Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 44:3 (Sep 2001)
Article: The Future Of Israel As A Theological Question
Author: Craig A. Blaising

JETS 44:3 (September 2001) p. 435

The Future Of Israel As A Theological Question

Craig A. Blaising*

[* Craig Blaising is Joseph Emerson Brown Professor of Christian Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2825 Lexington Road, Louisville, KY 40280.]

My topic for this address is “The Future of Israel as a Theological Question.” 1 We may rephrase the topic in the form of a question: Are there theological reasons to believe that Israel has a future? And if so, what does it mean theologically to speak of a future for Israel? That is, what are the theological implications of Israel having a future in the plan of God? Or, how does the affirmation of a future for Israel affect other beliefs in an evangelical systematic theology?

I need to clarify at the outset what I mean by “Israel.” I am using the term Israel in its primary sense, which designates the descendants of Jacob as an ethnic, cultural, and national entity. So, the question about the future of Israel is a question about the national future of the descendants of Jacob. Let me also clarify that I am not asking about the future prospects of the present state of Israel or of any of the main forms of Judaism. I am asking the deeper question, whether in Christian theology there is a future for any ethnic, national Israel at all. From a theological standpoint, does such an Israel have a future, and if so, what is it?

I. Supersessionism

The traditional answer through the history of the Christian Church has been, no. If you mean by Israel the actual descendants of Jacob and if you are asking about their ethnic, cultural, and political future, then, no, they do not have a future except to linger on earth like refugees until the end of time as a witness to divine judgment. Why? Because God has disinherited them as a punishment for their rejection of Jesus, and he has replaced them with a new Israel, the Gentile Church.

This traditional answer to the question of Israel’s future is what is known as supersessionism. Israel has been replaced or superseded by the Gentile Church. Supersessionism first arose after the suppression of the Bar Kochba revolt in AD 135. It was expressed in the writings of second-century Christians, such as Justin Martyr and Melito of Sardis, and also in the Letter of Barnabas. 2 It quickly spread to become the prevailing viewpoint of the Christian Church.

JETS 44:3 (September 2001) p. 436

R. K. Soulen, in his work The God of Israel and Christian Theology, suggests that we understand supersessionism in three types. 3 First, there is...