Refuting Christian Supersessionism
Monday, March 3, 2014
One of the claims made by Christianity is one of supersessionism which simply means that the Christian Church supersedes the people of Israel as the Creator’s representatives on the earth. This is also known as Replacement theology in some circles. Most of the Christian denominations believe in this tenet as a fundamental of their faith. This is a belief that is necessary to insure the relevance of the Christian faith as without it there would be no need for a Christian religion.
There are those within the rank and file of Christianity that abhor the “idea” of supersessionism and claim to reject this concept but in truth whenever any Christian declares any message contrary to the teachings of the Hebrew Bible by asserting Jesus as a Savior of mankind or a man-god of sorts who requires faith in him for salvation then this is a form of supersessionism. In the Hebrew Bible the Jewish people are the chosen people, which simply means that they were chosen to be the ambassadors of the Torah as the embodiment of the Divine Will. Whether the Jewish people obeyed the Torah or not does not affect the status of the Jewish people as the legitimate heirs of the Divine appointment rather the observance of the Torah or the lack thereof merely effected the quality of life for the Jewish people. This is akin to the law of cause and effect- whenever the Jewish people observed Torah and fulfilled their mandate they prospered but whenever we didn’t we were afflicted with suffering.
In this context I want to address a few issues which undermine the credibility of Christian theology:
1.) Myth: Christianity supersedes Israel and the Jews: Christians claim that the replace or supercede the Jews as the Light to the World.
Truth: The Creator is identified in the Biblical narrative as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the promises made to them and their subsequent offspring were unconditional and eternal. These promises were bestowed upon the people of Israel (Deut. 4:32-34) while the rest of the world was left in the dark so to speak. No other nation was ever chosen in the same capacity as Israel and no other nation received the Torah as a Divine Constitution and directive. As it states in the Hebrew Bible: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2) and it also states: "He shows his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD" (Ps. 147:19-20). There is no other nation or people who were given this Divine appointment in the Bible and further there is NO indication that any other people would arise or that a NEW religion called Christianity would be born to supersede these eternal and unconditional covenants that were to be made with Israel. Consider the eternal nature of the Jewish people from the following verses:
· “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. 24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." Isaiah 66:22
From the above verse it is clear that as long as the whole of existence and the future of existence endures so will the descendant of the Jewish people endure.
· "Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'" Exodus 31: 16
The above verse indicates that the children of Israel would last forever… how long does that indicate the existence of the Jewish people? The miracle of the Jewish continuity has been marveled at by scholars and politicians throughout history. The bewilderment of those who simply can’t understand how or why the Jews still exist and are still prospering as a people. The answer is in the Torah- we are an eternal people who will last forever as long as existence itself endures.
2.) Myth: Christians claim that the Mosaic covenant was abrogated so a new covenant could be made.
Truth: There is NO indication in the whole Hebrew Bible that the Mosaic covenant (Torah) would ever be abrogated. In fact the Scriptures state the opposite:
· "Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever." (Psalms 119:152)
· "All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal." (Psalms 119:160)
The only verses which indicate that a new covenant would be made is in the prophecy of Jeremiah. However, this is not a replacement covenant as no covenant in the Hebrew Bible supersedes any previously made covenant rather one compounds upon the other. This prophecy in Jeremiah is quoted often by Christians as a proof-text that a new covenant was made and thus legitimizes Christianity. In truth, this whole prophecy de-legitimizes Christianity by demonstrating that we are NOT in a new covenant. The verses state the following:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Now the question is: Has this prophecy come to pass in the death and supposed resurrection of Jesus as Christianity proclaims? To answer this question all we have to do is look at what the conditions of this covenant will be…
· The Torah would be written on Israel’s hearts
· No more teachers, ministers, etc. as EVERYONE will intrinsically know the Creator without having to be told.
· All iniquity will be removed
The clear premise of this prophecy is that a new covenant will be the complete change of the human being or the rectification of human nature which will create a utoian existence on the earth wherein we will not have any teachers and by implication- no religions, ministers, etc. This prophecy has most assuredly NOT come true. The un-fulfillment of this prophesy clearly indicates that the verbiage of Christianity and their new covenant is completely bogus. With this ONE prophecy taken away from Christianity the entire foundation of the Church is gone and the edifice remaining collapses into irrelevance.
3.) Myth: Christians claim that Jews need to be converted to attain eternal life.
Truth: It has already been shown that the Jewish people are an eternal people and the prophets declare that the Jew receives forgiveness of our iniquities via charity, devotion and repentance.
· “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
· “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:16-17)
· “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of goats.” (Isa. 1:11)
· “Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic. 6:6-8)
The Hebrew Bible speaks of the Jewish people as a Kingdom of Priests, a holy Nation and a Light to the World (Ex. 19:5-6). In the Hebrew Bible there is nothing which states that the Jewish people need anything other than the Torah covenant that was bestowed upon them. Rather than a mandate of conversion for the Jews to be implemented- the Scriptures declare the inverse- that the Jews will convert the nations (gentiles):
· "But ye [Israel] shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God; And [Israel's] seed [physical descendants] shall be known among the Gentiles, and their [literal] offspring among the people: all that see them shall [finally] ACKNOWLEDGE THEM, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed" (Isa. 61:6,9; Isa. 60:14).
· “So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.' "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."' (Zech 8:23)
The Scriptures are very clear that it is the Jews who have the revelation of the Creator, we are the ones in the Covenant and we are the ones who are eternal and who will receive the converts of the gentiles from amongst every nation.
Nowhere in the whole of the Hebrew Bible is there any justification for the Christian Church nor their pseudo-Messiah. There has NEVER been any other chosen people of the earth and there never will be as spoken from the Hebrew Bible. This is why the prophets said that those who truly find the Creator will do so by coming to the Jewish people.
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