Replacement Theology is a misguided systematic approach to the bible that has not only led millions of Christians astray over the years but it has, in addition, birthed evil of the most horrific proportions, i.e. it played a role in the persecution of the Jews by the church through the centuries, including the Holocaust.

DEFINITION

Concisely put, Replacement Theology states that Israel, having failed God, has been replaced with the Church. As a consequence all the Biblical promises made to Israel are transferred to the Church. The Church is now the real Israel of God and Israel's national destiny in God is forever forfeited. The restoration of the modern state of Israel is thus an accident enjoying no Biblical credential and Christians who believe that it is an act of God, in faithfulness to His covenant cut with Abraham some 4,000 years ago, are considered misguided. This is the basic position of those subscribing to Replacement Theology.

ERRORS OF THINKING

(A) THE ALLEGORICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Replacement Theology effectively undermines the authority of God's Word in that it rests on the allegorical method of interpretation. That is, the reader of God's Word decides to spiritualise the text even if its context is literal. This effectively robs the Word of God of its own authority and the meaning of the text is entirely dependent on the reader's decision to spiritualise it or not. The problem is this: Man alone decides what he will spiritualise and what he won't. The Word of God can thus be manipulated to say anything! So, Replacement Theology rests on a false basis of Biblical interpretation.

INADEQUATE UNDERSTANDING OF COVENANT

Replacement Theology is only held by those who have not properly understood the nature of the Abrahamic covenant. This Covenant, first mentioned in Genesis 12:1-4 and thereafter repeatedly asserted and confirmed to the patriarchs is, in fact, the covenant of grace in Scripture for it underlines God's intention to bless the world with redemption. Such blessing, however, is through the nation of Israel. God says to Abraham: . . . "In you will all the families of the earth be blessed. . . "

So the Abrahamic covenant is one covenant having three vital elements:

1. It declares a strategy - to reach the world through the nation of Israel.

2. It bequeaths a land - as an everlasting possession to Israel . . .and

3. It gives a promise - those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse her will be cursed.

It is important for us to note here that if one element of the covenant fails then all fails. The covenant is like a coin having three elements, a rim, ahead side and a tails side. However, it remains one coin and one cannot retain one element of the coin and give away another. The Abrahamic covenant is just the same - it is one covenant. If one element of the covenant fails then all the elements fail. Thus if God's promises to Israel have now failed, then equally His promises to bless the world have also failed.

In short, if Israel's national destiny has been forfeited, through her disobedience, then the church is also finished! It must be remembered that the church's disobedience has been as great as that of Israel over the last two thousand years.

No one can deny this! So if Israel is finished because of failure then the church is as well!. There is no way that we can get around this. moreover, Paul underlines this very point in Galations 3 where he writes, years after Israel's rejection of Jesus as Messiah, that the Abrahamic Covenant cannot be annulled:

What I am saying is this: the Law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify that promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise." (Galatians 3:17-18)

According to Replacement theologians, this Covenant has been annulled. Only a superficial, inadequate grasp of covenant can lead to such a misguided conclusion.

THE PROPHETIC TESTIMONY

God's promises to national Israel are constantly re-affirmed by the prophets. In this way, He underlines the nature of His character and confirms the Abrahamic Covenant. An example of this is in Jeremiah 31:35-37:

"Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for light by day, and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of Hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs from before Me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord."

So again, the fact that the sun, moon and stars are still with us confirms that ongoing validity of the Abrahamic Covenant and, as a result, Israel's national destiny. For Replacement Theology to be valid the sun and the moon must also be vanquished. There is no way that Replacement thinkers can get around this!

Moreover, Replacement Theology makes a mockery of God's character for it rests upon the premise that if you fail God in any way He will discard you . . . Even though initially He asserted that His commitment to you is everlasting. This sounds like a typical human response to the world and not like the God of the Bible which, of course, is but the thinking of men!

According to the writer of the book of Hebrews, we know that God will be faithful to us because in spite of Israel's disobedience He has kept faith with her. Speaking of the Abrahamic Covenant, He says:

"In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of His promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 6:17-20)

Note again that we know God to be faithful because He has been faithful to Israel in all that He promised her through Abraham. In fact, this knowledge, says the writer, is the anchor of our soul (v19). According to Replacement Theology this is not true!!

THE TRUTH

In the final analysis, Replacement Theology is but the mere thinking of men unable to stand up to the test of Scripture. It contradicts Scripture everywhere and by so doing robs thousands of Christians from understanding God's redemptive purposes. The truth is:

1. God has not cast off national Israel.

2. Canaan to this present day is Israel's national homeland.

3. The church has not replaced Israel, she has only enlarged her. (Ephesians 2:11-13; Romans 11:17-18)

4. The modern restoration of Israel is evidence of God's faithfulness to His Word and the promise and strong encouragement to the Church.

5. The restoration of Israel will culminate in the coming of Messiah. Therefore the Church in the world is able to make herself ready and bless Israel as much as she can.

6. The restoration of Israel to her homeland in Canaan - including the West Bank - is the first step towards Israel's national redemption. (Romans 11:25-27)

In closing, it would be good for us to note a quote that came from the pen of the now famous and very godly Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend J. D. Ryle. He said:

"I warn you, that unless you interpret the prophetical portion of the Old Testament in a simple literal meaning of its words, you will find it no easy matter to carry on an argument with a Jew. Will you dare tell him that Zion, Jerusalem, Jacob, Judah, Ephraim, Israel, do not mean what they seem to mean, but mean the church of Christ."

Malcolm Hedding is the International Director for the International Christian Embassy, Jerusalem - For More information about their work visit the ICEJ - Jerusalem based website