Christians as Spiritual Israel and Jacob
The identification of Christians as "spiritual Israel" rests on the New Testament's reinterpretation of Israel's covenant identity in light of Christ's coming. Where the Old Testament designates Jacob's physical descendants as God's chosen people—"Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession" [1]—the apostolic writings extend this identity to all who are united to Christ by faith, whether Jew or Gentile. This theological move does not erase ethnic Israel but redefines the boundaries of covenant membership around Christ rather than genealogy.
The Patristic Articulation
Early Christian interpreters understood this shift as fulfillment rather than replacement. Justin Martyr argued that "truly Christ is the everlasting King" when Scripture speaks of Israel's king, noting that "Jacob the son of Isaac was never a king," and therefore the prophetic references to Jacob and Israel point beyond the patriarch to the Messiah and his people [2]. Augustine made the claim explicit: "we are Israel, the seed of Abraham," citing the apostolic declaration to Gentile believers, and insisting that "no Christian consider himself alien to the name of Israel" [3]. The logic turns on union with Christ: because Jewish believers like the apostles form the "corner stone," Gentile converts are "joined" to them, making one people under one Shepherd [3].
Origen described this in terms of a "hidden man of the heart," distinguishing between "that people which was called of old the people of God" organized in twelve tribes and "the whole people of Christ" who constitute "the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel" through inward circumcision of the Spirit [5]. The contrast is not between two unrelated peoples but between outward and inward participation in Israel's identity.
Reformed and Baptist Interpretation
John Gill consistently employed this distinction in his commentaries. On Isaiah 43:1, he identified the prophecy's addressee as "the Christian church" which "goes by the name of Jacob and Israel, for the first churches chiefly consisted of Jews, and both Jews and Gentiles converted are the spiritual Israel of God" [4]. On 1 Corinthians 10:18, he contrasted "Israel after the flesh"—those descended from Jacob "by carnal generation" who "were carnal men, in the flesh, in a state of unregeneracy"—with "the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel, whether Jews or Gentiles; who are born again, believe in the true Messiah, worship God in a spiritual manner" [6]. The distinction turns on regeneration and faith, not ethnicity alone.
Gill applied this reading to prophetic texts addressing Israel's restoration: "not carnal, but spiritual Israel are here meant; such who by the power of divine grace were turned from idols to serve the living God" [7]. The comfort offered to persecuted believers under Roman emperors was grounded in their identification as the true servants of God, heirs to Israel's promises through Christ.
Typological Foundations
The typological reading extends to the patriarchs themselves. Augustine noted that Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob, "furnished a type of the two people, the Jews and the Christians," though he carefully qualified that "as pertains to carnal descent it was not the Jews but the Idumeans who came of the seed of Esau, nor the Christian nations but rather the Jews who came of Jacob's" [9]. The type operates at the level of divine election—"The elder shall serve the younger"—not simple ethnic succession. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown drew a similar contrast in Hosea 12:3, where Jacob's striving with God for blessing is set against his descendants' reliance on idols: "He conquered God, ye are the slaves of idols" [10]. The point is that bearing Jacob's name guarantees nothing without Jacob's faith.
Calvin warned against reducing Israel's promises to "present and corporeal blessings," which would mean "the Jewish nation was overloaded for a time with divine kindness... that they might at last perish eternally" [8]. If circumcision signified only temporal advantage, baptism would likewise be emptied of spiritual content. The continuity of the covenant requires that Israel's identity was always spiritual at its core, now made manifest in Christ.
Sources
- Psalms “For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession. -- Psalms 135:4”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 1: Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — CHAP. CXXXV.--CHRIST IS KING OF ISRAEL, AND CHRISTIANS ARE THE ISRAELITIC RACE. (part 1): "And when Scripture says, 'I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who have made known Israel your King,'(1) will you not understand that truly Christ is the everlasting King? For you are aware that Jacob the son of Isaac was never a king. And therefore Scripture again, explaining to us, says what king is meant by Jacob and Israel: 'Jacob is my Servant, I will uphold Him; and Israel is mine Elect, my soul shall receive ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 8: Augustine — Exposition on Psalms — PSALM CXIV. (3) (part 2): hath been given us, we are Israel, the seed of Abraham: unto us the Apostle saith, "Therefore are ye the seed of Abraham."(3) ... Let therefore no Christian consider himself alien to the name of Israel. For we are joined in the corner stone with those among the Jews who believed, among whom we find the Apostles chief. Hence our Lord in another passage saith, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, that there may be one fold and one Shepherd."(4) The Christian people then is rather Isr”
- Isaiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Isaiah 43:1: But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,.... This prophecy is not concerning Cyrus, and the redemption of the Jews by him, as some have thought; nor of Sennacherib and his army, and of their deliverance from him, as Kimchi and his father interpret it; but of the Christian church, and the state of it, when Jerusalem should be destroyed, as predicted in the preceding chapter; which goes by the name of Jacob and Israel, for the first churches chiefly consisted of Jews, and both Jews and Gentiles converted are the spiritual Israel of God: and he that form”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 9: Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Origen's Commentaries — I.HOW CHRISTIANS ARE THE SPIRITUAL ISRAEL. (part 1): That people which was called of old the people of God was divided into twelve tribes, and over and above the other tribes it had the levitical order, which itself again carried on the service of God in various priestly and levitical suborders. In the same manner, it appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we regard it in the aspect of the hidden man of the heart,(1) that people which is called "Jew inwardly," and is circumcised in the spirit, has in a more mystic wa”
- 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 10:18: Behold Israel after the flesh,.... So the apostle calls them, to distinguish them from the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel, whether Jews or Gentiles; who are born again, believe in the true Messiah, worship God in a spiritual manner, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in fleshly things; but these were the descendants of Jacob or Israel by carnal generation, were carnal men, in the flesh, in a state of unregeneracy, and were employed in a carnal worship, in the observance of carnal commandments and ordinances; these the apostle directs to, to s”
- Isaiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Isaiah 41:8: But thou, Israel, art my servant,.... As the great spread and success of the Gospel could not fail of drawing the resentment of the idolatrous Heathens on those who embraced and professed it, and by whom they were grievously persecuted under the Roman emperors; wherefore, to support them under these trials, the Lord speaks these and the following comfortable words unto them; for not carnal, but spiritual Israel are here meant; such who by the power of divine grace were turned from idols to serve the living God, who were made willing to become his servants, and whose h”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 98: to them as dwindling down into present and corporeal blessings. If this dogma is received, what remains but that the Jewish nation was overloaded for a time with divine kindness (just as swine are gorged in their sty), that they might at last perish eternally? Whenever we quote circumcision and the promises annexed to it, they answer, that circumcision was a literal sign, and that its promises were carnal. 2536 11. Certainly, if circumcision was a literal sign, the same view must be taken of baptism, since, in the second chapter to”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 42.--OF THE SONS OF JOSEPH, WHOM JACOB BLESSED, PROPHETICALLY CHANGING HIS HANDS.: Now, as Isaac's two sons, Esau and Jacob, furnished a type of the two people, the Jews and the Christians (although as pertains to carnal descent it was not the Jews but the Idumeans who came of the seed of Esau, nor the Christian nations but rather the Jews who came of Jacob's; for the type holds only as regards the saying, "The elder shall serve the younger" (6)), so the same thing happened in Joseph's two sons; for the elder was a type of the Je”
- Hosea (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Hosea 12:3: He--Jacob, contrasted with his degenerate descendants, called by his name, Jacob (Hos 12:2; compare Mic 2:7). He took Esau by the heel in the womb in order to obtain, if possible, the privileges of the first-born (Gen 25:22-26), whence he took his name, Jacob, meaning "supplanter"; and again, by his strength, prevailed in wrestling with God for a blessing (Gen 32:24-29); whereas ye disregard My promises, putting your confidence in idols and foreign alliances. He conquered God, ye are the slaves of idols. Only have Jehovah on your side, and ye are strong”