What is Replacement Theology?
Replacement theology (or supersessionism) is the idea
that
the Christian
Church has "replaced" Israel (or the Jewish people) in God's plan of
salvation as His chosen people.
In its simplest expression, replacement theology could be
expressed as follows:
The Jews have rejected Christ; therefore God has
rejected the
Jews and the Church is now the 'New Israel.'
In the words of Origen of Alexandria (185-254 A.D.):
We may thus assert in utter confidence that the Jews
will not
return to their earlier situation, for they have committed the most
abominable of crimes, in forming this conspiracy against the Savior of
the human race…hence the city where Jesus suffered was necessarily
destroyed, the Jewish nation was driven from its country, and another
people was called by God to the blessed election.
Or, as someone once wrote to us:
We Catholics ARE the new Israel. Christ’s
Church
fulfills all the prophecies and makes the continuation of the old
Israel historically out of date. The Church IS the Kingdom of
God. Jews are the most tragic people in the world in that "they missed the time of their visitation."
Thus the main tenets of replacement theology are:
- The Jews were formerly God's chosen
people at the time of the Old
Testament until the coming of Christ, but because
they did not accept Jesus as Messiah of
Israel, God then rejected them and formed a new people instead
of them - the
Church.
- Jews, therefore, are no longer the chosen people, and God
has no future plan or calling for the nation of Israel. The
only role left for the Jewish people is to convert to Christianity and
be incorporated into
the Church.
- 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Church, which has superseded them.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 still subject
to the curses found in the Bible, as a result of their rejection
of Christ. Consequently, 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.
We have discussed elsewhere the Scriptural basis for
God's election and covenant with Israel. The present article
is
limited to the question as
to whether God's election of Israel as His chosen people remains valid
today or whether it has
been abrogated by the New Testament. Keep in mind that we are
not talking here about whether the
Mosaic Covenant and observance of the Torah are still
binding for Jews (See section on Torah
and Gospel), or
whether Jews in their present state are in a covenant with God that
can be considered "salvific" (see: What is Dual-Covenant
Theology?). Here we merely touch upon the issue of Israel's
election and
their continued role in God's plan of salvation.
What Scriptures are commonly quoted to
support Replacement Theology?
Advocates of replacement theology often present the following
Scriptures to argue that God has terminated his covenant with the Jews:
- 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 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. But it does not
suggest God's dealing with Israel was negated because His Name spread
around the world.
- Jesus taught that the Jews would lose their spiritual
privileges, and be replaced by another people: "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.'" (Matt. 21:43)
- 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.
- A true Jew is anyone born of the Spirit, whether he is
Gentile or Jewish: "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." (Rom
2:28-29)
- 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], that outward
circumcision is not enough to be justified before God but that
circumcision of the heart is also necessary.
- The promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham was only a
"starter." The real Promised Land is the whole world, which
the Church will inherit. "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" (Rom 4:13).
- Rebuttal: Where does this verse exclude Abraham and His
natural prodigy, 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.
- "True Israelites" are not the physical descendants of
Abraham ("children of the flesh") but rather believers in Christ
("children of the promise"): "For not all Israelites truly belong to
Israel, and not all of Abraham's
children are his true descendants; but 'It is through Isaac that
descendants shall be named for you.' This means that it is not the
children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of
the promise are counted as descendants" (Rom 9:6-8).
- Rebuttal: Paul
is not transferring the meaning of Israel to mean the Church or
implying that the Church replaces Israel. He is merely restricting
the use of Israel to those who believe
in the promises. In other words, it is not enough to be a physical
descendant
of Abraham to be a true Israelite; one must also have faith in God's
promises. True, Paul also writes that others (Gentiles) may
also be included to the promise made to Israel (cf. Rom 9:25-26)
- Paul apparently abolishes the differences between Jews and
non-Jews: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves
with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave
or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ
Jesus" (Gal 3:27-28).
- If this passage were
literally meant to abolish the distinction between Jew and Greek, it
would also
have to abolish the difference between man and woman. The passage is
speaking of
everyone's standing before God as equals, because we are all sinners
saved by God's grace and Christ's Paschal sacrifice. But
there is still a distinction in roles between Jews and
Gentiles in
God's economy of salvation, just as there remains clearly distinct
roles between men and women,
husbands and wives, mothers and fathers.
- To be a real son of Abraham is not be belong to the nation
or people of Israel but to have faith in Jesus Christ.
Sonship to Abraham is seen only in spiritual, not national
terms: "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise" (Gal 3:29).
- 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 Gentile Christians to what God had
already started with Israel.
- The Church is allegedly the "Israel of God": "As many as
walk
according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, [and] upon the
Israel of God" (Gal 6:16).
- Some translations (e.g. RSV) omit the Greek word kai
(and) that is found in the
original text. This is a serious ommission, because without
the kai the
verse would
imply that all who "walk by the rule" - that is, all Christians - are
the
Israel of God. But when the kai of the
original text is preserved, the verse implies that there is a
distinction between "those who walk according to the rule", the
Christians, and the "Israel of God" - the remnant of natural Israel who
have
accepted God's promises in Christ.
The Problem with Replacement Theology
If God rejected Israel as His chosen people it would
constitute a real failure on His part. It would mean that He
chose a people to be his witness to the world, but in the end He was
unable to get them to accomplish his purposes. God married
Israel,
but she proved to be such a problematic bride that she
stretched her divine husband's patience beyond the breaking
point until He could not stand her any more and divorced her, thus
violating His own promise to betroth her forever:
"I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I
will
betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and
mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall
know the LORD." (Hos 2:19-20)
The prophet Jeremiah compares God's covenant with Israel to
the
cosmic order and to the permanent natural laws of the universe.
The covenant is as firm and unshakeable as the cycle of
day and night and the foundations of heaven and earth:
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by
day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- the LORD of hosts is his
name: If this fixed order were ever to cease from my presence, says the
LORD, then also the offspring of Israel would cease to be a nation
before me forever. Thus says the LORD: If the heavens above can be
measured, and the foundations of the earth below can be explored, then
I will reject all the offspring of Israel because of all they have
done, says the LORD. (Jer. 31:35-37)
A major practical problem with replacement
theology is the
continuing existence
of the Jewish people throughout the centuries and especially the
revival of the modern state of Israel. If Israel has been rejected and
condemned by
God, and there is no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain
the remarkable survival of the Jewish people over the past 2000 years
despite the many attempts to destroy them? How do we explain why Israel
reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not
existing for 1900 years? Can the return of the Jewish people
to the land of their forefathers, in accordance with the writings of
many of the prophets, be a mere
"accident of history"? Can the miraculous rebirth of Israel,
the nation that is at the center of salvation history in every page of
the Bible, be but the result of a clever human enterprise that has
nothing to do with God's plan of salvation?
What do the New Testament and the Catholic Church say about
Replacement Theology?
The Covenant with Israel is indeed fulfilled in the New
Covenant, but
this does not mean that the former is abolished or dissolved.
The Church is indeed the "New Israel" (LG 9), but this does not imply
that
Israel "in the flesh" has been dispossessed of their divine election
and promises. The New Testament never claims that Israel's
special role should come to
an end after the coming of Christ. On the contrary, it
affirms the permanent validity of their covenant with God.
Neither do we find a
confusion of identity between Israel and the Church in the New
Testament; the two remain distinct although closely
related.
There are 77 references to Israel in the NT and none of
them refer to the Church. Try replacing the words "the Church," where
Israel is mentioned and the passage is rendered unreadable and
incomprehensible, e.g., Rom. 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." If you put "the
Church" where Israel is mentioned, then it is redundant. The Church is
the body of saved believers, so how could Paul's prayer be for the
Church to be saved?
Jesus himself said that he had not come to abolish the Torah and the
prophets, which are the heart of God's covenant with Israel:
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not
come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till
heaven and earth pass away, one jot
or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is
fulfilled. (Mat 5:17-18)
Moreover, the Church affirms the permanent validity of the
Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) as source of Divine
Revelation:
The Old Testament is an
indispensable part of Sacred Scripture. Its books are divinely inspired
and retain a permanent value, for the Old Covenant has never been
revoked. (CCC 121)
Christians venerate the Old
Testament as true Word of God. The Church has always vigorously opposed
the idea of rejecting the Old Testament under the pretext that the New
has rendered it void (Marcionism). (CCC 123)
This means that the promises and end-time prophecies to Israel
in the
Old Testament, many of which have never been fulfilled,
cannot be easily dismissed. Particularly remarkable are those
which speak of the return of the
House of
Jacob to their land (Israel) and its restoration, words that have
largely
been fulfilled in Israel and the Jewish people in the past century
(See Isa. 11:11-12; 43:5-6; 49:22-23; Isa.
60:9-11; Jer. 16:14-16; Eze 35:1; 36; 37:1-14).
The magisterial documents of the Church, following St. Paul,
confirm that even after the Incarnation, Israel and the
Jewish people
somehow
remain the root and sustenance of the Church. The Vatican II
declaration Nostra
Aetate, echoing chapter 11 of St. Paul's
Epistle to
the
Romans, declares that the Church "draws sustenance
from the root
of that well-cultivated olive tree [Israel] onto which have been
grafted the
wild shoots, the Gentiles." Paul's warning to the Gentile
Church in the illustration of the olive tree (Rom. 11:17-24) is
remarkably prophetic: Though natural branches (Jews) were broken off
the tree of Israel because of their unbelief, and wild branches
(Gentiles) were grafted in their place, he warns the Gentiles not to
become proud or arrogant towards their roots, lest they too be cut off:
Do not boast against the branches. But if you do
boast,
remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you
(Rom 11:18).
Moreover, God has the power to graft the natural branches of
Israel back into their own olive tree. In light of the Church's
contemptuous treatment of the Jews over the greater part of Christian
history, Paul's warning went unheeded.
Indeed, his warning was prophetic: The arrogance of the
Christian nations towards the Jewish people throughout the ages - in
some circles even persisting to our own day - shows
to what extent they had forgotten and despised the root that was meant
to support them.
Nostra Aetate
also reminds us
of
Paul's words about his Jewish kinsmen: "theirs is the sonship and
the
glory and the covenants and the law and the worship and the promises;
theirs
are the fathers and from them is the Christ according to the flesh"
(Rom.
9:4-5). The declaration continues:
As Holy Scripture testifies, Jerusalem did not
recognize the
time of her visitation, nor did the Jews in large number, accept the
Gospel; indeed not a few opposed its spreading. Nevertheless, God holds
the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of
the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues (NA 4; cf. Rom 11:28-29)
Paul could not be clearer: Despite Israel's
unbelief, God's gifts and calling to them are "irrevocable."
The declaration also unequivocally
opposes attributing
guilt to the Jews for the death of Christ or claiming that God
has
somehow rejected them because of their non-acceptance of Jesus:
True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed
their lead
pressed for the death of Christ; still, what happened in His passion
cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then
alive, nor against the Jews of today. Although
the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented
as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy
Scriptures." (NA 4)
Finally, consider this beautiful paragraph of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church which affirms that Gentiles can discover Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, "only by
turning towards the Jews":
The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of
God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the
adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East... In the magi,
representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the
first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation
through the Incarnation. The magi's coming to Jerusalem in order to pay
homage to the king of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the
messianic light of the star of David, the one who will be king of the
nations. Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship
him as Son of God and Savior of the world only by turning towards the
Jews and receiving from them the messianic promise as contained in the
Old Testament. The Epiphany shows that "the full number of the nations"
now takes its "place in the family of the patriarchs", and acquires Israelitica dignitas
(is made "worthy of the heritage of Israel") (CCC 528).
Conclusion
In conclusion, replacement theology or supersessionism is a theological
error
that has no foundation in the New Testament or teachings of the Church.
Even though this error became widespread and was taught by many
influential Christians beginning with the Church Fathers, it was never
an official doctrine of the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, the
fact that God's election of Israel remains
valid does not mean that His covenant with them is "salvific," or that
they can be fully justified before God while they continue to reject
the Gospel. This opposite error, called dual-covenant
theology, is treated in another article.
Sources:
Supersessionism
(Wikipedia)
The
Error of Replacement Theology (Clarence Wagner, Bridges for
Peace)
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