Zao is life
Well-Known Member
Wikipedia getting their information from Dispensationalists, no doubt.Here is the problem I have with Replacement Theology. Let's just substitute the word "Israel" for "Jews and Gentiles in Christ" in the following passage...
Rom 9.1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of [Jews and Gentiles in Christ], my people, those of my own race, 4 the [Jews and Gentiles in Christ/, the people of Israel. [The Jews and Gentiles in Christ/--theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Hopefully, you can see how ridiculous this reads, unless you drop "Jews and Gentiles in Christ" as a substitute for "Israel?"
I do understand Replacement Theology. The Church has always considered itself the heir of Israel, knowing that God didn't just make promises to a single nation, but really, to many nations. This was the Abrahamic Promise. And certainly the New Covenant has supplanted and fulfilled the Old Covenant of Jewish Law.
I'm not name-calling when I use the term "Replacement Theology." That is just what it is called. I do understand that those who hold to that position sometimes are offended with the term, since it seems to imply a cavalier abuse of the term "Israel." One cannot lightly exchange the meaning of a single Jewish nation with another entirely-different meaning!
Nonetheless, the traditional understanding of "Replacement Theology" is the exchange of "Natural Israel" for "Spiritual Israel." I do not hold to any "Replacement Theology," as you suggest I do. This is a technical term, and I do not fill the bill.
You may character my beliefs as a form of "Replacement Theology," but that might confuse others. I do *not* hold to the technical definition of "Replacement Theology." You do.
Replacement Theology, or Supersessionism (from WIkipedia):
Supersessionism, also called replacement theology or fulfillment theology,[1] is a Christian theology which describes the theological conviction that the Christian Church has superseded the Jews and the nation of Israel, assuming their role as God's covenanted people,[2] thus asserting that the New Covenant through Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant exclusive to Jews. Supersessionist theology also holds that the universal Christian Church has succeeded ancient Israel as God's true Israel and that Christians have succeeded the ancient Israelites as the people of God.
God's covenant people were never "the Jews" (which is only one of twelve tribes of Israel), as though "the Jews" and "the Jews" alone were Israel.
God's first promise to Abraham was that he would be the father of a multitude of goy. Jacob (Israel) talking to Joseph, prophesied on his death bed that the seed of Ephraim would become the fullness of the Gentiles (mlo' goy in the Hebrew, tanslated quite correctly as "a multitude of nations" in English Bibles).
The 10 Northern tribes were collectively called Ephraim, who emerged as the dominant tribe of the Northern kingdom, and which was declared "no longer a people" (of God), and yet whose descendants would become as the sand of the sea.
Paul quotes that very prophecy in the very same chapter of Romans you use for your replacement theology when you replace God's one and only ancient elect nation, saying that because the greater part was broken off, some claim that it has been "replaced" by the church.
We do not claim any such thing. God's elect nation did not disappear. There was a remnant who believed, and Gentiles who believe have been grafted in among them ever since. The rest were broken off - completely, until the individual repents of his unbelief and is grafted in again.
There is indeed a New Covenant. In the Old Covenant the people of the elect nation had a physical temple. In the New covenant the citizens are the temple, a.k.a "the church". Nothing against biblical doctrine in that.
"The Jews" are not "Israel". They are Judah - and those who are in Christ through faith in Christ are part of God's elect nation. The rest are indeed broken off and need to be grafted in again, just as much as any unbelieving Gentile.
Abraham has become the father of a multitude of goy nations because God is 100% able to keep His first promise to Abraham. Those who believe in Christ are the seed of Abraham.
It has never, ever, ever been about physical ancestry but about who has the faith of Abraham.
If it was about physical ancestry then no Jew would be accepted in God's Kingdom among God's elect nation today, because the majority of Judah remains broken off to this day. Praise Jesus for the growing number of Jews turning to Jesus. @Randy Kluth "The Jews" (Judah) are not "Israel", as though they = all 12 tribes plus the seed of Ephraim a.k.a the fullness of the Gentiles, who were formerly broken off and declared "not My people".
@Randy Kluth They are Gentiles because the descendants of the 10 Northern tribes were scattered among the nations and their descendants intermarried with many Gentile peoples to the extent that it's impossible to find the original 10 tribes today. Even if a Gentile were to discover he was a descendant, his blood/genetic ancestral make up would not be pure Israelite. Yet believing Gentiles are grafted into Israel and considered Ephraim who have become the people of the living God. Paul says so in Romans 9.
There has never been a replacement of Israel elected by God in the days of Abraham, the 12 tribes of Israel. You and many others falsely claim we say so. The nation did not disappear after the death and resurrection of Christ. Praise God for the remnant, else we would have no New Testament today. The first church consisted mainly of Jews in Jerusalem. Jews who remained part of God's elect nation did not replace Jews. Rather, most were broken off, and Gentiles were grafted in among the Jews who believed.
Your replacement theology is the only theology replacing God's only elect nation Israel with another. And the elect people of God ARE the temple, a.k.a the Church.
It's Jesus' blood - the blood of the living Christ - that replaced the Mosaic Covenant, not theology.
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