Clifford Denton surveys the many prominent leaders of the early Church who contributed to the development of anti-Jewish attitudes and beliefs amongst Christians.

Over the last few instalments of this study we have been considering carefully the gradual separation of the Christian Church from its Hebraic foundations, and its detachment from Israel and the Jewish people. We have also noted the parallel emergence of anti-Semitism.

In this section we move on to reflect on the position of some of the more prominent 'Fathers' of the Christian Church and to demonstrate how Replacement Theology became entrenched in the Gentile branch of the Church in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Fathers of the Church

By the 'Church Fathers', we generally mean the prominent Christian leaders who framed the early theology of the Church and whose influence has continued to this day. Of course, the true 'father of the Church' in human terms is Abraham (Rom 4:16). As Dr Wilson writes in the preface of Our Father Abraham:

...Our Father Abraham, is a biblical expression (see Luke 1:73; John 8:53; Acts 7:2; etc.) that epitomizes the deep spiritual link every Christian has with the Jewish people...gentile Christians are grafted by faith into Israel (Romans 11:17-24), and through this faith commitment come to know Israel's father as their father too. Elsewhere Paul says that "those who believe are children of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7); indeed, through faith, "Abraham is the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16). (pxvi)

The Apostle Paul, in another application of the idea of fatherhood, talks of being a father to those in his care. He referred to Timothy as "my own son in the faith" (1 Tim 1:2) and in writing to the Corinthians, said:

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. (1 Cor 4:15)

So, in the foundational sense Abraham is seen as the father of the faithful, and in a general sense Paul and the apostles saw themselves in a fatherly role to those who became believers.

Biblical Fatherhood

Fatherhood is a biblical principle. After the time of Paul and the apostles there arose a number of new leaders from the Gentile world, from the second century on, who approached the Bible with a Greek philosophical viewpoint and who wrote about and debated the scriptures in this context. Along with a considerable amount of truth, these men also introduced errors which were passed on to later generations, and so they were not fathers in the purer sense of the word as applied to Abraham and Paul.

As the Church developed in the Gentile world, later leaders drew much reference from these men and so they came to be called the 'Early Church Fathers'. Even today there is much study of and respect for what was written by these philosophers. However, if we study their contribution to the thinking of the Church we detect a further step in the separation of the Church from its Hebraic foundations.

Alongside considerable truth, the teaching of the so-called 'Early Church Fathers' also introduced errors and assumptions into the Church which have been passed down the generations.

Whereas Paul would be a father to his own converts and point them back to the faith of Abraham fulfilled in Jesus, looking back on the so-called 'Church Fathers' is to look back on teaching that already has inbuilt assumptions that separate us from the teaching of Paul and the early apostles.

Examples

We can illustrate this point by drawing on examples from the writings of these 'Early Church Fathers'. There is a useful section in Dr Richard Booker's book, No Longer Strangers (Sound of the Trumpet, 2002), from which we quote (pp105-109):

Some of the most influential of the Gentile leaders of the early church had little regard for or understanding of Jews. They were Greek philosophers who attempted to merge Greek philosophy with the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Due to the Greek influence in their lives and the lack of a Hebraic perspective of the Bible, many of the new Christian leaders were anti-Semitic. They interpreted the Bible through the eyes of Plato more than through the eyes of Moses and Jesus...

These "Christian Fathers" expressed their hatred of the Jews through their speeches and writings, which laid the foundation for the anti-Semitic policies at the very beginning of the Gentile-led, Christian church...

Booker describes some early Church leaders as 'Greek philosophers' who sought to merge Greek thinking with the scriptures.

Ignatius

Booker continues by referring to Ignatius, second-century bishop of Antioch:

[Ignatius] wrote a letter called the Epistle to the Philippians. He said that anyone who celebrated Passover with the Jews, or received emblems of the Jewish feast, was a partaker with those who killed the Lord and His apostles. This is just the opposite of Paul's instructions to Gentile believers in Corinth to "keep the feast" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8)... (p109)

From the introduction to Ignatius's Epistle to the Philippians we read the following:

Being mindful of your love and of your zeal in Christ, which ye have manifested towards us, we thought it fitting to write to you, who display such a godly and spiritual love to the brethren, to put you in remembrance of your Christian course...

This has the same ring to it as the introductions to some of Paul's letters, giving a sense that this writer, who lived much closer to the time of Paul than we do, may have had a position of authority close to that of Paul. After the introduction he goes on to discuss the revelation of Christ and the works of Satan in an acceptable manner. Yet in his conclusion he writes:

Do not lightly esteem the festivals. Despise not the period of forty days, for it comprises an imitation of the conduct of the Lord. After the week of the passion, do not neglect to fast on the fourth and sixth days, distributing at the same time of thine abundance to the poor. If any one fasts on the Lord's Day or on the Sabbath, except on the paschal Sabbath, he is a murderer of Christ...If any one celebrates the Passover along with the Jews, or receives he emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles. [emphasis added]

This shows that Ignatius wrote against the Jews and the biblical feasts and referred to new practices that were emerging in the Church even in these early days.

Barnabus

Barnabus is the assumed name of the writer of The Epistle of Barnabus. He must not be mistaken for the Barnabus spoken of in Scripture, who was a friend of Paul the apostle. Dr Booker writes:

An influential letter written in the same time period was the Epistle of Barnabus. The writer said that the Jews no longer had a covenant with God and that it was a sin to say they did. This is totally contradictory to the Bible, which says God's covenant with Abraham is everlasting (Genesis 17:7-8). [emphasis added]

The letter is written in several chapters, from which we will quote briefly. The reference in Chapter 3 (entitled 'The Fasts of the Jews are not true fasts, nor acceptable to God') is to Isaiah 58:

He says then to them concerning these things, "Why do ye fast to Me as on this day, saith the Lord, that your voice shall not be heard with a cry? I have not chosen this fast saith the Lord...To us He saith, "Behold, this is the fast that I have chosen, saith the Lord, not that a man should humble his soul, but that he should loose every band of iniquity...For He revealed these things beforehand, that we should not rush forward as rash acceptors of their laws.

From Chapter 11 – 'The False and True Sabbath':

...He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure." Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to Me, but that is which I have made, namely this, when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead. And when He manifested Himself, He ascended into the heavens.

Justin Martyr

From his examples, Dr Booker continues:

Justin Martyr, in the second century, claimed God's covenant with the Jews was no longer valid and that the Church had replaced the Jews in God's redemptive plan. This is contrary to Romans 11.

Last week we quoted extensively from The Dialogue with Trypho. We quote again briefly here:

...we do not trust through Moses or through the law; for then we would do the same as yourselves...For the law promulgated on Horeb is now old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is for all universally. Now, law placed against law has abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous one; and an eternal and final law – namely, Christ – has been given to us, and the covenant is trustworthy, after which there shall be no law, no commandments, no ordinance...

For the circumcision according to the flesh, which is from Abraham, was given for a sign; that you may be separated from other nations, and from us; and that you alone may suffer that which you now justly suffer; and that your land may be desolate...For none of you, I suppose, will venture to say that God neither did nor does foresee the events, which are future, nor foreordained his deserts for each one. Accordingly, these things have happened to you in fairness and justice, for you have slain the Just One, and His prophets before Him; and now you reject those who hope in Him, and in Him who sent Him – God the Almighty and Maker of all things – cursing in your synagogues those who believe in Christ...

For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that the gifts formerly among your nation have been transferred to us. [emphasis added]

Irenaeus

Richard Booker continues:

Irenaeus was the bishop of Lyon in the second century He wrote that the Jews were disinherited from the grace of God. But the apostle Paul wrote that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). [emphasis added]

In Against Heresies, Irenaeus himself writes:

He is therefore one and the same God, who called Abraham and gave him the promise. But He is the Creator, who does also through Christ prepare lights in the world, namely those who believe from among the Gentiles...Therefore have the Jews departed from God, in not receiving His Word, but imagining that they could know the Father by Himself, without the Word, that is, without the Son; they being ignorant of that God who spake in human shape to Abraham, and again to Moses, saying, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people in Egypt, and have come down to deliver them.

John Chrysostom

Of fourth-century Antioch bishop John Chrysostom, Booker writes:

The Christian leader who expressed his hate for the Jews more than any other was John Chrysostom...He said there could never be forgiveness for the Jews and that God had always hated them. He taught it was the "Christian duty" to hate the Jew. He said the Jews were the assassins of Christ and worshippers of the devil.

In one of his murderous sermons, Chrysostom declared, "The synagogue is worse than a brothel...It is the den of scoundrels...the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults...a place of meting for the assassins of Christ...a house worse than a drinking shop...a den of thieves; a house of ill fame, a dwelling of iniquity, the refuge of devils, a gulf and abyss of perdition...As for me, I hate the synagogue...I hate the Jews for the same reason." (p107, taken from Malcolm Hay, The Roots of Christian Anti-Semitism, Liberty Press, 1981, pps27-28) [emphases added]

Other Prominent Writers

Continuing, Dr Booker highlights a number of other 'Church Fathers' and their writings.¹ We read from No Longer Strangers:

Clement of Alexandria in the second century emphasized Greek philosophy rather than the Hebrew Scriptures as the means God gave the Gentiles to lead them to Jesus...

Origen, in the second and third centuries accused the Jews of plotting to kill Christians...

Hyppolytus was a bishop in Rome in the second and third centuries. He said that the Jews were condemned to perpetual slavery because they killed the Son of God...

Tertullian was another important Christian teacher and writer in the second and third centuries. He blamed the entire Jewish race for the death of Jesus. This is interesting, since most of the Jews were scattered among the Gentiles when Jesus was crucified. They had not even heard of Jesus. Furthermore, as we earlier learned, many thousands of Jews acknowledged Jesus as Messiah...

Eusebius lived in the third and fourth centuries. He wrote the history of the church for the first three centuries. He taught that the promises of God in the Hebrew Scriptures were for the Christians and the curses were for the Jews. He declared that the Church was the "true Israel of God" that had replaced literal Israel in God's covenants...

Jerome lived in the fourth and fifth centuries. His great contribution was to translate the Scriptures into Latin. He claimed that the Jews were incapable of understanding the Bible and that they should be severely punished unless they confess the "true faith." It is hard to imagine such statements coming from Christian leaders. May God forgive us for such hatred. [emphases added]

Summary

Booker usefully summarises the basic argument being used by these influential writers:

The basic concept behind all these statements was that the Jews as an entire race of people killed Christ. Therefore, they lost their place in God's covenant and have since been replaced by the Church. The Church should persecute the Jews show the superiority of Christianity over Judaism. However, Christendom should not totally destroy the Jews because some need to be left as a witness that they are suffering because they rejected Christ. This is a long way from Jesus' statement on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34)

For our series, the quotes used in this article illustrate two things.

• The continued break of the Christian Church from its Hebraic foundations even as early as the second century.
• How the respected Gentile 'Fathers of the Christian Church' built a new foundation of Christian theology on which the Church was to build in succeeding generations even until the present day.
  • This theology was tainted with Greek philosophical influence and contributed to both replacement theology and anti-Semitism.
  • It also framed the documenting of Christian history, as the example of early Church historian Eusebius shows.

For Reflection and Comment

What can we do to 'de-Greece the Church' of any remaining wrong theological bias?

Next time: Anti-Semitism in the Middle Ages.

References

1 For reference, many of these quotations can be followed up in the vast series of books, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (T&T Clark/Eerdmans 1993).

Clifford Denton discusses the writings of Justin Martyr and Origen, two early Christian theologians who contributed to the development of 'Replacement Theology'.

In the previous study we drew attention to the way Scripture can be misread to support Replacement Theology. In the early centuries after the coming of Jesus the Messiah, so ingrained had this become in the thinking of prominent church theologians that they cemented the idea into the developing church theologies. We will consider this next.

Greek Philosophy and the Early Church

In last week's study on the first part of this topic, it was mentioned briefly that Greek philosophy has impacted Christian theology. Greek philosophy is a major contributor to humanism, the exalting of the human intellect and its patterns of logic. This results in a diversion from a walk with God through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Humanism is self-contained and leads to the sort of wisdom that James uncompromisingly described as demonic (James 3:13-18).

Zechariah's insight that God will set the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece (Zech 9:13) is also relevant to consider. Greek philosophy asks for a logical answer to every question, while Hebraic thinking causes us to reach in faith to God to lead us through our journey on this earth - which raises issues that cannot be fully understood through human logic.

However, the 'early Church Fathers' liked the idea that God had prepared the Gentile world for the Gospel through the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, and so Christian theology became tainted by these Greek philosophies, contributing to the parting of the ways between Christians and Jews, and to Replacement Theology.

Dialogue with Trypho

Because of the importance of finding the root cause of Replacement Theology, we will quote widely from our first source, Justin Martyr. In Our Father Abraham (p83), Marvin Wilson writes:

Although a few Jewish Christians apparently attended synagogue in Jerome's day (ca. A.D. 400), the parting of the way seems to have been largely finalized by around the middle of the second century. By the time of Justin Martyr (ca. A.D. 160) a new attitude prevailed in the Church, evidenced by its appropriating the title "Israel" for itself.

Until this time the Church had defined itself more in terms of continuity with the Jewish people; that is, it was an extension of Israel. There was a growing awareness, however, that the Synagogue was firm in its stance that Jesus was not the Messiah of Israel, and that on this point the Synagogue was not going to change its mind. The realization of this impasse gradually drew the Church to define itself in terms of discontinuity with – indeed, as the replacement of – Israel. [emphases added]

Wilson writes that because of the impasse between Christians and Jews over the Messiahship of Jesus, the Church began to define itself in terms of discontinuity with Israel – even as its replacement.

On p93 of Our Father Abraham we read:

Justin Martyr was a converted gentile philosopher who died a martyr in Rome. Justin's second-century Dialogue with Trypho, A Jew represents "the prototypical contrast of the Christian protagonist triumphant and the nervous Jew on the defensive."

Justin argues his case with Trypho by stating that Jews are separated from other nations and "justly suffer." Justin specifically hammers home the point by focusing on the fact that Jewish cities are "burned with fire" and Jews are "desolate," forbidden to go up to Jerusalem, "for you have slain the Just One and His prophets before Him; and now you reject those who hope in Him."

A useful source of Dialogue with Trypho is The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Vol 1, T&T Clark/Eerdmans 1993). We review here the whole of the dialogue and quote brief sections to give a flavour of how leaders of the Roman Church were thinking even in the Second Century.

In his introduction, Justin recalls his background as a philosopher among the Greeks and then how he met Trypho while walking in Xystus, a suburb of Ephesus:

When I was going about my business one morning in the walks of Xystus a certain man, with others in his company, having met me, and said, "Hail, O philosopher!"..."But who are you, most excellent man?" So I replied to him in jest. [Note: Justin here is quoting from Homer]

Then he replied and told me frankly both his name and his family. "Trypho," says he, "I am called; and I am a Hebrew of the circumcision, and having escaped from the war lately carried on there, I am spending my days in Greece, and chiefly at Corinth.

"And in what," said I, "would you be profited by philosophy so much as by your own lawgiver and the prophets?" "Why not?" he replied. "Do not the philosophers turn every discourse on God? And do not questions continually arise to them about His unity and providence? Is not this truly the duty of philosophy, to investigate the Deity?"

Justin then relates his looking into all Greek philosophies one by one. He says all philosophers draw from one source; for example, regarding Plato he says:

And the perception of immaterial things quite overpowered me, and the contemplation of ideas furnished my mind with wings, so that in a little while I supposed that I had become wise; and such was my stupidity, I expected forthwith to look upon God, for this is the end of Plato's philosophy. [emphasis added]

Justin then speaks of his conversion with Trypho. He discusses how philosophers can know an unseen God:

"But, father," said I, "The Deity cannot be seen merely by the eyes, as other living beings can, but is discernible to the mind alone, as Plato says; and I believe him."

Trypho then discusses whether or not the soul is immortal and whether God can give it life or not as he pleases - something unknown to Plato. Justin responds to this with interest. His friends mock the idea of Christ and affirm Plato, saying he must take on the forms of Judaism if he will go this way. Justin desires a more middle ground, interpreting the Bible whilst acknowledging his Platonic foundations.

Justin builds a middle ground between Greek philosophy and the Bible, interpreting Scripture whilst acknowledging his Platonic foundations.

On the Law

They continue to dialogue, remembering the recent war in Judaea. Trypho accuses Christians of not obeying the biblical festivals and Sabbaths, circumcision etc. and so causing the war. Justin then gives his ideas on Christianity's relationship with Judaism. He says that the Law has been repealed and that the New Testament replaces the Old.

There will be no other God, O Trypho, nor was there from eternity any other existing, but He who made and disposed of the universe. Nor do we think that there is one God for us, another for you, but that He alone is God who led your fathers out from Egypt with a strong hand and a high arm. Nor have we trusted in any other (for there is no other), but in Him in whom you also have trusted, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.

But we do not trust through Moses or through the law; for then we would do the same as yourselves. But now – (for I have read that there shall be a final law, and a covenant, the chiefest of all, which it is now incumbent on all men to observe, as many as are seeking the inheritance of God. For the law promulgated on Horeb is now old, and belongs to yourselves alone; but this is for all universally. Now, law placed against law has abrogated that which is before it, and a covenant which comes after in like manner has put an end to the previous one; and an eternal and final law – namely, Christ – has been given to us, and the covenant is trustworthy, after which there shall be no law, no commandments, no ordinance... [emphasis added]

Justin refers to Isaiah and Jeremiah 31 to justify this. He accuses Jews of violating this new law now revealed, and not accepting atonement in the blood of Christ. He interprets the true fasting of Isaiah 58 as a replacement of the old forms of fasting, and says that outward circumcision of the Jews is so that they will be recognised in the world as those who killed Christ:

For the circumcision according to the flesh, which is from Abraham, was given for a sign; that you may be separated from other nations, and from us; and that you alone may suffer that which you now justly suffer; and that your land may be desolate, and your cities burned with fire; and that strangers may eat your fruit in your presence, and not one of you may go up to Jerusalem. For you are not recognized among the rest of men by any other mark than your fleshly circumcision.

For none of you, I suppose, will venture to say that God neither did nor does foresee the events, which are future, nor foreordained his deserts for each one. Accordingly, these things have happened to you in fairness and justice, for you have slain the Just One, and His prophets before Him; and now you reject those who hope in Him, and in Him who sent Him – God the Almighty and Maker of all things – cursing in your synagogues those who believe in Christ. [emphasis added]

Justin then takes aspects of the Torah, Feasts, Sabbaths, Circumcision etc. and says that Jews were prescribed these things on account of their sin. He contrasts this with the fulfilment of these things in Christians through the circumcision of the heart. Speaking of the eighth day, which has replaced the seventh day Sabbath, says there is no salvation outside of Christ and that the works of the Law are useless. Now, he says, it is Christians who possess the true righteousness.

Justin argues that Christ repeals and replaces the Law, and that Christians fulfil the signs and symbols previously given to the Jews – such as the feasts, Sabbaths and circumcision.

Trypho says that the prophets did not point to Christ, who himself died under a curse out of dishonour. Justin then speaks of the two advents of the Messiah. There follows a discussion of what Jesus fulfilled, then discussion of the Law. Justin says the Law contributes nothing to righteousness. Trypho asks for proof without metaphor in the Messiahship of Jesus. Justin seeks to show this from the prophets.

On Greek Literature

Justin then speaks of the devil's lies in Greek literature and stories of gods like Jupiter, Bacchuus, Mithras. But, nevertheless, he says that Greek literature contains parallels to the truths of God in the lives of the prophets and of Jesus, suggesting that the Greek philosophers have prepared the way for belief in Jesus for the Gentile world.

Justin also says that now the prophetic gift has been taken from the Jews and given to Christians:

For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that the gifts formerly among your nation have been transferred to us.

Justin describes Greek literature and mythology as the lies of the devil, yet also argues that it contains parallels to the truths of God, and that it prepares the way for Gentile belief in Christ.

More discussion follows on types and shadows of the cross and of Jesus, and on Justin's view that the prophecies point to Christians (eg Zech 2:10-13). He says that Malachi 1:10-12 is rejection of Jewish sacrifices to point to acceptance of Christian sacrifice. Christians are now the Holy People promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah. Christians are the true Israel:

"What, then?" Says Trypho; "are you Israel? And speaks He such things of you?"...[Justin] "As therefore from the one man Jacob, who was surnamed Israel, all your nation has been called Jacob and Israel; so we from Christ, who begat us to God, like Jacob, and Israel and Judah, and Joseph, and David, are called and are the true sons of God, and keep the commandments of Christ."

Justin says that Christians are now the sons of God and Gentiles converted to Christ are more faithful to God than the Jews. Christ is the King of Israel, and Christians are the Israelitic race:

And when the Scripture says, "I am the Lord God, the Holy one of Israel your King," will you not understand that truly Christ is the everlasting King? For you are aware that Jacob the son of Isaac was never a king. And therefore Scripture again, explaining to us, says what king is meant by Jacob and Israel: "Jacob is my Servant, I will uphold Him; and Israel is mine Elect, my soul shall receive Him. I have given Him my Spirit; and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles..."

Justin concludes that the Jews rejected Christ and so must now be converted.

Justin's dialogue with Trypho contains many arguments that are typical of those that go on even today. They have come to be known as 'Replacement Theology', and represent a continuation of interpreting the Scriptures through Greek philosophical eyes.

Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho contains many arguments that have become central to Replacement Theology, and which continue to be used today.

Against Celsus

We now turn briefly to a second source: Origen, a 3rd Century theologian from Alexandria. Origen is regarded as a 'Church Father', and the father of Greek monasticism, but has been traditionally rejected as a saint due to his many controversial teachings. Marvin Wilson writes (Our Father Abraham, p93):

In the third century Origen wrote similarly, "And these calamities they (the Jews) have suffered, because they were a most wicked nation, which, although guilty of many sins, yet has been punished so severely for none, as for those that were committed against our Jesus". Again, in clear terms, the suffering of the Jewish people is directly related to their "sin" of rejecting Jesus. [emphasis added]

We will quote more fully from Origen's Against Celsus:

Let this Jew of Celsus then show us, not many persons, nor even a few, but a single individual, such as Jesus was, introducing among the human race, with the power that was manifested in Him, a system of doctrine and opinions beneficial to human life, and which converts men from the practice of wickedness...

Therefore we may see, that after the advent of Jesus the Jews were altogether abandoned, and possess now none of what they considered their ancient glories, so that there is no indication of any Divinity abiding amongst them. For they have no longer prophets nor miracles, traces of which to a considerable extent are still found among Christians, and some of them more remarkable than any that existed among the Jews; and these we ourselves have witnessed, if our testimony may be received.

But the Jew of Celsus exclaims: "Why did we treat him, whom we announced beforehand, with dishonour? Was it that we might be chastised by others?" To which we have to answer, that on account of their unbelief, and the other insults which they heaped upon Jesus, the Jews will not only suffer more than others in that judgment which is believed to impend over the world, but have even already endured such sufferings.

For what nation is in exile from their own metropolis, and from the place sacred to the worship of their fathers, save the Jews alone? And these calamities they have suffered, because they were a most wicked nation, which, although guilty of many other sins, yet has been punished so severely for none, as for those that were committed against our Jesus. [emphases added] Section 2.8, Vol 4 of Anti-Nicene Fathers.

By quoting from Justin Martyr and Origen, both among the founders of much Christian thought and both from the early centuries after Jesus, we see that the phenomenon of Replacement Theology had early beginnings. Through their influence, it began to become accepted that God abandoned his plan for Israel to continue as the heirs of his covenant after the crucifixion of Jesus, and that there is now a new body, the Church, who have inherited the promises once given to Israel.

Summary

We know that the Gospel did go out to the Gentile world and that Gentile believers became the majority in the Church for many centuries. But this is not a reason to misunderstand God's continuing purpose for Israel, or for the separation of the Church from its Jewish/Hebraic roots.

The continuity of the covenant God made with Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus is a subtle one that deserves to be considered with maturity and balance, and without compromise. Replacement Theology not only enhances the division between Church and Synagogue but also leaves the Church's theology shallow and unbalanced, creating a great vulnerability to many forms of deception in this present age and also encouraging a misunderstanding of the covenant purposes of God.

Replacement Theology not only encourages division between Christians and Jews, but also leaves the Church's theology shallow and unbalanced.

By twists and turns and often strange interpretations, Scripture can be re-interpreted to accommodate a mindset that the Christian Church became 'Spiritual Israel'. As a result, Wilson suggests, "the Church argued that Jews were a people eternally cursed by God. The Church now designated itself all blessings in Scripture earlier ascribed to Israel. All curses, however, it left for the Jews" (Our Father Abraham, p94, emphasis added).

For Reflection and Comment

Pause and assess the gradual process of Christianity distancing itself from Israel, beginning with the emergence of what would have been seen as a branch of the Jewish community and ending with a community completely re-defined.

Next time: The Early Fathers of the Christian Church.

'Has God Really Finished With Israel?' by Mark Dunman (New Wine Press, 2013, 187 pages, available from the publisher for £9.99, or from the author's website for £9. Save £2 when you buy with 'The Return of Jesus Christ').

Mark Dunman's first book is intended for Christians who want to know more about Israel and what the scriptures have to say on the subject. The spur to write this book was "born of a desire to encourage Christians to recognise God's prophetic return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and to alert the Church at large to the need to pray for Israel, the Jewish people, the Palestinians and the whole complex situation in the Middle East" (p9).

This call to pray for Israel and the Middle East is the theme of the final chapter and provides a crucial finale to a book packed with information and insight into this vital topic. God is calling us to partner with him in achieving his purposes on earth - something we can do with much more conviction after reading this book. It is no surprise to discover that the author leads such a prayer group.

Industrious Research, Intelligent Reflection

As a first book it is an exceptional effort based upon industrious research and intelligent reflection. The author has spent many years listening and learning, including time spent in Israel and with Palestinian Christians in the West Bank. He displays a great talent to absorb and then share. Here you will find solid facts, common sense and Spirit-led clarity. His writing is detailed yet not crowded or verbose. As a retired science teacher he is gifted communicator, well used to presenting the evidence for his beliefs, which he does brilliantly.

God is calling us to partner with him in achieving his purposes – something we can do with much more conviction after reading this book.

The author has been willing to examine political perspectives from all sides but ultimately believes that God's word overrides all men's ideas and that God's purpose is paramount. For instance, he sets out to show that "the current return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a fulfilment of Old Testament biblical prophecy and furthermore that in doing this God is honouring his Covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (p39).

Theological Coverage

Two early chapters are devoted to providing some Old Testament background, namely Israel's two exiles - familiar to those who are Biblically literate but a useful summary nevertheless. The next chapter helpfully explains various ways to understand the Bible, in particular how literal and symbolic interpretations differ. The author also analyses the varied opinions and approaches of other well-known Bible teachers (names are given), distinguishing between those who are Christian Zionists and those who are Covenantalists. This is a helpful critique for those wishing to read more widely about Israel in God's purposes.

The author is very clear that Replacement Theology is fundamentally wrong, calling it "an unwarranted interpretation of what the Old Testament actually says about Israel and the Jews" and declaring that "a principal purpose of this book is to demonstrate this" (p10). This he achieves in a chapter which explores its origins and consequences. The next chapter follows this up with a discussion of Palestinian liberation theology, a topic which may be less familiar to many readers. This balance and integrity is typical of the book as a whole.

Here you will find solid facts, common sense and Spirit-led clarity – Dunman is a gifted communicator whose writing is detailed yet not crowded or verbose.

Supporting Resources

Each chapter has excellent endnotes, indicating the amount of research the author has faithfully undertaken over the years and also providing a useful source for further study by his readers.

As for appendices, bibliography, glossary and indices (both Scripture and general), these do exist but not in the book! Instead they can be found on his website. This is an interesting idea with the intention of keeping the book to a reasonable length and price, but it is inconvenient for the reader - it is noticeable that this experiment was not repeated in the author's second book.

Nevertheless, the website is easy to use and worth looking at to get a feel for the book. As the author explains, the website is intended as a continuation of the book. It also provides a means of buying the book, with a special deal for buying both his books together.

What has Christianity got to do with olive trees? Clifford Denton opens up this important metaphor from Romans 11, in this second installment of our series on Christianity's relationship with Israel and the Jews.

In Romans 11, the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of an olive tree to teach about God's Covenant family. In the preceding chapters of the Book of Romans, so strong is Paul’s message about inclusion of believers from the Gentile world, that one might consider that the Christian Church has replaced Israel. Hence, from chapters 9 to 11 there is a re-balancing of the picture. This confirms the continuing place of the physical descendants of Israel in the Covenant purposes of God.

Replacement Theology

Replacement Theology is the term that is given to the view that Christians replaced Israel as God’s Covenant People. Replacement Theology teaches that the failure of Israel has resulted in their total rejection - so that God could make a fresh start on a New Covenant plan. This is very subtle and has contributed to the loss of the Church’s deeper identity and an unnecessary rift between Christians and Jews. A study of Romans 11, therefore, helps us in the quest to restore an understanding of the relationship between Israel and the Christian Church.

The Olive Tree in Scripture

The olive tree is a familiar sight in the Middle East and, because of its character, is a very appropriate symbol to teach us about God’s Covenant family.

The first mention of the olive tree is in Genesis 8:11, where a dove brought back an olive leaf to Noah as the floodwaters receded. There are also a number of times when the olive is mentioned as a tree cultivated for its fruit in the Land of Israel (eg Deut 8:8).

It is a tree that has many uses, both every day and sacramental. Olive wood is a hard wood used for construction and ornaments. It was also used for parts of the construction of the Temple of Solomon, and was one of the trees specified for the construction of a Sukkah (Tabernacle) at the Feast of Sukkot at the time of Ezra.

The olive tree is first used as a metaphor in Psalm 52, where David compares himself with it. Prosperity for Israel is often linked to the health of the olive and the goodness of its fruit. The fruitful olive is often used to indicate health and wealth, whether in relation to the family (eg Psalm 128), or to the nation of Judah (as in Jeremiah’s warning, see Jeremiah 11:16). It is an eschatological symbol (that is, a symbol of end-times significance) in Zechariah 4:3 and 11-12. All of these scriptures come before Paul’s the use of the metaphor in Romans 11.

The Olive Tree and God’s Covenant

By using the symbol of the olive tree in Romans 11, Paul shows that the destiny of the faithful of Israel and of the Gentile world is bound together. The Christian Church has emerged from the same background as the faithful remnant from Israel.

The olive tree has some remarkable characteristics that remind us of God’s Covenant family:

• It is not an especially beautiful tree, but has nevertheless received much admiration from artists. Its roots are strong and can survive in a hot, dry climate and in rocky soil.
• Olive trees are well-known for their long life, more so than most fruit trees. Centuries-old olive trees can still bear fruit, and produce tender shoots around their roots.
• The fruit of the olive is either eaten or pressed to make olive oil. It is interesting that the word ‘Gethsemane’, the name of the garden where Jesus went before His betrayal, means ‘olive press’.
• Olive oil has, for thousands of years, been considered a source of wealth. It is useful for cooking, lighting lamps, ceremonial anointing and for medicinal purposes.

We can assume that, in the choice of the olive tree for the metaphor in Romans 11, Paul knew his readers would draw associations between these characteristics. This would help them understand about the root and branches of Israel and the whole Covenant family of God joined together as one body with one heritage, one character and one fruit.

For Study and Prayer: Consider the characteristics of the olive tree and discuss why Paul chose this metaphor to represent the covenant family of all believers.

Next time: Further studies on the olive tree metaphor.

These studies are developed from the course Christianity’s Relationship with Israel and the Jews, first prepared for Tishrei Bible School.

Replacement Theology is a denial of the promises of God made to Jacob and his descendants. It is a false doctrine which has long been endemic in the Gentile Church, teaching that the promises made by God to his chosen nation Israel have been rendered null and void by the death of Jesus at Calvary, and are now applicable only to the Church.

Behind this erroneous interpretation lies a darker force: the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism.

God’s Covenant with Israel

The first 11 chapters of the Bible document the increasing corruption of mankind which followed the Fall, the resulting grief and anger of God which brought the Noahic flood, and the subsequent continuing rebellion culminating in the building of the Tower of Babel and God’s judgement in the form of confusion of language and scattering of the rebellious people.

In chapter 12, however, we read of a new initiative on God’s part; his calling of Abram to be the progenitor of a new nation through which the entire world would receive the blessing of salvation.

In Genesis 15 comes God’s further confirmation of that decision, in the form of a solemn covenant with Abram and his heirs which He makes unilaterally and unconditionally. This covenant is reaffirmed to Isaac in Genesis 26, and to Jacob in Genesis 35; and is expressed in Psalm 105:8-10 to be everlasting.

"Jacob’s descendants are irrevocably destined to be God’s chosen earthly nation through whom Messiah would come, and are granted an inalienable right to ownership of the land of Canaan."

Jacob’s descendants are irrevocably destined to be God’s chosen earthly nation through whom Messiah, the woman’s offspring (Gen 3:15), would come, and are granted an inalienable right to ownership of the land of Canaan (Gen 17:8).

What is Replacement Theology?

Replacement Theology is a denial of the validity of these promises of God to Jacob’s descendants. It is a false doctrine which has been endemic in the Gentile Church during most of her history, teaching that the promises made by God to his chosen representative nation Israel have been rendered null and void by the death of Jesus at Calvary, and that in consequence the Hebrew nation is no longer to be regarded as God’s chosen people.

The doctrine effectively declares that much of God’s Word is now obsolete, teaching that Israel has been disinherited and that both the calling and the promises of God are now applicable only to the Church, which is seen to have superseded the Hebrew nation in God’s purposes and to have become the “new Israel”.

However, to quote Malcolm Hedding, former Executive Director of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem:

Replacement Theology is nowhere to be found in the Bible…From a theological perspective, the Replacement doctrine can only exist if one can prove that the Abrahamic covenant has been abolished.¹

"Replacement Theology is nowhere to be found in the Bible…From a theological perspective, the Replacement doctrine can only exist if one can prove that the Abrahamic covenant has been abolished.” - Malcom Hedding

Such a teaching is driven by the spirit of anti-Semitism and the failure to understand that unless allegory is being used, Scripture is to be interpreted according to its plain literal meaning. When God says, concerning the descendants of Jacob, that “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29), He means exactly what He says. He will not reject his chosen earthly representative nation, nor will He revoke his stated purposes and promises concerning them.

To teach that God has cast aside the nation of Israel and broken the covenant which he made unconditionally and unilaterally with Abraham in Genesis 15 is to make God out to be a liar, and to reject the plain teaching of Paul in Romans 11: “…has God cast away His people? By no means!”²

Paul explains the truth of what has taken place in the relationship between God and Israel, and warns the Gentile believers against the arrogance of thinking that they now have preference over the Jews and have replaced them in God’s purposes. In verses 28-29, Paul explains clearly that they remain God’s elect people and that He will never cease to love the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, nor withdraw His stated purposes for them.

The Origins of Replacement Teaching

In the light of the plain teaching of the Word of God, what accounts for the error which gives rise to the belief that the Church, which has been almost entirely Gentile since the end of the Second Century, has replaced Israel in God’s affection and purpose; and that Israel has therefore also forfeited the right to the land covenanted to the patriarchs? Why did the early Church Fathers introduce teaching which so twisted and perverted the plain statements of Scripture, robbing them of their clear and unambiguous meaning?

By the end of the second century, the Church had become largely Gentile, influenced by the Greek philosophy of the Roman Empire and becoming separated from her Jewish roots.

As early as 160 A.D. Justin Martyr was viewing the Church as the new Israel. In his ‘Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew’, Justin he declares to Trypho that the Hebrew Scriptures are “not yours, but ours” (chapter 29:2), while in chapter 82 he says, concerning the writings of the Hebrew prophets: “For the prophetical gifts remain with us [ie the Church], even to the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us.”³

By the third century, early Church theologian Origen of Alexandria was teaching that the correct way to understand the Scriptures was by spiritualising the text and treating it as allegory.⁴

There is a profound difference between the Hebraic method of literal interpretation of Scripture at its face value and the Greek method, which tends to the error of taking the literal words and treating them as if they were simply allegorical. Consequently, where for the Hebrew mind the Word of God determines the doctrine, the Greek mind tends first to form the doctrine and then where necessary, to distort (or totally ignore) the word so as to make it fit.

The Spirit of Anti-Semitism

However, behind this erroneous way of interpretation and consequent false teaching lies a darker force. It is the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism, which is rearing its ugly head yet again in great strength and virulence in our own days. The Gentile Church Fathers were influenced not only by Greek thinking and philosophy, but also by increasing prejudice against the Jews as being a race of unbelievers who were responsible for deicide and had become rejected and cursed by God, the satanic lie which would lead to centuries of persecution and ultimately to the Holocaust.

"Behind this erroneous way of interpretation and consequent false teaching lies a darker force: the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism."

What accounts for the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, which has pursued and persecuted the Hebrew nation throughout their long history? What strange hatred led, for example, to the mass slaughter of all male Hebrew infants in Egypt (Ex 1:15-22); or to the thwarted desire of Haman (Est 3:8-15) to perpetrate the genocide of all the Jews in the province of Persia; of to the massacre at Herod’s command of male infants in Bethlehem (Matt 2:16-18)?

The root cause of the mysterious undying purpose of anti-Semitism to exterminate the Jewish people is to be found first in Genesis 3:15, where God declares that the seed of the woman will crush Satan’s head. Secondly, in Genesis 12:3 and 22:18, His promise to Abram is that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you”.

The recognition that this meant that Messiah, the promised seed of the woman, would arise from the offspring of Abraham brought the inevitable consequence of continued satanic attempts to prevent the fulfilment of the Word of God, first by destroying the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob so as to make impossible the first coming of the promised Messiah; and when that had failed, to destroy Jesus during His earthly life and ministry.

Following that failure, the object became to prevent His promised return by continuing attempts to destroy all Jacob’s descendants, so as to make impossible their prophesied return from exile among the nations to the land given by God’s covenant promise (eg Gen 15:18) to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, summarised in the words of Psalm 105: 8-11:

He remembers his covenant forever...the covenant he made with Abraham…He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.’

The 20th Century and Today

This satanic determination to prevent the word of God from coming to pass has had tragic but inevitable consequences for the Hebrew nation through many centuries. It reached a climax after the Balfour Declaration in 1917 (affirmed at the San Remo Conference of 1920) was enshrined into International Law in 1922, by the League of Nations’ Mandate to Great Britain to oversee the re-establishment of the Jewish homeland in the land called Palestine by the Romans, but now the sovereign state of Israel.

That series of events aroused the spirit of anti-Semitism to a new level of activity, resulting in Hitler’s attempted 'Final Solution', the Holocaust; and since 1948, in continual attempts to separate the restored Hebrew nation from the land of Israel by any and every possible means.

The prophecy of Daniel (9:26) concerning Jerusalem is that “war will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed”. The spirit of anti-Semitism will continue to stir up strife and destruction against Israel, and against all Jewish people throughout the nations, until Scripture is fulfilled in the return of Jesus the Messiah to save His people and to establish His rule on the earth.

"Unless we believe and teach that the Word of God means what it says, none of us is exempt from falling into error."

The anti-Semitism which continues the hatred and persecution of Jewish people wherever they may be, and the anti-Zionism which rages against the very existence of the State of Israel, are of one and the same antichrist origin and purpose. The unbelieving world cannot understand this, but the professing Church believes and teaches the anti-Semitic doctrine of Replacement Theology at its peril, for by so doing it is denying the Word of God and encouraging hostility against His people and His stated purposes. If we do, we fall into the trap of cursing the descendants of Abraham and consequently bringing God’s curse upon ourselves (Gen 12:3).

Unless we believe and teach that the Word of God means what it says, none of us is exempt from falling into error. The warning contained in Romans 11:17-21 is as valid today for us, as Gentile believers, as it was for the first hearers to whom Paul was writing: “Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches…Do not be arrogant, but tremble.” The covenant which God made with Abraham remains guaranteed by the unchanging character of God, and He will remain faithful to fulfil all that He has promised concerning the descendants of Jacob.

References

1 Hedding, M, 2006. Standing with Israel Today, ICEJ Word from Jerusalem, May/June edition (first published in The Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, March 2006).

2 Rom 11:1, New King James Version.

3 Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. 2nd Century AD, transl. George Reith.

4 Eg On First Principles, Book IV.