Isn't the church the "Israel of God" according to Galatians 6:16?

Galatians 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of God. (UKJV)

 

In view of the fact that this verse refers to “the Israel of God,” this is naturally one of the favorite verses of those who try to make the church of this dispensation a spiritual Israel. First of all let’s note how this verse is commonly mis-read in many people’s minds. It is commonly read and misunderstood as if Paul said, “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy; that is upon the Israel of God.” In other words, it is commonly mis-read and misunderstood as if Paul was identifying the ones who walk according to this rule as “the Israel of God.” But that is not what the verse says at all. Instead the designation “the Israel of God” is immediately preceded by the second of two directive prepositions, which actually identifies “the Israel of God” as another entity which Paul pronounces as partakers of “peace” and “mercy” if they too “walk according to this rule.” The two directive prepositions in the verse, “on” and “upon,” identify two distinct entitites which can be partakers of “peace” and “mercy” by walking according to the rule that Paul is talking about. The “them” are the ones like the Galatian saints (and us) who are members of the “new creature” of the preceding verse that God is now making “in Jesus Christ,” where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, etc. However, “the Israel of God” is another and different entity entirely. It is composed of the ones Paul spoke particularly about back in Gal.2:1-10. Hence, there are two designated entities in Gal.6:15 and 16 – “the new creature” and “the Israel of God.” Before God brought in this present dispensation of Gentile Grace, suspended His program with Israel, raised up the Apostle Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles, and committed to him “the gospel of the uncircumcision,” His program with Israel was in effect. In accordance with this, Peter (as the apostle of the circumcision) was preaching “the gospel of the circumcision” to the “circumcision.” Now in view of the teaching of the prophets, those in Israel who believed “the gospel of the circumcision” were cleansed of any identification with apostate Israel, which for example as God said through Hosea, He no longer considered to be His people; and, as Isaiah said, were a nation not called by His name. Hence, apostate Israel was not “the Israel of God.” In fact God had actually delivered it over to the Adversary and had dedicated it to destruction in His day of wrath. In contrast to apostate Israel it would be those of “the circumcision” that believed Peter’s “gospel of the circumcision” that would be the nation called by God’s name, that would be “an holy nation” that would be given the kingdom, that would be accounted to the Messiah for a generation, that would be the people of God; in short, that would be identified as “the Israel of God.” Hence, “the Israel of God” is what those in apostate Israel became when they believed “the gospel of the circumcision” that Peter and the 11 preached before God brought in this present dispensation of His Grace with the raising up of the Apostle Paul. “The Israel of God,” therefore, was naturally in existence when God suspended His program with Israel and brought in the present dispensation of Gentile grace. And as Paul explains in Galatians 1 and 2, at a set time God had him deal with them to communicate unto them the gospel which was committed to him to preachamong the Gentiles. When that took place, Peter and his were given to fully understand the suspension of their program, and how to conduct themselves in view of it. But this means that for a period of time both the members of God’s new creation the church the Body of Christ and “the Israel of God” existed together, and even side-by-side, so to speak, as in the Galatian area. (Which of course is why Paul talks about them and the cites them as the identifiable entity known as “the Israel of God” in his epistle to the Galatians. The Galatians were very familiar with them.) Therefore just as the two directive prepositions of Galatians 6:16 demand, there were two distinct identifiable entities in the Galatian area: the one being members of the “new creature” God is forming “in Christ Jesus” through the preaching of “the gospel of the uncircumcision” committed to Paul, and the other being “the Israel of God” formed in God’s program with Israqel through the preaching of “the gospel of circumcision” committed unto Peter. The Galatian saints that Paul wrote to were not “the Israel of God” and neither are we. “The Israel of God” came out of apostate Israel just as the prophets taught it would and it only exists in connection with God’s program with Israel. Paul also deals with the doctrine of  “the Israel of God” in Romans 9-11, especially in the latter part of chapter 10 and the first part of chapter 11. The remnant of Israel according to the election of grace is “the Israel of God.”