More On Replacement Theology

Posted : 22 Jun, 2013 03:41 AM

More On Replacement Theology



Replacement theology says the Roman Catholic Capital C Church replaced physical Israel. That there is a Physical Israel is supported by Romans 9: 6-8: "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."



The "children of the flesh" are physical Israel. Paul also talks about "Israel after the flesh" in I Corinthians 10:18.



The sure implication of John 3: 1-7 is that there is a Body of Christ which is Israel reborn in Christ. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Yet there is only one Israel, which is the elect of God. Israel after the flesh is not a people of God.



If the Church did not replace physical Israel, then an alternative teaching might be to say that physical Israel still exists as a people of God, alongside the Capital C Church. The concept of the Capital C Chuch was begun by the Catholic Church.



The theology called dispensationalism has done just that, to teach that God now has two peoples, physical Israel and the church, the ekklesia, the meeting, the assembly or the congregation.



Charles C. Ryrie (born 1925) says of classical dispensationalism that the: "basic primise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction throughout eternity." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today, 1966,pp.44-45.



J. Dwight Pentecost is another dispensationalist theologian who in his book Things To Come ( 1965) says "The church and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan. The church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament." (page 193, J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965)....



The classical dispensationalists - John Darby, C.I. Scofield, and Lewis S. Chafer - insist that "Israel" in the Old Testament always means physical or ethnic Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And - they teach that the Catholic Church did not replace ethnic Israel.



But to postulate - without any scripture - that God now has two different peoples contradicts John 10: 16, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."



"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12: 5).



" For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread" (I Corinthians 10: 17).



"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)



"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;" (Ephesians 4: 4)



The follower of dispensationalism is likely to try to use a dialectic argument against scripture, that is against, John 10; 16, Romans 12: 5, I Corinthians 10: 17. Galatians 3: 28. and Ephesians 4; 4. The dialectic mind rejects absolute truth and accepts shades of grey. It is a double minded mind, and

accepts yea and nay about doctrines taught in the scripture. Those who

use dialectic arguments against the facts of scripture are always looking for

loopholes, shades of grey, contradictions and verses where the meanings and implications

are not spelled out in great detail to hit at with their rejection of

the absolute.



But a dispensationalist dialectic argument does not overthrow John 10: 16, Romans 12: 5, Ephesians 4; 4 and the other scriptures given above. They still stand as absolute truth. When contradicted by dispensationalism, dispensationalism with its two peoples of God becomes another Gospel and false doctrine.



As John 3: 1-7 implies the elect are Israel reborn in Christ. The elect make up Israel reborn in Christ, the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5.



The New Testament almost always uses ekklesia, translated consistently as congregation by Tyndale, and church in later English translations, as assemblies of the Body of Christ in given locations. Paul does use ekklesia as a collective of many local assemblies in places, such as Ephesians 5: 23 "Christ is the head of the church," and in Ephesians 5: 32, "concerning Christ and the church." And in Colossians 1: 24 Paul writes that "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:" The Body of Christ is a collective of many assemblies at various places. Yet Paul cannot be using "church" as a Body of Christ, as those who are the elect, as a different group than Israel reborn in Christ.



The assembly, in so far as those in it are the elect, are born again, transformed in Christ, having his mind in them (Phillipians 3: 5), is the Body of Christ. Paul explains being born again in Romans 12; 2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Transformed is from metamorphoomi, being born again is a metamorphosis of those in Christ, a major change in the characteristics of the individual, marking the beginning of his spirit. The spirit as a child of God, in Christ Jesus, lives in the house forever (John 8: 35, "...and the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abiideth ever"). To be transformed in Christ is to have the mind of Christ, to be spiritually occupied by Him. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:" Philippians 2: 5



Instead of being replaced by the Capital C Catholic Church, physical Israel underwent a major change, a metamorphosis, which made it that spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5, "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."

This change in physical Israel is seen in the parable of the fig tree of Luke 13: 6-9, in which the Father finds the tree - physical Israel - bears no fruit and says to cut it down, but Christ as the dresser of the vineyard asks to allow him to give he tree new life by digging about it and giving it some fertilizer.



The transformation of physical Israel is first seen way back in the Old Testament.

In Isaiah 19: 25 God calls, though the prophet Isaiah, Israel his

inheritance. "Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be

Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine

inheritance."



God never said that something called the "church" was his inheritance,

even after he had carried out his promise to turn Jerusalem, or

physical Israel, upside down in II Kings 21: 13. God's offspring, his

inheritance, has always been Israel.



In II Kings 21: 14 God says "And I will forsake the remnant of mine

inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they

shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies;"



The "remnant of mine inheritance" is "Israel mine inheritance of

Isaiah 19;25. God says he is going to forsake Israel, or at that time

physical Israel. Why? Because in II Kings 21: 15 "Because they have

done that which was evil in my sight,and have provoked me to anger,

since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this

day."



And here is what God in II Kings 21: 13 says he will do as a result of

Israel having done that which was evil in his sight: "And I will

stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the

house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish,

wiping it, and turning it upside down."



The "plummet" refers to the plumbline in Amos 7: 8, "And the LORD

said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then

said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my

people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:"



The plumbline is the line of God's judgment on a people or on an

individual. Behavior that falls on the wrong side of the plumbline is

judged by God.



In II Kings 21: 13 God promises he will turn Jerusalem, or ethnic

Israel, upside down. Turning them upside down is his judgment upon

them for doing that which is evil in the sight of God.



Isaiah 29: 16 comments on this promise to turn Israel upside down.

There Isaiah says "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be

esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made

it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed

it, He had no understanding?"



God's turning of things upside down is to be esteemed as the potter's

clay. This refers to Jeremiah 18: 2-7. "Arise, and

go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my

words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought

a work on

the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the

hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good

to the

potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O

house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD.

Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O

house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation,

and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to

destroy it;"



The Lord first made a vessel on his potter's wheel which was marred.

This represents physical Israel in apostasy. Then the Lord made that

same lump of clay into a different vessel as seemed good to him to

make it. A potter who does not like the pot he has thrown on the wheel

can take it off, mix it with dry clay kneed it again, put it back on

the wheel and throw a different pot with that same lump of clay. In

the past I did this when I was a potter.



This parable of the potter's clay illustrates that physical Israel was

not simply replaced by Israel reborn in Jesus Christ, but one lump of

clay was remade into a better vessel, one that the Lord saw as being

good. Ethnic Israel was translated or transformed into Israel born

again. If a person is not transformed in Christ, he is not a part of the elect,

Israel reborn in Christ.



But on the topic of the ekklesia, the "church" being a people of God different than physical Israel, discussed above, here is an important scripture: In the parable of the sower of Matthew 13; 24-30, verses 25 to 30 say "But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."



Christ acknowledges that tares have been sowed in his wheat field by the enemy. I know that Matthew 13: 38 says the field is the world and the good seed are the children of the kingdom. But Christ says let the wheat and the tares grow together. What are the wheat and the tares together in? Christ tells his servants not to pull up the tares because they might also pull up the wheat, not always knowing which is the elect and which is the tare. The ekklesia would then include tares along the elect, and after the beginning of the falling away of II Thessalonians 2:3, supported by several other New Testament texts on a departure from sound doctrine, the church would be made up of more and more tares, until it becomes the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18, a tare church. So, the ekklesia or church cannot be equated with the elect Body of Christ, Israel reborn in Christ, the Israel of God (Galatians 6: 16) and Romans 11: 26 "and so all Israel shall be saved." Contrary to John Darby, C.I. Scofield, Lewis S. Chafer and many other dispensationalists Paul does not use "Israel" to mean physical Israel a hundred percent of the time

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