Is The Church Israel? (Gal 6:16)
Introduction
Covenant theology vs. Dispensational theology
NIV: “Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.”
NASB: “And to those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon
them, and upon the Israel of God.”
Ten facts favoring the dispensational interpretation of Galatians 6:161
Continuative kai is the most common New Testament form
Appositional kai is the rarest New Testament form
Point easier made by eliminating kai
“Israel” always means national, ethnic Israel elsewhere in the New Testament (Fruchtenbaum, Israelogy, pg. 684-90)
Israel not equated with church by the fathers until A.D. 160
Why introduce sweeping point in conclusion rather than doctrinal section?
Twofold repetition of “upon” (epi)
Paul elsewhere designates two groups (Gal 6:15; 2:7-8)
Paul elsewhere singles out ethnic, believing Jews (Rom 2:28-29; 4:11-12; 9:6; 11:1, 5; 1 Cor 10:18)
Paul not anti-Semitic-Burton pg. 358
Conclusion
Who’s who?
Amillennial exegetical bias
Cranfield pg. 448
1 S. Lewis Johnson, “Paul and the 'Israel of God': An Exegetical and Eschatological Case-Study,” in Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, ed. Stanley D. Toussaint and Charles H. Dyer (Chicago: Moody, 1986), 181-96.