, as we would work for peace in any other place where war is resulting in human suffering, death and destruction.” Should we seek to defeat the terrorism of Hamas?” “Sure, we should as we are able to defeat terrorism wherever it exists.” The Bible is clear. The church is the descendants of Abraham and the place where God dwells, God's special people, and the inheritors of his promises.
BF: Well, please continue to send us your questions about anything and everything. You can email ask@paultripp.com or submit a form at paultripp.com/ask.
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