Who Are God’s Chosen People Today?

Are the Jews still God’s chosen people? That question has divided churches, shaped political alliances, and sparked some of the bitterest arguments in so-called Christianity today. The answer may challenge what you have always assumed and what your church teaches, so proceed with caution—because we are going to see what the Bible says about this subject

First, yes. There was absolutely a time when the Jews were God’s chosen people. Deuteronomy 7:6 is unmistakable—God called them “a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”

But here is the question most people never stop to ask: Why were they chosen?

Not because of anything they did, and not because they were the greatest or most faithful nation on earth (spoiler alert: they weren’t). They were chosen because God had a plan that stretched all the way back to the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, God told the serpent that the Seed of a woman would crush his head. That was a prophecy of Christ. In Genesis 12, God told Abraham, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That too was ultimately about Jesus, who would be born a descendant of Abraham, a Jew, in the city of Bethlehem. The Jewish people were chosen to be the ones through whom the Redeemer would come into the world, and that purpose has now been accomplished.

But are the Jews still the chosen people? No. That’s what God says through the apostle Peter. Writing to Christians, Peter takes the very language once spoken of Israel in the Old Testament and applies it directly to the church, which is made up of both Jews and Gentiles:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 1 Peter 2:9–10

God’s chosen people today are those who are in Christ—both Jew and Gentile. If we get this wrong, we treat ethnic Jews as if they have a standing before God that the New Testament simply does not give them. The actual good news—the gospel—is that any Jew, anywhere in the world, can come to God the same way everyone else does: through faith in Jesus, the very Messiah their ancestors were chosen to bring into the world. Praise God!

There is far more to say on this topic and more passages to address. So, here’s what I recommend. See the phone number on the screen? Give it a call or send a text with your questions or comments. Or go to timelesstalks.net and reach out using the “Contact” page. We’ve actually got a giveaway going on right now. Reach out to us at timelesstalks.net/contact and request your free copy of I Died Today. It’s a soul-stirring story that may change your life. Just don’t read it right before bed. On the other hand, maybe that’ll be exactly what you need to do. God bless you. See you next time!