Clifford Denton discusses the origins of 'Replacement Theology' and its impacts on Christian thinking.

So far in this series, we have seen how Christianity's Hebraic heritage came under attack right from the first years after Jesus and his apostles, and we have considered how this attack developed up to the fall of Israel under Rome. By this point, the ground had been prepared for the Christian Church to move away from its roots even further as time went on, and as theological ideas developed that denied its links with Israel and the Jews.

Blessings but no Curses

This eventually led many Christians to consider that God had now finished with Israel and replaced it with a new body called the Church, which would receive all the covenant blessings promised to Israel but without fear of the curses. In this study we will review the ideas behind this 'Replacement Theology' and consider its origins.

Christians and Jews eventually became so separated that many Christians began to consider themselves Israel's replacement in God's eyes.

70 AD: Judgment Day?

When Israel fell under the Romans, it became possible for Christians in the Gentile world to declare this as the final judgment of God on the Jewish nation. They could argue that Jesus had offered the gift of salvation to all of Israel and, following this, the early Apostles had witnessed to his sacrificial death and resurrection for sufficient time to give the nation its full opportunity for repentance.

To witness the terrible fate of Israel under Rome and then the dispersion of Jews to foreign lands would seem adequate evidence for this view. Add to this the Greek philosophical mindset prevalent among Gentile communities (more on this next week), and the scriptures themselves could be re-interpreted as if God had turned his attention to a people who had long been neglected and whose time had now come.

'Natural Israel' becomes 'Spiritual Israel'

Thus the idea that Israel was now to be replaced by a new body was established. The idea of 'Spiritual Israel' replacing 'natural Israel' began to take hold, so that even Old Testament mentions of Israel were re-interpreted by some Christian theologians in terms of the Church in the Gentile world, except that Jesus had now taken away the curse of the law, leaving only blessings for 'the Church'.

When Israel fell under the Romans, Gentile Christians declared this the final judgment of God on the Jewish nation. The idea that 'natural' Israel was now to be replaced by 'spiritual' Israel took hold.

With this view, Galatians 3:10-14 can be taken out of context:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:13-14)

Also, taking a single verse out of context, Matthew 21:43 could be (wrongly) interpreted as saying that now the 'nation' that was to replace Israel was this new body of people drawn from the Gentile world and known as 'the Church':

Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. (Matt 21:43)

With this mindset, even Romans 11 (where Paul speaks of a remnant of Israel being saved) can be re-interpreted as fulfilled by the early disciples and so no longer relevant. Paul speaks of himself as being of the tribe of Israel, seemingly confirming his point that God had not forgotten individuals from Israel - providing they become 'Christians' (and of course there were many other Jews who did believe in Jesus at the time of Paul). Thus a view can be formed that God did not forget his people in confirmation of Romans 11:1-5, but fulfilled it in Paul's day.

For those who see a new body ('the Church') as replacing Israel, the grafting of Romans 11 becomes about grafting into the new, predominantly Gentile Church, rather than into the covenant family that existed before the call to the Gentiles.

Christ the End of the Law

Romans 10:4 can also be read in terms of Replacement Theology, seeing 'end' as 'put an end to':

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

However, this verse means that those who look forward to the coming Messiah (as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did) perceive him as fulfilling the purposes of the Covenant given to Israel. He is in view as through a telescope. He is the end purpose of the Torah, its fulfilment, within the continuity of biblical history.

Christ is the end of the law not because he finishes it, but because he fulfils it.

Those who have adopted the mindset that a new body has replaced Israel read this Scripture as meaning that Jesus Christ put an end to the promise to Israel in order to begin a new thing, rather than to enable, through his sacrificial death, the promise to Abraham. If, again, the 'New Covenant' is seen as a complete replacement of the 'Old Covenant', in every way, then this also adds to the theory that Israel has been replaced by a new thing: 'the Church'.

Already-existing Body

The truth is that Gentiles were called into an already-existing body, by the same faith that Abraham and all his children have.

However, errors emerge when Scripture is read through biased mindsets and false pre-conceptions that have formed in the Christian Church. It is all too easy to take this position, especially if we do not develop a balanced view from the whole of Scripture. In turn, Replacement Theology fuels anti-Semitism if it is thought that God's will is to punish the Jews.

Replacement Theology is rampant and widely accepted in the Church today but its traditions, thought patterns and logics began long ago. We will consider this in the next study, quoting briefly from the writings of two of the 'Church Fathers', Justin Martyr and Origen, to illustrate the point.

Gentiles are called into an already-existing body, by the same faith that Abraham had.

For Reflection and Comment

Read the scriptures referenced in this study, with the mindset of inclusion of believing Gentiles into the Israel of God, rather than a rejection of Israel and total replacement of Israel with an entirely new community of faith. Note the wording of Jeremiah 31:27-37.

Can you find scriptures to correct the error of Replacement Theology that the Church inherits all Israel's blessings and none of its curses?

Next time: Replacement Theology Part 2.