Francis Martin examines election, covenant, and Torah as the interlocking foundations of Israel’s relationship with God and of the Christian reading of salvation history. Responding to supersessionism, he argues that God’s covenant with the Jewish people remains unrevoked, while the Old Testament retains its permanent value and is illuminated rather than erased by the New. Election is God’s free and loving choice of Israel; covenant binds divine initiative to a response of fidelity; and Torah develops from instruction and priestly regulation into the comprehensive revelation of God’s will.

Drawing on Martin Buber, biblical traditions, and Thomas Aquinas, Martin presents Israel’s history, worship, and law as real historical participation in a plan whose fulfillment is Christ. Aquinas’s account of Scripture’s literal and spiritual senses explains how Old Testament events both retain their own meaning and anticipate the Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection. The New Covenant therefore preserves and elevates the Old rather than replacing it, moving from shadow to icon and sacramental participation. The Church is spiritually linked to the Jewish people, not separated from them: Judaism remains intrinsic to Christian identity, and Jews and Christians are called to patient dialogue and shared discernment of God’s action in history.