Book Review Series: 'The God of Israel and Christian Theology' - Detailed Review: Chapter Eight
The Apostolic Witness - God’s Reign and the Name of Jesus Christ
The gospel tells the story of how the God of Israel triumphed over destructive powers through Jesus. This victory is central to Christian faith but not the whole story. Faith in the gospel assumes that God's original purpose for creation, threatened by destructive forces, was vindicated by Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Christians generally agree with this, but traditionally, they have explained it in a way that downplays God's identity as the God of Israel and the importance of the Hebrew Scriptures. In contrast, Soulen has shown in previous chapters how understanding God as the God of Israel is crucial to grasping God's original purpose for creation.
God's work as the Completer of creation (The Consummator) promises life and fullness of life through relationships marked by differences and mutual dependence. These relationships include the natural world and humanity, male and female, parents and children, and different generations. Additionally, God's ultimate blessing involves the Jewish people and the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, Israel and other nations.
God's work aims toward a future of peace, righteousness, and wholeness, where these relationships and differences bring mutual blessings. Therefore, the gospel can be understood as the good news of God's coming reign, announced through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, which guarantees God's commitment to completing creation and achieving mutual blessing for all. This is the understanding of the gospel that Soulen explores in the last and final chapter of the book.
The Gospel
"The gospel is good news about the God of Israel's coming reign. It tells the story of the living God of the Scriptures, the God of Israel, not a new or unknown God or a general monotheistic God. The gospel speaks of the same God known to the people of Israel from ancient times to today.
The gospel is particular because it tells something new about the coming reign of the God of Israel. God's reign is where the final outcome of creation will be decided, whether for blessing or curse. God's reign is both distinct from and related to every other work and purpose of God. It is the place where creation’s future will be determined. Similarly, God's reign is not identical with God's covenant with Israel and, through Israel, with all of the families of the earth. But it is the place where the future of God's covenant with Israel will be decided, whether to blessing or to curse.
News about God's coming reign can be good or bad, depending on whether God's original purpose for creation is fulfilled. The gospel is good news when it announces that God's purpose—to give fullness of life through mutual blessings—is achieved. But the reality and ubiquity of evil mean that such an outcome of God's consummating work is anything but assured. At the very least, the fact of evil means that God's initial purpose for creation can be fulfilled if it is to be fulfilled at all-through an act of redemption, that is, through God's struggle with and victory over powers that destroy. Even so, evil may well inflict so much damage on God's economies of difference and mutual dependence that they become irredeemable, either in part or in whole. In that event, God's initial goal of eschatological blessing for all would prove unattainable, and God would be forced to settle for some more modest outcome. So, for instance, God might consummate the natural world but not the human family, or the nations but not Israel, or the more righteous but not the less righteous, and so on. In each of these cases, God would achieve only a partial vindication of the economies of difference and mutual dependence.
On the other hand, evil could be so devastating that it destroys God's system of differences and mutual blessings not just in parts, but at its core—the essential relationship between God and everything else. If this happens, the final result of God's work would be a complete separation between God and creation, leading to an ultimate curse.
The gospel announces something new and good about God's coming reign by focusing on Jesus of Nazareth. The gospel is at heart "good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 8:12). Jesus' name means "YHWH saves," and his life, death, and resurrection offer an answer to whether God's work will ultimately be victorious over evil. God gives a present answer to the eschatological question of whether God's work as Consummator will prove ultimately victorious on behalf of all creation over all the powers that destroy. The gospel summons all who receive it to enact their trust in the ultimate victory of blessing over curse by conforming themselves in the present to the way of Jesus' cross (Mark 8:34; Phil 2:1-11; 1 John 3:16). Through cruciform discipleship, disciples of Jesus prove their faith in the final victory of the blessing of the God of Israel.
Jesus' life must be understood within the broader context of God's work as the Consummator of creation, not just as Redeemer. context? If Jesus' life is grasped solely in the context of God's work as Redeemer, its significance is foreshortened in an implicitly gnosticizing way. Instead, the gospel situates Jesus' life in the context of God's work as Consummator. This broader context gives full significance to Jesus' life, emphasizing God's ultimate plan for creation's fulfillment and blessing." Only within this ultimate horizon does Jesus' life also figure within the necessary but subordinate context of God's work as Redeemer.
Jesus' story is deeply connected to God's work as Consummator through genealogy (Matt 1:2-16; Luke 3:23-38). His family tree links him to the promises made to the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel and even further back to the first humans. This genealogy also includes gentile women like Rahab and Ruth, connecting Jesus to the difference between Israel and other nations (Matt 1:5). Jesus' lineage captures the essence of God's plan, highlighting the differences and relationships between God and humanity, men and women, generations, and nations.
Looking forward, Jesus' mission is tied to the coming reign of God. This reign shapes everything Jesus does, from his teachings to his miracles. Jesus wasn't the first to announce God's reign; John the Baptist and the ancient prophets did so before him. However, Jesus uniquely made this message good news. What did Jesus trust God's coming reign to bring? An answer can be suggested by distinguishing two different dimensions of Jesus' expectation for God's coming reign as attested by the Apostolic Witness. First, Jesus trusted God's reign to consummate the economy of mutual blessing between God and the house of Israel, and therefore between God and the nations as well. Second, Jesus trusted God's reign to consummate Israel and the nations in a manner that reclaimed, redeemed, and restored the lost. In both cases, Jesus' hope centered on God's fidelity to Israel, yet in such a way that the nations were not excluded from God's consummating and redemptive purposes.
Jesus taught his followers to pray for God's kingdom to come and God's will to be done on earth, reflecting a future where blessings and righteousness prevail. He emphasized loving God and neighbors, linking love for God with love for others. In the first three petitions of the Lord's Prayer, Jesus instructed his followers to pray for the sanctification of God's name, for the quick coming of God's reign, and for God's will to be done on earth as in heaven. These petitions amplify one another and point to God's coming reign as a place where the covenantal relationship between God and creation will be fulfilled in an eschatological economy of blessing, praise, and righteousness (Matt 6:9f.; Luke 11:2). A vision of reciprocal blessing also informs Jesus' answer to the scribe's question, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."(Mark 12:29-31)
The "vertical" economy of love between God and creation entails a "horizontal" economy of love within the created order itself. When the scribe approves Jesus' answer, Jesus in turn replies, "You are not far from the kingdom of God" (v. 34). Jesus' reply indicates that the double love commandment epitomizes not only the Torah but also the claims of God's coming reign.
Jesus believed that God's coming kingdom would especially focus on Israel. This is clear throughout the Gospels. Jesus focused his work within Israel and chose twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. He described God's kingdom as a feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When a non-Jewish woman asked him to heal her daughter, he initially said his mission was for the children of Israel. Even when his disciples asked about restoring the kingdom to Israel, he didn't dismiss their hope but told them it wasn't for them to know the exact time.
However, Jesus also saw God's kingdom as including all nations. When the non-Jewish woman showed faith, he healed her daughter. He said people from all directions would join the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His choice of twelve disciples also hinted at bringing together the dispersed tribes of Israel and starting a new creation.
Jesus' hope for God's kingdom didn't just include Israel but also aimed to reclaim and restore those who were lost. He often talked about his mission as for "the lost sheep of Israel." These lost sheep were people who had lost their place in God's blessing, whether due to their own mistakes, others' actions, or no clear reason at all. They included the poor, hungry, sick, sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and the marginalized. Jesus welcomed them as beloved children of God with a special place at the table.
Jesus' mission to the lost sheep of Israel shows his broader concern for all of Israel. This is similar to the biblical idea of Jubilee, which aimed to restore people and land to their rightful place. Jesus' ministry, especially as described in Luke, embodies this idea. He proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom for captives, sight for the blind, and relief for the oppressed. His teachings, like the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer, emphasized God's blessings for the poor, grieving, hungry, and those persecuted for doing right. Jesus' healings and exorcisms showed the nearness and nature of God's kingdom as a restoration of wholeness.
Both dimensions of Jesus' hope in God's reign, and its consequences for human conduct, are expressed in the following commandments he gave his disciples:
But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:27-36)
Jesus' teaching is based on the idea of God's system of mutual blessing, even though this system is attacked by curse, violence, and hatred. He tells his followers not to fight back in the same way. Instead, they should live for God's system, including caring for their enemies. By doing this, they show they are children of the heavenly Father, who continues to bless even those who curse Him.
From the beginning, both friends and foes struggle to understand Jesus and his message. Instead of creating harmony and a sense of mutual blessing, he often stirs confusion and discord (Mark 5:17; Luke 4:28). His closest followers frequently misunderstand and disobey him (Mark 6:52; 9:32). Jesus seems unable to change the hearts of those who hear him.
Eventually, Jesus heads toward Jerusalem, where he is first welcomed as the Messiah by the crowds. But soon, their support fades. Jesus, who always represented God’s blessings, becomes increasingly isolated. He teaches in the Temple during the day and seeks refuge at night. During the Passover meal with his disciples, he blesses the bread and wine, proclaiming that God’s kingdom will come before he drinks wine again (Mark 14:25). One disciple prepares to betray him, and Jesus prays alone in a garden as his followers sleep (Mark 14:39).
Things escalate quickly. Jesus is arrested by armed men, his disciples flee, and he is judged by the Temple authorities, who accuse him of blasphemy and hand him over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate conducts a flawed trial and condemns Jesus based on false testimony. Jesus is beaten and mocked by Roman soldiers while his followers deny knowing him.
At around nine in the morning, Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem between two criminals. Six hours later, he dies, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). In this, the hope for mutual blessing between God, Israel, and the nations results in tragedy. In the life of this messenger of God's kingdom, the hopes for a shared blessing between God, Israel, and all nations reach a dramatic point and end in tragedy. The one who believed God's kingdom would welcome outcasts is rejected by Israel's leaders, given to the gentile rulers, and crucified. Throughout this, people from different backgrounds—Jews, Romans, religious, non-religious, political, and non-political—come together in a destructive act against the one chosen by God.
The wound in the promise of blessing goes even deeper, affecting the relationship between Jesus and God, whom he called Abba. Jesus believed that God's kingdom would ultimately bring blessing over curse for everyone, especially the lost. In his faith, he followed a path of obedience, even when God's promised blessing seemed hidden by curse, shame, isolation, and abandonment. Jesus fully identified with the lost, crying out in abandonment on the cross. The burden of curse, shame, and isolation he carried was not his own but that of others.
The women, alone among Jesus' grieving followers, went early in the morning to prepare his body for burial. But when they arrived, everything was different. Astonished, they discovered that God had turned curse into blessing (Neh 13:2; Gal 3:13-14). The God of Israel had raised Jesus from the dead.
By raising the crucified Jesus from the dead, God vindicates the economy of mutual blessing over against all the destructive powers of sin, curse, separation, and death. God thereby also vindicates Jesus' own faith in the ultimate victory of God's blessing, especially on behalf of the lost and forsaken. The victory of God's blessing over curse is efficacious in the first instance on behalf of Jesus himself. This victory first benefited Jesus, as God did not let him experience decay or corruption (Acts 2:27). It also extended to everyone Jesus lived, served, and suffered for. In light of the resurrection, the crucifixion itself is seen as triumphant. Jesus' deep solidarity with the lost, even dying as an outcast, reflected his Abba's love for Israel and all humanity. Paul states that Christ became a "curse" through crucifixion, securing Abraham’s blessing for the Gentiles (Gal 3:13-14).
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to others. These meetings are first of all meetings of recognition, forgiveness, and reconciliation. They are then meetings of fellowship and feasting. Finally, they are meetings of sending. Reconciliation, feasting, and mission became the marks of renewed fellowship, making Jesus' resurrection a living force until his return.
The gospel talks about God's coming kingdom by focusing on Jesus, presenting him as the victorious guarantee of God's final faithfulness. Jesus is the victorious guarantee of God's end-time fidelity to the work of consummation. Each part of "victorious guarantee" is important. Jesus is seen as victorious because, through his resurrection, God confirms Jesus' belief in the triumph of blessing over curse, life over death, and connection over isolation. He is also the guarantee because, while everything about him relates to God's future kingdom, he is not the reign in it’s complete fulfillment. Jesus is the "first fruits of those who have died" (1 Cor 15:20) and must be joined by his brother’s and sister’s before God's reign is to be established. Paul succinctly describes this by saying, "For in him every one of God's promises is a 'Yes'" (2 Cor 1:20), meaning that in Christ, God's promises are confirmed, not fully realized. Paul also emphasizes that God's victory among believers now is seen through their sharing in Christ's sufferings.
In Jesus, God shows unwavering commitment to the ultimate purpose of creation and to His work as consummator of all things. Here one can only agree with the great christocentric theologians like Karl Barth and Karl Rahner, who emphasize that the gospel only makes sense as a confirmation of God's role as the fulfiller and consummator of creation. Barth describes God's covenant with creation as the basis for atonement through Christ, which maintains the covenant despite sin. However, Barth's view risks leaning into gnosticism by suggesting that atonement in Jesus concludes the history of God's covenant with creation.
Rahner more accurately describes God’s work in Christ as establishing the unchangeable direction of history toward its final completion. He acknowledges the ongoing nature of the covenant and allows for new developments, leading to a mutual blessing for Israel, the nations, and all creation.
It is here that Soulen emphasizes that neither Barth nor Rahner fully captures God’s role as the Consummator in concrete history. This role shouldn't be limited to the relationship between Jesus and humanity, nor should it be seen in abstract terms about the Creator's plans for humanity.
Rather God's work as Consummator takes concrete shape in the open-ended economy of difference and mutual dependence that continually unfolds between the Lord, Israel, and the nations. If Jesus represents God’s ultimate faithfulness, he embodies God’s promise to Israel, foretelling a future of unparalleled blessing for Israel, the nations, and all creation. Jesus' resurrection previews a future event where God’s loyalty will benefit all Israel, fulfilling promises and bringing blessings to everyone.
Jesus, as the firstborn from the dead, signifies the beginning of God’s final vindication of Israel. His resurrection assures that God will act on behalf of all Israel at the end of covenant history, completing the world.
The Shape of Discipleship
In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God permanently disrupts the balance of blessing and curse within the dynamics of difference and interdependence. This act empowers his followers to live in a way that extends boundless blessings to others. As stated in 1 John 3:16, "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another." Few have expressed more clearly than Bonhoeffer that following Christ must take the shape of the cross:
The passion of Christ is the victory of divine love over the powers of evil, and therefore it is the only supportable basis for Christian obedience. Once again, Jesus calls those who follow him to share his passion. How can we convince the world by our preaching of the passion when we shrink from that passion in our own lives? On the cross Jesus fulfilled the law he himself established and thus graciously keeps his disciples in the fellowship of his suffering. The cross is the only power in the world which proves that suffering love can avenge and vanquish evil. But it was just this participation in the cross which the disciples were granted when Jesus called them to him. They are called blessed because of their visible participation in his cross.
Bonhoeffer's insight isn't about suffering for its own sake. Instead, he recognized that the Hebrew Scriptures focus on God's blessing, which encompasses all good things. He emphasized that this focus on blessing is not replaced or surpassed in the New Testament. Bonhoeffer continues to elaborate on this point:
It would be natural to suppose that, as usual, the New Testament spiritualizes the teaching of the Old Testament here (with regard to blessing), and therefore to regard the Old Testament blessing as superseded in the New. But is it an accident that sickness and death are mentioned in connection with the misuse of the Lord's Supper (The cup of blessing, 1 Cor 10:16; 11:30), that Jesus restored people's health, and that while his disciples were with him they "lacked nothing"?
Bonhoeffer argued that even Jesus' cross should not be seen as opposing God's blessing as described in the Scriptures of Israel:
Now, is it right to set the Old Testament blessing against the cross? That is what Kierkegaard did. That makes the cross, or at least suffering, an abstract principle; and that is just what gives rise to an unhealthy methodism, which deprives suffering of its element of contingency as a divine ordinance. . . . The only difference between the Old and New Testament in this respect is that in the Old the blessing includes the cross, and in the New the cross includes the blessing!
The cross doesn't replace the mutual blessing; it marks the greatest extent of God's commitment to it for those who are estranged. Therefore, the cross provides redemption for the world, not an escape from it:
The Christian, unlike the devotees of the redemption myths, has no last line of escape available from earthly tasks and difficulties into the eternal, but, like Christ himself ('My God, why hast thou forsaken me?), he must drink the earthly cup to the dregs, and only in his doing so is the crucified and risen Lord with him, and he crucified and risen with Christ. This world must not be prematurely written off; in this the Old and New Testaments are at one. Redemption myths arise from human boundary-experiences, but Christ takes hold of a man at the center of his life.
The cross in the public square makes the Gospel challenging and offensive for both Jews and Greeks alike. It does not deny or destroy Israel's national privilege; interpreting it that way would undermine God's faithfulness (Rom 3:3). The real offense of the gospel is at once much simpler and much harder: God preserves the economy of mutual blessing through suffering love, to which Jew and Greek alike are called to be conformed.
The Church Amid Jews and Gentiles
The resurrection hints at the final outcome of covenant history, showing God's vindication of Israel to bless Israel, the nations, and all creation. However, it also starts something new in God's ongoing work as the Consummator of creation. After the Exodus, God delivered Israel from Egypt, gave the law at Mt. Sinai, and continued His work with Israel. Similarly, after Jesus' resurrection, the new development is the church—a community of Jews and Gentiles praying for God's reign.
To fully understand this community, Soulen suggests that we must explore its connection to God's plan through three perspectives:
The economy of consummation within the church
The church within the economy of consummation
The church's relation to the eschatological fulfillment of God’s economy of consummation
In each case, the gospel and the community it creates affirm, rather than eliminate, the differences and mutual dependence between Israel and the nations.
The Economy of Consummation Within the Church
Traditionally, the church has seen itself as a spiritual community where the distinction between Jew and Gentile no longer matters. It has viewed itself as a new "race" that transcends and replaces this difference. Soulen suggests that while the historical journey that ultimately issued in this misunderstanding is a complex one, its basic trajectory can be formulated easily enough. What began in Jesus' name as Israel's hospitality toward Gentiles as Gentiles, ended as the Gentiles' inhospitability toward Jews as Jews.
To correct this, the church must reclaim its identity as a community where diverse individuals come together. A recovery of the church's basic character as a table fellowship of those who are—and remain—different. The distinction between Jew and Gentile, being intrinsic to God's work as the Consummator of creation, is not erased but realized in a new way in the sphere of the church. The church concerns the Jew as a Jew and the Gentile as a Gentile, not only initially or for the period of a few generations but essentially and at all times. Indeed, the church's fundamental character is revealed in the fact that it is the place where Jews and Gentiles, with equal right, are together with one another. As Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt has written:
The idea that all human distinctions are "transcended" in Christ is falsely understood if one deduces from it the pure meaninglessness of these distinctions. Christ "transcends" not the different circumstances of our various callings but the apartheids by which we have closed ourselves off from one another. Jesus Christ tore down the "dividing wall" between Israel and the nations, the Chinese and the Berlin walls; he beat down the "enmities" between human groups; he conquered the dualistic global law of human history (Eph 2:14). His work is establishing peace (Eph 2:14-16), but not the nullification of Judaism. And he annuls the Gentiles only insofar as he takes from them their lack of relation to Israel. The nations are contradicted only in the event that they should seek their essence, their identity, in inward absence of relation to Israel, just as must happen to a Judaism which- contrary to its vocation--for its part sets itself exclusively against the nations.
In other words, Friedrich-Wilhelm Marquardt argues that saying all human differences are "transcended" in Christ doesn't mean these differences are meaningless. Instead, Christ breaks down the barriers that separate us, like the division between Israel and other nations. He creates peace without erasing Judaism or the identity of the Gentiles. Rather, he removes their isolation from Israel. Nations are only criticized if they define themselves without relation to Israel, just as Judaism shouldn't completely oppose other nations.
The church does not reject the differences between Jew and Gentile, male and female; it rejects the idea that these differences mean curse or conflict. In this way, the church embodies the doctrine of justification, which socially means reconciling different people. Reconciliation doesn't mean making everyone the same, but creating unity through mutual blessing. The church is meant to be a community made up of diverse groups. The church is called to be not simply a household, but a household of households.
The church isn't a separate category alongside Jews and Greeks; it's a way in which the relationship between Jew and Gentile is expressed. Jesus' resurrection doesn't erase the distinction between Israel and the nations but affirms it in a new way. The church is a temporary form of this relationship and isn't the full realization of God's kingdom and reign. It is not the place where God's promises are completely fulfilled to the definitive blessing of Israel and the nations. However, it embodies the fellowship between Jews and Gentiles in a hopeful, forward-looking manner, pointing toward the future fulfillment of God's promises.
This understanding of the church is rooted in the decisions made at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-21; Gal 2:1-10). It was accepted that Jewish followers of Jesus were still bound to the Torah, while Gentile followers were required to follow only the Noachide law. This reflects the belief that God's work in Jesus involves Jews and Gentiles in their distinct identities. Both groups can obey Jesus: Jews by observing the Mosaic law with Jesus' interpretation, and Gentiles by following Jesus without becoming Jews or taking on the Torah's obligations. The church's core vision is a community where differences are maintained in a fellowship of shared blessings, not erased.
By reclaiming this view, the church does not diminish the importance of Israel or its chosen status. Michael Wyschogrod's concern about losing the distinction between Jew and Gentile is addressed. The church should value the unique identity of Jewish existence, whether inside or outside the church. It should repent for neglecting the Council of Jerusalem's original decision, which assumed that Jews would maintain their identity. For the future, it should clarify, as Paul van Buren states, that when Jews join the church, they still belong to their covenant with God and remain Jews, despite past church policies.
The Church Within the Economy of Consummation
The church is not God's kingdom but a temporary community of Jews and Gentiles. Its mostly Gentile makeup highlights this temporary nature. While the church invites both Jews and Gentiles, many Jews have not accepted this invitation, creating a challenge for the church. This issue could be simplified by either denying that God remains faithful to the Jews or by claiming that the gospel isn't relevant to them. Both approaches diminish the full extent of God's promises, effectively avoiding the problem rather than addressing it.
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, does not dismiss this challenge. He considers God's commitment to Israel as essential (Rom 3:3; 9:4-5; 11:29; 15:8), and he sees the gospel as significant for everyone, "to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom 1:16). Yet, he notes with surprise that Israel has largely rejected the gospel (10:18-21). Paul interprets this as part of God's plan within covenant history (Rom 11).
According to Paul, Israel's rejection is a divinely intended part of how the gospel relates to both Jews and Gentiles. It is God who has brought a hardening "upon part of Israel"-not absolutely and in every respect- but quite specifically with respect to the gospel (Rom 11:25). This hardening is not the same thing as rejection and has nothing at all to do with moral judgment.24 Nor does this hardening cut Israel off from God's covenantal love and saving power. The point of the hardening is not the punishment of Israel but rather the blessing of the nations. As Leslie Newbigin has put it, "God has hardened the heart of Israel so that the gospel which they reject will so to say-bounce off to the Gentiles." Israel's no provides time and space for the preaching of the gospel among the nations.
Is it conceivable that the God of Israel would work blessings for the nations by closing Israel's eyes to "so great a salvation?" (Heb 2:3). Could such an action be in keeping with God's character and fidelity? In reply, one might observe that the God of Israel acted in a remarkably similar way once before, in the history of Joseph and his brothers. In that case too, Jacob's sons rejected their especially beloved brother and handed him over to foreigners from the nations, who did with Joseph what they would. For years there-after, Jacob and his sons could only assume that their brother Joseph was "no more" (Gen 42:13, 36). But Joseph was "yet alive," for God was with Joseph (Gen 45:28). Joseph lived among the Egyptians, while Jacob and his other sons remained ignorant that this was so.
As the well-known story suggests, it is hardly inconceivable for the God of Israel to pursue the ultimate good of Israel in a roundabout way that entails the preliminary blessing of the nations. What is inconceivable is that the living God would at any point annul God's love for Israel or abandon Israel as the ultimate focal point of God's blessing. As Paul wrote, "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29).
In view of the church's place within God's overarching economy of consummation, the church must guard against two misunder-standings. First, the church should not permit its overwhelmingly gentile character to lead it to forget or minimize its own character as a table fellowship that is open to all persons as Jews and as Gentiles. It is extremely doubtful whether there has ever been a time when the living membership of the church included no Jews. Yet even if there were such a time, the presence of the church's living Lord, the Jew Jesus Christ, ensures that the church remains essentially a table fellowship of Jews and Gentiles.
Second, the church should not confuse its universal mission with a uniform mission. The church does indeed have a commission to proclaim "the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ" before all the world. But it must do so in a differentiated way. The church is commissioned to make disciples of all the nations (Matt 28:19). It doesn't have a specific mission to convert the Jewish people, especially for the Gentile church. Nothing in the Apostolic Witness remotely suggests the validity of a gentile-Christian mission to non-Christian Jews. Christians should not hide or minimize their faith in conversation with Jews. But the church, above all in its gentile portion, should cease organized mission efforts among the Jewish people. Instead the church of the Gentiles should seek to live before the Jewish people in such a way that Israel can reasonably infer that here the nations of the world truly worship the God of Israel and in this way manifest the truth of its gospel (see Rom 11:13-14).
By accepting these conditions and resisting the urge to simplify them, the church shows its willingness to live in the midst of complexities, sustained by faith in the God of covenant history.
The Economy of Consummation and the Limits of the Church
Operating within the framework of the standard canonical narrative, Christian theologians have sometimes held that Israel would convert to the church at the end of the ages and thereby be saved. They have supported this view by appealing to the "mystery" that Paul solemnly declares to his gentile audience near the end of Romans 11:
So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob." "And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins." (Rom 11:25-27)
Nowhere in this passage does Paul say that Israel will be saved by converting to the church. Instead, Paul speaks of God's direct intervention for Israel at the end of the age: "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer." This idea is not mysterious to Paul, as the Scriptures frequently discuss God's ultimate intervention for Israel. Paul's main theme in Romans 11, and throughout the letter, is God's faithfulness to Israel. The mystery Paul mentions is about how God will intervene for Israel, which will happen after "the full number of the Gentiles has come in." This is how "all Israel will be saved."
This passage from Paul is often discussed because it highlights the church's eschatological limits. The church is not a direct extension of God's reign, like a river flowing into the sea. There is a gap between the church and God's ultimate reign, which only the Lord's intervention for all Israel can fill. This future event, as Berthold Klappert describes it, is beyond the church's message and mediation. "Out of Zion will come the Deliverer." The final chapter of covenant history hinges on the Lord's relationship with Israel, not with the nations, even those within the church. The story of Joseph provides a fitting analogy: the climax happens between Joseph and his brothers, while the Egyptians observe from another room (Gen 45:1-2). The shared celebration follows.
This does not mean the church should be uncertain about Christ in relation to God's future faithfulness to Israel. The church's faith in Jesus Christ shapes its hope in God's reign. Paul quotes Isaiah 59, identifying God's future action for Israel in messianic terms. Though he does not name the coming messiah, Paul's argument reflects Jesus' cruciform story (see Rom 11:12, 15). If God has blessed the nations through Israel's rejection of the gospel, even greater things can be expected when God acts directly for Israel at the end of the age!
Final Consummation
The unity of the Christian Bible is not best understood by insisting that everything in it points to Jesus Christ. This approach ignores Bonhoeffer's advice not to speak the final word before understanding the preceding context. It often leads to a theology that is triumphalist toward Jews and somewhat gnostic about God's purposes for the earth and its history. Instead, it's more helpful to recognize that both the Scriptures and the Apostolic Witness focus on the God of Israel and His coming reign of peace (shalom).
This perspective allows Christians to appreciate God's purpose before the gospel of Jesus: the Lord's role as the Completer of creation (Consummator). Everything indeed revolves around Christ, but not everything is directly about Christ. Redemption serves the purpose of consummation, not the other way around.
According to the Scriptures, the Lord brings completion through blessing others. The covenantal history that begins with God's promise to bless Abraham and all nations through him is not just a side effect of God's work but is central to it. This history is aimed at a future of wholeness, righteousness, justice, and peace, but it's threatened by sin, evil, and oppression. The fall is part of this history, not before it. Redemption means liberation within and for this history.
The Apostolic Witness shows that God's ultimate faithfulness to creation is demonstrated against all destructive forces through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom 1:16). It calls everyone to remain Jews or Gentiles while glorifying God's victory by aligning with Jesus' solidarity with others, even to sharing in his sufferings.
God's history with Israel and the nations doesn't just set the stage for the gospel; it surrounds and gives context and purpose to the gospel. This is illustrated in John's vision of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21), where in the new creation, God dwells in a city with gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel, through which the kings of the earth bring their glory. This vision shows God's completion work having both historical and cosmic dimensions: a new heaven and a new earth and the fulfillment of God's promise to bless Israel and all peoples. The Lamb (Jesus), along with God's glory, lights up the city, ensuring unity. The path to new creation goes through God's faithfulness to Israel, leading to healing, judgment, and reconciliation for all humanity and creation.
For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Rom 15:8-9a).
It is said that even Doeg and Ahithophel shall have a part in the life to come. The angels of the Service say, "If David complains of this, what wilt Thou do?" God replies, "It is my business to make them friends with one another" (Sanhedrin, 105a).
This last passage from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 105a) refers to a Jewish teaching that even two of King David's most notorious enemies, Doeg and Ahithophel, will have a place in the afterlife. The message here is that it is God's role to bring about reconciliation and peace, even between bitter enemies, in the afterlife. It emphasizes God's power and intention to restore harmony and resolve conflicts in the world to come. This teaching underscores the themes of forgiveness, divine justice, and the ultimate reconciliation of all souls.