Christians are NOT “the True Jews” | A Messianic Jewish Response to Jeff Durbin

Just weeks after October 7, 2023—the worst moment in Jewish history since the Holocaust—Pastor Jeff Durbin of Apologia Studios released a video discussing the massacre. In it, he argued that Jewish people who do not believe in Jesus are not truly Jewish and are not God’s chosen people. Instead, he claimed that Christians are the true Jews—that Christians are Israel. Through this video, Pastor Jeff Durbin fuels and spreads antisemitism. The video you are about to watch is a Messianic Jewish response, correcting the gross errors Pastor Jeff makes and offering a careful exegesis of the biblical passages he misuses to support his claims.

0:00 – Responding to Pastor Jeff Durbin taking advantage of October 7th to promote replacement theology

7:00 – Showing why Pastor Jeff Durbin’s interpretation of Romans 2.27–29 is incorrect and exegeting the text

26:53 – Responding to Pastor Jeff Durbin’s antisemitic comments

29:43 – Showing why Pastor Jeff Durbin’s interpretation of Romans 9:6 is incorrect and exegeting the text

46:24 – What God says about Israel in the Tanakh

47:31 – What Paul says about Israel

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Resources:David J. Rudolph, “Zionism in Pauline Literature: Does Paul Eliminate Particularity for Israel & the Land in His Portrayal of Salvation Available for All the World?” in New Christian Zionism Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land, ed. Gerald R. McDermott (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2016), 167–194.

Mark D. Nanos, “‘The Gifts and the Calling of God Are Irrevocable’ (Romans 11.29): If So, How Can Paul Declare That ‘Not All Israelites Truly Belong to Israel’ (9.6)” SCJR 11 (2016): 1–17.

Matthew Thiessen, “Paul’s Argument against Gentile Circumcision in Romans 2.17–29,” Novum Testamentum 56, no. 4 (2014): 373–391.

Matthew V. Novenson, Paul, Then and Now (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2022), 91–117.

Ryan D. Cullman, Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2023), 148–196.

Ryan D. Cullman, "(Un)Making a Theological Mountain Out of a Cardiological Mohel: Heart-Circumcision in Paul’s Epistles,” Journal for the Jesus Movement in its Jewish Setting, no. 10 (2023): 89–105.

“Are Christians ‘the True Jews?’”