FICTION vs FACT: Replacement Theology — What is it and Why is it Unbiblical?

Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA), Partnership of Christians and Jews

FICTION

Christians and the Church have replaced Jews and Israel in the purposes of God.

FACT

This erroneous Christian doctrine — commonly known as replacement theology or supersessionism — is used to delegitimize Jewish identity and existence, as well as the reestablishment of the Jewish State. This doctrine is nearly as old as the Church and has fueled anti-Jewish sentiment and violence for nearly 2,000 years. Simultaneously, it is used today by some Christians to legitimize Palestinian claims to the land of Israel.

If it is true that God has no further purpose for Israel or the Jewish people, then the promises and covenant He made with Abraham beginning in Genesis 12 are no longer valid. What does this say about the character of God? Are His promises revocable and His word unreliable?

FACT

According to the Hebrew Bible, God made promises to the Jewish people — the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob — promises that have never been revoked.

God said to Abraham while he was living in Ur of Mesopotamia:

“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3

FACT: God promised to make Abraham a great nation. He promised to bless him and make him a blessing. He also called him to go to a specific land, a land that God would show him.

After Abraham arrived in the land, God said to him:

“Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.”

Genesis 13:14-15

Key Points

• God promised a specific land to Abraham and his descendants forever.
• This promise of a particular land is repeated throughout the Bible.
• The promise includes Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob.
• God fulfilled His promises to Abraham through the covenant He made with him.

FACT: God made an eternal covenant with Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob, and the promise of a particular land is an essential part of that covenant.

In Genesis 15:1-20, God cut the covenant with Abraham. In 15:7, God said:

“I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

FACT: God made an eternal covenant that He alone is responsible for fulfilling.

In Genesis 15:17, a smoking firepot and blazing torch — symbols of God — passed between the pieces of sacrificial animals in the covenant-making ceremony. Abraham did not take part in the covenant-making. He was asleep!

As the sole participant in the covenant-making ceremony, God demonstrated that He alone was responsible for fulfilling the covenant. In other words, this eternal covenant is not dependent on anything Abraham or his descendants do or don’t do!

FACT: The eternal covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants was repeated over and over throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

In Genesis 17:7-8, God says He will establish an everlasting covenant and will give to Abraham and his descendants all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. And in 17:19 and 21, God says the covenant will be established with Isaac, the son of Sarah.

God remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made for a thousand generations.

Psalm 105:8

Psalm 105:8-11 says:

God remembers His covenant forever, the promise He made for a thousand generations, the covenant He made with Abraham, the oath He swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant saying:

“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”

God remembers His covenant forever and that everlasting covenant includes the inheritance of the particular land of Canaan. In fact, the Bible refers multiple times to the covenant God made with Abraham — and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob — as a berit olam, an everlasting covenant.

These Scriptures, and many more like them, refute the erroneous doctrine that maintains Christians and the Church have replaced Jews and Israel in the purposes of God.

The Hebrew Bible’s emphasis on the eternal covenant made with Abraham — including the promise of a particular land — legitimizes Jewish identity and existence, as well as the reestablishment of the Jewish State.

Sources used for this fact sheet:

1. Gustave Doré, “Abraham Goes to the Land of Canaan,” Wikimedia Commons.

2. Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC, “Satellite image of Israel in January 2003, with demarcation line overlay,” Wikimedia Commons.

This appeared as part of a series on CAMERA’s website and was reprinted with permission.

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