Shot who?
Although most Christians may have never heard the term “Supersessionism,” it is a doctrine that has been hotly debated in theological circles for centuries.
Supersessionism, also called “Replacement Theology,” is a Christian doctrine which asserts that the New Testament or Covenant through Jesus Christ has replaced the Old Testament or Covenant, that was exclusively made with the Jewish people. As usual, I don’t have the print space to ferret out all the implications of this doctrine, but I am going to try my best to simplify it. Wish me luck!
The implications of this doctrine extend to the very core of Christianity. Anyone which has read more than a few of my articles will quickly see that I like me some big words, although I try to resist using too many highfalutin words because verbosity annoys most folks.
Theologians on the flip side throw around big words like they are candy, which everyone loves. I point this out because if you research Replacement Theology beyond this small article, you had better make sure your glasses prescription and dictionary are current, because all the theologians I read in preparation for this article had big word diarrhea. They must have eaten to much of their own candy!
Allow me to briefly sum up some of the varying views regarding this replacement theology doctrine and the problems it causes.
Replacement Theology says: “The Church” is the true people of God which has replaced Israel after the flesh, because ethnic Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah. While this statement is essentially true, it presents a great problem for others who say; “What about God’s Old Testament promises to the nation of Israel?” They go on to say the God has not fulfilled all his promises to natural Israel and is obligated to do so.
Therefore “The Church” is some type of parenthesis or afterthought in God’s plan for Israel. One might argue for that view because technically the word “church” is not used in the Old Testament/Covenant. The problem with both of these stated views and all the others not stated here is that they contradict the Word of God in some way. As Paul told the Corinthians “God is not the author of confusion.”
The first view denies all the promises God made to his “Chosen People”—Israel. In essence it not only does away with the beautiful picture of God choosing a people to reveal himself to the whole world, it invalidates the entire Old Testament or Covenant.
The second view creates two separate ways to salvation. One for Israel and one for the Gentile. So how does one boil down a controversial doctrine such as Replacement Theology/Supersessionism into something anyone can understand? You let the Bible do it for you!
Matthew 5:17 Jesus in his Beatitudes clearly states “Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets: I am come not to destroy, but to fulfil.” Seems obvious to me that Jesus did not do away with the Old Testament/Covenant or Mosaic Law and Prophets. He simply fulfilled them!
John 14:6 records Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” That seems pretty clear to me, that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
Or what about Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to ever one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
Paul told the Galatians that the (Old Testament) Law was a type of Schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. Revelation 4 tells us that no one was worthy to fulfil the Law except the Lion (Jesus), who did so by becoming a sacrificial Lamb (Jesus). And when this Lion/Lamb, (think about Isiah’s prophecy of the lion laying down with a lamb) took the book (God’s Covenant with mankind) and loosed the seals, all of Heaven erupts in praise, because in accordance with God’s Covenant salvation has been opened to whosoever will.
I want to encourage all of us to contemplate all these scriptures in contest. The only “Replacement Theology” going on in God’s plan of salvation is when all of mankind was replaced by Jesus on the Cross!