Did Saint Paul say that the Jews are permanently God's people?

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I mean, I know he emphasized over and over again that the old covenant is dead and that we need to believe in Jesus to be saved. I remember reading one of his epistles and he apparently said that Israel is always God’s chosen people? Please, correct me if I’m wrong?
 
There is some of that in Romans ch. 9-11. Someone else will have to answer definitively, though. That is over and above me.
 
Being a Jew does not make you God’s chosen, but Paul does stress that God is not finished with the Jews, because once the fullness of the Gentiles is final near the end of the world, then Elijah will come and do what John the Baptist did in the first coming to prepare the Jews for the Lord, but Elijah will prepare their hearts for the second coming. There will be a multitude among the Jewish people to receive Jesus as their Messiah. But being Jewish alone will not be good enough, it will be a conversion of the hearts.
 
JDGaney said:
I mean, I know he emphasized over and over again that the old covenant is dead and that we need to believe in Jesus to be saved. I remember reading one of his epistles and he apparently said that Israel is always God’s chosen people? Please, correct me if I’m wrong?
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The Old Covenant is over. But there is a distinction between the Old Covenant and the Jews as a chosen people.

The only thing that saves is being in communion with the Trinity, and the Old Covenant was merely a tool for bringing about the restored relationship. The Old Covenant wasn’t the end in itself, it pointed to and paved the way for Jesus. When the Old Covenant ended, there were still Jews around, existing even to this day. Though they hold a special place in God’s heart, just as a parent loves all their children but each child holds a special place by being unique, this in itself isn’t what saves. For now, the Jews (while still holding a special place in God’s heart) are in the doghouse, and this will last until the second coming. Then a miraculous mass conversion to Jesus is expected.
 
Paul wrote that it is not the descendents of Abraham that are the children of God, according to the flesh, for the flesh is nothing and circumcision is nothing, but the children of faith are the children of Abraham and of the new covenant and of God.
 
Bible_Reader said:
Catechism of the Catholic Church 121: The Old Covenant has never been revoked.
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**121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, [Cf. DV 14.] for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.
**This is speaking of the Books of the Old Testament. Some heretics in the early Church threw out the OT books.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/11
Romans 11:29: The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
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Pope John Paul II (November 17, 1980): … the people of God of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God…
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The Mosaic Law is over with. There is no more circumcision, Levitical Sacrifices, dietary rules, etc.

The promise that the Jews would hold a special place in God’s heart still continues, but that’s not synonymous with salvation.
 
OK. I can buy into the philosophy that many Jews will be converted at the second coming and their minds will be opened to truth via the power of the Holy Spirit.

I can even agree that this would be inline with the covenant with Abraham.
 
Catholic_Dude said:
121 The Old Testament is an indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value, [Cf. DV 14.] for the Old Covenant has never been revoked.
This is speaking of the Books of the Old Testament. Some heretics in the early Church threw out the OT books.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/romans/11

The Mosaic Law is over with. There is no more circumcision, Levitical Sacrifices, dietary rules, etc.

The promise that the Jews would hold a special place in God’s heart still continues, but that’s not synonymous with salvation.
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The CCC could easily have ended its comments after the word “permanent value.” Instead, it goes on to explicitly state that the Old Covenenant has not been revoked, echoing John Paul II’s words. It then goes on to re-emphasize that in CCC 839.

Now, true, there are other verses in the New Testament which suggest that Jewish Covenant no longer stands (2 Corinthians 3:7-11 and Hebrews 8:13 come to mind), but interestingly, the CCC does not reference those verses.

Finally, the Mosaic Law is most certainly still kept by the remnant of people known as Orthodox Jews.

Questions of who is saved and who is not saved I leave to Providence.
 
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