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Is Covenant Theology the same as Replacement Theology?
Monergism ^ | 2008

Posted on 09/30/2025 9:30:09 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

While it is true that Covenant Theology emphasizes the unity of God's people throughout redemptive history... it most certainly does not teach that the Church “replaces” Israel.

To the contrary, it teaches that the Church has been in existence ever since God first established his Covenant of Grace with Adam, and that, while the Church was composed of the believing remnant of national Israel during the Old Testament era, God's design was always to expand it and bring all the nations into its fold, just as he promised Abraham (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:7-9).

Today he has done that, and so now, his Church is composed both of the believing remnant of the Jewish nation, as it always has been, and also of a believing remnant of the Gentiles, who have been grafted in and made a part of the same body.

So Israel has not been replaced, it has just been expanded to include Abraham's children by faith from every nation on earth (Ephesians 2; Galatians 2 & 3).

(Excerpt) Read more at monergism.com ...


TOPICS: Theology
KEYWORDS: bible; covenanttheology; dispensationalism; israel; jesus; replacementtheology
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Follow-up from a post yesterday, which notes that Gentiles being "grafted in" is NOT the same as "replacing." And that God's prophecies concerning both Jews and Gentiles still hold for future.

But how this relates to *geopolitics* is where the differences lie...

All Christians of good will, regardless of theology, can get behind the struggle against Islamic terrorism and upholding Israeli sovereignty. But to what extent theology is supposed to dictate national military budgets, foreign policy, that's where the real disagreements are...

1 posted on 09/30/2025 9:30:09 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Covenant Theology Is Not Replacement Theology
The Heidelblog ^ | Aug 2013 | R. Scott Clark

The NT [New Testament] church has not “replaced” the Jews. Paul says that God “grafted” the Gentiles into the people of God. Grafting is not replacement, it is addition.

Reformed covenant theology does not juxtapose Israel and the church.. It recognizes that the church was temporarily administered through a typological, national people, but the church has existed since Adam, Noah, and Abraham; and it existed under Moses and David; and it exists under Christ.

https://heidelblog.net/2013/08/covenant-theology-is-not-replacement-theology/#comments


2 posted on 09/30/2025 9:31:00 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

God’s People are those who follow Him.


3 posted on 09/30/2025 9:37:57 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

To what extent God needs our “help” with moving prophecies along is the debate.

God doesn’t need “our help” with fulfilling His every promise. That’s HIS to do, in HIS timing, but He DOES command us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”


4 posted on 09/30/2025 9:39:13 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

To what extent God needs our “help” with moving prophecies along is the debate.

God doesn’t need “our help” with fulfilling His every promise. That’s HIS to do, in HIS timing, but He DOES command us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”


5 posted on 09/30/2025 9:39:13 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Good post — well said


6 posted on 09/30/2025 9:56:09 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

No man comes to the father but by me…

The Messiah came. If you reject him and think he’s a false prophet, you aren’t in the church. It should be obvious, but there’s been a lot of gaslighting for several decades now.


7 posted on 09/30/2025 9:58:44 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

“ Today he has done that, and so now, his Church is composed both of the believing remnant of the Jewish nation,”

Gods church does not include Christians, and then a bunch of people who reject Jesus as a false prophet. How did they obtain the luxury of being able to flip the finger to Jesus but still be in gods church?


8 posted on 09/30/2025 10:00:16 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

“ Today he has done that, and so now, his Church is composed both of the believing remnant of the Jewish nation,”

Gods church does not include Christians, and then a bunch of people who reject Jesus as a false prophet. How did they obtain the luxury of being able to flip the finger to Jesus but still be in gods church?


9 posted on 09/30/2025 10:00:20 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: DesertRhino

You’re correct. Jesus is pretty clear his rejectors had hit a dead end:

“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

The Bible makes clear followers if Christ are the apple of his eye. There is NO Bible verse that says “God will curse those that curse Israel.”

This promise is actually at those that curse or afflict
the Christians:

“Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. 2 Thessalonians 1:6.


10 posted on 09/30/2025 10:11:55 AM PDT by MNDude
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Bookmark.


11 posted on 09/30/2025 10:16:26 AM PDT by Inyo-Mono
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

There’s no such thing as “replacement theology.”

Replacement theory maybe.

And there’s nothing wrong with it.

It may not be right. But that’s a different question.

Really, people just like to hear themselves talk, and argue, and waste time to avoid the Gospel.


12 posted on 09/30/2025 10:17:58 AM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I’m against Islamic terrorism. I’m no more interested in “upholding Israeli sovereignty” than I am in upholding Brazilian sovereignty.


13 posted on 09/30/2025 10:19:33 AM PDT by Tom in SFCA
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

I’m this thread I’m seeing that Replacement Theology means that the NT church — body of Christ replaced Israel.

In other threads it has been said that the Catholic denomination replaced Israel.

(They’re both wrong, but it’s interesting how diverse the lingo is.)


14 posted on 09/30/2025 10:42:15 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Without choice, there is no virtue
15 posted on 09/30/2025 10:42:20 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: MayflowerMadam

It’s saying there was never any real distinction.

“Israel” was always the church before Gentiles came into the picture. Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David etc….they were and are in the fold of Christ.


16 posted on 09/30/2025 10:44:24 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: MNDude
There is NO Bible verse that says “God will curse those that curse Israel."

Look to history to see if God did curse those that cursed Israel.
17 posted on 09/30/2025 10:55:09 AM PDT by Seven_0 (You cannot fool all of the people, ever!)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
While I'm glad to hear from Covenant theologians that they do not believe that the Church has replaced Israel, many if not most believe that the Church through Jesus is now the recipient of the Old Testament promise made to Israel. They do this by spiritualizing many of these yet literally fulfilled promises to Israel, particularly the land promises. So if a Covenant theologian believes that the promises that Jesus will rule the earth, literally from Jerusalem with resurrected Israelite saints is properly interpreted as a spiritual promise to the Church (which would include saved Israelites), then is that not a form of 'replacement theology'?

Also there are many reformed theologians who fully embrace 'replacement theology' although they might prefer to call it 'Christian Reconstructionism'. These would include Rushdoony, DeMar, Cornelius van Til, Gary North, Kenneth Gentry and Greg Bahnsen.

18 posted on 09/30/2025 10:55:37 AM PDT by Pres Raygun (Repent America!)
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To: DesertRhino

Did you know that there are now 1 million Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah? That amounts to 1 in every 16 Jews worldwide are now Christians and that number is growing rapidly. God is saving Israel and has a plan for their redemption, just as Paul predicted in Romans 11.


19 posted on 09/30/2025 11:04:34 AM PDT by Pres Raygun (Repent America!)
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To: Pres Raygun

Yes I do. And if you’re Jewish, and you except that Jesus is the messiah, then I would expect you are in the church of God. But if you were Jewish and you reject Jesus as the son of God, and think he is a false prophet. You are not in God’s church. Think about it, if keeping the old Jewish law and being a faithful Jew ensured your salvation, then why would Jesus have come at all? A person could’ve merely converted to Judaism and followed the law.


20 posted on 09/30/2025 11:19:42 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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