Marc Turnage: Secular Isn't What You Think

You may have heard that modern Israel is a secular state, so it has nothing to do with the Israel of the Bible. That argument rests on a misunderstanding of one word. When most Israelis call themselves secular, they mean they don't follow the religious authorities' rules, not that they don't believe in God. And Scripture never treats the land or the people as an afterthought. So Christians should slow down, study, and form opinions with humility.

What does "secular" mean in Israel?

In Israel, secular usually means a person does not live by the rules of the rabbinate, the official religious authority. In practice that often means they don't keep Shabbat or keep kosher according to the rabbinate's laws. It says nothing, by itself, about whether they believe in God.

In the West, we hear "secular" and think of an atheist or an agnostic. Bible scholar Marc Turnage earned his PhD at an Israeli university. He explains on Beyond Sunday that the Israeli use of the word is much wider. He knows Israelis who describe themselves as secular and pray more than many Christians he knows. Some Israelis do mean it the Western way, but many do not.

So when someone says, "Israel is secular, so there's no biblical connection," Marc calls that a red herring. In his view, it tells you the speaker doesn't yet understand Israel, no matter how many times they've visited.

The lesson reaches past one word. We often assume other people mean what we mean when they use the same term. Before you agree or disagree with someone, find out what they actually mean.

Does the land still matter in Scripture?

Yes. In the Bible, the land is never disconnected from God's story. God swore it on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the hope at the end of Scripture is a new Jerusalem. As Beyond Sunday host Pastor Sean Sloan put it, we're looking forward to a new Jerusalem, not a new New York.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Revelation 21:2

Marc adds that redemption in the New Testament, God's work of buying back and restoring what was lost, is spiritual and also national. It is universal, and it narrows down to the redemption of Zion. You can see it in the birth narratives in Luke. When Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple, Simeon and Anna are waiting for the redemption of Israel and of Jerusalem.

Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:38

Jesus speaks to it again in Luke 21, and the theme shows up in Acts and in Paul's letters. Marc is clear that Paul never assumed the church had replaced Israel or God's covenant with Israel. This was the worldview of Jesus, of Paul, and of the first-century churches John wrote to.

Why don't all Jewish people see the land the same way?

Because the Jewish community is not one uniform group. Practice, food, and even liturgy vary widely across the diaspora, and the American Jewish experience differs from the Israeli one.

Christians often ask Marc why many American Jews lean politically liberal. He traces it to the promise of the United States. Jewish immigrants in the 19th century came from a Europe where freedom of worship was not always respected. America welcomed them, so openness and religious freedom became deeply held values. That helps explain why Jewish leaders stood shoulder to shoulder with Dr. King during the civil rights movement.

The Israeli story runs differently. Beginning in the 1890s, Europe and the United States started closing their doors to Jewish immigration. That only grew through the early 20th century and World War II. Those quotas pushed many Russian and European Jews toward British Mandate Palestine.

After the war, hundreds of thousands of Jewish survivors sat in displaced persons camps, and Western nations still would not lift their quotas. In Marc's words, Israelis are the Jews the world didn't want, the people the world closed its doors on. That experience taught a hard lesson: nobody is coming over the hill to save us.

He also corrects a common assumption. About 60 percent of Israel's Jewish population traces its roots to non-European lands such as North Africa, Iraq, and Yemen. Most Israelis do not come out of Europe at all.

Can you criticize Israel's government?

Yes. Any democracy and its leaders can be criticized, and Israel is a democracy with real complexities. Marc points out that Arab citizens, Christian and Muslim, make up about 20 percent of Israel's citizens. They serve as doctors, lawyers, members of the Knesset, and justices on the Supreme Court.

The line he draws is this: criticizing a government is one thing. Saying a state and a people have no right to exist is something else entirely. Those two get blurred often, and you'll think more clearly about the news if you keep them separate.

How should Christians form opinions about Israel?

With humility and real study. Social media rewards people who have opinions, and many of us only read sources that agree with us. Marc calls that becoming an ideologue, not forming an opinion.

He holds himself to a simple rule: no opinion on something he hasn't studied. When someone asks him about a conflict he hasn't researched, he tells them he doesn't have an opinion yet. If he wanted one, he would start with the historical background.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

James 1:19

Pastor Sean tied it to following Jesus. Without humility, there's no learning. Without learning, there's no discipleship. A church with people from many nations, like Calvary, gets a daily reminder that people can use the same words and mean different things.

Common questions

What does "secular" mean in Israel?

In Israel, calling yourself secular usually means you don't follow the rabbinate's rules for things like Shabbat and keeping kosher. It does not necessarily mean you don't believe in God, and many self-described secular Israelis pray and have deep faith.

Does the land of Israel matter in the New Testament?

Yes. Simeon and Anna were waiting for the redemption of Israel and Jerusalem, Jesus speaks of Jerusalem's future in Luke 21, and the Bible's final hope is a new Jerusalem. The land stays part of God's story from Abraham to Revelation.

Did the church replace Israel?

Bible scholar Marc Turnage says Paul never assumed the church had replaced Israel or God's covenant with Israel. The theme of Israel's redemption runs through Luke, Acts, and Paul's letters.

Is it wrong for Christians to criticize Israel?

No. Any democracy and its leaders can be criticized. The important distinction is between criticizing a government's decisions and denying that a state and a people have a right to exist.

How should Christians form opinions about the Middle East?

With humility. Study the history behind the headlines, read careful sources that disagree with you, and be willing to say you don't know yet.