While numerous seminarians and other pundits have weighed in on this “controversy,” and while much of what is said here has been said elsewhere, it behooves to stomp upon this presumptive notion until all the guts have been forcibly oozed out.
Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the [nations] by faith, and foretold the gospel to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.1
It is generally accepted within all streams of Protestant Evangelicalism that those of faith upon Christ are deemed (adopted) sons of Abraham. The New Testament is clear and consistent.2 There is no case, among the 68 instances in which Israél (Ἰσραήλ) appears in the New Testament, wherein Israél refers to believing goyim. One possible exception proves not to be an exception.
And as many as those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.3
The NIV translation “mysteriously” omits a pivotal “and” in “peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God,” yet another instance of motivated translation. “And” joins two distinct entities according to standard semantic rules in English.
In the passage, “for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel,”4 in the eyes of God, not all Israel will be deemed True Israel, except for believing Jews. However, there is no hint herein that any goyim believers will be deemed True Israel. True Israel is reserved for those who are both genetically and spiritually descended from Israel, dual conditions.
Goyim Christians, who claim otherwise, deploy a meretricious logic, which collapses upon closer scrutiny. They conflate Abraham with Israel, and the sons of Abraham with the sons of Israel. According to the flesh, Israel (Jacob) was not literally the son, but the grandson of Abraham, even if “sons of” a person are often deployed metaphorically. If Israel (Jacob) is a spiritual son, it is from out of faith, in the same way that believing goyim are spiritual sons. This relationship is direct, not indirect and mediated by an intermediary, such as Isaac.
The descendants of Abraham are not necessarily the descendants of Israel. Abraham was the father of many nations, including the “nation of faith,” but also the father of the descendants of Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, among others. Obviously, Israel is not the father of the Arabs.
And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.5
Unlike Abraham, Israel is the father of but one nation. There is no hint in God’s promise to Jacob that he would be the father of more than one, confirmed by ensuing history. But if Jacob is the father of ethnic Israel, there is no logical room left for him to be the father of any other nation, even one of faith, thus the distinction between Abraham and Israel in the New Testament.
Goyim Christians, who claim to be True Israel, differ little from female transgenders, those who are physiologically male, but claim to be of female identity, hereby erasing the meaning of a woman. It may be true that many a woman do not act like women (i.e. longing for and kindness towards their own children). Hence, they are not True women in the historical sense. But this gives no rational license for a male, who by morphology, genetics, and endemic experience is a male, to claim a female identity, or for human beings to claim a cat identity.