Six reasons why replacement theology is false

Did God cancel Israel?

To cancel someone means to stop giving support to that person. The act of canceling could entail boycotting an actor’s movies or no longer reading or promoting a writer’s works. The reason for cancellation can vary, but it usually is due to the person in question having expressed an objectionable opinion, or having conducted themselves in a way that is unacceptable according to the status quo or widely acceptive narrative so that continuing to patronize that person’s work leaves a bitter taste.

God’s ‘chosen people’ the Jewish people, as expressed in the Bible, is the idea that they (Israel) have been chosen by God as His special people. The term implies that the Jewish people have been chosen by God to worship only Him and to fulfill the mission of proclaiming his truth among all the nations of the world. The idea of the chosen people has had a profound and lasting effect on the Jews because it imparted a special significance to their relationship with God. It implied a covenant between God and the people of Israel. 

What is Replacement Theology?

Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism) essentially teaches that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Thus, adherents of Replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and that God’s covenants with them have been canceled. In other words, according to Replacement theology, the Jewish people today no longer have any unique part to play in God’s plans – they are just like any other nation on the earth (English, Spanish, Chinese, etc.). All the stuff God wanted to do with the Jews in the Old Testament, He is now doing instead with Christians. 

Why Replacement Theology is False

Did God Replace Israel? | Professor Mishkin Debunks “Replacement Theology!” | One For Israel Ministry

 

⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” Romans 9:4-5 | English Standard Version (ESV)

In the passage above, Paul states in the present-tense that the covenants still belong to the Jewish people, even after Jesus came.

Why Replacement theology must be refuted

It is unbiblical and forces a twisted and ‘spiritualized’ interpretation onto huge chunks of prophetic Scripture – hundreds of passages are affected. 

It cannot explain the continued existence of the Jewish people, nor the miraculous rebirth of the state of Israel in 1948. According to Replacement theology, God is finished with the Jews (as of the New Testament). Thus, people who believe in Replacement theology cannot give glory to God for the many astounding miracles that have occurred in the past century with respect to the rebirth of the modern state of Israel because, according to their theology, God wouldn’t do that for the Jews. Who, then, is responsible for what has happened? Replacement theology can only answer, ‘not God.’ What about miracles? No explanation. Thus, Replacement theology has the effect of repudiating one of the greatest proofs for the existence of God in the world today – the miraculous rebirth of the nation of Israel. 

Six Reasons Why Replacement Theology is not a Biblical Doctrine

1. The Bible explicitly promises that God’s covenant with the Jews would be eternal (i.e., unbreakable)

¹⁵ “To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does NOT annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.” Galatians 3:15-17 (ESV) 

In this passage, Paul states unequivocally that God never voids a promise. Never. That means that God’s promise to Abraham (the Jewish people), which includes the land of Israel (see above passages), can never be voided. 

2. The New Testament explicitly states that the Old Testament promises and covenants to Israel are STILL the possession 

Romans 9:3-5: “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. ⁴ They are Israelites, and to them BELONG the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To them BELONG the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” (ESV)

Here Paul declares – present tense! – that the covenants and the promises still belong to Israel. Paul said this during the Church Age! Thus, based on this passage alone Replacement Theology is refuted – God has not cut the Jewish people out of the covenant He made with them, nor is He planning to give the blessings He promised to the Jews to the Church instead (though, of course, the Church will certainly share in many of the blessings that God will give the Jews).  

3. The Old Testament explicitly teaches the future, permanent restoration of the nation Israel

Jeremiah 30, 31, and 33: This prediction of the New Covenant promises a restoration of the Jews in the land of Israel that includes spiritual blessings and physical blessings that will never end once started. Note that the New Covenant that God promises in these passages is a covenant with the Jewish people, not the Gentile nations, something the apostle Paul was anxious that Gentile Christians not forget (Romans 11) – it is God’s amazing mercy to now ‘graft’ Gentiles into this salvation promised to the Jews, but Gentile Christians do not replace the Jews! (Rom 1:16; 11:1, 28) 

4. The New Testament reaffirms the Old Testament expectation of future salvation and restoration of Israel

Luke 21:24: In this passage, Jesus predicts that the Jewish people will be trampled on until the ‘times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,’ referring to the time just before Jesus’ Second Coming. But this implies that there is an ongoing distinction between the Jewish people and the Gentiles, and that after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, that Israel will be restored again. None of this would be possible if Replacement theology is correct. 

5. Nowhere in the entire New Testament is the term ‘Israel’ used for those who are not ethnic Jews. Thus, there is no biblical basis for identifying the Church as the ‘new Israel’ 

The term ‘Israel’ is used seventy-three times in the New Testament and always refers to ethnic Jews. The vast majority of these refer to national, ethnic Israel while a few refer specifically to Jewish believers, rather than all Jews in general (for example, Gal 6:16). Try replacing the words ‘the Church’ wherever Israel is mentioned in the New Testament and things become silly and nonsensical. For example, 1 Corinthians 10:18 says “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?” If you put ‘the Church’ where Israel is mentioned in this passage, the whole thing becomes nonsensical: have sacrifices ever been a part of Church practice? Are there altars for offering sacrifices in churches? Of course not! Here Paul is clearly talking about the Jewish people when he says 

Romans 9:6-8 – ⁶ “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ 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 offspring.” (ESV)

6. If God could break His covenant with the Jews, then we cannot trust Him to keep His promises to us Christians! 

Galatians 3:7, 29 – “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”… “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (ESV) 

These are, perhaps, Replacement theology’s favorite texts because in them Christians are called ‘sons of Abraham’ and ‘Abraham’s offspring.’ Replacement theologians take these passages to mean that Christians are now Abraham’s offspring instead of the Jews (whether believing Jews or not), and thus, that the Jewish people have now been excluded from the promises and covenants that God made with them back in the Old Testament. But this is a very shallow interpretation because it completely ignores the many passages of Scripture that directly contradict it (e.g., Rom 9:4; 11:1-2; 11:26-27; 11:29; Jer 31:35-57; and many other passages, see the section above). 

In truth, the only thing this passage actually says is that Gentile believers are now included under the covenant and blessings and promises that God had previously given only to the Jewish people. Thus, this is not an exclusionary passage about the Jewish nation, but rather an inclusionary passage for Gentile believers – Gentile believers are now included in what God had already started with the nation of Israel. 

If God can cancel His promise people, Israel—then He can cancel you too!”

In Conclusion

Replacement theology cannot use Galatians 3 to say that ‘the sons of Abraham’ only applies to believers, and not to the nation of Israel. Thanks to Jesus’ death on the cross Gentile believers have now been included in the promise of salvation that God made to Abraham, but this does not mean that God’s promises to the nation of Israel are null and void. 

God is STILL using the Jewish nation today. Replacement theology teaches that since the book of Acts, when God sent the Gospel to the Gentiles (see Acts 10-11), the Jewish nation has ceased to play a unique role among the nations in God’s plan to redeem the earth. In other words, according to Replacement theology, the Jewish nation is now no different than Canada or Italy or Iran, or Mexico in terms of God’s plan of redemption. In Replacement theology, only the Church now serves as God’s light among the nations. Though it is true that the Church is God’s light among the nations, it is false and unbiblical to say that Israel no longer functions as a light for God among the nations as well. 

How is a Jewish person saved? A: In the same way that a Gentile is saved – by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 3:22; 4:24; 10:9)! On a national level, the nation of Israel is unique among the nations and is thus heir to some unique promises. But on an individual level, all people are the same before God (Gal 3:26-28) and no one can be saved apart from believing in Christ. 

Debunking Steven Anderson’s False Doctrines, Part 1: Replacement Theology | Crucified for You

Cancelled Cattle Ranch | Where they only slaughter bigoted cows

We know you’re a socially-conscious vegan, but if you want some of their beef you would be makin’ the world a much less racist place. Whada ya say, partner?