What is the relationship between the nation of Israel, Jesus Christ, and the church? Pastors and theologians come to significantly different conclusions. The reigning systems of evangelical theology, covenant theology, and dispensationalism answer this question by stressing the continuity of the Israel-church relationship (covenant theology) or emphasizing discontinuity (dispensationalism). In more recent times, progressive covenantalism has emerged as a via media between these two theological approaches by providing a different proposal for unpacking the biblical covenants, and by highlighting that to rightly understand the people of God in biblical theology, the person of Jesus Christ must be the focal point.
In Christ Jesus, the True Israel, Brent E. Parker presents the case for the importance of typology in this debate, arguing that national Israel is a type, not unlike other Old Testament types (e.g., the sacrificial system, the temple, etc.), that reaches its antitypical fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Israel-church relationship is also typological, but only through Christ. Parker demonstrates that the progressive covenantal approach is a viable system of theology that seeks to preserve what the whole Bible says regarding the people of God, from Israel to Christ and from Christ to the church.
