(LifeSiteNews) — On the cusp of President Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran for the interests of Israel two weeks ago, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz told Tucker Carlson in a viral interview that the primary reason he supported the modern secular state of Israel was because as a boy, attending Sunday school, he was “taught from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side of things.”
While Carlson effectively unraveled the fallacious reasoning behind this scriptural interpretation by asking pertinent questions, he didn’t seem prepared to present a more informed response from Sacred Scripture itself. And I thought that there were likely many Catholics and other Christians who would be happy to understand a couple simple verses from the New Testament to demonstrate to their family and friends just why it is clear that the Catholic Church is the true Israel, and the modern state calling itself “Israel” has little or nothing to do with the Scripture passage to which Cruz referred.
First, let’s take a look at the passage the junior senator from Texas referenced, despite his inability to cite it directly. Genesis 12:2-3 is a quote from the Lord to Abram whom God later renamed Abraham:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and IN THEE shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
The first point to notice is that this text does not include the word “Israel,” but rather conveys that the blessing is upon Abraham himself: “I will bless thee” (my emphasis) which is singular. And this blessing is ordered to a blessing of “all the kindreds (families, or nations) of the earth.”
Furthermore, we see in Genesis 22:18, that this universal blessing will come to the world through the “seed” of Abraham. “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
It is further important to note how Abraham himself was a “proto-Christian” who looked ahead to the fulfillment of these promises in Jesus Christ. As the Lord states in the Gospel of John, Abraham “rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad” (8:56).
First passage: Galatians 3:16, 29. Christians heirs to promises given to Abraham
This brings us to our first important passage which I have found often helps Christians understand how the written word of God affirms the promises and the blessing given to Abraham are ordered to their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And thus, the heirs to these promises and blessings are those who are in Christ and are hence members of the People of God, the true Israel which is reconstituted in Jesus Christ and His New Covenant. As St. Paul teaches:
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds,’ meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed,’ meaning one person, who is Christ… If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:16, 29).
Thus, it is Christians who are the children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ and heirs to the promises given to him, as St. Paul affirms in Romans 9:6-8:
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but ‘Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.
Second passage: Acts 3:22-23. St. Peter affirms Jews who do not accept the Messiah Jesus Christ are ‘completely cut off’ from the People of God
While Sacred Scripture affirms that the children of Abraham, the People of God, the true Israel consists of those baptized into Jesus Christ, the people who are thus heirs to the promises given to him, St. Peter also affirms that his fellow Jews who sadly do not accept the Messiah Jesus Christ are not part of this holy people.
Teaching in the Temple area in Acts 3, the prince of the apostles states that these Jews are “cut off” from the People of God, and therefore the promises given to them as well:
For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people’ (vs. 22-23).
In other words, the reconstituted Israel, the People of God, are those who are in Jesus Christ, the giver of the Holy Spirit and of the New Covenant (Jer 31: 31-33), while those who tragically reject him are cut off from that one people who remain the heirs to the promises given to Abraham (Jews and Gentile alike).
Summarizing these realities in an Epiphany sermon included in the Catholic Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, Pope St. Leo the Great (d. 461) preached:
Let the children of the promise now receive the blessing in the seed of Abraham, the blessing renounced by the children of his flesh… This is the day that Abraham saw, and rejoiced to see, when he knew that the sons born of his faith would be blessed in his seed, that is, in Christ. Believing that he would be the father of the nations, he looked into the future, giving glory to God, in full awareness that God is able to do what he has promised.
Thus, the blessing given to Abraham is ordered to Jesus Christ and those who are incorporated into his Mystical Body which He called His Church. And, of course Our Divine Lord founded just one Church on the foundation stones of the apostles with St. Peter and his successors serving as a source of unity and as pastors of the entire Church.
Our Jewish friends, whom we love and pray for, like us are called to communion in the true Israel, the Catholic Church, which is the fulfillment of everything promised to the people of the old covenant in the Messiah Jesus Christ.
As Jewish convert Mother Miriam has routinely proclaimed, “The most Jewish a Jew can be is to be Catholic.”
This presentation is in no way intended to be exhaustive on this topic but simply to provide some beginnings for sharing these particular verses with others. To dive deeper I would recommend recent articles by Christendom College theology professor Dr. Matthew Tsakanikas which can be found here, with some pertinent selected titles featured below.
The Church, not the state of Israel, is the true heir of God’s covenant: here’s why
The ‘New Israel’ is the Catholic Church, not the state of Israel: here’s why
The Eucharist makes the Church the Israel of God
The Bible is clear: Jesus made the Catholic Church the new Israel
Video interviews of Dr. Tsakanikas available and covered in the articles below:
Theologian explains why religious Zionism is ‘heresy,’ the Church is the ‘true Israel’
Christendom College theology professor explains why religious Zionism is ‘anti-Christ’
