What is Dual-Covenant Theology?
In another article we looked at the theological error of
replacement theology, which claims that God has rejected the Jews as
His
chosen people and replaced Israel by the Church. We saw that
this
theory cannot be reconciled with the New Testament and with the
teachings of the Church, which state that God's election of Israel and
His covenant with the
Jewish people are irrevocable and permanent.
Today, another theological error is causing much confusion in
the Church, because it is held by not a few influential people.
This error is called "dual-covenant theology."
Dual-covenant theology teaches that since God's
covenant with the Jews is still valid for them, they don't
need the New Covenant to be saved. Jews could go to Heaven
simply by keeping the Law of Moses, because of the "everlasting
covenant" between Abraham and God (Gen
17:13), whereas Gentiles (those who are not Jews) must convert to
Christianity
to be saved. In other words, Jews have their own way to God,
the
Old Covenant, and the Christians theirs, the New Covenant.
Dual-covenant theology is thus the opposite error of replacement
theology. Whereas replacement theology claims that God's
election, covenant and promises to Israel are superceded and abolished,
and the only role left for Jews is to convert to Christianity and enter
the Church, dual-covenant theology claims on the contrary that since
God's covenant with the Jews is still valid, it is totally
sufficient for them, and therefore they don't need Jesus or the Church
at all to be saved.
This
idea is very attractive to Jews who don't believe in Jesus (and,
tragically, even to
many Catholics) because it does away with Jesus' commandment to his
disciples that they should share the
Gospel with everyone, Jews and Gentiles. But the problem with dual-covenant theology
is that it completely contradicts the writings of the New Testament and
teachings of the Church.
Quite obviously, the New Testament claims that Jesus of
Nazareth is
the Messiah of Israel that God promised to the Jewish people through
Moses and the prophets (see Messianic Prophecies*, The
Messiah in the Tanakh and Who Do You Say I Am?*):
- Jesus' own mission was directed exclusively to the
Jews. He said "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel." (Mt 15:24)
- The proclamation of the early Church was also exclusively
directed to the Jews. (cf. Acts 2-4; 7)
- The apostle Paul wrote: "For I am not ashamed of the
gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith,
to the Jew first
and also to the Greek." (Rom 1:16)
Since God's covenant with Israel is still valid, could Jews
then be saved by simply observing the Mosaic Law - the Torah?
The New Testament and the Catholic Church answer a categoric "no" to
this question. Although the Torah
is God-given and good, and it can certainly be meritorious for Jews to
observe its commandments in a spirit of devotion to God, Divine
Revelation tells us that
Torah observance alone is not sufficient for salvation:
- "Nor is there salvation in any other [than Christ], for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved." (Acts 4:12)
- "A man is not justified by the works of the law but by
faith in Jesus Christ… for by the works of the law no flesh shall be
justified." (Gal 2:16)
- "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Gal
2:21)
- "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either;
he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." (1 Jn 2:23)
- "The
Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one
Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in
his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the
necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time
the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through
a door." (CCC 846)
- "Jesus affirms that ‘there shall be one flock and one
shepherd.’ Church and Judaism cannot then be seen as two parallel ways
of salvation and the Church must witness to Christ as the Redeemer for
all." (Notes on the Correct Way to Present
the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic
Church I. 7, Vatican Commission for Religious
Relations with the Jews, 1985)
- Even the declaration Nostra
Aetate in its section on the Jewish people, where it
affirms the permanence of God's covenant with Israel, still states that
it is "the burden of the Church's preaching to proclaim the cross of
Christ as the sign of God's all-embracing love and as the fountain from
which every grace flows" (NA 4)
The fact that Judaism as it is practised today is insufficient
for salvation should be evident to anyone who reads the Scriptures.
In the Old Testament, forgiveness was attained through the
offering of animal sacrifices and the shedding of their blood in
atonement for sins (cf. Lev 17:11). In the New Testament,
Jesus' Paschal Sacrifice and the shedding of His blood universally
atoned for the sins of all mankind. Through baptism, we take
part in the Messiah's death and resurrection, our sins are washed away,
and we receive the gift of God's supernatural, divine life.
The Messiah continues to impart to us this supernatural life
through the other sacraments that He instituted, and most especially in
the Eucharist where we partake of His Body and Blood, Soul and
Divinity.
For sure, the observance of the mitzvoth (the commandments) -
as meritorious as it may be - can only fall way short of this
great gift of supernatural grace, and even more so because Judaism has
been deprived of a Temple and sacrifices since shortly after the coming
of the Messiah.
In
summary, though God's election of Israel is indeed
irrevocable and permanent, Jews cannot be considered "saved" or
justified before God through the Mosaic covenant.
The NT and
teachings of the Church make it clear that salvation can only be found
in Yeshua the Messiah of Israel. This does not mean, however,
that Jews
are automatically condemned to hell if they do not explicitly and
consciously accept Christ, for the Church also teaches that those who,
through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church but
seek God with a sincere heart and try to do His will to the best of
their ability can be saved. Nonetheless, the fullness of the
means of salvation can be found only in Jesus the Messiah and in the
Church He founded (CCC 846-47).
A comparison of the different positions we have seen would
thus appear in their simplest form as follows:
| Replacement
Theology (Error) |
Catholic
Faith (Kosher) |
Dual-covenant
Theology (Error) |
- God's covenant with Israel has been abolished.
- The only role left for the Jews is to accept Christ,
convert, be baptized, and be joined to the Church.
- The evangelization of Jews is necessary, and they
should just become Catholics like any other Catholic.
|
- God's covenant with Israel is irrevocable and
permanent.
- This covenant is not salvific. God is still
calling the Jewish people to recognize Jesus as Messiah, be baptized, and be joined to the Church.
- The evangelization of Jews is necessary, but it
should be done in a way that affirms and strengthens their Jewish identity.
|
- God's covenant with Israel is irrevocable and
permanent.
- Since this covenant is still valid, it is also
salvific for them. It is not necessary that Jews believe in
Jesus, be baptized, or join the Church. Jews can be saved by
observing the Mosaic Law.
- The evangelization of Jews is unnecessary
and is
better avoided.
|
Let us close with the words of a Catholic Jew, Roy Schoeman,
on the subject of Jews, Jesus, and the Catholic evangelization of Jews:
The greatest misconception
that Catholics hold about Jews is the terrible, pernicious one that
somehow Jews don’t need Jesus! It is natural that Jews should hold this
view – to them Jesus was, after all, a false Messiah who indirectly
caused incalculable disaster to befall Jews – but it is tragic that, in
the interest of "dialogue" and a false ecumenism, this view is
sometimes voiced even by Catholics, and even by Catholics who believe
that they are representing the Church... What could be more anti-Semitic
than refusing to share the Gospel, the Good News, the joy and
fulfillment and salvation brought by the Jewish Messiah with the Jews
themselves, through whom He first came? (Judaism
Fulfilled, Interview of IgnatiusInsight.com with
Roy Schoeman)
|
