Election and Ethnicity: Paul's View of Israel in Romans 9.1-13

Abstract

This article contests the growing scholarly consensus that Paul in no way limits Israel's election as an ethnic group by a detailed examination of Rom. 9.1-13. Paul's apparent association of covenant privileges with ethnic Israel as a whole in 9.1-5 is qualified by 9.6, where Paul explains the basis for this association. Covenant privileges continue to be associated with the nation by virtue of a faithful remnant within Israel, and therefore not on the basis of purely ethnic criteria. The boundary marking out the people of God and the boundary marking out the people of Israel are not coterminous, as a Jew of Paul's time might suppose. The distinction between sociological and soteriological boundaries allows for the possibility of Gentiles being included in the people of God without first becoming Jews. The fact that covenant privileges continue to be associated with ethnic Israel through a faithful subset guarantees that God's promises to the nation have not failed.