Christians are the spiritual Israel

Scriptures:

Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the Lord said to Abram,

Matthew 21:43 – Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.

Revelation 2:9 – “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 3:9-10 – Indeed I will makethose of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but are liars—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

John 1:47 – Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold, a true Israelite, in whom is no deceit!”

Matthew 8:10-12 – Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

John 8:38-44 – I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil.

Romans 9:6-9 – But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Galatians 3:16-18 – Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

Galatians 3:23-29 – But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Galatians 6:12-16 – Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written,

And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say?

Galatians 4:21-31 – So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh. But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. – Romans 2:9-11

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture:

This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

and,

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed.

1 Peter 2:4-10 – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people forGod’sown possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Romans 2:17-24 – But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

Romans 2:25-29 – For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? 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.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 – “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Deuteronomy 30:6 – “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”

Ephesians 2:11-12 – Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ…

Colossians 2:11-13 – “And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Philippians 3:2-3 – Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Romans 3:29-30 – Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Ephesians 2:11-22 – Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

 

 

Church Fathers:

Barnabas:

But let us see if this people is the heir, or the former, and if the covenant belongs to us or to them. Hear now what the Scripture says concerning the people. “Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife, because she was barren; and she conceived.” Genesis 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 two peoples in your belly; and the one people shall surpass the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23 You ought to understand who was Isaac, who Rebecca, and concerning what persons He declared that this people should be greater than that. 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.” And he brought Manasseh and Ephraim, desiring that Manasseh should be blessed, because he was the elder. With this view Joseph led him to the right hand of his father Jacob. But Jacob saw in spirit the type of the people to arise afterwards. And what says [the Scripture]? 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.” Genesis 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.” Genesis 48:19 You see on whom he laid [his hands], that this people should be first, and heir of the covenant. If then, still further, the same thing was intimated through Abraham, we reach the perfection of our knowledge. What, then, says He to Abraham? Because you have believed, it is imputed to you for righteousness: behold, I have made you the father of those nations who believe in the Lord while in [a state of] uncircumcision. – Letter of Barnabas, chapter 13

Yes [it is even so]; but let us inquire if the Lord has really given that testament which He swore to the fathers that He would give to the people. He did give it; but they were not worthy to receive it, on account of their sins. For the prophet declares, And Moses was fasting forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai, that he might receive the testament of the Lord for the people. Exodus 24:18 And he received from the Lord Exodus 31:18 two tables, written in the spirit by the finger of the hand of the Lord. And Moses having received them, carried them down to give to the people. And the Lord said to Moses, Moses, Moses, go down quickly; for your people has sinned, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 32:7; Deuteronomy 9:12 And Moses understood that they had again made molten images; and he threw the tables out of his hands, and the tables of the testament of the Lord were broken. Moses then received it, but they proved themselves unworthy. Learn now how we have received it. Moses, as a servant, received it (Hebrews 3:5); but the Lord himself, having suffered in our behalf, has given it to us, that we should be the people of inheritance. But He was manifested, in order that they might be perfected in their iniquities, and that we, being constituted heirs through Him, might receive the testament of the Lord Jesus, who was prepared for this end, that by His personal manifestation, redeeming our hearts (which were already wasted by death, and given over to the iniquity of error) from darkness, He might by His word enter into a covenant with us. For it is written how the Father, about to redeem us from darkness, commanded Him to prepare a holy people for Himself. The prophet therefore declares, I, the Lord Your God, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand, and will strengthen You; and I have given You for a covenant to the people, for a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring forth from fetters them that are bound, and those that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. Isaiah 42:6-7 You perceive, then, whence we have been redeemed. And again, the prophet says, Behold, I have appointed You as a light to the nations, that You might be for salvation even to the ends of the earth, says the Lord God that redeems you. And again, the prophet says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the humble: He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind; to announce the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of recompense; to comfort all that mourn” (Isaiah 61:1-2). – Letter of Barnabas, chapter 14

 

Clement of Rome:

Let us then draw near to Him with holiness of spirit, lifting up pure and undefiled hands unto Him, loving our gracious and merciful Father, who has made us partakers in the blessings of His elect. For thus it is written, When the Most High divided the nations, when He scattered the sons of Adam, He fixed the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, and Israel the lot of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8-9). And in another place [the Scripture] says, Behold, the Lord takes unto Himself a nation out of the midst of the nations, as a man takes the first-fruits of his threshing-floor; and from that nation shall come forth the Most Holy…. Seeing, therefore, that we are the portion of the Holy One, let us do all those things which pertain to holiness. – Second Clement, chapter 29-30

When He said, “Rejoice, you barren one who bears not,” 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,” 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, chapter 2

 

Justin Martyr:

Justin: And when Scripture says, ‘I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who have made known Israel your King,’ Isaiah 43:15 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 my Elect, my soul shall receive Him. I have given Him my Spirit; and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, and His voice shall not be heard without. The bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench, until He shall bring forth judgment to victory. He shall shine, and shall not be broken, until He set judgment on the earth. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust.’ Isaiah 42:1-4 Then is it Jacob the patriarch in whom the Gentiles and yourselves shall trust? Or is it not Christ? As, therefore, Christ is the Israel and the Jacob, even so we, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelitic race. But let us attend rather to the very word: ‘And I will bring forth,’ He says, ‘the seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah: and it shall inherit My holy mountain; and Mine Elect and My servants shall possess the inheritance, and shall dwell there; and there shall be folds of flocks in the thicket, and the valley of Achor shall be a resting-place of cattle for the people who have sought Me. But as for you, who forsake Me, and forget My holy mountain, and prepare a table for demons, and fill out drink for the demon, I shall give you to the sword. You shall all fall with a slaughter; for I called you, and you hearkened not, and did evil before me, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.’ Isaiah 65:9-12 Such are the words of Scripture; understand, therefore, that the seed of Jacob now 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; but as there 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 soothsayers and divinations;’ even so it is necessary for us here to observe that there are two seeds of Judah, and two races, as there are two houses of Jacob: the one begotten by blood and flesh, the other by faith and the Spirit. – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 135

Justin: There will be no other God, O Trypho, nor was there from eternity any other existing, but He who made and disposed all this universe. Nor do we think that there is one God for us, another for you, but that He alone is God who led your fathers out from Egypt with a strong hand and a high arm. Nor have we trusted in any other (for there is no other), but in Him in whom you also have trusted, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob. But we do not trust through Moses or through the law; for then we would do the same as yourselves. But now —(for I have read that there shall be a final law, and a covenant, the chiefest of all, which it is now incumbent on all men to observe, as many as are seeking after the inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on Horeb is now old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is for all universally. Now, law placed against law has abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous one; and an eternal and final law — namely, Christ — has been given to us, and the covenant is trustworthy, after which there shall be no law, no commandment, no ordinance. Have you not read this which Isaiah says: ‘Hearken unto Me, hearken unto Me, my people; and, you kings, give ear unto Me: for a law shall go forth from Me, and My judgment shall be for a light to the nations. My righteousness approaches swiftly, and My salvation shall go forth, and nations shall trust in My arm?’ And by Jeremiah, concerning this same new covenant, He thus speaks: ‘Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt’ Jeremiah 31:31-32). If, therefore, God proclaimed a new covenant which was to be instituted, and this for a light of the nations, we see and are persuaded that men approach God, leaving their idols and other unrighteousness, through the name of Him who was crucified, Jesus Christ, and abide by their confession even unto death, and maintain piety. Moreover, by the works and by the attendant miracles, it is possible for all to understand that He is the new law, and the new covenant, and the expectation of those who out of every people wait for the good things of God. 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, as shall be demonstrated while we proceed. – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 11

“What, then?” Says Trypho; “are you Israel? And speaks He such things of you?”

And in compliance with the assent expressed in his eyes, I continued:

Justin: Again in Isaiah, if you have ears to hear it, God, speaking of Christ in parable, calls Him Jacob and Israel. He speaks thus: ‘Jacob is my servant, I will uphold Him; Israel is my elect, I will put my Spirit upon Him, and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any one hear His voice in the street: a bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not quench; but He shall bring forth judgment to truth: He shall shine, and shall not be broken till He have set judgment on the earth. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust’ (Isaiah 42:1-4). As therefore from the one man Jacob, who was surnamed Israel, all your nation has been called Jacob and Israel; so we from Christ, who begot us unto God, like Jacob, and Israel, and Judah, and Joseph, and David, are called and are the true sons of God, and keep the commandments of Christ. – Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 123

 

Irenaeus:

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, E/W), 1.471.

Malachi, who was among the twelve [minor] prophets, spoke beforehand in this manner: “I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Omnipotent, and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands. For from the rising of the sun, unto the going down, My name is glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure sacrifice; for great is My name among the Gentiles, says the Lord Omnipotent.” Here, He stated in the plainest manner, by these words, that the former people [the Jews] will indeed cease to make offerings to God, but that in every place sacrifice will be offered to him, and it will be a pure sacrifice. – Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.484.

The elder nation rejected Him, saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” 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, E/W), 1.493.

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, E/W), 1.515.

The promise of God that He gave to Abraham remains steadfast. . . . 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.” Thus also the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “Now we, brethren, just as Isaac was, are the children of the promise.” – Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), 1.561.

 

Tertullian:

What appears to be probable to you, when Abraham’s seed, after the primal promise of being like the sand of the sea for multitude, is destined likewise to an equality with the stars of heaven — are not these the indications both of an earthly and a heavenly dispensation? When Isaac, in blessing his son Jacob, says, God give you of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, Genesis 27:28 are there not in his words examples of both kinds of blessing? Indeed, the very form of the blessing is in this instance worthy of notice. For in relation to Jacob, who is the type of the later and more excellent people, that is to say ourselves, first comes the promise of the heavenly dew, and afterwards that about the fatness of the earth. So are we first invited to heavenly blessings when we are separated from the world, and afterwards we thus find ourselves in the way of obtaining also earthly blessings. And your own gospel likewise has it in this wise: Seek first the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added unto you. Luke 12:31 But to Esau the blessing promised is an earthly one, which he supplements with a heavenly, after the fatness of the earth, saying, Your dwelling shall be also of the dew of heaven. Genesis 27:39 For the dispensation of the Jews (who were in Esau, the prior of the sons in birth, but the later in affection) at first was imbued with earthly blessings through the law, and afterwards brought round to heavenly ones through the gospel by faith.

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, W), 3.152.

We, who “were not the people of God” in days bygone, have been made His people, by accepting the aforementioned new law. – Tertullian (c. 197, W), 3.155.

 

Hippolytus:

Should not the worshippers of the true God be of greater antiquity than all the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks? For we must bear in mind that the father of those Gentiles was born from this Japheth. He received the name of Javan, and he became the forefather of the Greeks and Ionians. – Hippolytus (c. 225, W), 5.150.

 

Origen:

I do not understand this expression as do the Ebionites, who are poor in understanding. They think that the Savior came especially to the carnal Israelites. – Origen (c. 225, E), 4.371.

It appears to me that the whole people of Christ, when we regard it in the aspect of the hidden man of the heart, have in a more mystic way the characteristics of the [twelve] tribes. For these people are called “Jews inwardly,” and they are circumcised in the spirit. This may be more plainly gathered from John in his Apocalypse…. However, the number of believers who belong to Israel according to the flesh is small. One might venture to assert that they would not nearly be a hundred and forty-four thousand of them. It is evident, therefore, that the hundred and forty-four thousand…. must be made up of those who have come to the divine Word out of the Gentile world. – Origen (c. 228, E), 9.297.

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, E), 9.351.

Unless those physical wars bore the figure of spiritual wars, I do not think the books of Jewish history would ever have been handed down by the apostles to the disciples of Christ, who came to teach peace, so that they could be read in the churches. For what good was that description of wars to those to whom Jesus says, “My peace I give to you; my peace I leave to you,” and to whom it is commanded and said through the Apostle, “Not avenging your own selves,” and, “Rather, you receive injury,” and, “You suffer offense”? In short, knowing that now we do not have to wage physical wars, but that the struggles of the soul have to be exerted against spiritual adversaries, the Apostle, just as a military leader, gives an order to the soldiers of Christ, saying, “Put on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand firm against the cunning devices of the Devil.” And in order for us to have examples of these spiritual wars from deeds of old, he wanted those narratives of exploits to be recited to us in church, so that, if we are spiritual—hearing that “the Law is spiritual”—“we may compare spiritual things with spiritual” in the things we hear. And we may consider, by means of those nations that fought visibly against physical Israel, how great are the swarms of opposing powers from among the spiritual races that are called “spiritual wickedness in the heavens,” and that stir up wars against the Lord’s Church, which is the true Israel. – Origen (A.D. 248), Commentary on Joshua, Homily 15, paragraph 1

Thus, Moses distributed the land that is across the Jordan, but Jesus and the leaders of the tribes of Israel distributed this that is a holy land and “good land.” You see, therefore, that when that true inheritance of a holy land begins to be distributed by the Savior, the leaders of the tribes of the true and spiritual Israel are also at hand. But whom do we consider to be the leaders of our tribes or the leaders of the Church, except the holy apostles, to whom the Savior says, “You will also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”? – Origen (A.D. 248), Commentary on Joshua, Homily 18, paragraph 1

Anyone, therefore, can perhaps, “by comparing spiritual things with spiritual things” and putting old things together with new and new with old, perceive the mystery of Egypt and the descent of the patriarchs into it, if he can investigate those words spiritually and follow the thought of the Apostle when he distinguishes and separates Israel and says that there is a certain “Israel according to the flesh” which doubtlessly suggests that there is another Israel according to the spirit. The Lord’s statement also points this out to anyone who considers it carefully. When he says of a certain person, “Behold a true Israelite in whom there is no guile,” he also gives it to be understood that some are true Israelites, others, without doubt, are not true. – Origen (A.D. 248), Commentary on Exodus, Homily 1, paragraph 2

The sons of Israel were very few before our Joseph died, who was sold for thirty pieces of silver by Juda one of his brothers. But when he tasted death for all by which “he destroyed him who had the rule of death, that is the devil,” the people of faith were multiplied “and the sons of Israel were extended and the land multiplied them and they increased exceedingly beyond measure.” For unless, as he said, “a grain of wheat had fallen into the earth and died,” the Church would certainly not have produced this huge harvest of the whole earth. Therefore after “the grain fell into the earth and died,” this whole crop of the faithful arose from it “and the sons of Israel were multiplied and became very strong.” For “the voice” of the apostles “went out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the earth” and through them, as it is written, “the word of the Lord increased and was multiplied.” This has reference to a very great mystical meaning. – Origen (A.D. 248), Commentary on Exodus, Homily 1, paragraph 3

Let this Jew of Celsus then show us, not many persons, nor even a few, but a single individual, such as Jesus was, introducing among the human race, with the power that was manifested in Him, a system of doctrine and opinions beneficial to human life, and which converts men from the practice of wickedness….

Therefore we may see, that after the advent of Jesus the Jews were altogether abandoned, and possess now none of what they considered their ancient glories, so that there is no indication of any Divinity abiding amongst them. For they have no longer prophets nor miracles, traces of which to a considerable extent are still found among Christians, and some of them more remarkable than any that existed among the Jews; and these we ourselves have witnessed, if our testimony may be received.

But the Jew of Celsus exclaims: “Why did we treat him, whom we announced beforehand, with dishonour? Was it that we might be chastised by others?” To which we have to answer, that on account of their unbelief, and the other insults which they heaped upon Jesus, the Jews will not only suffer more than others in that judgment which is believed to impend over the world, but have even already endured such sufferings.

For what nation is in exile from their own metropolis, and from the place sacred to the worship of their fathers, save the Jews alone? And these calamities they have suffered, because they were a most wicked nation, which, although guilty of many other sins, yet has been punished so severely for none, as for those that were committed against our Jesus. – Origen, Against Celsus, Section 2.8, Vol 4 of Anti-Nicene Fathers.

 

Cyprian:

In the Gospel, we find that “children of Abraham are raised from stones,” that is, gathered from the Gentiles. –  Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.359.

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, W), 5.507.

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.’” . . . 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.” – Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.512, 513.

In Genesis: And the Lord said to Rebekah, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples shall be separated from your belly; and the one people shall overcome the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. Genesis 25:23 Also in Hosea: I will call them my people that are not my people, and her beloved that was not beloved. For it shall be, in that place in which it shall be called not my people, they shall be called the sons of the living God. – Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 12, First Book, chapter 19

In Isaiah: Rejoice, you barren, who bear not; and break forth and cry, you that travail not: because many more are the children of the desolate one than of her who has an husband. For the Lord has said, Enlarge the place of your tabernacle, and of your curtains, and fasten them: spare not, make long your measures, and strengthen your stakes: stretch forth yet to your right hand and to your left hand; and your seed shall possess the nations, and shall inhabit the deserted cities. Fear not; because you shall overcome: nor be afraid because you are cursed; for you shall forget your eternal confusion. Isaiah 54:1-4 Thus also to Abraham, when his former son was born of a bond-woman, Sarah remained long barren; and late in old age bare her son Isaac, of promise, who was the type of Christ. Thus also Jacob received two wives: the eider Leah, with weak eyes, a type of the synagogue; the younger the beautiful Rachel, a type of the Church, who also remained long barren, and afterwards brought forth Joseph, who also was himself a type of Christ. – Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 12, First Book, chapter 19