Posted on 11/08/2023 12:11:15 PM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
Note: The following is a most relevant open letter, which is important to all within the Body of Christ to read. Our prayer is that you will read carefully and understand God’s Holy View of Israel in these end times when the Jewish people are again beginning to suffer hatred throughout the world.
Dear Brother or Sister in Christ,
If you are a member of a Catholic or mainline denominational church, you have probably been taught something called replacement theology (and perhaps you don’t even know it has that name). Replacement theology leads those who have adopted it to believe that Israel is no longer God’s people and that the modern regathering of the Jews in their historical land is theologically meaningless. Please know this is an error, and I write this letter to alert you to it so you can study God’s Word and reach your own conclusion.
Replacement theology, sometimes called supersessionism or fulfillment theology, is a doctrine stating either that the Church took Israel’s place as God’s people when Israel rejected Jesus as its Messiah or that the “old” Israel was set aside in favor of a “new” Israel, the Church, upon Jesus’s first coming. No matter how it got there, the Church is now God’s people and the beneficiary of the promises God made Israel in the Old Testament. Consequently, Jacob’s blood descendants have no unique destiny, and modern Israel’s existence has no significance. Because replacement theology is often woven into otherwise sound teachings on redemptive history, many believers aren’t even aware that it is a separate doctrine with its own name.
Nonetheless, replacement theology is enshrined in Catholic dogma and runs rampant in mainline denominations, even among those that otherwise take the Bible seriously.
Replacement theology raises troubling implications about God’s character, not the least of which are: if God revoked his promises to Israel, what keeps him from revoking them again, and does God really change not (as Malachi 3:6 says)? Many who have been taught replacement theology have not considered these implications. Perhaps you have, too, but have dismissed them out-of-hand or rationalized them away, possibly because they are too dreadful to imagine. Unfortunately, ignoring the implications does not make them go away.
Rather than addressing these (and other) broader implications, this letter will instead tackle the assumption that lies at the very heart of replacement theology: did Israel really forfeit its blessings? Did God really forsake or move past Israel? Fortunately, if you read the Bible without bias, it gives a clear answer.
One point is worth making before proceeding: I don’t have the ability or the moral duty to force you to reject replacement theology. Only the Holy Spirit can convict. All I can do is call relevant scripture to your attention and invite you to check it out yourself. That is what I will now do.
To keep this letter short and clear, I will rely only on two passages: Isaiah 6 and Romans 11. (If you are a Reformed believer, you tend to read Revelation figuratively because you have been taught that it is “apocalyptic literature.” I will, therefore, deliberately avoid Revelation’s many passages affirming Israel’s destiny, knowing that you will be unwilling to read Isaiah and Romans figuratively.) I will cite the King James Version, but any good version will do.
Isaiah 6 contains the well-known “Here I am. Send me” passage in which Isaiah volunteers to convey a message God has for his people:
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed” (Isaiah 6:8-10).
God informs his people not only that they are hardened (deaf, blind and without understanding), and he is the one hardening them, but also that he has hardened them to delay their repenting and being healed. Note that God does not tell them why he wants a delay.
When the disciples ask Jesus why he speaks “to them” in parables in Matthew 13, he quotes this passage of Isaiah 6:
“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive” (Matthew 13:11-14).
Paul also quotes this same passage of Isaiah 6 in Acts 28, reminding the local leaders of the Jews that they are hardened.
“And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:24-27).
Paul then discloses the reason why God hardened Israel, delaying its repenting and being healed:
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:28).
According to Paul, God hardened Israel so the Gospel could be taken to the Gentiles.
However, Isaiah 6 continues after the passage quoted in both Matthew 13 and Acts 28. God has more to say to Isaiah about his people. Returning to Isaiah 6, after hearing God’s decree against his people, the prophet begs God for an answer in verse 11, and God gives it to him:
“Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in [the land] shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof” (Isaiah 6:11-13).
God promises that he will lift Israel’s partial hardening during or just after a widespread devastation. This may be a great war, even a nuclear war, given the extent and degree of damage. However, it may be a direct act of God, acting in wrath. Only he knows.
Why, then, did Jesus and Paul’s quotations from Isaiah 6 stop short of verses 11-13? The answer is that they were speaking in the First Century. Isaiah 6:11-13 would be fulfilled in the future. They were only talking about Israel’s hardened condition in those days and not about when it would someday repent. Remember, Jesus was only answering a question from his disciples as to why he was teaching in parables, and Paul was only making the case for taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Now, let’s look at Romans 11, in which Paul answers the question his earlier chapters in Romans begged: if Christ is the answer and the law is not, what about the Jews, to whom God had given the law? Has God turned his back on Israel?
“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” (Romans 11:1-4).
The answer is an emphatic “God forbid!” God will save an elect remnant of Israel, and God will save them by grace, not the law. To keep the Gentiles from feeling superior to the Jews, Paul goes on to say:
“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:11-15).
Then, after describing how the holy firstfruits of a lump of dough renders the whole lump holy, how a holy root can render the entire tree holy, and how branches grafted onto a holy tree become holy, even branches that had previously been cut off, Paul reveals a mystery in verse 25:
“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).
Though he does not outright quote Isaiah 6:11-13, he affirms the promise God made in those verses to end Israel’s hardening. The mystery Paul reveals is that the partial hardening of Israel’s elect will end when the “fulness of the Gentiles be (has) come in.”
It is important to note that none of these passages are talking about the Church. God has never hardened the Church. He has only hardened Israel, and only temporarily, for the express purpose of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles and building a Church that encompasses all peoples, nations, and languages. This he did at Israel’s great expense, but he will resurrect and magnify Israel because of it. Consider the supreme irony: God hardened Israel to benefit the Gentiles, and so many churches have returned their thanks to Israel by teaching replacement theology.
God’s reply in Isaiah 6 and Paul’s teaching in Romans 11 raise two questions: when will this widespread devastation occur, and when will the fulness of the Gentiles come in? The Bible gives no clear answer; God wants us to depend on him alone for the timing.
However, we can be sure of this – God will restore the elect of his people Israel. That unambiguous Biblical truth, stated explicitly both to Israel in the Old Testament and the Gentiles of the Church in the New Testament, exposes replacement theology as bad doctrine. Now, it’s up to the Holy Spirit and informed believers to purge the Church of this sad error.
If replacement theology now troubles you as much as it does me, please do me a favor. Consider giving a copy of this letter to a brother or sister who has been mistaught. You will be helping them and doing a good work for God’s kingdom.
Remember that time I asked someone why he was interpreting scripture without a priest to interpret for him? He said he wasn’t interpreting it, he was just reading it, and telling me what it says? It was the laugh heard around the world. Down with replacement theology.
I appreciate your comments on this thread, very needful.
Thank you for saying that. Others on this thread tell me I’m not wanted. Then again, they’ve bought in to Satan’s lies and have been hopelessly hoodwinked. So there’s that.
The RC cop out answer!
Yup....
Based on what STANDARD?
There are many; when trying to convince us what Face Value 'really' means, tend to says things like, "Well, in the Greek there is..." whatever.
So; what we get; is just ANOTHER 'translation' from some 'expert' or educator.
I'll let those guys who manage to wrest English from Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, etal to do the heavy lifting. I'll just use the English output; no matter how it lays.
I have a sudden craving for popped corn!
NIV is not the worst translation…..that’d be the Cotton Patch translation.
The Message gets my vote for the worst version of the Bible.
Sometimes looking at the Greek is very enlightening because it gets into subtilties that elude a direct word for word translation.
An example is this in Romans 12:2 on the word *renewing*.
https://biblehub.com/greek/342.htm
Going down, you find it’s connected to the word for renovation, which carries a connotation of leaving the basic structure in place but replacing all the non-essential stuff that needs to go.
We’ve done enough house renovations to really appreciate the difference between *renew* and *renovate*. There’s a world of difference between slapping a coat of paint on the walls to give them a face life, and actually gutting the old and putting up new, better built and better quality walls.
Looking at the Greek or Hebrew often adds a richness to what I am reading without actually changing the meaning.
IMHO one of the glaring weaknesses in preaching today is the lack of use of the original languages.
Their use was instrumental during the Reformation. It helped them understand what Rome had not been teaching.
NIV was created using “dynamic equivalence,” meaning it is NOT a “word for word” translation but rather what people thought the authors were trying to convey. Plus, like I said, the translators were using corrupted manuscripts. In addition, the translators came from every major denomination, including the most liberal ones, many of whom deny the basic tenants of true Christian faith. The KJV was a word for word translation, they used the Majority Text, not corrupted ones, and only the most learned and faithful Christian translators worked on it.
Beloved John, in his epistle to the followers of Jesus who are being discipled by him in the doctrine of the Apostles, says this in a simple but very piercing assessment of one's stance with the Godhead:
1 John 4:4-6 (AV; bolding added for emphasis and indices for clarification)Thus Beloved John here gives Metmom and Roman_War_Criminal the scriptural incontestible authority to judge the reliability of each other as well as you, or anyone who professes to be a "Christian" whether they be genuine or no. The standard is whether or not they each "hear" (γινώσκω), not merely "listen to" (ἀκούω) or "be aware of" (ἰδού) the doctrines that the Apostles taught (2 Thess. 2:15) and fully understand with spiritual discernment (1 Cor. 2:13-16, Php. 2:5)
Ye1 are of God, little children1, and have overcome them 2: because greater is he3 that is in you, than he4 that is in the world. They5are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We6 are of God: he that knoweth God heareth* us7; he that is not of God heareth not5 us. Hereby know we7 the spirit of truth7, and the spirit of error4.
=========
Indexed notes:
1. Inclusive to the regenerated spirit-born trainees discipling with John, figuratively addressed as τεκνια, (his) little (spiritual)children 2. The demonic spirits (including the Wicked One) that guide the unregenerated humans falsely professing to be "Christians"
3. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that fills and guides the spiritually matured disciple (cf. Jn. 14:26, Eph. 5:18, Col. 3:16)
4. Satan, The Adversary, the god of this world, the lying Devil and father of those humans falsely professing to be an instrument of the Godhead (See 2 Cor. 4:4; Jn. 8:3-44 context)
5. Humans under the guidance of lying spirits, false prophets (Jn. 8:44. 10:25-26; Mt. 24:24, Mk. 13:22)
6. Specifically the faithful primary Apostles alone personally taught by Jesus and alone permitted to orally teach voicing the Will of the descended Holy Spirit, and whose inspired words are faihfully inscripturated (Acts 2:42, 1 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 6:17)
7. The citation here forces the "we" to include not only the Apostles, but also their disciples orally instructed by them, as well as anyone who has heard and obeyedthe doctrine of the Apostles and received by spiritual rebirth the Indwelling Holy Spirit that allows the mature progressively sanctified servant of The Christ to overcome the wicked one (1 Jn. 2:13,14)
8. The Spirit of the Messiah, the Anointed One (John 14:5; Rom. 8:9, 1 Pet. 1:11)
* γινώσκω (ginōskō. pronounced ghin-oce'-koh)
A prolonged form of a primary verb; to “know” (absolutely), in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as shown at left, with others not thus clearly expressed): - allow, be aware (of), feel, (have) known (-ledge), perceive, be resolved, can speak, be sure, understand.
I'm afraid, NorthMountain, that it does seem to me that you use a lot of doctrinal talk and RCC dogma, but that you firstly do not "hear" what the Apostles have to say; and secondly cannot receive a cautionary note to those who do exercise spiritual discernment, and warn you of your erroneous interpretations of deafness to the soul-saving scripture passages.
Your misconsrtuing of the situation is because your inclination is to assert that your authority to speak the reiteration of the opinions of the (ineffably but certainly fallible) Magisterium of the RCC; that it is the only acceptable authority over competing interpretations of the Scriptures given by the Apostles and prophets of the Old and New Testaments; whereas Bible students like RWC and MM and myself believe that the infallible inerrant preserved inspired insripturated words of the Apostles and prophets speaking for God is the sole authority over itself and over the standards for confidence of and in its readers and implementers.
Your stance simply is nonsensical, unsustainable when faced with obvious inconsistencies in theory and practice.
I wish it were otherwise, for your sake, and for those who you might influence. Personal? Sure, because the errors proceed from a person and the organization from which his misperceptions are doggedly issued.
While true, it just adds a little bit more fuel to the fire of those who find merely one, uh, thing in the punchbowl as an excuse to pour it all out.
We Christians end up finding over Scriptural words (something that Scriptural words warn about) and the guys on the outside use that as an reason to avoid all of it.
Here are a few simple ways that you can agree to disagree with Christians from outside your theological tradition or denomination:
1.) Immediately question their salvation. The best way to begin opening the lines of communication between you and a believer from a different background is to instantly and vocally doubt their justification before the Lord. This shows right off the bat that you care about their eternal soul.
2.) Try to find extremely minor points of disagreement. Don’t get hung up on major areas of agreement like justification by faith or the necessity of the atonement. Rather, hone in on the extremely unimportant things you disagree on, like your preferred pew color and the kind of shirt the pastor wears in their denomination.
3.) Punch them in the face. The Greeks had several different words for love, one of which was philia, literally translated as “punching another believer in the face because you disagree.” As they’re howling in pain on the floor trying to hold their teeth in their mouth, you’ll rest secure in the fact that you effectively showed them the love of Christ.
4.) Use air-quotes every time you call them a “Christian.” Believers from other denominations will know that you truly count them as brothers and sisters in Christ when you give a big, sarcastic eye-roll and exaggerated air quotes every time you use the word “Christian” to refer to them or their denomination. Like so: “Hey Carl, I’m really glad you’re a ‘Christian’ [dramatic air-quotes here] too!”
5.) Intentionally misunderstand all their theological statements. If a believer from a different tradition tweets something like, “Praise the Lord for sending His Son to die for us!” make sure you immediately reply with a series of three or four dozen tweets demonstrating how their statement is suspect and doesn’t even display a remotely biblical understanding of the gospel.
6.) Make sure you loudly proclaim how much better you are. Finally, make sure all your conversations are laced with a refined sense of superiority. If you’re ready for the more advanced form of this technique, just start shouting at the other Christian’s face at the top of your lungs, screaming about how much more worthy of Christ’s love your denominational background is than theirs, and how dumb they are for believing whatever nonsense they believe. You’ll be bosom buddies in no time!
Except for the ADDED words printed in Italics.
And who gets to DEFINE what is 'corrupted'?
It’s amazing that so many of the Protestant denominations arose when the ONLY translation they had was the KJV.
That’s what I asked a Mormon once. He was like a deer in the headlights. He had no clue.
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