In light of my post concerning 2 Thessalonians 2, some of you might find this interesting. I found a post over at the Thomas Goodwin site that lists 20 reasons why the church is the true Israel, which is the typical view of covenant theologians. I agree with him that the term “replacement theology” is not helpful because we are not talking about replacing Israel. We are talking about becoming the one true people of God through the true Israelite-Jesus Christ, which means we are ulimately talking about Christology. Below you will find his comments and 20 reasons why the Church is Israel.
Every promise is ‘yes and amen’ in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Christ is the One who fulfills every covenant and makes Gentiles partakers on an equal level with the Jews in every covenant promise (Ephesians 2:11-13; 3:6).
The gospels are all about Jesus’ reconstitution of Israel around Himself. Miss this and you’ve missed much of the point. At every point He challenges the symbols of Judaism — Torah, Temple, land, nation, food, people, Sabbath, etc. — and by His praxis and teaching presents a new way of being Israel with Himself in the center.
1. Jesus is Israel called out of Egypt (Matthew 2:15).
2. Jesus’ Body is the new Temple (John 2:19-21; Ephesians 2:19-22).
3. He is the new tabernacle (Acts 15:16-17; John 1:14).
4. His people are the true kingdom of priests and kings (1 Peter 2:9; cf. Exodus 19:6).
5. He is the true Son of God (cf. Exodus 4:22).
6. He is the founder of the twelve new tribes (Matthew 10:1-4; Revelation 21:12-14) and the one who appoints the new seventy (Luke 10:1; cf. Numbers 11).
7. He is Israel’s eschatological resurrection hope embodied (Acts 26:6-8). He is the new creation.
8. He is the One who displaces Jerusalem as the place of worship (John 4:20-24) and forms the new body of true worshippers (Philippians 3:3) who go to the true, new Jerusalem on Mount Zion (Galatians 4:25-26; Hebrews 12:22). The old shadowy Jerusalem has been replaced with the far more real heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21) that will one day be brought down to earth.
9. His people are the new Elect (Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 2:9; cf. Deuteronomy 7:6).
10. The Church is now the true circumcision (Philippians 3:3).
11. Christ has accomplished the new Red Sea Crossing (1 Corinthians 10:1-2; Hebrews 13:20; cf. Isaiah 63:11), the new Exodus (Luke 9:31), the new Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7), the new feast of firstfruits (Acts 2), He gave the Spirit where Moses gave the Law.
12. He is the Angel of the Lord leading the people by the cloud of the Spirit (Romans 8:14).
13. He is the fulfillment of Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:24), Torah (Romans 10:4) and Word (John 1:1-18).
14. He is the embodiment of true Sabbath and is the Lord of it (Mark 2:28).
15. He calls Jewish people to abandon their possessions, their fathers and mothers, their inheritance in the land and follow Him as the true inheritance. The future kingdom is already present in Him.
16. He is the new Lord of all the nations (Matthew 28:18). He cast out the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 16:11) and is the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:1-4).
17. He is the fulfillment of offices of Prophet, Priest and King.
18. He does away with the Old, broken Covenant that constitutes the old Israel and brings in the New Covenant that we all partake of fully in Him.
19. He is the true fulfillment of the covenantal promise of God to dwell in our midst. He embodies man and God in perfect union.
20. All promises are ‘yes and amen’ in Christ; those promises in the OT (Gen. 3:15; 12-17) are ours by virtue of union with him. Both to Jews and Gentiles.
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