One of the earliest names used to describe the first Christian community was the Way. Perhaps this is because Jesus referred to himself as “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6, ESV), and everyone who follows him thus walks in this way. It may also be because Jesus and the early Christian community were not confined to a particular place; they did not build houses to live in or establish centers, but were constantly on the move. Jesus walked along the roads, encountering people and conversing with them, revealing himself through both words and deeds. The apostle Peter says of Jesus in his sermon in the house of Cornelius: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him” (Acts 10:38, ESV).

Jesus continued to travel, teaching and doing good even after the resurrection. Notably, one of the places he went immediately after rising was to meet two of his disciples on the road, or the way, to Emmaus. This was his first appearance after the resurrection, and it occurred before his appearance to the other disciples. This article focuses on the encounter between the risen Christ and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Its aim is to highlight the centrality of Christ in interpreting the Scriptures, and to affirm that he is the complete fulfilment in whom all divine promises and covenants are fully realized.

“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And he said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.’ And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:13–27, ESV)

Luke alone records this incident in detail compared to the other Synoptic Gospels. Mark briefly mentions Jesus appearing to two disciples (Mark 16:12), but Luke presents it with rich detail, painting a vivid and dramatic scene that reveals the tension of human emotions and the intellectual confusion of the two disciples, alongside Jesus’ sudden appearance to journey with them. Biblical scholars agree that the two disciples belonged to the group of the seventy who followed Jesus. Luke recounts that they had left the community of disciples in Jerusalem and were heading to the village of Emmaus. He mentions the name of only one of them, “Cleopas,” while the identity of the other remains debated. N. T. Wright suggests that the other may have been Cleopas’s wife.[1] Some ancient writings propose that it was Simon Peter. Certain Church Fathers suggested he was a relative of Joseph, making him a cousin of Jesus.[2] Father Louis Hazzoun offers a thought-provoking view: that Luke and divine inspiration left the other disciple unnamed “so that each one of us might be that other disciple.”[3] Whatever the identity, the encounter remains an opportunity to learn from Christ.

Jesus appears and walks with them, addressing them in a pastoral manner. Luke emphasizes that the two disciples set out to Emmaus on the very day of the resurrection, “that very day”, and their own testimony confirms it: “it is now the third day since these things happened” (Luke 24:13, 21). It seems they did not believe the testimony of the women who had seen the angel and found the tomb empty, nor even the testimony of Peter and John. Doubt had taken hold of them. They were waiting for tangible, material confirmation of the resurrection. Feelings of despair and disappointment had captured their hearts and minds, for they had hoped that Jesus “was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).

Were their hopes focused on delivering Israel from the Romans? From corrupt religious leadership? Or from sin? First-century Jewish expectation combined political and spiritual redemption, envisioning the Messiah as king on the throne of David. This mindset continues in Judaism and in some Christian movements today, particularly in Christian Zionism, where the focus is on ethnic salvation and political kingship. The Emmaus disciples’ understanding of salvation was confined by their interpretation of Scripture and their ethnically centered beliefs about Israel, leading them into fear and despair. The Old Testament scholar Gerhard von Rad explains: they had “a certain set of expectations. Great religious and political hopes motivated them. And now they were not fulfilled after all. Jesus was not the Savior after all, as they had imagined him.”[4] They believed that the Messiah had died, and with him their hopes for redemption were buried. Yet this encounter, and what Christ teaches through it, offers one of the most significant lessons on shepherding people in distress and on biblical interpretations.

Jesus listened, like a faithful shepherd, to the outpouring of his disciples, though they did not recognize him, for their eyes were kept from seeing him. Some suggest their blindness was spiritual; others propose it was due to the brightness of the sun or the transformed appearance of Christ’s glorified body.[5] When they finished speaking, Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith and slowness of understanding. Despite hearing the testimony of the women, Peter, and John, they remained unbelieving. His response provides one of the most important teachings for reading the Old Testament.

Luke presents two key passages: first, Jesus explains from the prophets his suffering, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:25–26). Second, he interprets the entire Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. the Old Testament, from Moses through the Prophets as the complete and comprehensive fulfilment of the promises, covenants, and prophecies in himself (Luke 24:27). N. T. Wright explains that Luke does not mean Jesus gathered a few isolated texts or selected verses; rather,

When Luke says that Jesus interpreted to them all the things about himself, throughout the Bible, he doesn’t mean that Jesus collected a few, or even a few dozen, isolated texts, verses chosen at random. He means that the whole story , from Genesis to Chronicles (the last book of the Hebrew Bible; the prophets came earlier), pointed forwards to a fulfilment which could only be found when God’s anointed took Israel’s suffering, and hence the world’s suffering, on to himself, died under its weight, and rose again as the beginning of God’s new creation, God’s new people. This is what had to happen; and now it just had.[6]

This view aligns with the teachings of the Church Fathers and theologians throughout history. For example, in his interpretation of this encounter, Augustine explains that “the whole Old Testament is Christological, and every theme within it leads us to the risen Christ.”[7] Christ fulfilled God’s plan of salvation and brought the Old Testament to completion. Indeed, the New Testament writers present a rich picture of Christ as the true Israel: the vine (cf. Isaiah 5; John 15), the Son (Exodus 4:22; Matthew 3:17), and the chosen seed (Genesis 22:8; Galatians 3:16).

When we read New Testament theology holistically, without selective use of texts, we find that all of it presents Christ as the Savior and the fulfiller of the entire Old Testament. Richard Hays explains that “the whole story of Israel builds to its narrative climax in Jesus.”[8] Jesus succeeded where Israel failed; he is the true Israelite (John 1:47). In his life and ministry, he recapitulated God’s dealings with Israel, especially in the Exodus (cf. Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15), the crossing of the sea in his baptism (cf. Exodus 14; Luke 3:21–22; see also 1 Corinthians 10:1–5), and the temptation in wilderness (cf. Exodus 14–17; Luke 4:1–13). Like Moses, he taught the law of the kingdom from a mountain (cf. Exodus 20–23; Matthew 5–7). Yet where Israel failed, Christ remained obedient to the end (Philippians 2:8).

Thus, the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ, who alone can truly “interpret the Scriptures.”[9] It cannot be rightly read apart from him. “Only when we see the Old Testament as reaching its natural climax in Jesus will we have understood it. Equally, we will only understand Jesus himself when we see him as the one to whom scripture points, not in isolated prooftexts but in the entire flow of the story.”[10] The entire story of the Hebrew people and Old Testament Israel leads to and is fulfilled in Christ. On the cross of Golgotha, he declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

The apostle Paul, a Pharisee and scholar of the Law who encountered Christ after years of persecuting the Church, reinterpreted the Scriptures and God’s promises to the Hebrew people through the person of the risen Christ. He teaches the Corinthians: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you… was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:19–20). This is decisive teaching: in Christ is the definitive “Yes”, the fulfilment of God’s promises and the revelation of his faithfulness. Mary also proclaimed this when the angel announced to her: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). She did not wait to hear Jesus say “It is finished,” on the cross, but by faith recognized that the one conceived by the Holy Spirit was God’s visitation and redemption of his people. In her song, this young woman of great faith summarized an entire history of salvation and proclaimed God’s faithfulness fulfilled in Christ.

In light of the resurrection and the Emmaus encounter, we can understand several key theological concepts:

First, Christ is the promised Son and the chosen seed. Paul interprets God’s promises to Abraham as fulfilled in Christ alone: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring… who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). The term is singular, pointing to Christ, not to a people or ethnic group. Therefore, all who believe in him are Abraham’s offspring and heirs: “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Second, Christ is the true Israel, and all who are in him share in that identity. Paul affirms: “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation… and upon the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:15–16). All believers in Christ constitute the Israel of God. New Testament scholar Richard Longenecker explains that the term “the Israel of God” must be understood within the context of the entire Epistle to the Galatians and Paul’s theology, which does not distinguish between Jewish believers in Christ and Gentile believers, but rather confronts the Judaizing mindset in the Galatian church—so that all who believe in Christ are the Israel of God.[11] Paul further teaches that believers are part of the new creation, God’s chosen people in Christ. He writes to the Romans: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33), in the context of those “who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Likewise, he writes to the Colossians: “Here there is not Greek and Jew… but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11).

The new creation in Christ is one people, without distinction based on ethnicity, status, or social standing, but grounded in faith alone. Peter declares: “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9), echoing God’s words to Israel in Exodus 19:5–6. In Christ, those who were not a people have become God’s people (cf. Romans 9:24–26), and “the mystery” is that “the Gentiles are fellow heirs” (Ephesians 3:6, ESV).

Some may ask about Romans 9–11. While these chapters are often cited to argue for a distinct role for ethnic Israel, they must be interpreted carefully, within their literary and theological context and in light of Paul’s entire teaching. The New Testament consistently affirms that Christ has fulfilled Israel’s salvation and is the true heir of the promises.

If one claims that God has two peoples: ethnic Israel and a “spiritual” Israel, this conflicts with Paul’s image of one olive tree (Romans 11:16–36) and with Jesus’ teaching that there will be “one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16). Paul likewise affirms: “one body… one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4–6). God’s faithfulness demonstrated in Christ: “the righteousness of God has been manifested… through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21–22). The new covenant promised in the prophets is realized in him (cf. Romans 11:26–27; Hebrews 8:13). There is no separate future salvific plan apart from Christ.

Moreover, in Romans, Paul asks: “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?” (Romans 3:3). The answer within the same chapter is clear: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21–22). God’s faithfulness to both ethnic Israel and the Gentiles has been revealed, proclaimed, and fulfilled in Christ.

A careful reading of Romans 11 shows that Paul draws on the Old Testament to emphasize that salvation has come to Israel and has reached its fulfilment. Therefore, one cannot isolate Romans 11:25–26 without what follows, where Paul writes: “as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’; ‘and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins’” (Romans 11:26b–27). Paul’s references here are to Isaiah 59:20 and Jeremiah 31:31–34, which have been fully realized in Christ, so much so that Jesus himself made this clear at the Last Supper. By his blood, he inaugurated the new covenant, and thus the old covenant has been fulfilled. Hebrews explains: “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). This raises important questions: Is there a future continuation of these prophecies? Will there be another new covenant with ethnic Israel? Did Paul’s convictions change? Or should we reinterpret these passages in light of Paul’s theology as a whole?

Unfortunately, at times, a rigid adherence to Paul’s teaching in Romans 9–11 appears to function as an attempt to bypass Christ and the teaching of the apostles (see, for example, Acts 2:14–39; 3:12–26; 15:7–18). One cannot isolate a single teaching and build an entire doctrine upon one excerpt of Scripture. Nor can a complete theological system be constructed on the basis of a single passage. If such a passage does not align with the broader theological and biblical witness, then the interpretive approach itself must be reconsidered.

Third, Christ inherits the earth—indeed, the whole earth. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was most likely addressed to a community attempting to impose Jewish teachings upon the church, states unequivocally that Christ is “the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:2). He further emphasizes: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Hebrews 2:8). Have our eyes truly been blinded from seeing that all things are subject to him and under his authority? Did not Jesus himself say, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18)? As Yohanna Katanacho emphasizes, “any theological claim that replaces Jesus’ ownership of the land with Israel’s ownership runs into the difficulty of defining Israel’s identity and contradicts the New Testament’s claim that Jesus has received the Abrahamic inheritance.”[12] God is the owner of the earth (cf. Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 25:23; Psalm 24:1). As the true seed of Abraham, Christ is the sole and rightful heir of the earth: “If Jesus is the true seed of Abraham, then there is only one conclusion regarding the land: Jesus has inherited the earth!”[13] Moreover, he is the meek Son who says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle [meek] and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29), and who promises that “the meek shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Christ’s promise extends to the whole earth: all the earth belongs to God and is his possession, and all who believe in Christ inherit the whole earth with him.

In conclusion, Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the God of Abraham, and the King of all nations. In him all promises and prophecies are fulfilled. If Christ has completed the story of salvation, why do some insist on adding appendices? The ultimate authority for interpreting Scripture is the incarnate Word, the giver of the written Word. Any interpretation that does not align with him does not reflect authentic Christian understanding. All the disciples, apostles, and New Testament writers agree: Christ is the fulfilment of all prophecy and the hermeneutical key to all Scripture. No prophecy stands outside his person.

The claim that the Jewish people or the modern nation-state of Israel retains a distinct salvific status must be examined critically, for salvation has been accomplished in Christ. Hardness of heart arises from clinging to ethnic-national interpretations of Scripture, as with the Emmaus disciples. But the risen Christ alone is the interpretive key. Any reading that bypasses, ignores, or excludes him is incomplete.