Calminian

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That is my impression too which is why I am asking for ...

Please document from primary sources of those who teach "replacement theology" with links, so context can be checked.

You know, you can do your own research. Better than demanding people do it for you. Just say'n.
 
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Grip Docility

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Romans 9-11 is ultimately about God's grace for all sinners, that's kind of the big theme of Romans. Paul doesn't begin some new theme in Romans 9, he is continuing the same series of arguments which he began in the first chapter, namely, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to save all who believe, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Through it the justice of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" The Gospel is for all sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. That is why the Apostle can say, in Romans 11, that God "consigned all to disobedience in order that He might have mercy on all."

I'm not sure what you think is in Acts 1 that is helpful here, it is here that Jesus instructs His disciples to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is fulfilled in the next chapter during Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh as foretold by the Prophet Joel.

I also don't have a clue why you mention Zechariah 14.

-CryptoLUtheran

If only I had prepared for this discussion.... :(

Taken from here

Beginning of multi-chapter Exegesis

Romans 9-11, Acts 1, Zechariah 14, Joel 3 and Galatians 4 and 6:16

~Intro to Romans 9 -inprogress-~

I speak the truth in Christ —I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit —

Romans 9:1 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 9:1 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Paul just made it clear he’s about to be painfully honest, and has bound his words to be judged by God, as He is holding himself in personal accountability of Preaching what he’s about to preach under God.

that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart.

For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood.

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

Romans 9:2-5 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 9:2-5 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Paul’s heart hurts... why? In verse 2 he immediately reveals he is broken inside!

Verses 3-5 reveal why! Paul literally wishes he could revoke his salvation to give it to a group of people that apparently matter to him enormously. As Paul is speaking under oath of the Holy Spirit, he is revealing God’s heart, as well. This lines up with Christ’s words that close Matthew 23 with deep sorrow and lamenting, but show hope.

Who is making Paul sad? His brothers of “his own flesh and blood”... which is clearly a reference to his unbelieving Jewish brothers of the Broken off nature, of ... what Nation?

Israel as Paul calls these broken off Jews Israelites! Paul specifically notes that they are Israelites of the National Israel and goes on to specify that they are so by blood, DNA, Ancestral experience!

Anyone who contests this is ignoring context...

To be edited and continued further.

Continued... Romans 9:6-13

Continued... Romans 9:14-26

Continued... Romans 9:27-28

Concluded... Romans 9:29-33

Taken from here

Carryover from Honest Exegeting of Romans 9 to be remembered.
Fair warning... this is about to get mega intense!

But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:14 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:14 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

3 questions posited by Paul in direct relation to his Kinsmen of Blood that are enemies of the Gospel that Paul now sets forth...

1) how can they call on Him they have not believed in?

2) how can they believe without hearing about Him?

3) how can they hear without a preacher?

And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

Romans 10:15 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:15 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Paul adds a 4th question to the Tally.

4) how can they preach unless they are sent?

Now Paul, refers to National Israel in a way that binds to Pre-Christ reference...

But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
Romans 10:16-17 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:16-17 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Paul now sets the stage for the answers to the 4 questions by asking (Through quotation of Prophet Isaiah)...

Lord, who has believed our message?

Which Paul then Rhetorically answers...

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Now Paul again affirms that what is heard comes through the message about Christ... but the answers aren’t present yet to his 4 questions.

But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

Now Paul answers Clearly... and we are now challenged to see that The Lost sheep of the house of Israel, who were being led by wicked leaders were utilized to plant the Body Of Christ.

The context is now towards the Body Of Christ, as the Body of Christ is comprised of all Nations, whereas Paul only binds the term Israelite to National Israel through the entire Rhetoric being exegeted, currently.

But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said: I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.
Romans 10:18-19 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:18-19 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Here it Is! The unmistakable shift! While Gentiles were the Blind and Outsiders... Unbelieving Israel has now become the OUTSIDERS.

Nations were once Jealous of Israel, now Israel is Jealous of the BOC!

The Pride Of Being Chosen is now Burning in agony to see those once scorned as Goyem, as being the ones served by Believing Israel and Believing Goyem, alike.

The Lover that widowed itself and issues Divorce to God... is now utterly Blind, Deaf, Dumb And Jealous to see its Head, tending an entirely new Flock, and embracing an entirely New Bride.

The Lover Israel sought the Arms of “Ceaser”, and rejected the King of King’s for 30 Pieces Of Silver.

Now, this Widow Whales at the temple wall remnants and cries out for the protection of the King she so desperately Longs for!

This is the Groom scorning His beloved Ex-Wife, who He has allowed to go astray, by respecting her wishes, and displaying His Glory with an entirely New Woman.

Spoiler alert... She (Unbelieving Israel is More Jealous than words can begin to describe)... She aches to have her True King back, as she wears the scars and bruises of the Abusive men she’s sought Harlot like shelter with.

And Isaiah says boldly: I was found by those who were not looking for Me; I revealed Myself to those who were not asking for Me. But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.
Romans 10:20-21 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:20-21 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Now it comes to it... Israel is rendered “Disobedient” by Isaiah and Paul.

While the BOC is exalted as the strange people that Jesus has Revealed Himself to.

Note... if one is “Disobedient” to the Gospel, they can’t be part of the BOC, thus we now again see that the BOC is not Israel, as Paul spells this out blatantly!

The BOC is the Anti Type and Israel is the Type.

Type is never Anti Type!

Thus... We go into Romans 11 with utter distinction between...

1) Israel that is in Unbelief and cut off
2) Israel that is within the Earthly BOC
3) Gentiles that are within the BOC

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation! I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness.
Romans 10:1-3 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:1-3 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Immediately, Paul maintains his broken heart for “THEY”...

Which He clearly defines in Romans 9:1-6 as his genetic Israelite brethren that are enemies of the Gospel.

Because the BOC establishes itself through Faith in Christ, as does National Israel that has integrated into the Body of Christ... we know Paul is speaking about the same group he spoke of in Romans 9:1-6 (The parallel is unmistakable).

Paul yearns for their Salvation! He doesn’t hate them or reject Love towards them.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:4 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

This statement places salvation and Righteousness to obtain salvation on Faith...

But faith in What or Who?

Paul is about to make this abundantly clear! And... this is where you need to keep in mind the way Paul opens chapter 9 and chapter 10...

Also, this is a unique place in scripture where Jesus is fully associated as the name of YHWH. I’ll make it super clear.

Buckle up... because Paul is about to explode with the Holy Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9) and Nail down some explicit Doctrine of the Lamb of the 7 Stones that Is, Was and Forever Will Be.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them.
Romans 10:5 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:5 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Live by these things is a duel meaning metaphor... Paul is using that appears to exalt the Law, but is actually tying in with words spoken in Galatians 3 ... and Deuteronomy 31:26. Another place that this is hinted at is here (John 5:45). In simple terms... (Matthew 26:52)

But there is a duel meaning in Christ, in that Jesus “Died” falsely accused under the Law... (Luke 22:66-71)... the charge was Blasphemy... (Matthew 26:64-68)... and in reality... Jesus was falsely condemned under False charges as His claim that He is the “I Am” was vindicated.

It is Christ’s Righteousness by the Law that made Him the Perfect, Spotless Lamb that fulfilled/crucified the charges of the Law that were placed against mankind by the “Accuser of the Brethren”... (Hebrews 2:14 / 1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Emphasis on (1 Corinthians 15:53 and 1 Corinthians 15:57)

That’s right! Jesus died to save us from the Condemnation of Satan, who had the Power of death and was empowered by the Law of transgression.

The idea that God saved us from God is fallacious! (Hebrews 2:14) <~ It’s there in black and white.

But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down
Romans 10:6 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:6 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

Those who are faithful to Christ do not say so and so are going to Heaven (based on Carnal Judgment John 8:14-19)... because Carnal Judgment, by the Law of Moses is Recrucifying Christ. (How do I know this is the context? Because Paul just brought Moses up.)

or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
Romans 10:7 - Bible Gateway passage: Romans 10:7 - Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Abyss is “Sheol”. It is the place of the dead who have not confessed Christ or die at enmity with God. Again... this is judging by Moses and again... We are assured Christ walked in Sheol to minister, after His death, but before His resurrection... (1 Peter 3:18-19)

Therefore, we dare not even say who is or will be in Sheol.

Link to Romans 10:8-13

Link to Romans 10:13-21
 
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Grip Docility

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Oh, and you will see I don't force the text. Also... Romans 11 hasn't even been exegeted yet.

I mean this... my Exegesis is not in full cohesion with Covenant or “Modern” dispensational view. I desired to follow it with as much scripture in mind as God would bless my mind and heart with as I exegeted.

It’s “opinion”, but I challenge any challenge to it.

:D
 
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Daniel Marsh

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Do you mean the New Covenant in Jesus' blood does not surpass the Abrahamic Covenant?? I would think "surpass" means to be better than and to do better than.

And I think the Covenant of Jesus is better than what is in the Abrahamic Covenant, since Romans 8:29 says we are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus, plus in the Lord's prayer in John 17 Jesus claims how we are loved even as our Father loves Jesus.

And I don't think these blessings are mentioned in the Abrahamic Covenant.

So, I'm not sure what you mean. Even if they both are unconditional, the newer one can be better. Also, how we understand the Abrahamic Covenant can be surpassed by knowing the New Covenant.

So, if I understand this right @Daniel Marsh > the New Covenant would not replace the Abrahamic Covenant, but it would/might surpass how we have understood the promises to Abraham.

This could get interesting . . . in case the LORD has promised land to Abraham, among other things. Ones might take this to mean only to Israelites. But what about how the New Covenant says we who are of faith are children of faithful Abraham (Galatians 3:7,9 & 29)? Could this mean we in Jesus are promised the land??? Paul says > "all things are yours", in 1 Corinthians 3:21-22.

Daniel, I get this by what I am finding in the Bible. So, I am not offering this based on any writer that I know of, just in case there is anyone who has published anything like this.


Hebrews 7:22 This difference, then, also makes Jesus the guarantee of a better covenant.
 
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Daniel Marsh

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One would have to wait on the details as far as how it gets unpacked...

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
(Rom 11:29)

Besides I never said the NC surpasses the Abrahamic but only the Mosaic. I don't believe the NC nullifies the Abrahamic as they are both built on Promise received by faith. The Land promised to Abraham and his descendants may very well be the difference..

Romans 11:25-32 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
25 I want you to understand this secret truth, brothers and sisters. This truth will help you understand that you don’t know everything. The truth is this: Part of Israel has been made stubborn, but that will change when enough non-Jewish people have come to God. 26 And that is how all Israel will be saved. The Scriptures say,

“The Savior will come from Zion;
he will take away all evil from the family of Jacob.
27 And I will make this agreement with those people
when I take away their sins.”

28 The Jews refuse to accept the Good News, so they are God’s enemies. This has happened to help you who are not Jews. But they are still God’s chosen people, and he loves them because of the promises he made to their ancestors. 29 God never changes his mind about the people he calls. He never decides to take back the blessings he has given them. 30 At one time you refused to obey God. But now you have received mercy, because the Jews refused to obey. 31 And now they are the ones who refuse to obey, because God showed mercy to you. But this happened so that they can also receive mercy from him. 32 All people have refused to obey God. And he has put them all together as people who don’t obey him so that he can show mercy to everyone.
 
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Supersession is the correct and acceptable Theological term.

Thank You for the correction.

Please document from primary sources of those who teach "replacement theology" aka Suppression with links, so context can be checked.
 
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That is my impression too which is why I am asking for ...

Please document from primary sources of those who teach "replacement theology" with links, so context can be checked.
Steve Gregg...
 
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Grip Docility

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Thank You for the correction.

Please document from primary sources of those who teach "replacement theology" aka Suppression with links, so context can be checked.

Nervous Laughter about some post's I've already made. And will do.

To be real... Supersession isn't really biblical and doesn't have solid doctrine to support it. It's kind of put together with hopes and dreams.

I'll do my best to find some actual sources, better than I have done, thus far.
 
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I feel so dirty posting this stuff...

Article copied from here ...... Supersessionism Hard and Soft | David Novak

  1. by David NovakFebruary 2019
    article_5c317d3b02930.jpg
Supersessionism describes the theological conviction that the Christian Church has superseded the Jewish people, assuming their role as God’s covenanted people, Israel. At first glance, supersessionism seems to be a core Christian belief, making any fruitful dialogue between Jews and Christians impossible since it seems to entail the Christian replacement of the Jewish people as God’s covenant partner. But on closer examination, there are two kinds of supersessionism: one “hard,” and the other “soft.” The former does indeed prevent dialogue. The latter, however, does not.

Hard or maximal supersessionism asserts that God has elected Christians to displace the Jews in the covenant between God and His people. Christianity is taken to be Judaism’s necessarily total successor or “fulfillment.” For hard supersessionists, the only option for Jews is conversion to Christianity. This means an abandonment of Judaism. Hard supersessionism of this sort kills Jewish-Christian dialogue before it even starts. Jews faithful to the Jewish tradition cannot accept this categorical dismissal of Judaism’s theological validity.

Christian proponents of hard supersession regard the recent, more positive Jewish-Christian relationship as regrettable. For example, some traditionalist Catholics would like to downplay and even set aside the teachings of the Second Vatican Council, especially Nostra Aetate, which affirms that God’s covenant with the Jewish people has not been superseded but is forever valid. The full theological implication of this bold new teaching still needs to be worked out by Catholic theologians, but, at the very least, it rules out hard supersessionism.

Hard supersessionism is not an exclusively Christian problem. Many Jews also reject the theological validity of the new Jewish-Christian relationship. Their hard supersessionism is the inverse of the Christian version. This Jewish position holds not that Christianity has superseded Judaism; instead, it is Judaism that has superseded Christianity. But how could that be? Didn’t Judaism come before Christianity?

Jewish hard supersessionists answer by pointing to a theological sequence rather than a temporal one. They identify Christianity with the pagan or idolatrous practices that Judaism overcame. At the Passover seder, when Jews celebrate our call to covenantal status, we assert, “Our ancestors were originally idolaters, Terah the father of Abraham, etc.” In other words, for Jewish hard supersessionists, Christianity is not progressive in relation to its Jewish origin. Instead, Christianity regresses to the pagan or idolatrous past that Judaism has superseded. One of the great debates among medieval Jewish theologians was whether Christianity is a true monotheism (albeit one inferior to Judaism), or whether Christianity is the old Gentile idolatry revived. Jewish hard supersessionists opt for the latter view, often deeming Christian doctrines such as the doctrine of the Trinity to be polytheistic. It follows, therefore, that Jews who hold this hard supersessionism are often vociferous opponents of contemporary Jewish-Christian dialogue. (In his rejection of Jewish-Christian dialogue, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik was, in some regards, this kind of hard supersessionist.) As the French say, les extrêmes se touchent.

Whereas Christian hard supersessionists cannot deny that Christianity has Jewish roots, Jewish hard supersessionists can assert that Judaism has no connection to Christianity whatsoever. Christians cannot deny their origin in Judaism however much they might claim to have superseded Judaism. By contrast, Jews can ignore Christianity, treating it as a regrettable and theologically regressive offshoot of Judaism. Proof of this is how little Christianity was taken into consideration by Jews living under Islam in earlier centuries.

Things are different today. Jews need to take Christianity into consideration. In the West, Jews and Christians have been interacting for two thousand years. For most of those centuries, the interaction has been largely negative; of late, though, it has become more positive. For the past fifty years or so, both Jews and Christians have had to confront a common enemy, militant secularism, whose anti-Christian stance involves a public rejection of the most Jewish aspect of Christianity. Today’s secularism is hostile to the moral commandments of the Torah, norms affirmed by both Christians and Jews. In a real sense, the militant secularist ideology claims to supersede both Judaism and Christianity, insisting it has the sole right to legislate public morality. Traditional Jews and Christians who affirm God’s moral law as authoritative are not thereby engaging in a kind of syncretism that denies the considerable theological differences between Judaism and Christianity. The fact that there is a Judeo-Christian morality does not mean there is a Judeo-Christian religion. But we are lumped together by the secularist who imagines that humanity has “progressed” beyond divine authority and biblical morality. We are united in rejecting this secular supersessionism.

In any realistic dialogue, Jews cannot expect Christians to jettison supersessionism altogether. A complete denial of supersessionism leaves Christians unable to affirm Christianity as having brought something new and fuller to the ancient covenant between God and Israel. Without some kind of supersessionism, Christians have no cogent reason for not going back to their Jewish origins. Without some kind of supersessionism on our part, Jews like me would have no cogent reason for not going forward into what Christians regard as Judaism’s fulfillment.

It is important to see that the supersessionism that remains necessary stands as an inner Christian and an inner Jewish matter. That is, Christians need to be able to answer to themselves why they ought to remain Christian and not become Jewish; and we Jews need from time to time to be able to explain to ourselves why we remain Jewish and do not become Christian. Since Jews and Christians live in such close proximity, answering these questions can be a practical and not just a theoretical imperative.

This inner supersessionism seeks to answer the Christian’s question of why a Christian should not become Jewish and a Jew’s question about why a Jew should not become Christian. As such, it is quite different from hard supersessionism, which gives external answers to others, telling them what they should become, not explaining why they are what they are. Christian hard supersessionism tells Jews that they must become Christian in order to be in covenant with God, and Jewish hard supersessionism tells Christians that they must renounce Christianity to avoid being idolatrous pagans. Needless to say, this forecloses the possibility of true dialogue, for it presupposes that the other must renounce his deepest theological commitments at the outset.

How, then, can Christians speak about fulfillment—as they must—and still remain in dialogue with Jews? This can be done through what might be called “soft” or minimal supersessionism. In this view, Christianity brings something new (a novum testamentum) to the covenant between God and Israel. That does not mean, though, that Christians must see Jews set aside or replaced, any more than new tenants who have built upon the first story of a house must displace the original tenants on the main floor, even if the original tenants do not want to move upstairs with them.

Christian soft supersessionism can mean accepting the historical fact that Jews have remained with the “un-supplemented” ancient covenant while Christians have been called by God to a higher level by their affirmation of Jesus as the Christ. Jewish exceptionalism should be respected because, as Christians acknowledge, no one should be forced, cajoled, or seduced into the Christian version of the covenant. Indeed, Jews are a special case in this regard. Unlike others who do not believe in Jesus, we already know the protoevangelium, the technical term Christians use for the covenant and promises of the Hebrew Bible that allow one to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. The combination of a commitment to free assent in faith with a recognition that Jews already know enough to make up their own minds is why soft supersessionists have largely abandoned evangelization that specifically and directly targets Jews.

Soft supersession is also supported by a theocentric view of the end time. Only God has the right to bring a person into the covenant. In the case of the Jews, that probably will have to wait for the final redemption, which for Christians will be Christ’s Second Coming. (One could say that Karl Barth was this kind of soft supersessionist.) On this view, ultimately though not immediately, Judaism will be overcome by Christianity, because all Jews will finally become Christians. I call this the “eschatological horizon” of soft supersessionism. It enables Christians who advocate it to speak with Jews in good faith in the present, yet-to-be-redeemed interim or waiting-time. Yet that dialogue is still not an encounter of equals. Judaism is still taken to be proto-Christianity.

Hard supersessionists have a much lower and often anthropocentric eschatological horizon. They are too impatient to wait for the end-time to solve their “Jewish problem.” They engage in aggressive proselytizing of Jews. Or they presume that most Jews have already abandoned Judaism, becoming secularist and atheistic. By this way of thinking, Jews are to be fought along with the other “enemies of religion.” (The voices of some Jewish atheists are more prominent in the public square than the voices of most faithful Jews. This can feed this misperception of all Jews and of the theologically grounded Jewish tradition.)

Just as Christian hard supersessionism has its Jewish counterpart (as we have seen), so does soft supersessionism have a Jewish expression. The second-century Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah said that “the righteous of the nations-of-the-world have a portion in the world-yet-to-come.” He was, in that sense, a Jewish soft supersessionist who thought that unconverted Gentiles (who at present are living according to what Judaism teaches is universally binding divine law) will be made “honorary” Jews in the world-yet-to-come. (This sounds something like Karl Rahner’s notion of “anonymous Christians.”) On the other hand, his colleague, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, thought the world-yet-to-come will be an exclusively Jewish domain. He could be called a Jewish hard supersessionist.

A soft Jewish supersessionism, unlike hard Jewish supersessionism, does not equate Christianity with the idolatrous past superseded by the Torah. Instead, it somewhat grudgingly accepts Christianity (and Islam) as monotheistic and not polytheistic, though demoting Christianity (and Islam) to the status, in effect, of a watered down version of Judaism for the Gentiles. The great twelfth-century theologian-jurist Maimonides agreed with Rabbi Joshua’s inclusivism, not with Rabbi Eliezer’s exclusivism. He argued that, if Christians could be weaned of some of their erroneous theological interpretations of the Hebrew Bible, they could be persuaded to return to their true origin in Judaism. Most traditional Jews, though, tend toward hard supersessionism. They have not followed Maimonides’s soft supersessionist advocacy of proselytism, even though in modern secular democracies there is no prohibition of Jewish proselytism, as was the case when Jews lived in pre-modern Christendom (and under Islam).

Soft is certainly better than hard, but even soft Christian supersessionism leaves Jews with the unsettling feeling that Christians are looking upon us as eventually becoming what Christians already are. It leads us to suspect that Christian dialogue partners seem to be engaging us not as the Jews we presently are, but as they pray we will become in the eschatological future. But can there be an authentic relationship—one that is truly “dialogical”—when the parties do not look upon each other as they see themselves, both now and in the eschatological future? At present, Christian soft supersessionism, while vastly better than the hard version, seems only to tolerate Jewish loyalty to the original level of the covenant.
 
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Grip Docility

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Continued...

There is a better way, and it relies on a different kind of soft supersessionism. To formulate this approach, we need to correct a historical mistake many Christians and Jews make about the origins of both Christianity and Judaism. The mistake rests in the assumption that Christianity (however “softly”) comes after Judaism. For Christians, that usually means Christianity arises from an already existing Judaism, bringing it up to a higher, fuller level of human existence before God. For Jews, conversely, that usually means that Christianity comes after, bringing Judaism down to a lower, more diluted level of human existence before God.

But Christianity did not come out of Judaism, whether for good (the Christian supersessionist view) or for ill (the Jewish supersessionist view). In truth, both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism come out of, and thereby supersede, a religion based on the Hebrew Bible, plus some developments coming from the elaborative interpretations of Second Temple Jewish theology, the time after the final books of the Hebrew Bible were written but before the first century of Christianity. This religion could be called “Hebraic Monotheism.” It is neither Judaism nor Christianity, at least as we know them from the second century on. Judaism and Christianity have been continually superseding this ancient religion. Both have done so without forgetting their ever-present, ever-necessary foundation in Hebraic Monotheism.

Thus, it is incorrect to say that Jews only have the “Old Testament,” while Christians have both the Old Testament and the “New Testament.” Christians and Jews accept the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible as interpreted by Second Temple Jewish theology to be their foundational revelation. This is what we have in common. In addition, both Christians and Jews have a “new testament.” For Christians, this “new testament” is the book by that very name, plus the ongoing tradition of the Church (its magisterium) extending that new testament into the present. For Jews, our “new testament” is the “Oral Torah” (torah she-b`al peh), written down in the Talmud (and related canonical rabbinic texts) but constantly being extended as tradition up until the latest Jewish teachings. So, just as the Talmud could be called the “Jewish New Testament,” so also the New Testament could be called the “Christian Talmud.” In fact, in both the New Testament and the Talmud, there is nothing of any significance being taught that does not seek a basis in the Old Testament, or what Jews call the Written Torah (torah she-bi-khtiv).

Both traditions base themselves on the same foundational revelation of the Hebrew Bible or “Scripture” (kitvei ha-qodesh). Because of this insuperable commonality, the two traditions cannot be totally different (as Christian and Jewish “isolationists,” both past and present, assert). On the contrary, there is commonality and difference. The two traditions are separate but interrelated, and this dialectic must be maintained until the end of this world. Commonality without difference can only lead to a Jewish-Christian syncretism. As Maimonides taught, we should be wary of the human fabrication of a “new religion” (le-hadesh dat), which is what syncretism is. To ensure this does not happen, we must respect the essentially different existential decisions we make as to who Jesus of Nazareth is and what he means for the covenant between God and His people, Israel. This fundamental difference keeps our commonality partial and incomplete. On the other hand, difference without any real commonality leads to the notion that Jews and Christians are affirming two different covenants. This, in turn, quite easily leads to the notion that Jews and Christians do not worship the same God—the ever-present Marcionite temptation.

The commonality is not only found in our shared foundational revelation. In exegetical practice, Jewish and Christian theologians regularly supersede or go beyond the literal meaning of Scripture (what the Talmud calls peshaṭ and what Augustine called sensus literalis). But they must do so without ever leaving it behind. An example of a doctrine directly inferred from Scripture by both Jews and Christians is the affirmation of the entire Mosaic Torah as normative. The difference between Jewish exegesis and Christian exegesis arises over analysis of which of the Torah’s norms were taken to be perpetually binding, and which of the Torah’s norms were only binding in the past and no longer apply in the present. By contrast, Jewish and Christian doctrines of the resurrection of the dead (tehiyyat ha-metim) are only alluded to by Scripture. The difference between Judaism and Christianity is over when the resurrection of the dead begins. In the Christian view, it has begun with Jesus. The Jewish view holds it will begin in the future.

It is important to recognize that these matters are not the kind of differences where it can be said, “You have your truth and we have ours.” Based in a shared revelation, they concern the ultimate level of truth corresponding to ultimate reality. They concern our relationship to God. Here, the difference between Judaism and Christianity is the starkest. It is a matter of either/or. That is, either the Jewish people or the Christian Church is the fullest, most complete location for that ultimate relationship, the final purpose for humans created in the image and likeness (tselem u-demut) of God. When a human person seeks the ultimate covenantal relationship with the Lord God of Israel, one can only be eithera Jew or a Christian, but not both a Jew and a Christian, and certainly never neither a Jew nor a Christian. It is important to realize, however, that this “either/or” need not imply hard supersessionism. It has the gradation of “more or less.”

In truth, over the past two generations moral issues have been the main focus of Christian and Jewish dialogue. In these matters the issue of our difference can be bracketed. But it should not be suppressed. It needs to be in the background of our common discourse, ready to be invoked whenever our striving for commonality veers toward syncretism.

Our difference also needs to be invoked by Jews whenever a fellow Jew is tempted to become Christian. Then we should say to him—only if asked, though one must judge in the unique circumstances—“Do not go from what is more of the covenantal reality to what is less of it.” And our difference needs to be invoked by Christians whenever a fellow Christian is tempted to become Jewish. Then you should say to him—only if asked—“Do not go from what is more of the covenantal reality to what is less of it.” In both cases, the logic of our concern follows the Talmudic principle, “One rises but does not descend in sanctity.” However, this principle should not be invoked to compel or pressure a fellow Jew to remain Jewish, or to strong-arm a Christian to become Jewish—that is, when we have not been asked for counsel. The same should not be done by Christians to pressure a fellow Christian to remain Christian, or to pressure a Jew to become Christian—that is, when you have not been asked.

Let us always remember that all of our efforts reach toward an eschatological horizon. That horizon transcends the low horizon of hard supersessionists, and it transcends even the higher horizon of soft supersessionists. Both of their horizons can be anticipated in the present, one by rude, even coercive, actions, and the other by interior assumptions. But, in truth, neither Jews nor Christians can anticipate what God will do at the end of the world’s time. The end time can only be hoped for, bringing another universe altogether, a universe that cannot even be imagined by us. Both Paul (1 Cor. 2:9) and the Talmud (Berakhot 34b) affirm about that end time: “No eye but Yours O God has seen what will be done for those who wait for You” (Isa. 64:4).

Usually, we think God will vindicate either Jewish supersessionism or Christian supersessionism in a zero-sum game. That is, either God will enable Christians to say to Jews, conclusively, “We have been right and you have been wrong all along,” or God will enable Jews to say to Christians, conclusively, “We have been right and you have been wrong all along.” But what if God Himself is a hard supersessionist? What if God’s final judgment, ushering in the world-yet-to-come, supersedes our human triumphalism that looks at the final judgment as an either/or proposition? What if God’s final verdict is beyond our expectations, and thus displaces all of them, replacing them with what our eyes and minds cannot imagine? Wouldn’t that cure us of our Christian and Jewish triumphalist supersessionisms, hard and soft? Wouldn’t that also (and just as importantly in our relativistic age) save us from the corrosive theological apathy that arises when we refrain from making truth claims about covenantal reality for fear of stoking an eternal enmity between Christians and Jews? Theological relativism cannot be the way forward, which is why supersessionism cannot be avoided in good faith. It can only be disciplined by nuanced theological reflection.

The question of supersessionism is not whether or not to affirm it, but where it is to be most cogently employed—and by whom. So, rather than hoping to supersede each other at the end time, as we cannot supersede each other at present, let us hope to be superseded by God’s final judgment. May that time come speedily, even in our own day!

David Novak holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto.
 
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klutedavid

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Romans 9-11 is ultimately about God's grace for all sinners, that's kind of the big theme of Romans. Paul doesn't begin some new theme in Romans 9, he is continuing the same series of arguments which he began in the first chapter, namely, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God to save all who believe, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Through it the justice of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" The Gospel is for all sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. That is why the Apostle can say, in Romans 11, that God "consigned all to disobedience in order that He might have mercy on all."

I'm not sure what you think is in Acts 1 that is helpful here, it is here that Jesus instructs His disciples to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is fulfilled in the next chapter during Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh as foretold by the Prophet Joel.

I also don't have a clue why you mention Zechariah 14.

-CryptoLUtheran
You might need to read the letter to the Romans again. Paul is relentless in his argument about faith and works and why Israel failed the test.

You cited Romans and the closing paragraph of chapter eleven but neglected the opening paragraph. Here it is below.

Romans 11:1-2
I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.

Now you can add 'that He might have mercy on all', meaning that the Jews are still in God's sight even though they are mortal enemies of the gospel.

Romans is all about the failure of the nation of Israel (the context) to achieve the necessary righteousness that is by faith. The entire nation of Israel tripped over the stone that was the Christ.

The context of Romans is Israel.
 
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Daniel Marsh

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Definition from CARM:
"Replacement theology is the teaching that the Christian church has replaced national Israel regarding the plan, purpose, and promises of God.

Therefore, many of the promises that God made to Israel must be spiritualized. For example, when it speaks of Israel being restored to the land, this really means that the Christian church will be blessed. Also, covenants made with Israel are fulfilled in the Christian church so, for example,

  1. The Jewish people are no longer God's chosen people. Instead, the Christian church now makes up God's chosen people.
  2. In the New Testament after Pentecost, the term "Israel" refers to the church.
  3. The Mosaic covenant (Exodus 20) is replaced by the new covenant (Luke 22:20).
  4. Actual circumcision is replaced by a circumcision of the heart (Rom. 2:29).
So, in replacement theology, the church has replaced Israel as the primary means by which the world is blessed by God's work."

-------- Matt Slick

What is replacement theology? | CARM.org


I disagree with Replacement Theology as defined above. It is an obvious lack of understanding of Scripture. God's promises to Israel are repeated many times. Yahweh's purposes for the Jews/ Nation of Israel - before and after the Messiah - are clear, loving, and positive. The people of Israel are still precious to God.

Yahweh promised the nation of Israel that they would be restored in the last times (Ezekiel 11:17).

Even though Israel was destroyed and its people scattered abroad because of their unbelief, Yahweh promised to rebuild the nation just prior to the end of the age. He promises the nation of Israel will once again become a center of God's revelation to all mankind (Zechariah 12:10). The law will go forth from Jerusalem, and all the nations will come to Jerusalem to learn the law of the Lord (Isaiah 2:2-3).

The natural sons of Abraham will be exalted, along with those Gentiles who, through faith in Jesus Christ, have become spiritual sons of Abraham. So in the last days the Jews and the Christians will share a wonderful glory (Romans 11:25-26).

Paul said that their unbelief became a blessing to the rest of the world as they were temporarily cut off, and God offered his Salvation to the Gentiles. But Yahweh said they would return to faith during the time when many of them move back to Israel from all over the world. This has been happening since 1948. Scripture refers to this time as being like the resurrection of the dead (Romans 11:1-32).

There will be a restoration of the Jewish people to an understanding of God's full revelation in Christ. I recently heard a Messianic Rabbi say that Jewish people seem to be converting to Christianity in record numbers.

Does CARM teach uphold replacement theology? If not then they are not a primary source.
 
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klutedavid

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It's false doctrine, but's the idea that Christians are now Israel. One of their favorite verses is, Rom. 2:29, which in context is comparing Jewish believers to Jewish unbelievers.
Yes Sir that is correct. Chapter two of Romans is the start of Paul's monologue centered on the Jews.
 
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Instead of replacement theology (Church replaces Israel) it is more appropriate to speak in terms of fulfillment theology (the Church [Jew and Gentile] is the fulfilled Israel of God - Galatians 6:14-16).

Read up to post 50 take it up there.
 
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Grip Docility

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Does CARM teach uphold replacement theology? If not then they are not a primary source.

Matt Slick is a staunch Reformed Believer disguised as an Apologist. Was that wrong to say? :p
 
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