The Identity of the ᾿ΙΣΡΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ (Israel of God) in Galatians 6:16 -- By: Andreas J. Köstenberger

Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 19:1 (Fall 2001)
Article: The Identity of the ᾿ΙΣΡΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ (Israel of God) in Galatians 6:16
Author: Andreas J. Köstenberger


The Identity of the ᾿ΙΣΡΑΗΛ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ
(Israel of God) in Galatians 6:16

Andreas J. Köstenberger

Professor of New Testament
Director of Ph.D./Th.M. Studies
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, North Carolina 27587

Introduction

Who is the “Israel of God” in Gal. 6:16? Entire theological systems divide over the interpretation of this passage, which has an important bearing on the question of the relationship between Israel and the church. Yet, rather than being viewed through a pre-existing systematic-theological grid, Paul’s puzzling reference to the “Israel of God” in Gal. 6:16 ought to be studied first and foremost in the context of the entire epistle and especially in light of Paul’s anti-Judaizing polemic. Even this polemic, moreover, should be seen in the larger framework of the cross work of Christ and its implications for the new covenant community.1 J. D. G. Dunn, in his important work, The Partings of the Ways, sketches these larger issues well:

Another inescapable question which lies at the heart of Christian self-understanding as a result of its origins is: Who are the people of God? How stands now the axiom of Israel’s election? So long as Christianity and Judaism were still part of an unbroken, continuous spectrum, it was not so much of a problem. It was possible to speak and think of a renewed or expanded Israel in continuity with the old.... But with the final parting of the ways the question becomes more pressing and unavoidable as such. Who are the people of God? All Jews? Or only those Jews who have become Christians = the remnant = eschatological Judaism? Or Gentiles as well? What about the great bulk of the Jewish people who have not believed in Jesus as Messiah and still show no signs of doing so? And has Christianity taken over from Israel, the “new Israel” superseding the old?2

Traditionally, Gal. 6:16 has been interpreted as affirming that the church replaces Israel as God’s new covenant community, the true spiritual “Israel.”3 As W. D. Davies observes, however, “If this proposal were correct one would have expected to find support for it in Rom. ix-xi where Paul extensively deals with ‘Israel.’”4 The Jewish-Christian antagonism that developed during the crystallization period of the church in the first few centuries A.D. doubtless influenced

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