Has The Church Replaced Israel In God’s Plan? A Historical and Theological Survey of Replacement Theology -- By: Michael J. Vlach

Journal: Conservative Theological Journal
Volume: CTJ 04:11 (Apr 2000)
Article: Has The Church Replaced Israel In God’s Plan? A Historical and Theological Survey of Replacement Theology
Author: Michael J. Vlach


Has The Church
Replaced Israel In God’s Plan?
A Historical and Theological Survey of Replacement Theology

Michael J. Vlach

Director of Center for Biblical Studies
Indian Hills Community Church, Lincoln, NE

Introduction To Replacement Theology

Many Christians throughout church history have held to a view concerning Israel and the church known as “replacement theology.”1 “Replacement theology,” as Thomas Ice explains, “is the view that the Church has permanently replaced Israel as the instrument through which God works and that national Israel does not have a future in the plan of God.”2 Replacement theology is based on two premises: (1) God has permanently rejected National Israel, and (2) the church has replaced or superceded Israel in God’s plan. The end result is that the church has become the inheritor of God’s covenant blessings originally given to Israel, and Israel will not be restored as a nation with a distinct identity and function. As replacement theologian Loraine Boettner has stated:

It may seem harsh to say that, “God is through with the Jews.” But the fact of the matter is that He is through with them as a unified national group having anything more to do with the evangelization of the world. That mission has been taken from them and given to the Christian Church (Matt. 21:43).3

Replacement advocate Bruce Waltke writes that the New Testament teaches the “hard fact that national Israel and its law have been permanently replaced by the church and the New Covenant.”4

Those who hold to replacement theology do believe that individual Jews can and are being saved. Some are even open to the possibility that Israel may experience a national salvation shortly before the return of Christ.5 All replacement theologians are agreed that the church has replaced Israel, as a nation, and Israel will not be restored, as a nation, with a unique identity and function. Whatever future believing Jews may have, it will be as part of the church.

The purpose of this work is to provide a brief overview and critique of the position known as replacement theology. In particular, it will highlight the major historical and theological factors associated with the replacement view. The first major section looks at the origin and history of replacement theology. The remainder of the paper focuses on several ...

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