Not all Israel is Isreal as Paul wrote has a different context then what you state. The children of God before the new convent was introduced were the children of Abraham. The children of God under the new covenant are those born of God. Paul wrote to show Gods promises to Abraham had not failed as Not all Israel is Israel.
When was the new covenant introduced?
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.
I would think Isreal means, “one who struggles with God.”
You would think incorrectly, but even if that definition were applicable the question is then, "
Who is it that wrestles with God?". The answer to
that question is, "
Those in whom is already at work for His purpose". Atheists do not wrestle with God. They do not believe any God exists so how could they possibly wrestle with a God in which they do not believe? Atheists do not believe in sin, either. What possible explanation could there be for any atheist wrestling with something which does not exist
(in the mind of the atheist)?
Jacob was a man chosen by God before Jacob was born. Jacob was chosen
for Christological purpose before he was born. The infant, the child, the man had no clue he'd been chosen, nor for what purpose, and the account of his life is one in which he chronically disobeyed God. God won. Your definition does not gain you any profit. It paradoxically works in the other direction.
When was the new covenant introduced?
The New Testament reports the introduction of a new covenant. It does so citing the Old Testament prophets, like
Jeremiah 31:31, which makes no mention of Gentiles), and
Hosea 2:23's people who are not Good's people. This "
new covenant" is a fulfillment of divine purpose that originated in the beginning (
Jn 1:1) with the Messiah who was foreknown as such before the foundation of the world (
1 Pet. 1:20). It is this new covenant in which the men and women of faith are made complete (
Heb. 11:40). Perhaps most importantly of all
(for the purposes of this thread) is the fact Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit) took the covenant promises made to Abraham and tied them to Jesus.
Galatians 3:16-18
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
The promises God made were spoken to Abraham
and Jesus!!! The promises were spoken to Abraham and Abraham's seed and that seed is Jesus,
not Israel. Israel
(both the boy, the people, and the nation) were seeds of Abraham but they were not the promised seed, the seed of promise. Not all Israel is Israel.
If you get our your Bible, or call up your software e-Bible and do a search of the word "
Israel," you will find the first person called "Israel" is Jacob. Jacob is given that name after he wrestles with God but God wins that match. The name is not merely about wrestling. In that episode Jacob is broken
(both literally and metaphorically). His life changes. He becomes a functioning agent of God's purpose, rather than an ignorant and rebellious one. When Hebrews 11 cites Jacob, it does so by marking his birth and his death, not his life in between. It does not cite a particular event
(like his wrestling with God) as it does with most of the other names mentioned. Jacob was loved by God before the boy was even born. The purpose God had for Jacob was Christological. More germane to the matter of "Israel," Jacob was called Israel long before the geo-political nation Israel ever existed. Hundreds of years. The next use of the word "
Israel," is "
sons of Israel," which the Jews theologically understood a a matter of genetics or bloodline but God does not care for such things. Bloodline does not get a person - any person - to God. There is not salvation-by-bloodline. Thinking themselves superior because of their bloodline was decried by Christ and one of the reasons those Israelites were excluded from the covenant found in Christ. It was heretical apostacy. Salvation-by-bloodline is also profoundly illogical because the finite can never reach the infinite by finite effort. That is a logical necessity. It does not take doctorate in theology to understand. It is one example of Judaic blindness
(there are many). The sons of Israel existed hundreds of years before the nation of Israel. Look it up. You'll find "sons of Israel" first mentioned in Genesis 32 and you will not find Israel mentioned as a nation until Joshua one and Joshua 1 occurs prior to Israel capturing all the land God promised, before they divided the land up by tribes, and long before they became a geo-political nation-state.
In other words, the word "Israel" is not a reference to a geo-political nation-state.
That's how later Jews construed themselves and misappropriated all God's mentions of the word "
Israel." It had become doctrine by the time Jesus showed up. It is one of the many misguided falsehoods in Judaism that Jesus corrected. It is within ALL of those contexts that Paul wrote,
Romans 9:6-9
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: Through Isaac your descendants shall be named." That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as [h]descendants. For this is the word of promise.....
Not all of Israel is descended from Israel. It is the son of promise that determines Abraham's descendants, not bloodline. Paul expressly excludes the flesh
(and products thereof). When we understand the word "Israel" means "
God perseveres" and we read ALL mentions of the word using that definition we then also understand what God is telling the Bible readers is that
it is those in whom God perseveres that live in a monergistically initiated and maintained Christological covenant and that has always been the case. In pint of fact, very few mentions of "Israel" in the Bible (OT or NT) are specifically or explicitly about the geo-political nation-state Israel. Try reading the Bible again with "people in whom God perseveres" in mind whenever you read the word "Israel"
(unless the text itself makes it clear God is speaking about the geo-political nation-state). Here's a very simply and easy way to verify this last point: Give the book of Revelation a quick read through and count the number of times the word "
Israel" occurs. You will find the word occurs three times, only three times in the entire book, and not a single mention is specifically about the geo-political nation-state!
Look it up. Don't take my word for it.
When did the new covenant begin? It began at creation, but it is most plainly revealed when Paul ties Genesis 15 to Christ.
And.....
As far as this op goes, the Jewish leaders in Jesus' day missed that fact. Their theology had grown profoundly perverse, heretical, apostate. They'd blinded themselves
(fundamentally that can be attributed to sin, the problem that plagues all humanity) but God willingly, proactively left them blind, kept them blind, and used their blindness for His Christological purpose. You catching any of this
@XrzrX?
