What is the relationship, if any, between Israel and the church? Is Israel still God’s chosen nation, or has the Christian church attained to a place of honor that the nation of Israel no longer possesses? For the early believers (AD 100-325), the answers to these questions were clear from a plain reading of Scripture. In contrast to the diverse and complicated opinions given today, the early Christians’ answers were unified, simple, and thoroughly Scriptural.

#1: God has rejected Israel because they rejected Him.

The early Christians affirmed that God made a covenant with Israel in which He chose them as His people. However, despite repeated warnings and judgments, Israel rejected not only the prophets but also their own Messiah, Jesus Christ:

• “This is He who was put to death. And where was He put to death? In the midst of Jerusalem. By whom? By Israel. . . . O Israel, transgressor of the Law, why have you committed this new iniquity?” – Melito (c. 170)
• “You Romans once honored the God of Judea with victims. You honored Judea’s temple with gifts, and its people with treaties. It would never have been beneath your scepter but for that last and crowning offense against God, in rejecting and crucifying Christ.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “Since God is kind and merciful to His people, He sent Him to those very persons [the Jews]. . ., that He might not close the way of salvation against them forever. Rather, He desired to give them a free opportunity to follow God. So they could either gain the reward of life if they followed Him . . . or else they would incur the penalty of death by their own fault if they rejected their King. . . . On account of His humility, they did not recognize their God. So they entered into the detestable plan of depriving Him of life – He who had come to give them life.” – Lactantius (c. 304-313)
• “The church alone offers this pure oblation to the Creator, offering to Him from His own creation, with thanksgiving. But the Jews do not offer in this manner. For their hands are full of blood, because they have not received the Word.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Although Israel were to daily wash all his limbs over, yet he is never clean. His hands, at any event, are ever unclean, eternally dyed with the blood of the prophets and of the Lord Himself.” – Tertullian (c. 198)

The early Christians believed that because the nation of Israel broke their covenant with God, they forfeited the blessings and promises of the covenant. Because they rejected the Lord, he also rejected them.

• “Inasmuch as the former [the Jews] have rejected the Son of God, and cast Him out of the vineyard when they slew Him, God has justly rejected them. He has given to the Gentiles (outside the vineyard) the fruits of its cultivation [Matt. 21:33-41].” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “The Jews had formerly been in covenant with God. But being afterwards cast off on account of their sins, they began to be without God.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “The wicked synagogue is now cast off by the Lord God. He has rejected His own house. As He says, ‘I have forsaken My house; I have left My inheritance’ [Jer. 12:7].” – Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390)
• “‘The Lord was not known by the people’ [Isa. 1:3] who erred. . . . They knew not God, and they denied the Lord. So they forfeited the place of the true Israel.” – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195)
• “Their covenant was broken so that the covenant of the beloved Jesus could be sealed upon our heart, in the hope that flows from believing in Him.” – Barnabas (c. 70-130)
• “[The Jews] suppose that the everlasting kingdom will be assuredly given to those of the dispersion who are of Abraham after the flesh – even though they are sinners, are faithless, and are disobedient towards God. However, the Scriptures have proved this is not the case. . . . Otherwise, our Lord . . . would not have said, ‘They will come from the east, and from the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness’ [Matt. 8:11-12].” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “‘You have forsaken the Lord. You have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger’ [Isa. 1:4]. . . . When we Christians pray, we say, ‘Our Father,’ for He has begun to be ours. But He has ceased to be the Father of the Jews, who have forsaken Him.” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “Having suffered death for us, Christ made us heirs of His everlasting kingdom – the people of the Jews being deprived and disinherited. . . . [We] have been called by Him out of the Gentiles and have succeeded to their place by adoption.” – Lactantius (c. 304-313)
• “‘But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ [Matt. 8:12]. He shows that the Jews were previously children of the kingdom – so long as they continued also to be children of God. However, after the name of the Father ceased to be recognized among them, the kingdom also ceased.” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “However, He does not say that the Jews are to be cut off. For that reason, their race still subsists and the succession of their children is continued. . . . However, they continue only as those who have been rejected and cast down from the honor of which of old they were deemed worthy by God.” – Hippolytus (c. 205)
• “Christ . . . did not put away His former wife, so to speak (that is, the former synagogue) for any other cause than that His wife committed fornication. For she was made an adulteress by the evil one. Along with him, she plotted against her husband and slew Him. . . . It was she, therefore, who herself revolted. . . . A sign that she has received the bill of divorcement is this: that Jerusalem was destroyed along with what they called the sanctuary.” – Origen (c. 245)

This universal belief of the early Christians was nothing new – rather, it comes from the plain teachings of the New Testament:

• “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” – Matthew 8:10-12
• [From Jesus’ parable of the vineyard tenants who persecuted the master’s servants and killed his son:] “Therefore, I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” – Matthew 21:43
• [From Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast:] “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. . . . They paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. . . . Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’” – Matthew 22:2-9
• “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” – Matthew 23:37-39
• “For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.” – 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 (NASB)

#2: The kingdom of heaven has been taken away from Israel and given to the church.

The early Christians believed that because the nation of Israel rejected God, He took the kingdom of heaven away from them and gave it to the church (both Jew and Gentile followers of Jesus Christ):

• “The Jews have rejected the Son of God and cast Him out of the vineyard when they slew Him. Therefore, God has justly rejected them and has given to the Gentiles outside the vineyard the fruits of its cultivation.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “According to what had been foretold in advance, the Jews had departed from God. They had lost God’s favor, which had been given them in times past and had been promised them for the future. Instead, the Christians have succeeded to their place, deserving well of the Lord by faith. They come out of all nations and from the whole world.” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “In this manner, the ‘lesser’ people – that is, the later people – have overcome the ‘greater’ people. For they acquire the grace of divine favor, from which Israel has been divorced.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “When He said, ‘Rejoice, you barren one who bears not’ [Isa. 54:1], He referred to us [Gentiles]. For our church was barren before children were given to her. . . . And when He said, ‘For she that is desolate has many more children than she that has a husband’ [Isa. 54:1], He meant that our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are considered to possess God.” – Second Clement (c. 150)
• “The elder nation rejected Him, saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar’ [John 19:15]. But in Christ every blessing [is summed up], and therefore the latter people have snatched away the blessings of the former from the Father – just as Jacob took away the blessing of Esau. For this reason, Jacob suffered the plots and persecutions of a brother, just as the church suffers this self-same thing from the Jews.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts was the house of Israel. But Christ taught and showed that the people of the Gentiles should succeed them and that by the merit of faith we should subsequently attain to the place that the Jews had lost.” – Cyprian (c. 250)

These views are again based on the clear teachings of Scripture:

• “And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory. . . . The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.” – Haggai 2:7-9
• “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. . . . For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.” – Micah 4:1-5
• “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.” – Malachi 1:11
• “Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, ‘Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband’ [Isa. 54:1]. Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? ‘Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman’ [Gen. 21:10]. So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.” – Galatians 4:22-31
• “For he finds fault with [the first covenant] when he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers. . . . For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more’ [Jer. 31:31-34]. In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” – Hebrews 8:8-13
• “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” – 1 Peter 2:5-10

#3: Believing Jews and Gentiles make up the “Israel of God” and are together the children of Abraham.

The early Christians understood that the true Israel – the “Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) – is comprised of Jews and Gentiles who have committed to follow Jesus Christ as their Messiah:

• “For the true spiritual Israel, and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham (who in uncircumcision was approved of and blessed by God on account of his faith and called the father of many nations), are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “The whole people of Christ . . . are called ‘Jews inwardly’ [Rom. 2:29], and they are circumcised in the spirit [Col. 2:11]. . . . However, the number of believers who belong to Israel according to the flesh is small.” – Origen (c. 228)
• “God blesses this people [the Christians], and calls them Israel, and declares them to be His inheritance. So why is it that you [Jews] do not repent of the deception you practice on yourselves, as if you alone were the Israel? . . . All who through Him have fled for refuge to the Father constitute the blessed Israel. But you [Jews] have understood none of this. And you are not prepared to understand. Rather, since you are the children of Jacob after the fleshly seed, you expect that you will be assuredly saved.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “Those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will through Christ. . . . So, then, as I mentioned fully before, these persons must be Jacob and Israel.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “Many of the present Egyptians and Idumeans who came near to Israel . . . will enter into the church of the Lord, being no longer considered as Egyptians and Idumeans, but as having become Israelites.” – Origen (c. 225)

All who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and committed to follow Him are the true children of Abraham:

• “Along with Abraham, we will inherit the holy land, when we will receive the inheritance for an endless eternity, being children of Abraham through a similar faith.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “God . . . introduces Abraham to the kingdom of heaven, through Jesus Christ. He also introduces Abraham’s seed, that is, the church. For upon it were conferred the adoption and the inheritance promised to Abraham.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, will not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles who have believed on Him and have repented of the sins which they have committed – they will receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “By these words, he declares that we, the nations, rejoice with His people. For His people are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets, and in short, all people who are well-pleasing to God.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “Those who are fully and truly sons of Abraham are sons of his actions (spiritually understood) and of the knowledge that was made manifest to him.” – Origen (c. 228)
• “The promise of God that He gave to Abraham remains steadfast. . . . God promised him the inheritance of the land. Yet, Abraham did not receive it during all the time of his journey there. Accordingly, it must be that Abraham, together with his seed (that is, those who fear God and believe in Him), will receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said: ‘For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham’ [Matt. 3:9]. Thus also the apostle says in the epistle to the Galatians: ‘Now we, brethren, just as Isaac was, are the children of the promise’ [Gal. 4:28].” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “In the Gospel, we find that ‘children of Abraham are raised from stones’ [Matt. 3:9], that is, gathered from the Gentiles.” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “Our ancestors were the patriarchs of the Hebrews.” – Lactantius (c. 304-313)

Once again, the views of the early Christians are exactly what the Scriptures teach:

• “They [the Jews] answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. . . . You are of your father the devil.” – John 8:39-44
• “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” – Romans 2:28-29 (NASB)
• “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not 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.” – Romans 9:6-8
• “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.” – Galatians 3:28-29

Though not quoted here, Romans 9-11 further expounds on the relationship between Israel and the church. The reader is encouraged to study these chapters for a more complete understanding of the topic.

The early Christians comment

The early Christians understood the above passages to mean exactly what they said – that God’s covenant with Israel had ceased because of their disobedience, and that His covenant with the church (all believers, whether Jew or Gentile) had begun. These four selections give a fuller perspective as to how the early Christians understood these passages:

• “Let us see if this people [the Christians] are the heirs, or if it is the former [the Jews]. Let us see if the covenant belongs to us or to them. Hear what the Scripture says concerning the people. Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife because she was barren, and she conceived [Gen. 25:21]. Furthermore also, Rebecca went forth to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb . . . and the one people shall surpass the other, and the elder shall serve the younger’ [Gen. 25:23]. . . . And in another prophecy Jacob speaks more clearly to his son Joseph, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord has not deprived me of your presence. Bring your sons to me, that I may bless them’ [Gen. 48:11, 9]. And he brought Manasseh and Ephraim, desiring that Manasseh should be blessed, because he was the elder. . . . But Jacob saw in spirit the type of the people to arise afterwards. . . . And Jacob changed the direction of his hands, and laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the second and younger, and blessed him. And Joseph said to Jacob, ‘Transfer your right hand to the head of Manasseh, for he is my first-born son’ [Gen. 48:18]. And Jacob said, ‘I know it, my son, I know it. But the elder shall serve the younger: yet he also shall be blessed’ [Gen. 48:19]. You see on whom he laid [his hands], that this people should be first, and heir of the covenant. . . . What, then, does He say to Abraham? ‘Because you have believed, it is counted to you as righteousness. Behold, I have made you the father of those nations who believe in the Lord while in [a state of] uncircumcision’ [Gen. 15:6; 17:5].” – Barnabas (c. 70-130)
• “Two peoples were foretold: the elder and the younger. The elder people are the Jews. The younger one consists of us. In Genesis it says, ‘And the Lord said unto Rebekah, ‘Two nations are in your womb’ [Gen. 25:23]. . . . Also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people that are not My people, and her beloved that was not beloved. . . . They shall be called the sons of the living God’ [Hos. 2:23; 1:10]. The church, which had been barren before, is to have more children from among the Gentiles than what the synagogue had had before. . . . The Jews were to lose, while we were to receive the bread and the cup of Christ and all His grace. The new name of Christians is to be blessed in the earth. . . . So the Gentiles, rather than the Jews, attain to the kingdom of heaven. In the Gospel, the Lord says, ‘Many will come from the east and from the west, and will lie down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven’ [Matt. 8:11].” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “It was said by the same Isaiah, that the Gentile nations who were not looking for Him would worship Him, but the Jews who always expected Him would not recognize Him when He came. The words spoken by Christ are these: ‘I was manifest to them that did not ask for Me, and I was found of them that did not seek Me. I said, ‘Behold Me,’ to a nation that did not call on My name. I spread out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people. . .’ [Isa. 65:1-3]. For the Jews having the prophecies, and always expecting Christ to come, did not recognize him. Not only so, but they even treated Him shamefully. But the Gentiles, who had never heard anything about Christ, until the apostles set out from Jerusalem and preached concerning Him and gave them the prophecies, were filled with joy and faith, and cast away their idols, and dedicated themselves to the Unbegotten God through Christ.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “[It had been foretold] that the Gentiles would repent of the evil in which they had led erring lives. This would happen when they heard the doctrine preached by His apostles from Jerusalem and when they learned from them. Let me demonstrate this to you by quoting a short statement from the prophecy of Micah . . . : ‘In the last days, the mountain of the Lord will be manifest, established on the top of the mountains. It will be exalted above all the hills, and people shall flow unto it. And many nations will go and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall enlighten us in His way, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” . . . And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will assemble her that is afflicted, and gather her that is driven out, whom I had plagued. I will make her that is afflicted a remnant, and her that is oppressed a strong nation. And the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and even forever’ [Mic. 4:1-7].” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)

#4: It is possible that a remnant of the Jewish people will turn back to God in the last days.

The early Christians perspective outlined above was the predominant view of the Christian church for 1800 years, until a theological movement known as dispensationalism, introduced in the mid-1800s by John Nelson Darby, proposed that the promises originally made to Israel have not been superseded by the church. Instead, as dispensationalism teaches, Israel remains God’s chosen nation and will one day see the fulfillment of these promises.

Proponents of this view refer to various prophecies in the Old Testament (including portions of Daniel 8-11, Zechariah 14, and Joel 2, which some of the early Christians believed had already been fulfilled) as well these two passages from the New Testament:

• “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. . . . For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” – Luke 21:20-24
• “Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? . . . 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. 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. 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. And in this way all Israel will be saved.” – Romans 11:13-26

These passages seem to indicate that some or perhaps many of the Jewish people will be saved after “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The early Christians commented:

• “‘Jerusalem was to be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles would be fulfilled’ [Luke 21:24] – meaning, of course, those who were to be chosen of God and gathered in with the remnant of Israel.” – Tertullian (c. 210)
• [Concerning the parable of the prodigal son:] “The Jew is declared to be an apostate son. . . . He has had every tasty morsel torn from his throat, not to mention the very land of paternal promise. As a result, at the present day, the Jew . . . is a beggar in alien territory, having squandered God’s substance. . . . Much more aptly would the Christian have fit the elder son and the Jew the younger son. . . . However, the conclusion would preclude this interpretation. For it would be fitting for the Christian to rejoice at the restoration of Israel, and not to grieve – if it is true that our whole hope is intimately entwined with the remaining expectation of Israel.” – Tertullian (c. 212)
• “It says that the former husband who sent her away will not be able to turn back and take her to be a wife for himself after she has been defiled. For such a thing ‘is an abomination’ [Deut. 24:4]. . . . But these things will not seem to be consistent with this: ‘If the fullness of the Gentiles comes in, all Israel will be saved’ [Rom. 11:26]. However, consider if it can be said . . . that He who gives the law has power to give it ‘until a time of reformation’ [Heb. 9:10] and to change the law.” – Origen (c. 245)

Although the early Christians gladly welcomed believing Jews into the kingdom of God and expressed hope that many of them would be saved in the last days, they believed that God’s former covenant with the nation of Israel was broken forever:

• “Such are the words of Scripture. Understand, therefore, that the seed of Jacob referred to is something else, and not, as may be supposed, spoken of your people. For it is not possible for the seed of Jacob to leave an entrance for the descendants of Jacob, or for God to have accepted the very same persons whom He had reproached with unfitness for the inheritance, and promise it to them again. As the prophet says: ‘And now, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord; for He has sent away His people, the house of Jacob, because their land was full, as at the first, of sorcerers and divinations’ [Isa. 2:5-6]. It is necessary for us here to observe that there are two seeds of Judah, and two races, just as there are two houses of Jacob. The one is begotten by blood and flesh, and the other by faith and the Spirit.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “The Jews have suffered severe calamities now for a lengthened time. . . . And we say with confidence that they will never be restored to their former condition. For they committed a crime of the most unholy kind.” – Origen (c. 248)
• “The Jews both confess and hope for His second advent. But they hope in vain. For He must return to the bewilderment of those for whom He had come before. For those who treated Him impiously with violence in His humiliation will experience Him in His power as a conqueror. God repaying them, they will suffer all those things that they read and do not understand. For, being polluted with all sin, and moreover sprinkled with the blood of the Holy One, they were devoted to eternal punishment by that very One on whom they laid wicked hands.” – Lactantius (c. 303-313)
• “Unless they did this [i.e. repent], laid aside their vanities, and returned to their God, it would come to pass that He would change His covenant. That is, He would bestow the inheritance of eternal life upon foreign nations. And He would collect to Himself a more faithful people out of those who were aliens by birth. . . . Because of these impieties of theirs, He cast them off forever. Therefore, He ceased to send prophets to them. Rather, He commanded His own Son . . . to descend from heaven so that He could transfer the sacred religion of God to the Gentiles.” – Lactantius (c. 304-313)

Salvation according to Jesus

For thousands of years, God extended His hands to His chosen people, the Israelites (Isaiah 65:2). Even though the nation of Israel broke their covenant with Him, He continues to extend His hands – not only to the Israelites, but to the whole world. His covenant is now with all who accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and follow Him as their Lord. “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. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:11-12).

Regardless of race, nationality, gender, or age, anyone can come to Jesus Christ and find their past removed, their present changed, and their future restored by the One who makes all things new:

• “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, and practice righteousness the rest of your days, and serve him according to His will, He will heal your former sins, and you will have power to hold sway over the works of the devil.” – Hermas (c. 150)
• “If you repent of your sins, and recognize Him to be Christ, and observe His commandments, then . . . remission of sins will be yours.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)
• “To believe in Him is to do His will.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Trusting is more than faith. For when one has believed that the Son of God is our Teacher, he trusts that His teaching is true.” – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195)
• “Into this joy, many persons desire to enter. They know that ‘by grace you are saved, not of works,’ but by the will of God through Jesus Christ. . . . But He who raised him up from the dead will raise up us also – if we do His will, and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness.” – Polycarp (c. 135)

Grafted out?

In Romans 11, Paul warns that believers once grafted into the olive tree (v. 17) should be careful lest they find themselves grafted out:

• “You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 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.” – Romans 11:19-22

The early Christians believed that falling away from the kingdom was a very real possibility and that believers must continue faithfully in the commands of Christ in order to be saved:

• “There is need of continual prayer and supplication so that we do not fall away from the heavenly kingdom, as the Jews fell away, to whom this promise had first been given.” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “We should not . . . be puffed up, nor be severe upon those of olden times. Rather, we should fear ourselves, lest perchance, after [we have come to] the knowledge of Christ, if we do things displeasing to God, we obtain no further forgiveness of sins, but are shut out from His kingdom. And for that reason, Paul said, ‘For if [God] spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also not spare you’ [Rom. 11:21].” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “No one is a Christian but he who perseveres even to the end.” – Tertullian (c. 197)
• “Whoever has confessed Christ is not greater, or better, or dearer to God than Solomon. As long as he walked in God’s ways, he retained the grace that he had received from the Lord. But after he abandoned the Lord’s way, he also lost the Lord’s grace. Therefore, it is written, ‘Hold tightly to what you have, so that no one will take your crown’ [Rev. 3:11]. But certainly the Lord would not threaten that the crown of righteousness could be taken away, were it not true that the crown must depart when righteousness departs. . . . It is also written, ‘He who stands firm until the end will be saved’ [Matt. 10:22].” – Cyprian (c. 250)
• “Those who do not obey Him, being disinherited by Him, have ceased to be His sons.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Some think that God is under a necessity of bestowing even on the unworthy what He has promised [to give]. So they turn His liberality into His slavery. . . . For do not many afterwards fall out of [grace]? Is not this gift taken away from many? These, no doubt, are they who, . . . after approaching to the faith of repentance, build on the sands a house doomed to ruin.” – Tertullian (c. 203)
• “Those who believe God and follow His word receive that salvation that flows from Him. On the other hand, those who depart from Him, and despise His teachings, and by their deeds bring dishonor on Him who made them . . . heap up against themselves most righteous judgment.” – Irenaeus (c. 180)
• “Being a believing man, if you seek to live as the Gentiles do, the joys of the world remove you from the grace of Christ.” – Commodianus (c. 240)
• “We . . . hasten to confess our faith, persuaded and convinced as we are that those who have proved to God by their works that they followed Him, and loved to abide with Him where there is no sin to cause disturbance, can obtain these things.” – Justin Martyr (c. 160)

Conclusion

In summary, the early Christians believed (1) that God has rejected the nation of Israel because they rejected Him, (2) that the kingdom of heaven has been taken from the nation of Israel and given to the church, (3) that believing Jews and Gentiles make up the “Israel of God” and are together the children of Abraham, and (4) that a remnant of the Jewish people may turn back to God in the last days.

Whether Jew or Gentile, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, let us run with open arms to our Savior, Messiah, and Lord. Let us offer all of our love to the One who first loved us, all of our worship to the One who is forever worthy, and all of our lives to faithfully walk in His ways.