Replacement Theology by David Reagan

By 300AD allegorizing the Scripture had become widespread. There arose a teaching that is called Supersessionism which says in short, because of their rebellion against God in their rejection of Jesus, God has replaced Israel with the Church, transferring the blessings promised to Israel to the Church. This is also called “Replacement Theology,” and those who believe in it constitute the majority of professing Christians today. Accordingly, they consider modern day Israel to be an accident of history, with no spiritual significance whatsoever.

The roots of Replacement Theology and its fruit of anti-Semitism go back to the very beginning of Christianity. This is ironic when you consider the fact that the Church began as a Jewish institution.

Origen (185-254 AD) – He was responsible for much anti-Semitism, all of which was based on his assertion that the Jews were responsible for killing Jesus.(8)

John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) – Preached a series of sermons against the Jews. He claimed it was a Christian duty to hate Jews. He claimed that Jews worshiped Satan.

Jerome (ca 347-420 AD) – Described the Jews as “… serpents wearing the image of Judas. Their psalms and prayers are the braying of donkeys … They are incapable of understanding Scripture …”(13)

St. Augustine (354-430 AD) – Asserted that the Jews deserved death but were destined to wander the earth to witness the victory of the Church over the synagogue.”(14)

By the Middle Ages, two erroneous concepts had become established Church doctrine: 1) The Jews should be considered “Christ killers” and should be mistreated accordingly. 2) The Church has replaced Israel, and God has no future purpose for the Jews.    

Unfortunately, the Reformation produced no changes in attitude. In fact, the hatred of the Jews was reinforced and intensified by the writings of Martin Luther. In 1543 he wrote a pamphlet entitled “Concerning The Jews and Their Lies.” The document was an anti-Semitic diatribe. In it, he referred to the Jews as, “A miserable and accursed people, stupid fools, the great vermin of humanity, blind and venomous.” Having dehumanized and demonized them, Luther then proceeded to make some startling proposals for dealing with them:

1.    Their synagogues and schools should be burned.

2.    Their houses should be destroyed.

3.    Their Talmudic writings should be confiscated.

4.    Their Rabbis should be forbidden to teach.

5.    Their money should be taken from them.

6.    They should be compelled into forced labor.

Needless to say, the Nazis gleefully quoted Luther as they rose to power and launched the Holocaust. In his book Mein Kampf, published in 1925, Adolf Hitler referred to Martin Luther as “a great warrior, a true statesmen, and a great reformer.” The terrible truth that Christians do not like to face, and which many are unaware of, is that the Holocaust was the product of 1,900 years of virulent Christian anti-Semitism.

The horror of the Holocaust tended to mute the most radical forms of anti-Semitism among Christian leaders. But in reality, anti-Semitism continues today in a new sophisticated form called anti-Zionism.

What does the Word of God have to say about all this? To begin with, it strongly repudiates anti-Semitism. Psalm 129:5-8 says that “all who hate Zion” will be “put to shame …” It further states that no believer should ever give a blessing to such a person.

Concerning the claim that the Jews have been rejected by God, there are a couple of biblical principles that need to be kept in mind. First, the Bible affirms that the Jews were called as God’s Chosen People to be witnesses of what it means to have a relationship with Him (Isaiah 43:10-12). And the Bible makes it clear that this calling is “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Second, in direct contradiction of Replacement Theology, the Bible teaches that the Jews have never been rejected by God because of their unbelief. In Romans 3 Paul asserts point blank that their rejection of Jesus has not nullified God’s faithfulness to the promises He has made to them (Romans 3:1-4). Paul makes the point again in Romans 11:1 when he asks, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” He answers his own question with an emphatic statement: “May it never be! … God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew” (Romans 11:2).

It is true that the Jewish people are currently under discipline because of their rejection of their Messiah. Over and over in their Scriptures the prophets said they would be disciplined if they were unfaithful, but always the promise was made that they would be preserved. Another reason they have been preserved is because God is determined to bring a great “remnant” to salvation (Isaiah 10:20-22). This promise is made repeatedly throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and is confirmed by Paul in the New Testament in Romans 9-11. The salvation of this remnant is described in detail in Zechariah 12:10 where it says that at the end of the Tribulation the remaining Jews will come to the end of themselves and will turn their hearts to God in repentance and accept Yeshua as their Messiah. In summary, the Word of God makes it clear that Israel definitely has a role and a future in the end times.

Why is anti-Semitism so widespread, so persistent, so virulent, and so irrational? It’s because it is fundamentally a supernatural phenomenon. Satan hates the Jews with a passion. He hates them because God provided both the Bible and the Messiah through them. He hates them because God called them to be His Chosen People. He hates them because God has promised to save a great remnant of them. He hates them because God loves them. The result is that Satan works overtime to plant seeds of hatred in people’s hearts toward the Jews. He is determined to destroy every Jew on planet earth so that God cannot keep His promise to save a great remnant.