The Errors of Replacement Theology

[Quasar93]

The Errors of Replacement Theology

Perhaps you have heard of the term Replacement Theology. However, if you look it up in a dictionary of Church history, you will not find it listed as a systematic study. Rather, it is a doctrinal teaching that originated in the early Church. It became the fertile soil from which Christian anti-Semitism grew and has infected the Church for nearly 1,900 years.
What Is Replacement Theology?Replacement Theology was introduced to the Church shortly after Gentile leadership took over from Jewish leadership. What are its premises?

1. Israel (the Jewish people and the land) has been replaced by the Christian Church in the purposes of God, or, more precisely, the Church is the historic continuation of Israel to the exclusion of the former.

2. The Jewish people are now no longer a "chosen people." In fact, they are no different from any other group, such as the English, Spanish, or Africans.

3. Apart from repentance, the new birth, and incorporation into the Church, the Jewish people have no future, no hope, and no calling in the plan of God. The same is true for every other nation and group.

4.. Since Pentecost of Acts 2, the term "Israel," as found in the Bible, now refers to the Church.

5. The promises, covenants and blessings ascribed to Israel in the Bible have been taken away from the Jews and given to the Church, which has superseded them. However, the Jews are subject to the curses found in the Bible, as a result of their rejection of Christ How Do Replacement Theologians Argue Their Case? They Say:  


How Do Replacement Theologians Argue Their Case? They Say:


1. To be a son of Abraham is to have faith in Jesus Christ. For them, Galatians 3:29 shows that sonship to Abraham is seen only in spiritual, not national terms: "And if you be Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Rebuttal: While this is a wonderful inclusionary promise for Gentiles, this verse does not exclude the Jewish people from their original covenant, promise and blessing as the natural seed of Abraham. This verse simply joins us Gentile Christians to what God had already started with Israel.


2. The promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham was only a "starter." The real Promised Land is the whole world. They use Romans 4:13 to claim it will be the Church that inherits the world, not Israel. "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Rebuttal: Where does this verse exclude Abraham and His natural progeny, the Jews? It simply says that through the law, they would not inherit the world, but this would be acquired through faith. This is also true of the Church.


3. The nation of Israel was only the seed of the future Church, which would arise and incorporate people of all nations (Mal. 1:11): "For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the nations, and in every place, incense shall be offered to My Name, and a pure offering for My Name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of Hosts."

Rebuttal: This is great, and shows that the Jewish people and Israel fulfilled one of their callings to be "a light to the nations," so that God's Word has gone around the world. It does not suggest God's dealing with Israel was negated because His Name spread around the world.


4. Jesus taught that the Jews would lose their spiritual privileges, and be replaced by another people (Matt. 21:43): "Therefore I am saying to you, 'The kingdom of God will be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it.'"

Rebuttal: In this passage, Jesus was talking about the priests and Pharisees, who failed as leaders of the people. This passage is not talking about the Jewish people or nation of Israel. See Teaching Letter #770008, "Did God Break His Covenant With the Jews?"


5. A true Jew is anyone born of the Spirit, whether he is racially Gentile or Jewish (Rom. 2:28-29): "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God."

Rebuttal: This argument does not support the notion that the Church replaced Israel. Rather, it simply reinforces what had been said throughout the Hebrew Scriptures [the Old Testament], and it certainly qualifies the spiritual qualifications for Jews or anyone who professes to be a follower of the God of Israel.


6. Paul shows that the Church is really the same "olive tree" as was Israel, and the Church is now the tree. Therefore, to distinguish between Israel and the Church is, strictly speaking, false. Indeed, people of Jewish origin need to be grafted back into the Church (Rom 11:17-23).

Rebuttal: This claim is the most outrageous because this passage clearly shows that we Gentiles are the "wild olive branches," who get our life from being grafted into the olive tree. The tree represents the covenants, promises and hopes of Israel (Eph. 2:12), rooted in the Messiah and fed by the sap, which represents the Holy Spirit, giving life to the Jews (the "natural branches") and Gentile alike. We Gentiles are told to remember that the olive tree holds us up and NOT to be arrogant or boast against the "natural branches" because they can be grafted in again. The olive tree is NOT the Church. We are simply grafted into God's plan that preceded us for over 2,000 years.


7. All the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament, unless they were historically fulfilled before the coming of Jesus Christ, are now the property of the Christian Church. These promises should not be interpreted literally or carnally, but spiritually and symbolically, so that references to Israel, Jerusalem, Zion and the Temple, when they are prophetic, really refer to the Church (II Cor. 1:20). "For all the promises of God in Him (Jesus) are Yea, and in Him, Amen, unto the glory of God by us." Therefore, they teach that the New Testament needs to be taught figuratively, not literally.

Rebuttal: Later, in this Teaching Letter, we will look at the fact that the New Testament references to Israel clearly pertain to Israel, not the Church. Therefore, no promise to Israel and the Jewish people in the Bible is figurative, nor can they be relegated to the Church alone. The promises and covenants are literal, many of them are everlasting, and we Christians can participate in them as part of our rebirth, not in that we took them over to the exclusion of Israel. The New Testament speaks of the Church's relationship to Israel and her covenants as being "grafted in" (Rom. 11:17), "brought near" (Eph. 2:13), "Abraham's offspring (by faith)" (Rom. 4:16), and "partakers" (Rom. 15:27), NOT as usurpers of the covenant and a replacer of physical Israel. We Gentile Christians joined into what God had been doing in Israel, and God did not break His covenant promises with Israel (Rom. 11:29).

 

By: Clarence H, Wagner, Jr.


From:  http://www.therefinersfire.org/replacement_theology.htm


Quasar93

[Willie T]

Interestingly, I was just reading about this:

A distinctive feature of dispensationalism is that the millennial kingdom is fundamentally Jewish in character, even to the point of the rebuilding of the temple, setting up David's tabernacle, re-instituting the Jewish sacrificial system, and exalting the Jews over elect Gentiles.  "This is the point: once Israel is restored to the place of blessing and the tabernacle of David is rebuilt, then will follow the third phase in the plan of God.  That period will be the time of the millennium, when the nations will indeed by converted and ruled over by Christ."35  We should not regard this as a deviant opinion of a pair of unrepresentative dispensational authors.  On the contrary, it is a representative statement of the dispensational system.  Dispensationalism surprisingly teaches such things as those found in the following citations:

"God has two distinct purposes — one for Israel and one for the Church."36

"Israel, regathered and turned to the Lord in salvation, will be exalted, blessed, and favored through this period."37

"The Gentiles will be Israel's servants during that age.  The nations which

usurped authority over Israel in past ages find that downtrodden people exalted and themselves in subjection in their kingdom.”  And these are not unsaved Gentiles: "The Gentiles that are in the millennium will have experienced conversion prior to admission."38

"The redeemed living nation of Israel, regenerated and re-gathered to the land will be head over all the nations of the earth.  So he exalts them above the Gentile nations.  On the lowest level there are the saved, living, Gentile nations.” 39

"God will keep his original promises to the fathers and will one day convert and place Israel as the head of the nations."40

"Israel will be a glorious nation, protected from her enemies, exalted above the Gentiles…”  "In contrast to the present church age in which Jew and Gentile are on an equal plane of privilege, the millennium is clearly a period of time in which Israel is in prominence and blessing.  Israel as a nation will be exalted."41

35.  H. Wayne House and Thomas D. Ice, Dominion Theology: Blessing or Curse?  (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1988), p. 169.

36.  Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today (Chicago: Moody Press, 1965), p. 95.

37.  Charles C. Ryrie, The Basis of the Premillennial Faith (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros., 1953), p. 149.

38.  J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Case Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), p. 508.

39.  Herman Hoyt, “Dispensational Premillennialism,"The Meaning of the Millenniurn: Four Views, Robert G. Clouse, ed. (Downer's Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1977), p. 81.

40.  House and Ice, Dominion Theology, p. 175.

41.  John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), pp. 136, 302-303.

[Willie T]

Since David said this in the Psalms, "I am an old man, Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread." (English Standard Version), I tend to think Matt. 25 was talking about ALL men.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Willie T

[Willie T]

25 minutes ago, Yowm said:

It specifically says, 'the nations' (gentiles). And who would be 'these my brethren'?..but the Jews..

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
(Mat 25:32)
 

 

 

Believe it, or not, I doubt very seriously if many of the Gentiles ever even happened across too many Jews, let alone Jews who were starving or naked.  The Jews they might have seen would have been well-fed, well-dressed merchants who could afford to travel to their far lands.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Willie T

[Willie T]

You do have to wonder why Satan would be on a roll against people who already deny Jesus?  Especially since we have invented a one-world leader whose very name we have decided is "ANTIchrist?"  Wonder why it was not "AntiGod?"

 

In case you can't tell, I believe the Bible when it said antichrist were already among us thousands of years ago, and I think the nasty tribulation occurred in 70 AD when Christ used the Roman Army to destroy the Jewish system of false sacrifice worship.

Sorry, it is just this little habit I picked-up of reading the Bible realistically instead of Religiously.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Willie T

[Quasar93]

What is replacement theology (supersessionism) and the Israel of God ?

Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism), and the God of Israel, essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. All the different views of the relationship between the church and Israel can be divided into two camps: either the church is a continuation of Israel (replacement/covenant theology), or the church is completely different and distinct from Israel (dispensationalism/premillennialism)
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Replacement theology teaches that the church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church, not in Israel. So, the prophecies in Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are “spiritualized” or “allegorized” into promises of God's blessing for the church. Major problems exist with this view, such as the continuing existence of the Jewish people throughout the centuries and especially with the revival of the modern state of Israel. If Israel has been condemned by God, and there is no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain the supernatural survival of the Jewish people over the past 2000 years despite the many attempts to destroy them? How do we explain why and how Israel reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not existing for 1900 years?

The view that Israel and the church are different is clearly taught in the New Testament. Biblically speaking, the church is completely different and distinct from Israel, and the two are never to be confused or used interchangeably. We are taught from Scripture that the church is an entirely new creation that came into being on the day of Pentecost and will continue until it is taken to heaven at the rapture (Jn.14:2-4, 28; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 and 2 Thes.2:1-8). The church has no relationship to the curses and blessings for Israel. The covenants, promises, and warnings are valid only for Israel. Israel has been temporarily set aside in God's program during these past 2000 years of dispersion.

With reference to the Israel of God, referred to by Paul, in Gal.6:16; which he meant, all those Israelites who had believed in Christ, out of the nation as a whole, who had rejected Him as their Messiah. Who then had become members of the one body of Christ, His Church, 1 Cor.12:12-13. As is the very same situation today, when a Jewish person who is an Israeli, receives Christ as Lord, he becomes a member of the one body of Christ, His Church. Which can be better understood when pointing out that all believers are then grafted into the root, in Rom.11:17, or the vine, in Jn.15:5 where Jesus states refers to Him, and we are the branches. Nowhere is there found any support for believers to be grafted into Israel. The best way to observe all people of God, is to see us as His elect. Whether believers who were or are now, Israelis, Jews or Gentiles out of every nation on the earth.

After the rapture, God will restore Israel as the primary focus of His plan. The first event at this time is the tribulation (Revelation chapters 6-19). The world will be judged for rejecting Christ, while Israel is prepared through the trials of the great tribulation for the second coming of the Messiah. Then, when Christ does return to the earth, in His second coming, at the end of the tribulation, Israel will be ready to receive Him, in Zech.12:10. The remnant of Israel which survives the tribulation will be saved, and the Lord will establish His kingdom on this earth with Jerusalem as its capital. With Christ reigning as King, Israel will be the leading nation, and representatives from all nations will come to Jerusalem to honor and worship the King—Jesus Christ. The church will return with Christ, in His armies from heaven (Rev.19:14) and will reign with Him for a literal thousand years (Rev.20:4, 6).

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament support a premillennial/dispensational understanding of God's plan for Israel. Even so, the strongest support for premillennialism is found in the clear teaching of Revelation 20:1-7, where it says six times that Christ's kingdom will last 1000 years. After the tribulation the Lord will return and establish His kingdom with the nation of Israel, Christ will reign over the whole earth, and Israel will be the leader of the nations. The church will reign with Him for a literal thousand years. The church has not replaced Israel in God's plan. While God may be focusing His attention primarily on the church in this dispensation of grace, God has not forgotten Israel and will restore Israel to His intended role as the nation He has chosen, in Zech.12:10, fulfilling Romans 11:25-26.


Quasar93