Replacement Theology

For You have made Your people Israel Your very own forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God. —1 Chronicles 17:22

Replacement Theology teaches that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. This belief says the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people and God has no future plans for the nation of Israel. God has not abandoned his people, as we read in the following scripture:

Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. (Leviticus 26:44)

God has not abandoned Jerusalem:

or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (Matthew 5:35)

God is going to restore the kingdom to Israel:

So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6)

Jesus goes on to tell the apostles that, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.” The kingdom has not yet been restored to Israel.

In the gospel, Jesus Christ goes to the people of Israel first. Let’s listen to the apostle Peter:

God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. (Acts 5:31)

Israel now includes all believers.

Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, (Romans 3:29)

We Gentiles are the foreigners who reside in the land of Israel. Let’s listen to God:

You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:34)

We Gentiles are now fellow members of the body of Christ:

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6)

All who believe are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But the Jew is first, then the Gentile, and of course, not all Israel is Israel:

It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (Romans 9:6)

There are unbelieving Jews, as we read in the following scripture:

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. (Acts 14:2)

Here’s the apostle Paul in the same context:

Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, (Romans 15:31)

Unbelieving Jews can be grafted back into the Olive Tree if they don’t remain in unbelief.

God compares his relationship with Israel as a husband and a cheating wife. What if we were married, and our wife cheated on us and had children that weren’t ours? Well, we might still love them as human beings, but they wouldn’t be our natural born children. So, we probably wouldn’t want to live with them or care for them. Unbelieving Jews are children of prostitution, as God says in Hosea:

4 I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5 For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. (Hosea 2:4-5)

Let’s prove that Israel, the Jews, are still God’s people. Here’s Simeon as he holds the infant Jesus in his arms:

30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 which You have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30-32)

Simeon says, “Your people Israel.” Let’s listen to the apostle Paul:

Again, it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people.” (Romans 15:10)

“His people” are believing Jews, and they have always been first, then the Gentiles:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

The Jews are first for good and bad. Let’s go to Romans 2:

9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek. 11 For God does not show favoritism. (Romans 2:9-11)

In the following scriptures, the apostle Paul differentiates between Jews and Gentiles. He says, “One of you”, that is, a Gentile. Paul uses this phrase twice, once in verse 9 and once in verse 12. Here are the scriptures in context:

7 Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord. 8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know about us, and that he may encourage your hearts. 9 With him I am sending Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you about everything here. 10 My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you greetings, as does Mark the cousin of Barnabas. You have already received instructions about him: If he comes to you, welcome him. 11 Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God. (Colossians 4:7-12) 

In Ephesians 2:12, it says that we Gentiles were once, “Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.” Let’s read the scriptures:

11 Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:11-12)

We’re no longer alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. We’re not separate from Christ. We’re part of God’s household. Let’s go to verses 19-20:

19 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20)

The Church is God’s household:

in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

We are fellow citizens in the commonwealth of Israel. We’ve been grafted into the Olive Tree, the household of God, which is the Church. So, the prophecies in the Old Testament have application for the Church today, and the Olivet discourse is speaking to the Church (God’s house) as well.

The Olive Tree

Romans 11 puts an end to Replacement Theology. Here’s the apostle Paul again:

17 Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will certainly not spare you either.

22 Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! (Romans 11:17-24)

We Gentiles are now members of the body, the body of Christ, the commonwealth of Israel. We’re fellow heirs of the promise. Let’s go to Galatians 6:

Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:16)

What rule? Let’s go back to verse 15:

For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation. (Galatians 6:15)

Let’s listen to God:

35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name: 36 “Only if this fixed order departed from My presence, declares the LORD, would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be a nation before Me.” (Jeremiah 31:35-36)

This fixed order is still in place.

The end of time is approaching. The only way to receive God’s promise of eternal life and avoid the terrible fate of hell is through Jesus Christ. Let’s accept Jesus Christ as Lord and obey God’s commandments. Let’s do the right thing in life and receive the crown of eternal joy from God our savior.