How Should Christians Think About Zionism?

Zionism is a major cultural talking point right now, but before Christians can respond biblically, we need to define the term carefully. The problem is that people do not always mean the same thing when they use the word Zionism.

Some use Zionism in a basic political sense. They mean support for the existence of the modern state of Israel and the belief that the Jewish people have a right to a homeland. In that sense, someone might be called a Zionist simply because he believes Israel has a right to exist.

Others use Zionism in a much stronger theological sense. This is often called Christian Zionism. In this view, the modern state of Israel is treated as the continuation of Old Testament covenant Israel. Many who hold this view believe Christians and nations have a special obligation before God to support Israel because of promises like Genesis 12:3: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse.”

Then there is another extreme. Some people use the word Zionist almost as an insult. To them, anyone who does not condemn Israel outright, or anyone who believes Israel has any right to defend itself, is labeled a Zionist. That is not honest or helpful.

So when we ask, “How should Christians think about Zionism?” we need to be clear about what we are addressing. Someone who opposes Christian Zionism is not saying Israel has no right to exist. Nor are they defending Hamas or anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is wicked! Nazi Germany was anti-Semitic. Hamas is anti-Semitic. Christians should reject that completely!

The real theological question is this: Is the modern state of Israel the covenant people of God simply because they are ethnically descended from Abraham and live in the land of Israel?

That is the question Scripture must answer.

God did make real promises to Abraham. He chose Abraham by grace. Abraham did not deserve it. He was not chosen because of anything in himself, but because of God’s mercy. God promised to make him a great nation, to give his descendants land, and through him to bless all the families of the earth. Those promises were real, and God truly fulfilled what he promised in the Old Testament.

Joshua 21:45 says, “Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” So the question is not whether God keeps his promises. Of course he does. The question is: who is the true offspring of Abraham? Who is Israel?

Paul answers that clearly in Galatians 3:16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.”

Paul tells us that the promises made to Abraham find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The focus is not on ethnic Israel as a whole, nor the modern state of Israel, but Christ himself.

Paul continues in Galatians 3:28–29: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Those verses are incredibly important. Who belongs to Abraham? According to Paul, all those who belong to Christ! Who are the heirs according to the promise? According to Paul, all those who have faith in Christ! This exceeds any connections to ethnicity.

Romans 9:6–8 says the same thing: “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring... This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Scripture itself makes a distinction between ethnic Israel and true spiritual Israel. Not all who descend physically from Abraham are the children of promise. The children of promise are those who share Abraham’s faith.

That means refusing to identify the modern state of Israel as God’s covenant people is not anti-Semitism. It is a biblical truth. We can pray for Jewish people, love them, oppose hatred against them, and desire their salvation, just as Paul did in Romans 9:1–5 and Romans 10:1. We can also affirm that Israel, like any nation, has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks. None of that requires us to say that the modern nation of Israel is the same thing as true Israel in the New Testament sense.

The church does not “replace” Israel. That language is often used as a straw man. The better way to say it is that the church is the continuing fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan. God has always had one people, saved by grace through faith. In the Old Testament, believers looked forward to the promised Messiah. In the New Testament, believers look back to the Messiah who has come. God’s people have never been defined merely by DNA, but by faith in his promises.

The land promise must also be understood through Christ. In the Old Testament, the land was real, but it was also a type and a shadow. The promised land pointed beyond itself. Hebrews 11:10 says Abraham “was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” The final inheritance of God’s people is not merely one piece of real estate in the Middle East. In Christ, the land promise expands to the new heavens and new earth. God’s people will inherit the cosmos, not merely a strip of land in the Middle East.

That means Christians should approach Zionism with biblical clarity. We should not blindly support everything the modern state of Israel does. God himself did not support everything Old Testament Israel did, either. He judged Israel for idolatry, unbelief, and rebellion. No nation today gets a blank check from God. Christians should pray for Jewish people to come to faith in Christ, because Christ is their only hope, just as he is the only hope of Gentiles.

So how should Bible-believing Christians approach Zionism?

We should begin by asking the biblical question: Who is Israel? The New Testament answer is clear. True Israel is found in Christ. Christ is the true and better Israel. Those who belong to Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise. We must pray that those who are physically descended from Abraham become his spiritual children. They are not his children spiritually from birth. They must be born again just like the Gentiles.

That does not settle every political question in the Middle East, but it does settle the theological one. The modern state of Israel is not the covenant people of God simply because of ethnicity or geography. God’s covenant people are those united to Christ by faith. 

That is where our confidence must rest. Not in politics. Not in ethnicity. Not in a modern nation-state. In Christ alone.