The Branch...The Branch...HomeIsrael News Feasts of Israel ProjectsPublications About Us Contact Us Table of ContentIntroduction The Process of Replacement 19The First Stages & Agents of Replacement 25From Kehilla/Ecclesia to Kuriakon/Kirke/Church — Biblical Faith re-invented andpro-gressively re-paganised! 53The Reformation & Dispensationalism 59Palestinian Theology 73Conclusion 91AppendixThe Septuagint Problem and Psalm 2 114The Path of Replacement 120The Days of our Week 123IntroductionMany far more prominent men have written on this topic and I am indebted to their insights and wisdom. However, all of them have merely stated what is and how this came into being. What I am presenting here is a possible- if not the most likely outworking of this insidious reasoning that has come to be known as Replacement Theology.Psalm 2:1-3 foreshadows a time in history when the entire world would seek to throw off the yoke of the Holy One of Israel. Global events appear remarkably close to those prophesied; could we be living in the time of the fulfilment of this prophecy.If there is even only a remote possibility to this being true, should we be concerned why there is such an indifference among Christians today concerning these signs? Is there a further possibility that the institutional church has many questions to answer as to how such an indifference could even develop– especially among Bible believing followers of Jesus?The early part of the 4th Century of the Common— or Christian era, is a watershed for the Christian church.Beginning with Origen in the late 2nd century, Greek Philosophy had gradually become the basis for the theology of the Church fathers, albeit with its roots in the neo-platonic teachings of Alexandria. It is demonstrable, that from the earliest days of the Christian movement, the ‘Fathers’ of the church had sought ways to harmonize the teachings of the Apostles and the accounts of Jesus’ life with Greekphilosophy. I believe that they fully understood the awesome implications of the Jesus event― especially his resurrection.However, Greek thinking eventually prevailed, influencing the Fathers in determining the direction of their theology and as a better way to go, than to possibly fall back into the ‘errors of Judaism’. This initial process extended over a period of several hundred years.The eventual outcome of this process being that the church came to be regarded as having replaced Israel in the purposes of God— indeed the church WAS declared to be (a) New Israel in hymns and sermons. Because some Jewish leaders were involved in the execution of Jesus, all Jews were eventually accused of deicide (killing God)3 and thus deemed to having forfeited everything that had been promised to them in the Scriptures.By the time of Constantine, the theology of a total replacement of the Jews as the ‘People of God’ was an established fact for the Church. This theology had become, and would remain, a prominent driving force in Christian/Jewish relations throughout Church history and did not change with the Reformation. In addition to this a fresh hostility – even hatred – toward anything Jewish embedded itself into Christian thinking that has remained alive until today.Dare we ask, if it is at all possible therefore, that this philosophy could be responsible for creating the atmosphere― a) where the Shoah (Holocaust) could happen in the heart of Christian Europe, andb) where International forces of the 21st Century could happily cooperate in attempting the total delegitimization of the Jewish People as the rightful owners of the Land of Israel.Although the formal concept of a theology of replacement may not have been birthed until the twentieth century, the desire to dislodge the descendants of Jacob physically from their land is well documented in Scripture itself. What is less known are the historical attempts at their spiritual destruction! Although the historical documents concerning these events were hidden by the church in plain sight for almost 2000 years― only a small number of Scholarly Christians had any knowledge of their existence…..Click to return to Bookpage Click to return to Bookpage Copyright 2009Reconnecting with the tree!
On the Sea of Galilee
Home Israel News Feasts of Israel Projects Publications About Us Contact Us
Table of Content
Introduction
The Process of Replacement
19
The First Stages & Agents of Replacement
25
From Kehilla/Ecclesia to Kuriakon/Kirke/
Church — Biblical Faith re-invented and
pro-gressively re-paganised!
53
The Reformation & Dispensationalism
59
Palestinian Theology
73
Conclusion
91
Appendix
The Septuagint Problem and Psalm 2
114
The Path of Replacement 120
The Days of our Week 123
Introduction
Many far more prominent men have written on this topic and I am indebted to their insights and wisdom. However, all of them
have merely stated what is and how this came into being. What I am presenting here is a possible- if not the most likely outworking
of this insidious reasoning that has come to be known as Replacement Theology.
Psalm 2:1-3 foreshadows a time in history when the entire world would seek to throw off the yoke of the Holy One of Israel. Global
events appear remarkably close to those prophesied; could we be living in the time of the fulfilment of this prophecy.
If there is even only a remote possibility to this being true, should we be concerned why there is such an indifference among
Christians today concerning these signs? Is there a further possibility that the institutional church has many questions to answer as
to how such an indifference could even develop– especially among Bible believing followers of Jesus?
The early part of the 4th Century of the Common— or Christian era, is a watershed for the Christian church.
Beginning with Origen in the late 2nd century, Greek Philosophy had gradually become the basis for the theology of the Church
fathers, albeit with its roots in the neo-platonic teachings of Alexandria. It is demonstrable, that from the earliest days of the
Christian movement, the ‘Fathers’ of the church had sought ways to harmonize the teachings of the Apostles and the accounts of
Jesus’ life with Greek
philosophy. I believe that they fully understood the awesome implications of the Jesus event― especially his resurrection.
However, Greek thinking eventually prevailed, influencing the Fathers in determining the direction of their theology and as a better
way to go, than to possibly fall back into the ‘errors of Judaism’. This initial process extended over a period of several hundred
years.
The eventual outcome of this process being that the church came to be regarded as having replaced Israel in the purposes of God—
indeed the church WAS declared to be (a) New Israel in hymns and sermons.
Because some Jewish leaders were involved in the execution of Jesus, all Jews were eventually accused of deicide (killing God)3
and thus deemed to having forfeited everything that had been promised to them in the Scriptures.
By the time of Constantine, the theology of a total replacement of the Jews as the ‘People of God’ was an established fact for the
Church. This theology had become, and would remain, a prominent driving force in Christian/Jewish relations throughout Church
history and did not change with the Reformation. In addition to this a fresh hostility – even hatred – toward anything Jewish
embedded itself into Christian thinking that has remained alive until today.
Dare we ask, if it is at all possible therefore, that this philosophy could be responsible for creating the atmosphere―
a) where the Shoah (Holocaust) could happen in the heart of Christian Europe, and
b) where International forces of the 21st Century could happily cooperate in attempting the total delegitimization of the Jewish
People as the rightful owners of the Land of Israel.
Although the formal concept of a theology of replacement may not have been birthed until the twentieth century, the desire to
dislodge the descendants of Jacob physically from their land is well documented in Scripture itself. What is less known are the
historical attempts at their spiritual destruction! Although the historical documents concerning these events were hidden by the
church in plain sight for almost 2000 years― only a small number of Scholarly Christians had any knowledge of their existence…..
Click to return to
Bookpage
Click to return to
Bookpage
Copyright 2009
Reconnecting with the tree!
