Replacement Theology

Replacement theology: The idea that God has replaced the Israelites with the Gentiles because they were disobedient.

“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11:1-2‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

God has rejected His own people. That’s something that many people ironically believe. They look at the sins of that nation and believe God didn’t forgive them. Yet we can see this theology as flawed. See we know God is first off a good father. That is a truth that every side of this debate can agree on. Both sides can also believe that God is all-powerful. Yet if God is all-powerful then what is stopping Him from forgiving them? And if God is a perfect father than how can we believe that He has rejected His own children? It wouldn’t make sense to believe in both nor do we have any evidence to support that God rejected His people. Ones who believe that Gentiles have replaced Jews believe it because many Jews have rejected Jesus. Yet we see in Romans 11 references a prophecy describing this event,

“just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, Eyes to see not and ears to hear not, Down to this very day.” And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, And a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not, And bend their backs forever.” Romans‬ ‭11:8-10‬ . Yet God has set apart for Him a few that believe in His son as He did in the times of Elijah, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11:3-5‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

So even though many Jews have rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Messiah Jesus has never rejected the Jews as His people. And He will come back. “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”