Are Gentile Believers "Spiritual Jews"?
By Dr. Nicholas J. Schaser
Speaking of the relationship between Israel and the nations, Ephesians states that Jesus has created “in himself one new person in place of the two, so making peace… [so that he] might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross” (Eph 2:15-16). Some interpreters have understood this statement to mean that, in Christ, there is no more ethnic distinction between Jews and Gentiles—all believers have become “spiritual Jews.” Yet, a close examination of Ephesians’ language shows that while both Jews and Gentiles in Messiah are spiritually unified and equal in the sight of God, Gentiles have not become spiritual Jews.
Addressing Gentiles, Ephesians recalls the time before they became adherents to the messianic movement and “were at that time separated from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Messiah Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near through the blood of Messiah” (Eph 2:12-13). On a cursory reading of these verses, it’s easy to assume that Jesus’ sacrificial death has transformed Gentiles into spiritual Jews. However, the text does not assert that a formerly diverse cohort of nations has been made into one big “Israel.” The Greek phrase traditionally rendered “commonwealth of Israel” is πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ (politeīas toū Israēl). A better translation is the “citizenship of Israel,” which aligns with the later statement in 2:19 that believing Gentiles are no longer “strangers and foreigners” but “fellow citizens” (συμπολῖται; sumpolītai). Yet, the Gentiles’ change in “citizenship” does not make them into Jews. When a Roman tribune tells Paul that he has bought his “citizenship” (πολιτεία) for a price, the apostle responds, “But I am a citizen by birth” (Acts 22:28). While both men are citizens of the Roman Empire, Paul is a Jew and the tribune is a Gentile. Similarly, the Gentiles being addressed in Ephesians remain Gentiles; reconfigured citizenship does not confer Jewish status.
Furthermore, nowhere does Ephesians say that believing Gentiles have become citizens of Israel. Instead, 2:19 states that members of nations outside the chosen nation have become “fellow citizens with the holy ones” and part of the “household of God” (οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ; oikeīoi toū theoū). Here, the “holy ones” (ἁγίων; hagīon) are the chosen people of Israel—the ones charged in the Torah to “be holy” because the God of Israel is holy (Leviticus 19:2). The imagery is of Gentiles coming to stand alongside Jews within the “household of God,” not within the nation of Israel. This language marks the fulfillment of the covenantal promise that God makes to Abram all the way back in Genesis: “I will make of you a great nation (גוי; goy)… and in you all the families (משפחת; mishpahot) of the earth will be blessed” (Gen 12:2-3). Jesus’ nation, Israel, becomes a blessing to the other nations that join the broader family of God through him; but this expanded familial structure does not make the adopted children into biological children. All members of the Lord’s household are loved equally, but Gentiles remain Gentiles, and Jews remain Jews.
Yet what are readers to make of the notion that Yeshua has created “one new person in place of the two, so making peace… [so that he] might reconcile us both to God in one body” (Eph 2:15-16)? Doesn’t this indicate the replacement of Jews and Gentiles with a single entity that supersedes ethnicity? Not at all. The union of Jew and Gentile into “one body” no more erases ethnic distinctions than the union of Adam and Eve into “one flesh” (בשר אחד; basar echad) eliminates gender distinctions (Genesis 2:24). Ephesians even cites this very verse from Genesis to illustrate that all believers are members of Jesus’ body: “‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his woman, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and… it refers to Messiah and the church” (Eph 5:31-32). Here, the “one body” is that of Jesus, and his followers are infused into that same body through membership in the “church” (or “assembly”; ἐκκλησία), not through membership in the nation of Israel. According to Ephesians, all ethnicities can live as equal siblings under the same theological roof thanks to Jesus, but Gentile believers do not become spiritual Jews.
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