Preface
In March 2014 Tanzanian minister Daniel J. Musokwa posted a ten-part open letter entitled “The True Israel of God.” He contends that the covenant designation “Israel” is no longer tethered to ethnicity but is fulfilled in all who belong to Christ. The articles are pastoral yet provocative, moving from Old-Testament foreshadowing to New-Testament reality. Below is a single, fully developed essay that tracks Musokwa’s flow, amplifying each instalment with the Scriptures and logic he employs.
1 Shadows and Mirrors (Part 1)
Musokwa begins with Paul’s declaration that the Law was a “mirror” revealing sin (Romans 7:13). Israel’s national calling, like its rites, was typological—a “shadow” whose substance is found only in Christ (Colossians 2:17). Therefore even the label “My people” points forward to a Messiah-formed community composed of both Jews and Gentiles.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come … can never … make the comers thereunto perfect.”
— Hebrews 10 : 1
Musokwa is careful: this is not “replacement theology”; it is fulfilment. God has extended, not revoked, His covenant family.
2 A Birth-Right Reclaimed (Part 2)
Why, Musokwa asks, has much of the church “surrendered her birth-right” and treated ethnic Israel as still God’s exclusive people? everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
He reheats Paul’s olive-tree metaphor (Romans 11) to show that Israel’s unbelief, not lineage, is what broke natural branches off; faith alone grafts any branch back in.
“And if some of the branches be broken off, … thou standest by faith.” — Romans 11 : 17–20
Thus the “church”—believing Jew plus believing Gentile—is “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16). Any doctrine that restores ethnic privilege “after the cross” ignores Paul’s warning.
3 The Olive Tree and “So All Israel” (Part 3)
Musokwa lingers on Romans 11 : 26. The Greek houtōs (“so/in this way”) ties Israel’s future salvation to the preceding conditional clause: “if they abide not still in unbelief.” Therefore “all Israel” will be saved only through repentance and faith in Christ. There is “no preferential treatment” for DNA Jews under the New Covenant.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
Paul’s lament for his kinsmen (Romans 9 : 1-5) makes sense precisely because salvation is not automatic.
4 Children of the Promise, Not of the Flesh (Part 4)
Romans 9 : 6-8 is decisive: “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” Lineage counts for nothing; the “children of the promise” are reckoned for the seed. Paul identifies the promise as the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3 : 14), and declares, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8 : 14).
Consequently, unbelieving Jews—still “led by the law” rather than the Spirit—cannot claim New-Covenant sonship.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
5 Colossians 3 and the Death of Ethnic Privilege (Part 5)
Part 5 turns to Colossians 3. Here Paul greets Gentile believers as “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” In Christ, “there is neither Greek nor Jew … but Christ is all, and in all.” Any lingering distinction elevating Jews above Gentiles is “foolish and reckless,” Musokwa argues, for the New Covenant admits both solely on the basis of faith.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
6 The Rule of the Cross (Part 6)
Musokwa next quotes Galatians 6 : 14-16. Those who “boast only in the cross” are called “the Israel of God.” Ephesians 2 reminds Gentiles that they were once “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel” but have now been brought near by Christ’s blood. To retreat to Law-keeping is to vanish “from the radar-screen of grace,” for the Law never offered Gentiles salvation—only condemnation.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
7 “One New Man” (Part 7)
Ephesians 2 : 13-22 becomes Musokwa’s centrepiece. Christ abolished the Law—the wall that divided Jew and Gentile—so as to “create in himself one new man.” The two former peoples now share a single citizenship, household, and corner-stone. Any theology that resurrects the wall ignores the cross and leaves hearts “veiled” by Old-Testament blindness (2 Corinthians 3 : 14-15).everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
8 Two Jerusalems (Part 8)
Psalm 122’s call to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” Musokwa insists, must be read through the lens of Hebrews 12: we “are come … to the heavenly Jerusalem … the church of the firstborn.” The physical city was a shadow; the church is the living fulfilment. Love for modern Jerusalem is not forbidden, but it grants no eschatological shortcut: salvation remains “by grace … to everyone who believes” (Romans 10 : 4).everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
9 Hagar vs. Sarah (Part 9)
Galatians 4 is Musokwa’s next illustration. Hagar stands for Sinai and “the present Jerusalem,” enslaved with her children; Sarah represents “the Jerusalem which is above … our mother.” Christians therefore pray not only for one Middle-Eastern city but for persecuted believers in every city—the true, global Jerusalem. To privilege one geography is to miss Paul’s allegory entirely.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
10 The Promise Guaranteed to All the Seed (Part 10)
The finale gathers Romans 4 : 16, Galatians 3 : 29, and Ephesians 3 : 6. Faith unites Jews and Gentiles as co-heirs of Abraham. God’s blessing of “those who bless you” now rests on every believer, irrespective of ancestry. John 3 : 16—“God so loved the world”—shatters any claim that divine love is graduated by ethnic lines.everincreasinggrace.blogspot.com
Theological Implications
| Implication | Scriptural Grounding |
|---|---|
| No Dual-Covenant Salvation | Acts 17 : 30-31; Romans 10 : 9-13 |
| Unity Over Ethnicity | Ephesians 2 : 14-16; Galatians 3 : 28 |
| Cautious Geopolitics | John 18 : 36; 1 Peter 2 : 11 |
| Evangelistic Mandate to Jews & Gentiles | Romans 10 : 1; Matthew 28 : 19 |
Conclusion
Daniel J. Musokwa’s series is a clarion call: in Christ, Israel’s story reaches its climax. The Law’s types give way to Spirit-wrought reality; national borders dissolve into a trans-ethnic people whose citizenship is in heaven. Far from belittling Abraham’s line, this fulfilment magnifies the promise, extending it to “every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5 : 9). The church, therefore, must:
- Lay aside ethnic triumphalism and boast only in the cross.
- Proclaim one gospel to all, including the physical descendants of Abraham.
- Pray for the global Jerusalem—the persecuted body of Christ around the world.
By embracing its identity as “the Israel of God,” the New-Covenant church steps into its full inheritance and displays God’s ever-increasing grace to the nations.
