The Deception of “Replacement Theology” Study No. 245

Replacement theology espouses the idea that the Church has replaced the Jews as the Chosen People, and that God has rejected the Jewish people for all eternity. It uses this logic: Because the Jews rejected Jesus Christ, God has rejected them. Furthermore, say the proponents of “Replacement Theology,” the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history is their just punishment for allowing Jesus to suffer on the cross. Sadly, this rationale had its sinister beginnings with the Church fathers.

Hieronymus (A.D. 347-420), who translated the Latin Vulgate Bible in the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, called the Jews “two-legged, thistle-eating donkeys,” and “animals to be slaughtered for hell.”

Athanasius (A.D. 295-373), who according to Church legend was of “divine ancestry,” taught that the “Jews are worse than the demons” and that it “is allowed to persecute them in cold blood because they have no future, either on earth or in heaven.”

Chrysostom (A.D. 347-407), patriarch of Constantinople, told his followers: “Israel has always been rejected by God because He knew in His providence that they would crucify Jesus.” He taught that the statement in Matthew 27:25, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” was proof of the Jews’ eternal rejection.

Statues at European cathedrals represent Israel as rejected and humiliated. She is a blindfolded wanderer, with a broken staff and fallen crown

Claiming that Matthew 27:25 is a curse is utterly absurd. The blood of the Messiah cleanses us from sin so it could never be a curse — it is the only way to redemption. Neither the Jews nor the Romans were solely responsible for the death of the Messiah on the cross. He willingly gave his life for the sins of every human being on the face of the earth. He “was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” Romans 4:25. He suffered and died because of His passionate love for the human race. No one took His life from Him. His cry from the cross was, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” Luke 23:34.

God’s covenant with Israel is eternal. “I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin,” Romans 11:1. “Replacement Theology” says
this verse refers only to Paul and Messianic Jews, and not to the Jewish people. They overlook the fact that “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in,” Romans 11:25. The temporary blindness was to allow many in the nations to come to salvation.

“God hath given them [the Jews] the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day,” Romans 11:8. Here, we can draw an analogy with the account of creation: “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and . . . fashioned a woman,” Genesis 2:2l-22.

Metaphorically, Adam represents Israel and Eve the Church. Eve was created out of Adam’s body, just as the Church was born out of Israel’s. Eve did not replace Adam. She was created to complement and coexist with him. God did not kill Adam, he only sedated him long enough for Eve to reach her wholeness. Then Adam was allowed to wake up, and both realized that they were created for each other: “Bone of my bones.”

In Revelation 15, a choir sings the “Song of Moses” and the “Song of the Lamb.” It doesn’t sing the “Song of the Lamb” instead of the “Song of Moses,” but rather both songs are sung in celestial harmony. The heavenly Jerusalem is comprised of elements of both the Old and New Testaments, both Israel and the Church. One does not replace the other, but rather each complements the other.

Chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans make it abundantly clear that God has not forsaken the Jewish people. “For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance [irrevocable],” Romans 11:29.

— by Ludwig Schneider. Reprinted from, Israel Today, PO Box 10010, Jerusalem 95303, ISRAEL, a full-color, monthly magazine, $37.50/year. Ω