Reading Comprehension, Indoctrination and Israel Part 2 - Replenishment Theology

 

Replenishment Theology

I had not intended this to be a multi-part series, however I was reflecting on a passage today which teaches that Israel and the Church are the same thing, and I thought I might as well turn this into another piece.

One of the mistakes the Judaizers, that is those who say you have to be circumcised and convert your ethnicity to join Israel, make is they deny one of the blessed promises of the gospel of Jesus Christ when they say that the Church is not Israel. Some make the mistake of thinking that we who identify the Church as Israel teach replacement theology or something like this. But nothing could be further from the truth. The message is not that the Gentiles replace Jews to become the people of God. The message is, and always has been all the way through the Bible, that unbelievers are replaced with believers, fruitless branches are replaced with fruit bearing branches, dead olive branches are replaced with new, living, olive branches.

This is why all of the generation that came out of Egypt was removed from Israel, by dying in the wilderness, but Rahab, Ruth, and Obed-Edom, all of whom were not Israelites by birth, can be accounted as part of Israel. In fact, not only as part of Israel, but Rahab the Canaanite and Ruth the Moabite, are accounted in the lineage of the Messiah himself (Matt. 1). Israel has always been a tree that replenishes itself, under the good stewardship of the gardener, or vine dresser (Isaiah 5:1-5, John 15:1-6). This is why there were only just over seven thousand true Israelites in Israel the days of Elijah, because not all Israel is Israel, only the branches which are connected to the trunk, the Lord, revealed as Jesus, the Son of God, in the New Testament (Rom. 11:1-5), are true Israel. Only true believers are true Israel, to put it more simply. This has always been the case with God's people. 

What the work of Jesus did was not create a new and second people of God, but simply made a new way for people to become part of Israel. No longer do you need to be circumcised and submit to the law, you simply need to trust in Christ. Paul outlines how one of the hopes and gifts of the gospel is full-fledged citizenship in the commonwealth of Israel,

“11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:11-22).

This passage is like a anvil and hammer which smashes any assertion that true Israel is a physical nation centred around a place in Canaan, rather than a spiritual entity based around the Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul says here is very simple: once you were not citizens of Israel, but now in Christ Jesus you are.

“11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (vv.11-12).

Before our salvation, we Gentiles were:

1.     Separated from Christ,

2.     Alienated from Israel,

3.     Strangers to the covenants of promise,

4.     Having no hope and without God.

Now that we are saved we not separated from God and have full citizenship in his people.  

Salvation does not exist outside of Israel. Because Israel is the covenant people of God (remember Jesus is God), the believers in the covenants of promise, and those who have the hope of being saved by God. Before our salvation we Gentiles were excluded from Israel, and if you wanted to join you had to become Jewish first. 

But now we are “are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” Once we were not citizens of Israel, but now, through Christ, we have become full-fledged members of the household of God. The household of God is another name for the people of God. We were once not citizens of the people of God, now we are. We were alienated from Israel, but now we are full-fledged citizens with the saints. And this household is build, “…on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (vv. 20-21).

I find it hard to understand why someone could miss this. But it makes a lot of sense when you understand that 1) people have been indoctrinated, and 2) indoctrination can override basic comprehension. Paul switches from talking about citizens of Israel to citizens of the “household of God,” these are different words right, so they must be different things? Those who are taught that the Church and Israel are different things will latch onto this difference in the passage. But are they different things? No, they are different names for the same thing; the people of God. The word citizen is what connects the ideas. We once were not citizens of Israel, but now we are through Christ. We have not replaced Israel, we have been blessed with the gift of citizenship in the chosen people of God.

What Paul says in verses 11-18 shows how God achieves this for us,

“14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph. 2:14-18).

These verses show what it is that God has done with Israel and Gentiles. He has made a way in him for them to become one people in him by faith. Israel is now no longer a nation based on ethnic identity, it is a nation based on faith in Christ, a spiritual nation, with a spiritual citizenship, spiritual Israel. What Jesus has done has changed the nature of Israel, he hasn't replaced it. God has taken the two who were separated, Jew and Gentile, and made them one in him,

“14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”

"One new man in the place of the two..."

What was two is now one. He does not say that Gentiles have now replaced Jews, he says that Gentiles and Jews have been brought together in one body. Call this people Israel, call it the church, call it the city of Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22-24, Rev. 21:9-14), call it the bride, call it the vine, call it the olive tree, call it the flock, call it the sheepfold, call it household of God, whatever you call it, it is one body in Christ.

Replacement theology is a slur. There are some people who assert it as a fact on the basis of some parables of Jesus that say God will replace the rebellious tenants of his vineyard with better tenants (cf. Matt. 21:33-46). But God is not replacing Jews with Gentiles here, he is replacing non-believers with believers, he is replenishing the tree because he only wants branches that bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Jesus tells us this, 

"43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them" (Matt. 21:43-45). 

It is clear Jesus is teaching here how the leadership of his people will be taken from the dead branches of the Pharisees and replaced with the fruitful branches of his disciples.  

Those who say the Church is not Israel are denying one of the great promises of God to all who believe in him: that they are granted full citizenship in the Israel of God, the people of God, God’s treasured possession. The tree is Israel, we have been grafted in, never let anyone deny you your re-birthright. It is yours in Christ Jesus, no matter your ethnicity.