On Replacement Theology, Israel and Evangelicalism
Am I a replacement theologian? –No
This label is not complimentary. Those who use the term believe that “replacement theologians” are either anti-semitic or encourage anti-semitism [knowingly or unkowingly]. Those who label me as such a “replacement theologian”, also believe that “replacement” theologians think God is done with the Jews.
My Response:
God’s desire for Jews [both past and present] is the same as for Gentiles [past and present]. What is that desire? God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Paul asked the rhetorical question in Romans 11 “Is God finished with the Jews?” His response was a resounding “No”, and he goes further to state that he himself is a Jew.
So how do we interpret the Old Testament real estate promise in the middle east? Well, that is all it is– a piece of real estate. It belongs to neither the Jews nor the Gentiles. The earth is the Lord’s.
Often, the real estate question is the lynch pin for hurling insults by these self-avowed “friends of Israel”. I have friends who believe that God’s old real estate promise in the Old Testament still holds true and they are good brothers and sisters. Likewise, I have good brothers and sisters who do not believe it holds after the New Testament events. I have other good brothers and sisters who really are not sure. There are Bible verses on all sides of this issue.
So, where does this leave us? Brothers and sisters in the Lord, that is where it leaves us. To be called anti-semitic [at best] and a person who needs to repent [at worst] is painful indeed. I don’t tell people who disagree with me over a piece of real estate that they have to repent.
I am not the theologian who predicts that “the worst bloodbath in Jewish history is yet to come” [Charles Ryrie]. I am not the person who says that the incinerators were only an introduction to the future suffering of Jewish people and of Israel. These “friends of Israel” both say and believe these things.
As a writer for Liberty Magazine, Clifford Goldstein wrote, “With friends like these who needs the PLO?”