replacement theology #1

supersessionism: Information from Answers.com

Martin Luther (1483–1546) wrote,

• "The Jews, surely rejected by God, are no longer his people, and neither is he any longer their God."^[14]

Augustine (354–430) is seen to follow these views of the earlier Fathers.

• "For if we hold with a firm heart the grace of God which hath been given us, we are Israel."^[8]
• "The Christian people then is rather Israel."^[9]

In fact, both Jesus and Paul are recorded as being explicit about their primary concern being Jews rather than gentiles.

• Mark 7:26–27: "The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. [Jesus] said to her, 'Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.'"
• Romans 2:10: "But there will be glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, Jew first and then Greek."

R. Kendall Soulen notes three categories of supersessionism are identified by Christian theologians: punitive, "economic" and structural.^[15]

• Punitive supersessionism is represented by the quotes from Hippolytus, Origen and Luther above. It is the view that Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah are consequently condemned by God, forfeiting the promises otherwise due to them under the covenants.
• Economic supersessionism does not refer to money, rather it is used in the technical theological sense of function (see economic trinity). It is the view that the practical purpose of the nation of Israel in God's plans is replaced by the role of the church (represented by the quotes from Justin and Augustine above).
• Structural supersessionism is Soulen's term for the de facto marginalization of the Old Testament as normative for Christian thought. In his words, "Structural supersessionism refers to the narrative logic of the standard model whereby it renders the Hebrew Scriptures largely indecisive for shaping Christian convictions about how God’s works as Consummator and as Redeemer engage humankind in universal and enduring ways."^[16] Soulen's terminology is used by Craig A. Blaising, in 'The Future of Israel as a Theological Question'.^[17]