Posted on 05/11/2014 1:50:36 PM PDT by wmfights
Justin Martyr (A.D. 100–165) is important in the history of supersessionism because he was the first Christian writer to explicitly identify the church as “Israel.”[1] Justin declared, “For the true spiritual Israel, and descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham . . . are we who have been led to God through this crucified Christ.”[2] He also said, “Since then God blesses this people [i.e., Christians], and calls them Israel, and declares them to be His inheritance, how is it that you [Jews] repent not of the deception you practise on yourselves, as if you alone were the Israel?”[3] Justin also announced that, “We, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelite race.”[4]
For Jeffrey S. Siker, “Justin is a transitional figure”[5] in the development of supersessionism. Justin does not mark the beginning of supersessionism, but he does openly advocate a replacement approach concerning Israel and the church that had been forming for nearly a century: “Justin marks the end of an era, the culmination of a process in formative Christianity that had begun much earlier.”[6] Justin’s hermeneutical approach to the Old Testament was also important in the development of supersessionism. He reapplied Old Testament promises so that the church, not Israel, was viewed as the beneficiary of its promised blessings. Justin declared to Trypho: “And along with Abraham we [Christians] shall inherit the holy land, when we shall receive the inheritance for an endless eternity, being children of Abraham through the like faith. . . . Accordingly, He promises to him a nation of similar faith, God fearing, righteous . . . but it is not you, ‘in whom is no faith.’”[7] Siker adds, “According to Justin, the patriarchal promises do not apply to the Jews; rather, God has transferred these promises to the Christians and . . . to Gentile Christians in particular.”[8]
[1] Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 11, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950–51), 1:200. See also, 1:261, 267. Peter Richardson has observed that the first explicit identification of the church as “Israel” was made by Justin Martyr in A.D. 160. See Peter Richardson, Israel in the Apostolic Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1.
[2] Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho 11, ANF 1:200.
[3] Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho 123, ANF 1:261. He also says, “Those who were selected out of every nation have obeyed His will through Christ . . . must be Jacob and Israel.” (1:265).
[4] Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho 135, ANF 1:267.
[5] Jeffrey S. Siker, Disinheriting the Jews: Abraham in Early Christian Controversy (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1991), 15.
[6] Ibid., 16.
[7] Justin, Dialogue With Trypho 119, ANF 1:259.
[8] Siker, 14. Diprose asserts that Justin “adopts a typically Greek attitude” toward the characters in the Old Testament, referring to Abraham, Elijah, and Daniel’s three friends as “barbarians.” Ronald E. Diprose,Israel in the Development of Christian Thought (Istituto Biblico Evangelico Italiano, 2000), 79.
No, Israel did not become a Gentile nation. It does not matter what some Israelites/Jews/Israelis have done. It matters what God does. God made an eternal covenant with Israel and He is not finished with Israel. Israel remains Israel, the physical descendants of Jacob, and as the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
As far as Israel taking the slings and arrows, one should examine what our dear Christian brothers and sisters are going through today and their persecution.
Yes, persecution is very real for some Christians in pagan nations like North Korea, and in much of the Islamic world. The persecution is more nuanced in the postChristian/neoPagan/secular nations of the West. I meant if you really want to identify yourself as Israel, then you should suffer the same persecution as Israel. If you are a man, being a Christian does not make you a woman or vice a versa. You should dress like a man. Cross dressing would be inappropriate. So in this world, we still have Jews and Gentiles, men and women, and to some extent bond and free.
“Indeed. We’ve been grafted in.”
Hence my screen name. :)
Blood line had nothing to do with being part of Israel. The promise of a great nation WASN'T given to Jacob-it was given to Abraham. The apostle Paul also wrote the following:
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
So the real question is who are the children of the promise?
And further:
Jacob is one of only three in the Scriptures who were called tam or its plural, tamim (perfect). Noah, Job, and Jacob were tam while Abraham was
So it makes sense to see Jacob as perfect in the same sense as Noah, Job, and Abraham (who was commanded to be tamim).
Now, for righteousness' sake, let's include Daniel to see what a high standard the word indicates.
Question: for my replacement theology friends. If the New Covenant nullifies the biblical promises made to the children of Israel, including the Abrahamic Covenant, the Land Covenant, and the Davidic Covenant, why would God honor the covenant with the Church given the great apostasy of our day?
What you-all (in general, not necessarily you in particular) want is it fulfilled in a very particular way, not accepting any other answers.
Abrahamic Covenant
Fulfilled in Christ. Those who are of faith are heirs.
"the Land Covenant"
(Ignoring for the moment that it's not a covenant in its own right, but a part of God's very different covenants with Abraham and through Moses) Romans 4:13, expanded to include the world, applied to Abraham and his seed.
Davidic Covenant
Fulfilled in Christ, the ultimate Davidic heir.
Noach was only perfect in his GENERATION, which doesn’t say much.
The testimony in Ezekiel about Noah, Daniel, and Job speaks volumes. We should honor and love those whom God loves.
Hosea chapter 1 shows that God used the Jews rejection of the Messiah to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles. We are grafted in to believing Israel. However this does not supercede his covenant with the Jews, who will again become "His" people (Hosea chapter 1) and be grafted into the believing remnant.
Romans 11 offers a great follow up to your point.
Rom. 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
In order for supersessionism to become a popular interpretation the whole process for understanding Scripture had to change. We see this begin with Justin Martyr. A literal reading of Roms. 11:25 makes it clear that God is not done with Israel.
Look forward to your input.
I always thought that being Jewish was a FAITH not a race/nationality. There ARE a ton of Arab Israelis in Israel, doing the work that the Jewish Israelis don't want to do--farming, washing toilets, etc.
When I took a tour of the Holy Land (Steve & Janet Ray tour) in 2011 our guide for part of the way was a Palestinian Arab Catholic. Nice guy.
I’ve read about him. Wonderful read.
We are grafted into the root...We are not grafted into the branches...
The root is not Israel...We are not grafted into Israel...The root is Jesus Christ...
Romans 4:13 has nothing to do with the land covenant...
The land covenant was given only to Jacob's seed...Not to all of the seed of Abraham...
Gen 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Gen 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
Gen 35:12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
Gen 48:3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
Gen 48:4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
(Ignoring for the moment that it's not a covenant in its own right, but a part of God's very different covenants with Abraham and through Moses) Romans 4:13, expanded to include the world, applied to Abraham and his seed.
Of course it's a covenant in its own right...And not to be ignored...It's a covenant made with Jacob's seed thru Abraham...It doesn't include all of Abraham's seed...Never will...It's a land covenant that has not yet been fulfilled...
Davidic Covenant
Fulfilled in Christ, the ultimate Davidic heir.
That's absurd...Jesus never sat on the throne of David and he is not right now...Jesus is sitting on 'his Father's throne' and will not sit on the throne of David til he shows up after the Tribulation...
David's throne is a physical throne on a piece of land in Israel in a temple that has not yet been rebuilt...
Abrahamic Covenant
Fulfilled in Christ. Those who are of faith are heirs.
And unlike the land covenant, this covenant includes all the descendants of Esau and Jacob who are spiritually in Jesus; Chinese, Jewish, Arabs, Africans; Gentile and Jew alike, for the is no difference spiritually, in Jesus Christ...
Outside of Jesus Christ there is still a world of difference between Jew and Gentile, Jacob and Esau......
Edited for what I meant to write:
Jacob is one of only three in the Scriptures who were called tam (perfect). They are Noah, Job, and Jacob. Abraham was called to be its plural, tamim.
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Rom 11:19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
Rom 11:20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
The Jews are blinded because of their unbelief. We are graffed in.
Honestly, I don't know how much clearer it has to be. Some simply want to throw out Romans 9-11 or ignore it. I wouldn't recommend it.
Picking and choosing verses, spiritualizing, and redefining words, are what supercessionists and other judeophobes are best at.
The spiritualizing, allegorical interpretation, and redefining of words didn't start until after the Apostolic Era ended. Prior to this change the approach was first literal. If we return to this approach so much more becomes clear. One example of this is the Book of Revelation. Once we recognize it is about God opening Israel's eyes it makes sense.
My screen name is not “I am grafted into the branches”.
“Now if some of the branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, ....”
One grafts branches.
Also, the root was Jesse, from which Christ is the shoot out of that stump.
Some research before you preach, please.
ImaGraftedBranch
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