Biblical truth about an important doctrine.
Replacement Theology, also known as “Supersessionism,” is the belief that New Testament Christians have replaced the “Jews” as God’s chosen people.
This doctrine is often misunderstood and smeared as “anti-semetic” by Zionists who believe God is “not done” with Israel. They cling to a false notion, based on a twisting of Romans 11, that God will one day restore Christ-rejecting Jews in modern Israel and the nation will miraculously believe the gospel. You can watch a sermon on Romans 11 that expounds what the chapter is actually teaching here.
I’ve provided four principles of Replacement Theology below in order to clear the confusion and offer people a better understanding of what this doctrine asserts.
- Physical Israel Was Replaced
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
Matthew 21:43
Jesus Christ himself, after expounding on the parable of the householder’s vineyard, preached Replacement Theology by concluding that the Kingdom of God had been taken from Physical Israel. Furthermore, Jesus contends that the nation was given to a different group bringing forth the “fruits” thereof. In other words, spiritual Israel replaced physical Israel.
Ancient Israel was supposed to be a light to the gentiles defined by God’s law. Instead, Israel and Judah both disintegrated into degeneracy and would each be afflicted by Assyria and Babylon respectively.
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Hebrews 8:8
The Bible teaches that Israel broke God’s covenant and, in essence, could not uphold their end of the deal. During Christ’s earthly ministry, they mocked, rejected, blasphemed and pleaded with the Romans to crucify him. As Jesus explained in Matthew 21, the Kingdom would subsequently be taken from them and given to a spiritual nation made up of believers – both Jew and Gentile.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ephesians 2:19
2: The Promises Made to Abraham Apply to Believers
Zionists will often cite Genesis 12 to defend their false doctrine, but the Bible explains that the promises made to Abraham and his “seed” actually apply to saved Christians.
Genesis 12 is contorted by Zionists to teach that America will incur a blessing for supporting modern Israel, but nothing in scripture validates this view.
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 12:2-3
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Galatians 3:16
And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:29
As Galatians 3 explains, the “seed” described in Genesis 12 is Christ – and those who are in Christ are Abraham’s seed in a spiritual sense. This means the Abrahamic covenant has nothing to do with Jews and everything to do with Jesus Christ and Christians. God promised Abraham that in him all families of the earth would be blessed, not through an alliance with modern Israel, but through Christ. Those who are in Christ are Abraham’s spiritual descendants and have been blessed with salvation.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Galatians 3:8-9
Furthermore, Galatians 3 says God preached the gospel to Abraham (put that in your dispensationalism pipe and smoke it) and clearly articulates that those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Are the Jews of today “of faith?” Absolutely not.
3: Your Physical Lineage Doesn’t Matter
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28
And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1 Peter 1:17
But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Titus 3:9
God is no respecter of persons and the New Testament heavily deemphasizes physical lineage, even commanding Christians in Titus 3 to avoid genealogies altogether. Have you ever noticed that the only two genealogies in the New Testament pertain entirely to Jesus and no one else?
According to Galatians 3:28, believers are ”one” in Christ irrespective of their gender, social status or ethnic background.
Zionism, conversely, heightens the importance of physical lineage by pedestalizing a specific group as the “chosen people” solely due to their ancestry. In reality, Zionism honors the false religion of Judaism whose adherents don’t believe a single word of the Bible – Old or New Testament – and can’t prove their ancestry extends to the original twelve tribes to begin with.
Contrary to the doctrine espoused by most churches, God’s chosen people are the “spiritual Jews” who’ve accepted the gospel.
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Romans 2:28-29
4: The New Testament Replaced the Old Testament
Consider the following:
- The spiritual priesthood of the believer replaced the Levitical, “Aronic” priesthood.
- Spiritual circumcision replaced physical circumcision.
- Spiritual sacrifices replaced carnal sacrifices.
Every fundamental Baptist would likely agree with all the above, yet they wholeheartedly reject the concept of a spiritual nation (spiritual Israel) replacing a physical nation (physical Israel).
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Romans 9:6
Replacement Theology is aligned with an already established narrative in scripture: That carnal pictures of the Old Testament have been fulfilled in Christ and replaced by corresponding New Testament concepts. Why would spiritual and physical Israel violate that principle? Additionally, to believe that God is “not done” with Israel is to purport that the Old Covenant is somehow “on hold” or in abeyance.
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:13
The Bible couldn’t be more clear: The Old Testament vanished away and has been fully superseded by the New Testament. While God’s moral law persists today, the carnal ordinances and sacrifices of the Old Covenant have been done away with and fulfilled by Christ.
Conclusion:
Zionists ceaselessly malign Replacement Theology as a heresy that breaks God’s promises to Israel (despite those promises being predicated on their faith) and have smeared the doctrine as hateful toward Jews.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Replacement Theology simply acknowledges that physical Israel was placed, Abraham’s seed consists of the saved and God’s promise of future restoration for Israel applies to believers. Moreover, a true hatred for Jews looks like this: Designating them as God’s chosen people regardless of their virulent rejection of the gospel and allegiance to the false religion of Judaism. Zionists are lying to people who desperately need to repent of their blasphemy and they’re exalting a Christ-hating ideology in the process.
See below for a sermon by Pastor Steven Anderson outlining this doctrine in greater detail:
Ben the Baptist 