Vlach - Has the church replaced Israel?: a theological evaluation

Copyright 2010

by Michael J. Vlach

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8054-4972-3

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 230

Subject Heading: ISRAEL \ DOCTRINAL THEOLOGY \ CHURCH

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Printed in the United States of America

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To my wife, Holly, who also longs for His appearing and the restoration of all thingsincluding Israel.

Contents

Abbreviations

AB Anchor Bible

ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library

ANTC Abingdon New Testament Commentaries

ACCS Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

ACW Ancient Christian Writers Series. 1946

ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers

BSac Bibliotheca sacra

BECNT Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CD Church Dogmatics

DB Dictionaire de la Bible. Edited by F. Vigouroux. 5 vols. 18951912.

DJG Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels

EBC Expositor's Bible Commentary

GTJ Grace Theological Journal

HTR Harvard Theological Review

IB Interpreter's Bible

IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching

ICC International Critical Commentary

IVPNTCS IVP New Testament Commentary Series

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

KJV King James Version

LCC Library of Christian Classics

LW Luther's Works

NAC New American Commentary

NACSBT New American Commentary Studies in Bible and
Theology

NASB New American Standard Bible

NCBC New Century Bible Commentary

NEB New English Bible

NIB New Interpreter's Bible

NIBCNT New International Biblical Commentary on the New
Testament

NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament

NIDNTT New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown

NIV New International Version

NIVAC New International Version Application Commentary

NPNF1 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1

NPNF2 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2

NT New Testament

NTC New Testament Commentary

PG Patrologia graeca

PL Patrologia latina

PSB The Princeton Seminary Bulletin

RevExp Review and Expositor

RSV Revised Standard Version

TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

TNTC Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

WA Weimarer Ausgabe (D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesammtausgabe)

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

WPC Westminster Pelican Commentaries

WTJ Westminster Theological Journal

Introduction

The relationship between Israel and the church continues to be a controversial topic. Anyone who has an interest in the doctrines of Israel, the church, and the end times is probably aware of this fact. At the heart of the controversy is the question, Does the church replace, supersede, or fulfill the nation Israel in Gods plan, or will Israel be saved and restored with a unique identity and role? The position that the church is the new or true Israel that replaces or fulfills national Israels place in the plan of God has often been called replacement theology or supersessionism. More recently, some have argued for the title fulfillment theology.

Ever since my days as a seminary student in the early 1990s, I have been intrigued by the Israel-church issue. Not only has this topic interested me, but I have been fascinated by the disagreement in the Christian community on this issue. There simply is no consensus on the relationship between Israel and the church. That is, in part, the reason I decided to make the Israel-church relationship my main area of study in my doctoral program. I was frustrated with how the Israel-church topic was often addressed. In short, I found that supersessionists often had their passages and arguments that they believed supported supersessionism, yet they did not adequately grapple with the passages and arguments put forth by those who were nonsupersessionists. And likewise, I found that those who promoted a nonsupersessionist view in which national Israel would be saved and restored often did not engage the arguments put forth by supersessionists. This frustration caused me to interact seriously with the main points both sides were making in order to determine which position was closer to the truth.

My goal with this book is similar. I will evaluate the doctrine of replacement theology and address whether the Bible teaches that the church is the complete replacement or fulfillment of national Israel. As will become evident, the relationship between Israel and the church is complex. Not only are there many passages to take into consideration, but there are significant hermeneutical issues to grapple with as well. One hermeneutical topic looms especially largehow the NT applies OT passages that speak of Israels future. As will be shown, ones hermeneutical assumptions will largely determine where one lands on the relationship between Israel and the church.

Whenever we address a complex theological issue, the subject of methodology is important. For example, where do we start? What passages do we emphasize? What hermeneutic should we use? What are the implications of our conclusions on other doctrines? What threshold must be crossed to have confidence that one view is correct and another is wrong? All these questions are relevant for understanding the Israel and church issue.

Thus, we need to ask, What does supersessionism need to prove to be considered a biblical doctrine? I would like to offer what I think is reasonable criteria that can guide us in the process of evaluating supersessionism. In order for supersessionism to be correct, three things must be proved. First, supersessionists need to explain how God can make multiple eternal and unconditional promises and covenants to the nation Israel and then not fulfill these promises with this specific group. If God is true and does not lie, how can He promise the nation Israel certain things and then not complete the fulfillment with the group to whom the promises were made? It will not be enough to claim that the church is the new or true Israel. What also must be addressed is how God can promise certain blessings to a certain people without the fulfillment of these promises involving these same people.

Second, in order for supersessionism to be accepted as true, it must be shown that the church is now considered the new or true Israel. It needs to be proven that Gentile Christians are now part of Israel and that they rightly can be identified as Jews. There must be proof that the titles of Israel and Jew have now been transcended or broadened to include believing Gentiles.

Third, supersessionists need to show that the church inherits national Israels covenants and promises in such a way that we should not expect a future fulfillment of these with national Israel. Now one may ask, If one proves the second point above, does this not automatically prove the third? Our answer to that is not necessarily. I am not convinced that if it can be shown that the church is called Israel or that Gentile Christians are now Jews in some sense, this necessarily rules out a fulfillment of covenant promises to national Israel. Perhaps God is expanding the concept of Israel and Jews to include Gentiles but is not doing so at the expense of believing ethnic Jews. C. E. B. Cranfield claimed that Rom 2:2829 identifies believing Gentiles as true Jews, yet he also believed that Rom 911 explicitly rejects a replacement theology in which the church is viewed as replacing Israel in the plan of God.Israel has no future role or purpose in the plan of God. In sum, supersessionists need to show positively that the church is the complete fulfillment of Israel and show negatively that the nation Israel never again will have a unique identity or role in Gods plan.