Regarding Replacement Theology (Supersessionism)
During my interview process in 2019 for my current senior pastor position, the pastoral search committee asked me this question:
Can you describe your understanding of what that doctrine replacement theology (supersessionism) means and where you stand on the doctrine.
I answered this for them during our phone call. They later emailed and asked for my answer once more. I replied with my answer and then told them, “My apologies for the length, but I will be using this answer later as a blog.” Below is my answer.
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I had not heard of “replacement theology” prior to our call. After it was explained, it sounded similar to “Covenant Theology”. So I answered accordingly to the similarity—an answer I still stand by.
I have since looked up “replacement theology”. Surprisingly, it is not in any recent theological encyclopedias (at least none that I have)—i.e. from early 2000s to 2010—which means it is a newer theological explanation. According to GotQuestions.com,
“replacement theology essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan.... [it] teaches that the church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church, not in Israel.”
As for my view of this, “replacement theology” is an explanation of what dispensationalists believe covenant theology teaches. Essentially, it’s a dispensationalist argument that tends to mischaracterize covenant theology as anti-semitism. I do not fully agree with either dispensationalism or covenant theology. There are parts of the Bible that support points from both views and disagrees with both views. But to make sure I am clear on what I believe, I do not believe the Church has replaced the nation of Israel, nor do I believe that God has two distinct covenant people.
Israel is a distinct group of people—originally covenanted by God, from the lineage of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham. Though not all of Israel are of the covenant Israel, only the children of the promise are counted as part of the covenant (Rom. 9:1-33).
The Church (Gr. ekklesia) is anyone who is called out from the world unto God through salvation in Jesus—whom also are from the promised covenant seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:7-9).
The people of Israel will remain the ethnic people of Israel. However, I do believe Scripture is unambiguous. Anyone, even from Israel, cannot enter the kingdom of God apart from being born-again through Jesus Christ (John 3:3-6), and in becoming born-again—saved by grace through faith—they are now part of Christ’s Body (Eph. 2:8-22, 1Cor. 12:13). To deny that this is how you enter into the kingdom of God is to say there are two ways of salvation, which is heresy because Jesus said there is only one (John 14:6). To deny that all who are redeemed are not part of the same Body is to disagree with Paul’s plain teaching in Ephesians 2, 1Corinthians 12, and Galatians 3. Apostle Paul is clear, the wall of separation is no more. Any of Israel that are redeemed in Christ are now one covenant family with the Church (Gal. 3:27-29).
In light of Jesus, God's people pre-Jesus that were under the old covenant and God's people post-Jesus under the new covenant are all one Body, one household of God, one holy temple in the Lord. Furthermore, the whole book of Hebrews testifies that there is now only one covenant (Heb. 7:20-22; 8:6-13; 9:1-28). We, Jew & Gentile, by grace through faith are all one in Christ. So if God works through the nation of Israel in the last days, great! Whatever plan God has to work in and through Israel will be for the nation of Israel, but not Israel as a separate covenant people.
So where do I stand? I do not agree with replacement theology. God did not replace Israel with the Church. What God did through the atoning work of Jesus was bring all His people past, present, and future into one covenant family. Therefore, for anyone to imply that the New Testament teaches that those who are redeemed by God, even after the rapture, even from Israel, even in a different dispensation, are not part of the Body of Christ is to disagree with the New Testament. Every redeemed person—from Old Testament, to New Testament, to the end of all things, across every dispensation—is now and will be part of the one Body of Christ, the one household of God, the one holy temple in the Lord. That is what Scripture is clear on, and that is where I stand.
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As a note: The “Body” is also called the “Church” (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23, Col. 1:18, 24), which again affirms that the redeemed believers from the people of Israel and the Church are one covenant family.
April 18, 2019