Must Christians Support 'Israel' Amid Palestine Conflict?: A Biblical Response
Which Israel?
Hamas gunmen launched a deadly assault on the State of Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, reportedly killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages.
Israel responded with military force, killing thousands of Palestinians.
Christians are confronted with the question: Must I support the State of Israel amid this conflict?
But in order to answer that question, we have to answer another first: Who is Israel?
The answer to that question will influence the answer to the first.
The first mention of the term ‘Israel’ in the Bible occurs in Genesis 32:28, where Jacob, after wrestling with an angel, is given the name Israel.
Throughout the Old Testament, the term ‘Israel’ is used for Jacob—the son of Isaac, son of Abraham—and his descendants.
But the New Testament clarifies that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6; English Standard Version (ESV) used throughout). “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (v. 8).
In order to be part of Israel, one must be more than a mere physical descendant of Jacob.
One must also do more than follow Old Testament covenant laws, like practicing circumcision:
“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical” (Rom. 2:28).
Rather, “a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (v. 29).
“Or is God the God of Jews only?” the Book of Romans asks rhetorically (3:29a). “Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (vv. 29b-30).
Whether Jew or Gentile (non-Jew; sometimes referred to as “Greek” in the New Testament), faith is what makes one part of Israel, not ancestry.
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him,” Romans 10:12 says. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13).
Israel is therefore all of those individuals throughout history who have faith in God and receive his Spirit, not simply those who belong to a single ethnic group or ancestral lineage:
“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Both Jews and non-Jews “are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).
Old Testament believers didn’t understand this at the time. It was a mystery to them, “not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (3:5).
But now we know the “mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (v. 6).
If Israel is all of those individuals throughout history who have saving faith in God, then Christians are not required to “support” the contemporary nation-state that is called Israel, established in 1948, any more than they are required to support any other nation.
Biblical Israel and the nation-state of Israel established in 1948 are two different things. One stands for God-believers throughout time. The other stands for a political body formed in the 20th century.
If a Christian wants to support the modern nation-state of Israel, they are free to do so. But the Bible doesn’t require them to.
Doesn’t the Bible say God will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel?
No.
Genesis 12:3 says that God will bless those who bless Abraham, not those who bless the modern nation-state called Israel formed in 1948.
In the passage, God says to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).
But even if this is interpreted to mean that God will bless those who bless Abraham’s offspring and will curse those who curse Abraham’s offspring, the term ‘Abraham’s offspring’ again refers to all believers in God throughout history, not the nation-state formed in 1948 called Israel. (‘Abraham’s offspring’ and ‘Israel’ refer to the same group.)
In Gen. 17:5, God says that Abraham will be the “father of a multitude of nations,” plural, not one nation.
God continues:
“I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (vv. 6-7).
The New Testament clarifies that faith is what makes you part of Abraham’s offspring:
“For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,” it says in Rom. 4:13-16.
Later in Romans, it confirms that an individual’s physical ancestry (“flesh”) does not make one part of Abraham’s offspring:
“[N]ot all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (9:6-8).
Galatians 3, quoting Gen. 15:6, makes it explicit that Abraham himself, who pre-dates Jacob, “believed God” and that his belief “was counted to him as righteousness,” not his ethnicity or ancestry.
So anyone can be a “son of Abraham” if they have faith in God:
“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (vv. 7-9).
A few verses later, it explains that Jesus’ death on the cross (“hanged on a tree”) is the thing that makes the blessings of Abraham apply to non-Jews:
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (vv. 13-14).
And in vv. 26-28: “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 is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Therefore, Christians are Abraham’s offspring. Meaning that even if “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” is wrongly interpreted to mean that God will bless those who bless Abraham’s offspring and will curse those who curse Abraham’s offspring, then God will bless those who bless Christians and curse those who curse Christians.
Two Passages Come Alive With the Understanding That Christians Are Part of Israel
Romans 11
[1] I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. [2] God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? [3] “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” [4] But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” [5] So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. [6] But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
[7] What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, [8] as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
[9] And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
[10] let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
[11] So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. [12] Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
[13] Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry [14] in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. [15] For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? [16] If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
[17] But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, [18] do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. [19] Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” [20] That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. [21] For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. [22] Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. [23] And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. [24] For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
[25] Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. [26] And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
[27] “and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
[28] As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. [29] For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. [30] For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, [31] so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. [32] For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
[34] “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
[35] “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
[36] For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Ephesians 2:11–3:6
[11] Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—[12] remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14] For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility [15] by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16] and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. [17] And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19] So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21] in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. [22] In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
[3:1] For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—[2] assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, [3] how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. [4] When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, [5] which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. [6] This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.