What Is Replacement Theology?
The Unconditional and Conditional Covenants of God
What is Replacement Theology?
In a nutshell, Replacement Theology (also called Supersessionism) is a Christian theological position that believes that the Church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people and thus Israel is no longer the inheritor of any of the promises of God. And by Israel, I mean ethnic Jews and the land.
They believe this because the nation of Israel has largely rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They do however recognize that there have been and will continue to be Jewish people who believe in Jesus and that those Jews will be part of the Church. That much they got right.
I think Scripture is clear on the fact that God has a redemptive plan both for Israel and for the Church. There is not a different plan of salvation for each, but the plan to get there is different. If you recall, Abraham did not know who Jesus was, but he believed that there would be a Messiah, and it was counted to him as righteousness. (Rom. 4)
Problems with Replacement Theology
There’s a LOT of problems with Replacement Theology. Those who believe this theological stance often overlook the fact that there are different kinds of covenants in the Bible. There are conditional and unconditional covenants. We cannot and should not paint every covenant in Scripture with the same broad brush because they are not all the same.
Let’s look at a few of the covenants in Scripture and whether or not they are conditional or unconditional:
Covenant with Noah - Gen. 9 Unconditional Covenant: God will never again flood the entire earth with water. This was not only a promise to human beings, but also to the animals.
Covenant with Moses (also referred to as the Old Covenant) - Ex. 20, Deut. 5 Conditional Covenant - The 10 Commandments (cover moral, civil, and ceremonial laws) - Promise: If you obey, expect blessings. If you disobey, expect curses. (Deut. 28)
Covenant with David - 2 Sam. 7, 1 Chron. 17, Luke 1:32-33 - Unconditional Covenant- His lineage will be the line through which the Savior will come and there will be someone from this line (Jesus) who will sit on the throne of David forever. This is the promise of a perpetual dynasty from the lineage of David. (Jer. 33:17)
Covenant with Abraham - Gen. 12, Gen. 15, Gen. 17 - Unconditional Covenant (Abraham didn’t even participate in the cutting of this covenant. God put him to sleep.) God promised to bless those who bless him (aka - Israel) and curse those who curse him. His descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God set aside a people of His own to make His promises known to the rest of the world. Through Abraham all the nations of the earth will be blessed. There was a promise of the land of Israel.
The New Covenant (a fulfillment of the Old Covenant) - Heb. 8, Ezk. 36 - Conditional Covenant upon accepting Jesus Christ as personal Savior - Instead of the Old Covenant that was written upon stone tablets, now, the law of God is written upon the hearts of believers.
Replacement theology misinterprets God’s covenants with Abraham and David. God even promised in Jer. 31:31 that He was going to make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. We believe that Israel has a national destiny. We believe that includes the people and the land. Throughout Scripture, the people and the land are always connected. It is hard to ignore that God has an eternal destiny for Israel when one reads Ezk. 37, Isaiah 66:8, Dan. 12, and Rev. 4-19. Replacement theologists assign most, if not all, of these Biblical passages to the Church. The entire book of Revelation is not seen as literal, but as allegorical. I believe that some of it is allegorical and some of it is literal. The context of Scripture will dictate the way that it is to be read. If everything is seen as symbolic, then everything falls into the realm of spiritual and totally ignores those areas that were meant to be literal.
God Draws Us To Him
Paul says in Romans 11:13-25 that God extended salvation to the Gentiles to make the Jewish people jealous so that they will be drawn to the Savior. He never said that God had forgotten the Jewish people/aka the nation of Israel. In fact, he said the opposite in Rom. 11:1, “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.” I’m not quite sure how replacement theologists explain away Romans 11.
Replacement theology believes that all or part of the Abrahamic Covenant has been ripped away from the nation of Israel. Once that covenant has been removed, then Ezk. 36 and Ezk. 37 means nothing! And if the people (ethnic Jews) mean nothing, then the land also means nothing.
" But their sin never forfeited the eventual and future right to the land and it certainly never forfeited their eventual salvation."
There is nowhere in Scripture where we are told that the promises of God in Abraham regarding the land of Israel have been removed. It is true that the nation of Israel has been repeatedly judged because of their sin and failure to accept Jesus Christ. And there have been times throughout history that they have been put out of the land because of their sin. But their sin never forfeited the eventual and future right to the land and it certainly never forfeited their eventual salvation. During the holocaust, 1 in every 3 Jews were killed. During the tribulation, 2 in every 3 Jews will be killed (Zech. 13:8) Of the ⅓ that will survive, they will all be saved. (Rom. 11:25-27) Before this happens, there will be a final regathering to the land of Israel. (Am. 9, Jer. 36) I have always wondered what would cause the Jewish people worldwide to return to the land of Israel and now we know! The demonic antisemitism that seems to be pervasive around the world today seems to be the drawing card for the Jewish people to return to their ancestral land. There will be a time when it is not safe for a Jewish person to live anywhere in the world except Israel. In the end, when Israel looks upon the Messiah that they pierced, they will mourn as one mourns for an only child. (Zech. 12:10)
When Israel Became a Nation Again:
On May 14, 1948, Israel became a nation after being out of the land for 2000 years! Can a nation be born in a day? Well, it was and Scripture predicted that it would be! (Isaiah 66:8) And because they are back in the land, the stage is set for the Davidic covenant to play out and for Jesus to return and sit on the throne of David. (Rev. 22, Ps. 2, Ps. 72)
They Will Mourn
There is nothing inherently special about the Jewish people. God made them special because He chose them from all the peoples of the earth to make a name for Himself and He will vindicate the holiness of His great name. (Ezk. 36) And when Israel is saved, their jubilation will give way to sorrow when they realize that they not only rejected Jesus as the Messiah, but they “pierced” Him. Every single person will go and mourn by himself or herself. Nations are not saved, people are saved. Each person will have to deal with this individually. The deepest sorrow is always done in solitary. (Zech. 12:8-14)
Replacement theology ultimately breeds antisemitism. That is the saddest thing about this view. God has blessed the Jewish people in so many ways. They have made significant contributions to the field of science, literature, medicine and the arts. God has given them incredible ingenuity. That much has been witnessed in the past few years since Oct. 7, 2023 when the whole pager attack was cooked up and carried out and when the war with Iran was so well-planned and executed.
Friends, please do not take my word for any of this. Study yourself to know Scripture and God’s flawless continuity from Genesis to Revelation. I think replacement theology is dangerous and demonic. I have dear friends (and family) who believe this way and it breaks my heart, but I am not breaking fellowship with them. Instead, I pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to them the truth of His Word. If you think about it, Satan was the first anti-semite in the history of the world.
Bottom line, if God has forfeited His promises to Israel, then you and I are in a lot of trouble! God’s plan for a people of His own through the lineage of Abraham has played out through the generations. If you want to know where we are on the prophetic timetable, look at Israel. And if you want to know where the second hand on that clock is, look at Jerusalem. In Jer. 29:11, God tells the nation of Israel, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
I encourage you to join us this fall as we study the book of Revelation. It is hard to study that book and not conclude that the majority of it focuses on the nation of Israel and God’s future plan for them.
