They are Israelites...

People will ask me on occasion: What should Christians think about people who are Jewish? In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul answers this question directly in the 9th chapter, from which we read last Sunday in our worship.

About those who are born as Jews, Paul writes this: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. (9:4-5)”

Jesus was and is Jewish. And the Jewish people are God’s chosen people, forever. The good news of Jesus Christ is that God opens up to all people the power to become God’s chosen people.

I was not born into a Jewish family. Yet through my baptism into the family of Jesus, I am now one of God’s chosen people, as well! To all of us who are baptized into God’s family, now to us, also, belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. God blessed forever. Amen!