Is The Church The New Israel?

"I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be... God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew."

-- Romans 1:1-2 --

Replacement Theology, also known as Supersessionism, holds that the church has fully and permanently replaced Israel in God’s redemptive plan. Thus, the covenants that God made with Israel find their complete fulfillment in the church. Does this theology align with a literal (historical-grammatical) interpretation of Scripture or must we interpret parts of the Bible figuratively (metaphorically-symbolically) to fit this theology? With the exception of passages where the author clearly intended the text to be taken figuratively, such as parables and poetry, where do we draw the line between literal and figurative interpretations of Scripture?

Jacob is the grandson of Abraham. God changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Gen. 32:28). God chose Israel “to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6). Thus Israel is an ethnic nation of peoples who God set His love on thereby keeping the oath which He swore to their forefathers (Deut. 7:7-8). This oath was made to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel: “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever” (Gen. 13:15; 15:5; 26:4; Ex. 32:13). The descendants of Jacob will inherit all of the land that God promised to Abram forever (Gen. 15:18-21).

The church is the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-18, 27; Eph. 4:12; 5:23) consisting of individual Jews and Gentiles – born again, Spirit-indwelled believers who have eternal life (John 3:3, 16, 36; Rom. 8:9-11; 1 John 5:11-13). “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned (credited) to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6, Gal. 3:6). Everyone who comes to faith in Christ belongs to Him. We are “Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:7, 29). “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ” (Gal. 3:16). “It is not the children of the flesh (natural descendants of Abraham) who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants” (Rom. 9:6-8). Thus, Paul made a distinction between the ethnic nation of Israel (children of the flesh) and those who belong to Christ through faith (children of God).

God made this promise to Judah and the sons of Israel (Ezek. 37:16): “Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms… My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant (Christ Jesus) will be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever” (Ezek. 37: 21-22, 24-28).

It is vitally important to note that this is an everlasting covenant. God did not put any conditions or retraints on Judah and Israel that will cause Him to break this covenant because of their disobedience. This covenant will be fulfilled when Christ Jesus returns and establishes His messianic kingdom on earth (Matt. 24:29-31; 25:31-34) where He will literally reign for a thousand years (Rev. 20:4).

According to proponents of Replacement Theology, the church permanently assumed the role that was uniquely held by Israel. Thus, the church is the new Israel. There are three serious implications with this:

1. God has rejected Israel.

2. God broke the oath which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

3. God broke the everlasting covenant that He made with Judah and the sons of Israel.

These issues are resolved within Replacement Theology by teaching that the prophecies concerning the future blessings and restoration of Israel to the promised land are spiritualized or allegorized into promises of God’s blessing for the church.

Some questions that need to be asked and answered by proponents of Replacement Theology.

1. What happened to the old Israel?

2. The angel (Gabriel) who appeared to Mary told her that the child to be conceived in her womb (Jesus, the Son of the Most High) will be given “the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Is the house of Jacob now the church? If so, how did you arrive at this conclusion from the text?

3. The apostle Paul made the following abundantly clear: (1) God did not reject His people, Israel (Rom. 11:1) and (2) all Israel will be saved. God will remove ungodliness from Jacob (Rom. 11:26). Why would Paul say this if it was God’s intention for the church to replace Israel?

4. Paul also stated, “From the standpoint of the gospel they (Israel) are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they (Israel) are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28-29). Irrevocable is defined as final, not able to be changed, reversed, or recovered. How did God’s choice of Israel go from being irrevocable to revocable? What does this say about the character of God?

5. Will the church occupy all of the land (Gen. 15:18-21) that God promised to Abraham and his descendants? If no, then why?

6. During His lament over Jerusalem, Jesus declared, ““Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Luke 13:34-35). Doesn’t this passage teach that national Israel will repent of their rejection of Jesus as their promised Messiah and that they will see Him again or is this pronouncement null and void because the church replaced Israel?

7. Just before His ascension into heaven, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). If the church replaced Israel, then why didn’t Jesus answer this question by telling them no because Israel is being replaced by the church that He will build (Matt. 16:18)?

8. God promised eternal life to all who believe that He is the Son of God who came and died for their sins, was buried, and rose from the grave on the third day (John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 1 John 2:25; 5:11-13). If God broke His promises to Israel then what prevents Him from breaking His promise of eternal life to us?

9. If Israel has been condemned by God and there is no future for this nation, then how do you explain the supernatural survival of the Jewish people over the past 2,000 years despite the many attempts to destroy them? How do you explain why and how Israel reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not existing for 1,900 years?

I completely reject Replacement Theology. A literal interpretation of Scripture clearly teaches that God will fulfill all of the promises that He made to Israel when He physically and gloriously returns to earth and establishes His messianic kingdom.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations cited in this post are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.