Who does Paul mean by Israel?

The short answer Settled

Paul's own people, every time. He calls his countrymen according to the flesh Israelites and says the covenants and promises are theirs. "They are not all Israel who are of Israel" draws a line inside Israel's own family, through Isaac and Jacob. It does not bring Gentiles or the church into the name.

Paul's own people

Paul opens with an oath of sorts: "I tell the truth in Christ" (Romans 9:1). He is speaking as a believer, after the cross. He grieves for "my countrymen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3), and then says who they are and what belongs to them: "who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises" (Romans 9:4). Christ Himself came from them "according to the flesh" (Romans 9:5).

The word "pertain" is supplied in English. In the Greek, the relation is carried by one small word, honGreekὧνhonof whom or whose3739 · Relative pronoun, genitive plural, "of whom" or "whose." It assigns the covenants and promises to the same Israelites Paul has just named. It does not say they once had them, and it does not assign them to anyone else.

Not all Israel who are of Israel

Paul then writes, "For they are not all Israel who are of Israel" (Romans 9:6). The sentence draws a distinction among people who are from Israel. He explains it at once with two examples, both inside Abraham's family.

First, Isaac: not all of Abraham's descendants are counted as his seed, because God said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called" (Romans 9:7). "The children of the promise are counted as the seed" (Romans 9:8). Second, Jacob and Esau: the twins had one father and had done neither good nor evil, "that the purpose of God according to election might stand" (Romans 9:11). Neither example brings in Gentiles or the church. Both stay inside the family line that produced Israel.

The same Israel throughout

The rest of Paul's argument keeps the name on the same people. A remnant of "the children of Israel" will be saved (Romans 9:27). Gentiles have attained righteousness, "but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness" (Romans 9:31). Paul prays "for Israel," "that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1), and quotes God calling Israel "a disobedient and contrary people" (Romans 10:21).

In Romans 11 Paul proves God has not cast away His people by pointing to himself: "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" (Romans 11:1). Israel is divided into "the elect" and "the rest" (Romans 11:7), set beside the Gentiles (Romans 11:25), and finally called Jacob and beloved "for the sake of the fathers" (Romans 11:28). None of these uses names the church.

The usual objection

The objection reads Romans 9:6 as a redefinition: those physically descended from Israel are not all the true Israel, so the true Israel is all believers, Jew and Gentile, and "Israel" means the church from then on.

But verse 6 draws its line among those who are "of Israel," and Paul's two explanations stay inside Abraham's family. Paul can narrow Israel to a part, or speak of the people as a whole, without ever using the name for the church.

The words behind it