Paul’s Ethnic Gospel
Grace, not race”—so goes the tidy maxim by which many modern interpreters characterize Paul’s gospel. In this reading, Paul severs the covenant community from its ethnic roots and replaces it with a universal spiritual entity transcending the particularities of Israel. Jewish insistence on ethnic identity as necessary for membership in the covenant community is seen as the problem Paul overcame; the gospel, in this telling, is a triumph of post-ethnic inclusion. The gospel moves away from ethnocentrism, we have been told. Paul is the apostle of progressive cosmopolitanism. But what if this narrative has it backward?
In Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites, Jason Staples offers a somewhat revolutionary framing of the New Testament gospel. The fruit of painstaking exegetical labor and theological attentiveness, the book stands as arguably the most consequential contribution to Pauline studies since John Barclay’s Paul and the Gift. Staples challenges not only popular caricatures of Paul, but longstanding theological assumptions about the nature of Christian identity.
According to Staples, Paul’s gospel represents not an abandonment of Israel’s ethnic identity but its restoration—accomplished paradoxically through the incorporation of Gentiles. The inclusion of Gentiles is not a detour from Israel’s story but a key to its fulfillment. Paul proclaims not salvation from ethnicity, but rather an ethnic salvation. His gospel is steeped in the “restorationist” hopes of Second Temple Judaism. In this historical-theological framework, a distinction emerges: “Jews” designates the descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, whereas “Israel” refers to the full twelve tribes, especially the lost northern tribes who were exiled and assimilated by Assyria. The northern tribes’ exile constituted an “ethnic death,” as these Israelites were scattered among and absorbed by the Gentiles—a process Staples calls “gentilization.” Their recovery required not merely return but resurrection. And this resurrection, Paul proclaims, occurs through the in- gathering of Gentiles—its partial accomplishment during Paul’s life and its future complete fulfillment. Since Israel has been scattered among and assimilated by the nations, her salvation depends on salvation’s coming to Gentiles (Rom. 11:11–26). God, in his providence, uses this dilemma to accomplish his original promise for his chosen people: that the blessing of Abraham should come to all nations (Gal. 3:14; cf. Rom. 11:12). As Staples provocatively puts it, “Where Israel had become gentilized, now Gentiles were effectively being Israelitized, transformed from one ethnicity to another and integrated into the ethnic people of Israel.”
”Israelitization” does not mean that Gentiles become “Jews.” Staples is careful on this point. Paul envisions a reconstitution of Israel’s broader identity, one that includes both Jews and formerly Gentile believers as members of a newly restored people. Israel’s ethnic boundaries, grounded not in biology but in divine covenant, are open to expansion. In Paul’s hands, this expansion does not result in an abstract, deracinated “people of God.” It yields a renewed, particular people: Israel, reborn from among the nations. The inclusion of physically uncircumcised persons is not a rejection or replacement of Israel, argues Staples, but “the means by which God is reaching out and saving more of Israel than anyone anticipated, a process analogous to resurrection from the dead.”
In this vision, Gentiles do not remain Gentiles. Through union with Christ, they undergo what Staples describes as “ethnic conversion.” They become full members of the restored Israel—not metaphorically, but covenantally and ontologically. This, for Paul, is the startling good news: Gentiles are no longer outsiders; they have become Israelites alongside Jews—fulfilling God’s promise to restore “all Israel” (Rom. 11:26).
In his work, Staples focuses on what this restoration means for descendants of the original twelve tribes. For them, it is a message of humility and hope. Those who “gentilized” themselves by assimilating among the nations had negated their distinction from the rest of humanity, and as a result stand under the same judgment. However, the coming of salvation to Gentiles is proof that those who are now unfaithful may yet be saved through the new life of Christ’s Spirit. And Jews need to see that the inclusion of Gentiles is not a threat to their peoplehood, but rather a gift to them.
This reading has profound implications not only for Paul’s Jewish contemporaries but for modern Gentile Christians. It reorients Christian identity around Israel’s story rather than away from it. It challenges the supersessionist temptation to view the Church as a replacement for Israel and calls for a re-engagement with the covenantal particularity that defines the people of God.
Do contemporary Christians understand that our faith incorporates us into Israel’s ethnicity? Do we perceive this ethnic adoption as part of our salvation? Or has this aspect of the good news been abandoned? Paul thinks it’s a big deal that Gentiles-in-Christ are on equal status with circumcised Jews as part of Israel. Do we?
If Paul’s gospel entails the ethnic resurrection of Israel through Gentile inclusion, then Christians today must reckon with the theological significance of their adoption into that people. Paul imagines not a generic spiritual collective but a transfigured ethnic community whose identity is rooted in the promises made to Abraham and fulfilled in the Messiah. To be in Christ is to be in Israel.
For Christians, our primary ethnic identity is that of God’s people—inaugurated with Abraham, resurrected in Christ, and continuing in the history of the Church. Accepting Paul’s ethnic gospel means embracing the story of Israel as our ultimate ethnic narrative. Our genealogies are grafted onto Israel’s tree. We are not fleshly children of Abraham or foster children, but adoptees—legitimate legal children and heirs (Rom. 8:15–16; Gal. 3:29–31). For those in Christ, our “ethnic lineage,” so to speak, runs through the patriarchs, the judges, the kings, the prophets, and the ongoing story of God’s covenant people.
The markers of this new ethnicity, according to Staples, are primarily ethical. This is one reason why converted Gentiles have no need for physical circumcision. The primary identifier of membership in the renewed Israel is the circumcision of the heart by the indwelling Spirit of the Messiah, fulfilling the new covenant promise to write the law on the hearts of God’s people. Gentiles are ethnically changed, becoming full and equal “Israelites” through the Spirit. This sharing in the Spirit should lead to a distinctive way of living, centered on the worship of Israel’s Messiah and a common sacramental life. And the shared ethical commitments flowing from the Spirit’s guidance should result in foundational moral principles received by all. All this creates a tangible, transnational “ethnic” culture distinct from all surrounding cultures—a visible, distinct people among the peoples of the world, who will be peculiar in any context. Otherwise, we fall back into gentilization, abandoning the Israelitization to which we have been called.
Our Israelitization has profound political and ecclesiological consequences. Those incorporated into the renewed Israel cannot locate their deepest allegiance in any other nation, race, or cultural identity. Yet their incorporation does not obliterate those identities; it transfigures them. The cultural particularities of the nations are brought into Israel—not as rivals, but as adornments. As various ethnic groups are grafted onto Israel, they bring the gifts of those backgrounds with them, blessing Israel from “the fullness of the nations” (Rom. 11:25). Thus, though Gentiles are assimilated, they are assimilated in such a way as to enrich the ethnicity. Nonetheless, all must place a premium on unity. The olive tree is enriched by the wild branches, yet there is only one tree. Paul’s vision resists fragmentation and tribalism. The unity of the Church is grounded in this singular, covenantal peoplehood.
Church division, then, is a failure to live out the Israelite identity granted through Christ. It should be interpreted as mirroring the disunity that was part of the plight of God’s people and from which they needed to be redeemed. In such division, we revert to another form of gentilization, short-circuiting the “Israelitization” that is the goal. Paul envisioned one restored Israel, not multiple peoples of God. We must seek unity within this shared ethnicity, rejecting the fragmentation that reflects old covenant failures.
The imperative of unity speaks not only to ecclesial identity but to contemporary social and political crises. Renewed Israel is called to be a strange nation for the healing of the nations. This calling will generate friction with any culture. Thus, the “Jewish Question” could be reframed as the “Israelite Question” (with “Israelite” including Gentiles-in-Christ). Our pre-conversion or extra-Israelite ethnic and national stories must be relativized so as to be integrated into the grander story of God’s faithfulness to all Israel, fulfilled in Christ and in the Spirit’s work among the nations.
This integration is at odds with the modern tendency to prioritize nation-state myths or racial identities in our social outlook and sense of selfhood. Through conversion, the nations come “to” Israel while remaining where they are. As a result, this transnational, transracial ethnicity can serve as an instrument of peace among the nations. By resurrecting Israel through Gentile inclusion, God demonstrates His power to overcome ethnic divisions. This reconstituted Israel, drawn from all peoples but united in one ethnic identity centered on the Messiah, models and mediates God’s peace. Its very existence challenges worldly divisions. All can find a home here among God’s elect people—in continuity with Old Testament Israel, as part of the new covenant people, who are the fulfillment of God’s promise to redeem all Israel, answering the prophetic hope of Israel’s restoration.
Paul’s gospel, as interpreted by Staples, is profoundly ethnic news for Gentiles: Through Christ and the Spirit, they cease being outsiders and become full members of the resurrected, expanded ethnicity of Israel. As Paul says, the mystery revealed in Christ is that Gentiles are “fellow heirs, members of the same body” (Eph. 3:6)—not of a new body, but of Israel’s body, now resurrected. The story of “our people” is written not by modern racial theory or nationalist myth but by the Scriptures, and it is carried forward in the history of the Church—across centuries and nations. Our forebears are the saints of the Old and New Testaments, the martyrs, theological doctors, and philosophical masters throughout the Church’s history. The great creeds, magisterial texts, and authoritative social teachings all are ours. The rich repertoire of liturgical practices, sacred music, architectural styles, artistic achievements, and scientific advancements are ours. The great victories against heresy, error, and injustice are ours. These goods constitute our objective cultural heritage—the materials arising from the providential outworking of history to form our shared identity, linking past, present, and future generations. We should rally around this heritage, drawn from our true native country, which comprises all kinds of countries and cultures. Doing so will help us to honor our legitimate diversity and embrace the God-given ethnic identity of the restored Israel. This peculiar people—drawn from all peoples throughout history, yet united in one ethnic identity—is our people.
Yet Paul’s gospel also confronts the Church’s historical failures. The early Church, as Staples notes, maintained strong continuity with Israel through its Jewish leadership. But as Gentiles came to dominate and synagogue relations deteriorated, the understanding of Gentile incorporation into Israel faded. Supersessionism arose, not merely as a theological misstep, but as a fundamental forgetting of who Gentile Christians are. Paul’s ethnic gospel was gradually replaced by spiritualized universalism. And with the rise of Constantinianism in late antiquity, the rise of Westphalian nationalism in early modernity, and then the rise of modern racial theories, Christians have been tempted to identify the faith with political projects or ethnicities other than Israel. These identities domesticate the gospel.
Staples’s work calls for recovery. Paul proclaims not the erasure of ethnicity, but its transformation. Gentiles, once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, are now citizens (Eph. 2:11-22): full participants in Israel’s resurrection. This resurrection, Paul insists, is the mystery long hidden, now revealed in Christ (Eph. 3).
To embrace Paul’s gospel is to embrace the ethnic story of Israel as our own. It is to see ourselves not as rootless spiritual individuals but as adopted children in a transnational, historically continuous covenant people. This peculiar people—drawn from all nations, yet sharing one ethnic identity through the Spirit—is our people. This is our ethnic gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment