James Forthwright said:
Would anyone care to debate on the subject of Replacement Theology?
That is, that the Church has superseded or replaced the Jews in the fulfillment of
scriptural prophecies.
I would argue in the affirmative.
I'm not familiar of the intricacies of replacement theology, however, I would submit that, the premise, the church replaced Israel is not what the Scriptures teach. God's plan to save mankind has been the same from the beginning, salvation would come through Abraham and his Seed.
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Gen 12:3 KJV)
14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
15 For
all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. (Gen 13:14-17 KJV)
God promised the land to Abraham and his Seed. However, Abraham never received that land while he was alive.
KJV Acts 7:1 Then said the high priest, Are these things so?
2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken;
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,
3 And said unto him,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee.
4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead,
he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.
5 And
he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on:
yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. (Act 7:1-5 KJV)
Stephen says that although God promised the land to Abraham and his Seed, Abraham never received the land. This promise was also made to Isaac and Jacob, but the never received the land either. Paul said,
8 By faith
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith
he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Heb 11:8-13 KJV)
The promise was that they would inherit the land and that all nations would be blessed through them and their Seed. The Jews believed that they were this promised seed, however, Paul points out that they are not the promised seed. He says that when God made the promise to Abraham He did not says seeds as of many but rather He said seed as of one. He says that that Seed is Christ.
16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Gal 3:16 KJV)
So, the promise has been the same from the very beginning, the Jews simply misunderstood who the Seed was. They understood seed as plural, but Paul says that God meant seed singular, one Seed which is Christ.
Jesus said, 'salvation is of the Jews' and Paul tells the Gentiles in Rome that they are grafted into the Israel.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; {among them: or, for them}
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. (Rom 11:15-21 KJV)
It's been one plan from the beginning. The land inheritance is yet to be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled at the resurrection.