The So-Called “Church Fathers” Were Wrong; The Church Did Not Replace Israel

by Jamie Pantastico | Aug 30, 2022 | Daily Encouragement | 0 comments

The so-called church fathers paved the path for most (but not all) of “Christendom’s” false teaching of “replacement theology”. What’s more, the lie of replacement theology has led to antisemitism worldwide.

Beginning with Origen to Irenaeus and Chrysostom to Constantine, to Appanacious to Augustine, the bishop of Hippo, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. Each of these aforementioned church fathers taught that the church had replaced Israel. They were wrong!

Replacement theology is the idea that says that the church has replaced ethnic Israel as God’s chosen people.

Origen, the progenitor of this false teaching, dreamed up the idea of replacement theology. Not from scripture, but from what he saw with his own eyes.

• The Jews, along with the Gentile Romans, crucified and killed Jesus Christ.
• The Temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed.
• The Jews had been driven out of their homeland and dispersed throughout the world.

So, based on what he was seeing around him and looking back to the relatively recent past, Origen came to the conclusion that God no longer had anything to do with the nation of Israel. And all the promises God gave to Israel are now for the church. What a lie. From the father of lies himself, Satan. This is why most mainline denominations today preach this horrible anti-Semitic theology called replacement theology.

The Promise was All Jewish ‘Genesis 12:1-3’

The promise was that one day Israel would be brought into a geographical area of land, and Israel would be the greatest nation above all nations with the King of kings, the Son of God (Jesus Christ), ruling from the throne of David in Jerusalem.

‘Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”’

Genesis 12:1-3

‘And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, ‘

II Samuel 7:10,16

No Matter How disobedient Israel Is, God is Faithful

Because the covenants God made with His chosen people, the Jews, originated with Him. He (God) cannot break the covenant; God cannot lie. Believe God. Take God at His word.

‘My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah’

Psalms 89:28-37

No Faith

Ultimately, these so-called church fathers had little faith; they could not take God at His word. They saw that the Jews, along with the Romans, killed the Son of God. The city of Jerusalem and the temple were both destroyed. And the Jewish people were scattered from their homeland. So, in their carnal minds, they came to the conclusion that we Gentiles are now Israel and the Church has replaced God’s chosen people. Walking under foot, 2000 years of promises God made to a people He created just for Himself. 

These are the types of men that the apostle Paul warned about in Acts, chapter 20. Let’s start at verse 28:

It is crucial to note that the Holy Spirit does not direct Paul to write that men will come from outside the church. In other words, ALL FALSE TEACHING, will come from men who are already part of the church.

Acts 20:28

‘Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.’

Here it is about savage wolves that would come in from “within” the church, speaking perverse things. And what could be more perverse than saying God is a liar by not keeping His promises to Israel?

‘For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.’

Acts 20:29-30

Scripture is a Progressive Revelation

In Genesis 12, approximately 2000 BC, God called out one man, Abram, to make a people for His name, the “Jewish People”. The nation of Israel God dealt with and made promises to the people He created from Abraham for Himself (not Gentiles). The Abrahamic covenant, the covenant of law, and the Davidic covenants were to Israel, NOT GENTILES. Forcing the gentile world into God’s covenants with Israel is a clear twisting of the Scripture to fit a dreamed-up theology.

The promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David were partially fulfilled with the Lord’s first advent. But we know what happened. The nation of Israel rejected Jesus as their King and, along with the Romans (Gentiles), crucified the Prince of Peace. But even after the crucifixion, God still made the offer to be Israel’s King and bring in the promised kingdom. With Peter’s bold preaching in Acts chapters 2 and 3. But again, the nation of Israel rejects it in unbelief. The nation of Israel reached a tipping point of unbelief with the stoning of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. So God sent out one man, Saul, who we now know as the apostle Paul, to be the apostle to the Gentiles with a new message of salvation. God will now temporarily blind His chosen people and turn to the whole world with the gospel of grace. Now (But Now), salvation would be by grace through faith alone in the gospel, apart from the law and temple worship.

Nothing caught God off guard or made God have to take back His promises to Israel and replace Israel with the Church. No way! God can not lie. Nor is He the God of confusion. That being said, this is an absolutely mind-boggling thing about Scripture. It was all predetermined before God created anything. This is an absolutely amazing and beautiful thing about our God. It was all preplanned, and all scripture fits perfectly and according to His eternal purposes.

God is Not Done with His Chosen People “the Jewish People”

If all of the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 to Malichi through the four gospels into the early chapters of Acts, isn’t enough scripture to prove that God made His promises to Israel alone, then He will fulfill what He promised to Israel. Then you have to call God a liar again (by twisting the scriptures) when it comes to chapter 11 of the book of Romans. The Lord is explicitly clear in Romans that He is not done with Israel. Those who have tried to twist this chapter fail miserably, so they ignore it. Just like they ignore the apostle Paul.

Read Romans 11:1-36 slowly and carefully several times

‘I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow down their back alway. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be , but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy : and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches , be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, And shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, When I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.’

‘O seed of Abraham His servant, You children of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,”’

Psalms 105:6-11