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CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
a. Statement of the Problem
Communicants in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth are largely ignorant of the
main themes and worldview of the Hebrew Scriptures, and are therefore deficient in their
application of biblical truth to their lives and Christian witness.
b. Purpose of the Study
It was the purpose of this study to ascertain the degree to which structured
interaction between an Episcopal deanery cohort and a Messianic Jewish congregation
would increase comprehension of, and appreciation for, a biblical worldview among
Gentile Christians. The working hypothesis of this study was that for both practical and
spiritual reasons, Old Testament catechesis and biblical worldview development are best
accomplished in the twenty-first century in the context of direct interaction between
viable communities of the Christian faith from distinct Gentile and Jewish traditions who
mutually benefit and bless each other through their interaction, all the while maintaining
their separate identities in the Lord (thorny questions of theology will be addressed
subsequently).
Certainly, scripture study utilizing any number of responsible hermeneutical
approaches is important. But as one Christian leaders wife recently wrote concerning
her husband, Norman, [f]or the past year and a half he has hosted a weekly study group
co-led with a young Spirit-filled Christian, who is also an ordained Orthodox Jewish
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Rabbi, Norm says that studying together and practicing the spiritual disciplines of the
prophets of old has been an oasis in the desert, restoring that which has been lost or
hidden for centuries. He appreciates your prayers as Jew and Gentile search their
common roots in God (Fredrick).
This study seeks to address what appears at first glance to be simply a matter of
defective Christian catechesis by postulating that especially in the postmodern context
which is the twenty-first century in the West, recovery of a proper and comprehensive
biblical worldview, as duly informed by the Hebrew Scriptures, will be greatly assisted
by Gentile Christians acknowledging the essentially engrafted aspect of their faith vis--
vis the Jewish people. The explosion of Messianic (Christ-believing) Jewish communities
in the last quarter century is, according to this studys working hypothesis, the Lords
own remedy to the increasingly dysfunctional state of the Church today, provided Jewish
and Gentile Christians come to acknowledge both their equality before God and the
divinely ordered and distinct nature of their respective witnesses to the Gospel, a witness
that incorporates insights and praxis informed by long and consistent familiarity with the
Hebrew Scriptures.
The disciplines from which this study drew its character and execution include
primarily Biblical and theological, and to a degree, historical and behavioral studies. The
handling of the Scripture proceeded by the development of two biblical theological
motifs: the Covenant of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with the nation Israel, and
the concept of mutual blessing, an idea to be developed extensively in the chapter on
theological reflection.
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c. Research Method and Design
The primary modes of research for this study included the following: a descriptive
assessment of pre-study attitudes and knowledge concerning the Old Testament and its
themes, and developmental analysis throughout the study period. The primary research
tools utilized included interviewing and questionnaires and survey data analysis.
Phase Descriptions
August, 2002 Descriptive assessments commenced with Eastern Deanery
volunteer-participants from the Fort Worth Diocese. Focus groups were
convened and interviews conducted to generate baseline data.
September November, 2002 Questionnaires and surveys were completed on
a monthly basis by participants with an eye to tracking, in finer resolution,
changes in their spiritual lives as project interaction and instruction proceed.
December, 2002 During the third week of the month, project exit interviews
were conducted, and the data coded and analyzed for the production of chapter
five of the study.
Evaluation: Criteria and Methods
The basis for evaluation involved discerning the changing worldviews and
thematic knowledge bases of participants concerning the Old Testament scriptures.
Project evaluation proceeded by consideration of the instruments of assessment indicated
above, which were rendered into weighted/quantifiable scales of worldview appreciation
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and thematic knowledge. This was necessarily an inexact science, but it was possible to
display participant progress without exclusive reliance on qualitative assessment.
One key decision made regarding study structure and data evaluation was whether
or not to establish a control sub-group that would receive didactic instruction, but not
have the opportunity for interaction with the Messianic congregation. A collaborate
discernment was made that rejected this approach as too cumbersome for the scope of
this study.
The cohort established for this study numbered twelve individuals, involved
approximately five to ten contact hours a month in study-related activity.
d. Thesis Overview; Presuppositions and Delimitations
Dr. R. Kendall Soulen of Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.
throughout his book, The God of Israel and Christian Theology, demonstrates the
supersessionistic nature of early Christian reflection on the scriptural canon and its
immediate and long-term impact on not only the churchs relationship with the
unbelieving Jews, but also with its own early Jewish composition. He also discusses the
relevance of this issue for the state of Christian self-understanding and effectiveness in
the world today, as well as the concept of the economy of mutual blessing as a remedy
for biblical supersessionism (111).
An author from the Roman Catholic world, the Reverend Dr. Peter Hocken of
Vienna, Austria (and a former Anglican priest), wrote extensively over the past decade
and a half on the theme of the churchs life and witness vis--vis the Jews. In his book,
Blazing the Trail , Hocken asserts, the unity of the Church of God was rooted in Israel
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(100). He explores other aspects of renewal and recovery of manifested spiritual graces as
the church seeks to acknowledge the fullness of its composition and life.
Both of these authors, as well as others to be cited in the discussion following,
highlight a neglected breach of scripturally mandated attitudes and behaviors that the
church must repent of and remedy to be effective in discipleship and evangelism.
In all of this, the negative impact of unscripturalsupersessionism on Christian
discipleship and evangelical effectiveness is the underlying motivation in this study
which addresses the failure of many modern Christians to appropriate the biblical
worldview. The postmodern context in which the church must now operate resists the
remediation of its internal life by didactic instruction alone, as important as that is. The
ancient as well as the postmodern need for authentic relationships as attested to in the
Apostolic Witness (New Testament), as well as lived, experiential witness can be
employed by the Holy Spirit through the faith community interaction proposed in this
study to effect a re-engagement with the Hebrew Scriptures especially on the part of
young, Gentile Christians in an effective and compelling way. I tested this hypothesis in
this study, a hypothesis validated by virtue of the data produced, reflecting the changing
and deepening perspectives on the Hebrew canon by study participants.
The role of historical discipline in this study is an implicit and essential part of the
underlying working hypothesis of this study, and is an explicit focus in chapter three. In
addition, some attention was paid to behavioral considerations in the methodology,
especially social dynamics. It must be emphasized, however, that the work of the Holy
Spirit in Christian souls is the focus of this study, regardless of the discipline under
consideration. The Spirit is the integrative principle here, and from Him emanates the
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inner logic and overall coherence of the project. I did indeed discern the Spirits enabling
of the fuller appropriation of the Old Testament worldview through His work in the lives
of Christians engaging in vital interaction and mutual blessing. I must state here that
aside from subjective discernment, there is a growing exegetical convergence (Juster,
Israel 11) these days in the evangelical and catholic worlds concerning the value of the
theological foundations from which I proceed in this project. I do acknowledge,
however, that there remains some disagreement on the topic of supersessionism, and by
no means do I argue that the convergence mentioned above represents a consensus. One
recent work representing some dissent from this growing convergence is Paul Zahls The
First Christian, which essentially argues that in Jesus, born to Jewish flesh, we
nevertheless have the definitive origin of a break with everything merely and uniquely
Jewish. Zahls position justifiably highlights aspects of that new work of the Spirit that
Jesus came to inaugurate, but does so at the cost of unjustifiably deprecating thegrund
(with umlaut) out of which that new work flows. In light of this, I hope my study may
convince some with opposing views to consider the matter further.
Working on such intense matters of faith, I very much enjoyed this project, as it
represented the integration of some important ministerial and theological themes in my
life spanning a quarter century. Its value to me is considerable, and it also possesses the
potential for fruitful reflection in the global church. This project enabled vital research
and communication on a theme that could effect strategic realignment in the Anglican
world with our spiritual roots, as St. Paul describes them in Romans, Chapter 11. The
restoration of the significance of the Old Testament band on the Episcopal miter
through full deployment of scriptural witness and interrelationship with Messianic Jews
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will enrich and bless us as we seek to be a blessing to our ancient brethren. May the Lord
himself bless this effort, offered to His Glory!
I do acknowledge that elements of the so-called hermeneutical spiral will be
clearly influencing my method and approach and my predisposition to consider the
biblical text with a firm grasp of the accomplished and concrete facts we call history
(which may be simply regarded as recorded communal experience). I will be as
intellectually fair as possible and as Spirit-enabled as I can in reviewing the span of the
biblical text so as to do justice to opposing approaches and interpretations of scriptures I
will analyze. I am, however, a product of my own history and the particular journey God
appointed for me, and that history and journey will influence my treatment of the text, as
it would of any other student of scripture. Indeed one of the first lessons I learned, as I
began an extended graduate theological education over a decade and a half ago, was that
theology is a product of the theologian. Here I stand declared Martin Luther, and where
he stood was as much influenced by his personal history and experiences as his
considerable biblical scholarship.
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CHAPTER TWO
BIBLICAL BACKGROUND OF JEWISH IDENTITY, AND THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW COVENANT
Overview
Generally the problem of impaired comprehension, appreciation and application
of Hebrew scriptures among Christians may be considered essentially a local pastoral
issue, to be addressed in isolated context by a religious specialist (minister) proposing
and then executing spiritual therapy to correct a perceived problem. It may be
considered a simple matter of defective Christian education. However, the Bible suggests
a deeper dimension of dysfunction in the church involving Gods covenantal purposes
with national Israel throughout history, a dimension the church largely fails to recognize.
The churchs leadership since early in the Christian era bequeathed to the following
generations a legacy that predisposed them to the basic problem we have noted.
Even as I begin this exegetical chapter which considers some foundational
biblical issues relative to this project, I acknowledge there are a variety of approaches to
the issues I address. Nonetheless many years dedicated to considering and praying over
the biblical text, in conjunction with a lively awarenessof and appreciation for what God
appears to be doing throughout history, lead me in this direction. In particular, theological
developments since the rise of the Puritan movement in the seventeen century, as well as
nineteenth century initiatives involving Anglican churchmen who promoted the idea of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine, suggest that revival and Old Testament appropriation and
application are linked with a correct relationship to and cooperation with Gods purposes
for national Israel both that Israel yet in unbelief regarding Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah,
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and that component of national Israel who participates in the life of the Body of Christ.
These considerations, taken together with biblical scholarship as it exists today, convince
me that the church suffered unnecessary losses throughout much of its history from its
failure to recognize what I argue is the scriptural link between Gods abiding purposes for
Israel and the churchs own enrichment and prosperity.
This prayerful, historically sensitive, and informed approach to the biblical text
therefore informs my exegetical method, and is the best method to can do adequate
justice to the topic at hand. A significant theological issue addressed in chapter three is
our frequent tendency in Christian theology to de-historicize and abstract Gods
revelation to mankind, one key element of supersessionism (a multivalent term defined
and discussed in greater detail in the next chapter). For our purposes at this point, let us
define supersessionism, in its broadest sense, as the conscious or unconscious tendency in
Christian theology to repudiate any ongoing relevance for national Israel as the Hebrew
scriptures present her, a unique group with a unique sacred history and covenantal
connection with God. Related to supersessionism is replacement theology, which
essentially declares the church utterly displaced national Israel in regard to the promises
of and covenants with God.
The foundational concept I will delineate and support in scripture is the God of
Israels everlastingly declared purpose to bless the world through the Covenant He makes
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their seed/progeny. Understanding this concept
aright is a vital key to biblical understanding, especially in its historical breadth and
depth. To begin with, ha goy, the nation of Israel, is initially appointed to be Gods
priestly channel of blessing and revelation to all othergoyim, the nations of the world at
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large (that these people also, in due course, receives blessing from other nations is a
related and pregnant idea we will explore later). Concerning such sacred progeny, St.
Pauls One Seed exposition in Galatians 3:16 does not repudiate this understanding
insofar as it refers to the focus point and ultimate intensification of Gods overall purpose
for all the children of Israel in the Person of His Son (Paul refers to himself as an
Israelite, of theseed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, Romans 11:1c). 1 Peter 2:9s
application of the priestly nation principle to the church denotes an entity composed of
first, the Jew and also the Greek, suggesting something of a bi-partite quality. The
mystery of the Church, as Paul so aptly refers to it in Ephesians 1:9 and 3:4-6, does not
represent an abrogation of Gods declared covenant purposes for Abraham and his natural
children (Genesis 12:1-3). Rather this mystery is a new and expanded economy of
blessing, intended by God to serve as an example and prototype of that economy of
mutual blessing and propagation of blessedness that has always been the Lords desire for
his creation. The Church of God now constitutes one New People as they subsist in the
redeemed from the nations and the redeemed children of Israel, the Prince with God
(Genesis 32:28). 1
One major potential concern here might be an interpretation of Galatians 3:28 that
suggests the Christ event erased all earthly distinctions. The tendency toward this line of
exegesis is a core defect of the supersessionist impulse insofar that it also indirectly tends
to propagate the essential error of supersessionism, much like a virus that sickens one cell
and proceeds to invade new ones. In time the entire hermeneutic becomes
supersessionistic in nature, its peculiar perspective achieving something of a seeming
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self-evident status. However, this interpretation simply begs the question of whether
distinction and diversity exist in the Kingdom of God.
One example of the manner in which this interpretation influences hermeneutics
might be a consideration of John 14:6, a foundational statement concerning Jesuss
unique mediatory role in human salvation. This straightforward declaration by the
LORD himself is remarkable in what it says; it is also quite possible to read into it things
it does not say. To say that Jesus is the appointed agency of Yahweh to bring light and
life into the world does not, in and of itself, say anything concerning the economy or
context for Jesus unique mediatory agency; it must come from a consideration of the
comprehensive scriptural tradition, a tradition that views creation as an ordered system of
diverse elements held together by a spiritual and physical ecology, the unifying principle
of which is indeed Christ Himself (Colossians1:17), who now enables all humanity
equally graced access to the Father (Colossians 3:9-15 & Romans 10:12-13). Therefore
Christ does not eliminate diversity, but rather releases and enables the full functioning of
it!
God did not erase the essential earthly distinctions between men and women,
Jews and Gentiles, and parents and children in the Greek scriptures (including its more
developed sections in Ephesians and Colossians). Even vowed, celibate religious,
special signs of the age to come among Gods people in this present world, still maintain
a vital distinction of gender identity (even if they often take compound names suggesting
an androgyny); the opportunity to minister to each other as men and women in distinctive
ways is therefore also maintained (the celibate Jesus maintained extraordinary
relationships with women qua women, in a manner different than his male disciples).
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Concerning Jews and Gentiles, Paul himself notes that the Gentilesin the Body of Christ
received spiritual blessings from the Messianic Jews; therefore, it is now appropriate for
them to bless the Messianic Jewish Jerusalem church during a time of special need
(Romans 15:25-27). Paul, intriguingly, does not here explicitly enumerate these
blessings; evidently, they were so obvious in the first century Apostolic era as to render
that exercise superfluous. One modern commentator offers this observation: . . . the
New Testaments effective history confirms that the Jewish tradition of moral teaching
for Gentiles, rooted ultimately in the Torah, consistently determined much of the
substance of ethics in the mainstream of emerging Christian orthodoxy (Bockmuehl
vii).2 The basic point is that creation and fundamental covenant order and distinctive do
not disappear as a result of the in-breaking of the New (or, better perhaps, Re-newed)
Covenant or Testament, inaugurated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Therefore I will accomplish in this chapter the setting forth of a biblical argument
that the church can operate in thepleroma, the fullness of grace and blessing and power,
only when it embodies and reflects the Trinitarian dynamic of mutual blessing among
distinct but related communities. I particularly argue for one special application of this
principle as it relates to Messianic Jewish and Gentile people and congregations. It is my
scripturally-based thesis that a loving and dynamic interaction between Messianic Jewish
and Gentile believers and phases of expression in the Body of Christ helps to fulfill the
instructions and high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 14 through 17 concerning Christian
unity which leads to the glory of God abiding fully among His people. That glory is the
ground upon which the church of God is led by the Holy Spirit into the grace of all
truth and revelation, the fullness of understanding of the Word of the God of Israel. This
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thesis project specifically addresses the question as to whether that mystical but real
dynamic of mutual blessing enables an increased appropriation of the fullness of Gods
word among Gentile believers, to the end that the church becomes more fully equipped to
serve the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
The Divine Economy of Mutual Blessing and Gentile-Jewish Interaction
In the Re-newed Covenant, there is an ongoing relevance for Jewish-Gentile
distinctive and therefore intentional interaction in the Body of Christ, outside of basic
access to the grace of God in Christ (Romans 10:12). We generally fail to perceive this
because the lens through which we tend to read scripture, what R. Kendall Soulen calls
the standard canonical narrative, has prevented us from seeing this distinction from the
days of second century Christian apologetic and theological reflection (12,25,33, et al).
Therefore, as early as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, what to do about the Hebrew
Scriptures (and the nation who served as Gods channel for its composition) becomes an
occasion for vexing questions and earnest debate. But if we examine the scriptures
through the interpretive lens that proclaims with Paul that God has not rejected his
people whom he foreknew (Romans 11:2a), we might discover an astonishing and
elegant design whereby intelligent creatures might not simply co-exist in a holy diversity
devoid of envy and competition, but co-exist in a blessedness of interrelation that mimics
and echoes the very life of the Trinity itself. Indeed, Ecclesiastes 4:12 speaks of the
multi-twined cord whose strength is derived from component elements in vital
interaction.
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Before proceeding further, I must at this point assert that it is not my intention
here to in any way argue that the Covenant forged between the physical descendants of
Israel and their God produced a race of human beings who, regardless of their individual
relationship with the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ, enjoy some standing before the Lord
that enhances their access to the grace of the Holy Spirit beyond that which is the right of
any human being. 3 We will discuss the entire notion of Covenant, both Old and
New biblically speaking, shortly.
However, I argue here that the ancient election of Israel produces within the Body
of Christ a dynamic of mutual blessing whereby the Jewish representation among the
saints serves as one distinct phase and divinely-appointed element in the axis of
redemption which also includes the representation of believers derived from the other
nations. The continuingJewish identity and representation in the Christian faith is of
concern here, in order that a distinct component people group derived from an ancient
complex of covenants be recognized and allowed to function in distinctive ways within
the Body of the Messiah, itself a distinct entity among all the nations (1 Peter 2:9), to the
mutual enrichment and edification of everyone with the church; thereby enabling a more
coherent and forceful witness to both unsaved Jews and unsaved Gentiles. It is also the
specific intention of this chapter and the next to highlight both the biblical rationale and
the manner in which this interaction among these distinct entities in the
church fulfills Gods purposes for the church especially as regards the appropriation and
application of the fullness of divine revelation to the life of the church, and to the mission
and ministry which flows from it.
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With this perspective in mind, I will first just cite a very few instances in scripture
whereby God declares His eternal purpose to utilize the descendants of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob as key agents of salvation in the world. The Torah, of course, is replete with
such references, as we might expect, inasmuch as foundational theology for both
Christians and Jews is to be found in this portion of scripture. Beyond the core divine
pronouncement to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel
later prompts the patriarch Isaac to reiterate and convey the covenant first made with his
father to his conniving and deceiving son, Jacob (Genesis 27:28-29). This text is
remarkable for two reasons: first, the bare word first given to Abraham is now expanded
in its scope and implication.4 Second, the blessing is conveyed in the context of illegal
procedure. Jacobs sinful, deceptive behavior in acquiring the blessing, by the
foreknowledge, providence and sovereignty of God, does not disqualify him from
receiving it. He will subsequently undergo disciplinary action from the hand of the Lord,
a broader instance of the principle annunciated in Psalms 89:30-34 concerning the
Davidic covenant, but the call and election of Jacob remains nonetheless through it all.
A covenant is a covenant, and it is only by virtue of Gods faithfulness to sinful human
beings as illustrated with the patriarchs and the Hebrew nation generally that we in the
age of Christs dominion andauthority (Matthew 28:18) have confidence that Gods
declared purposes and promises for us are also valid and enduring, in spite of our own
unfaithfulnesses. From this foundation of the covenant, we move to Passover.
The Exodus Passover story and Gods designation of Israel as his first born,
priestly people from among the nations (Exodus 19:6), as well as covenantal material in
Leviticus and Numbers which portray the priestly ministry of Israel on behalf of the
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nations, are another foundational set of scriptures. In addition, Deuteronomy 32 provides
an interesting perspective on the place of the elected nation in the Song of Moses. Verses
8 and 9 depict a grand design whereby the nations are appointed their times and places
according to an obscure reference to the number of the gods (Qumran manuscripts), or
even the Israelites (Masoretic text), while the Lords own portion was his people,
Jacob his allotted share (Deuteronomy 32: 8-9). Later, the Psalmist declares that the
Lord revealed himself specifically to Israel in a special way not enjoyed by any othergoy
or people-group (Psalms 147:19-20). Doubtless, Paul had this reference in mind when he
cites the revelation of God as pertaining properly to the children of Israel (Romans 9:4), a
revelation which has, in Christ, now also become the shared possession of graced
Gentiles (Romans 15:27). 5
The national implications of these texts suggest an important foundational
principal of hermeneutics as pertaining to the physical descendants of Abraham. Before
delving into the central concern of this chapters biblical focus, the New Covenant
properly speaking, it is important to address a related topic which involves an objection
relative to my assertions concerning Exodus 19:6, namely that Israels priestly nation
designation was indeed superceded by the New Testaments clear application of this
text to the Christian church, as witnessed in 1 Peter 2:9-10 and Revelations 1:6. This is a
weighty matter to consider. Among numerous commentators, both the Commentary on
First Peter, of The New Interpreters Bible (vol. XII), and Raymond Brown are clear
that the exiles of the diaspora being addressed in 1 Peter, despite intriguingly Jewish
associations, are in fact Gentile converts.6 The focus is on what Brown will term an
affirmation of Christian identity and dignity. The Egyptian Exodus and Sinai
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experience are powerful images now conveyed to the new Christians Peter addresses, and
Brown suggests that these folks had been evangelized by missionaries with a very deep
attachment to the traditions of Israel (709). 7
Quite simply and directly, the New Testaments application of priestly nation
language to the Christian church is not particularly relevant or adverse to the basic thrust
of the argument that God constituted in history a sacred people who served and continue
to serve as a bridge of divine grace to other people. One of the more interesting
derivations from the Latin language concerning the concept of priest is the word
pontifex, with clear sacerdotal applications especially in Roman Catholicism. It is a word,
however, useful to us in non-Roman contexts because it provides a word picture of the
priest as a bridge, which is the root meaning ofpontifex. Without any diminution of the
priestly character of the Christian church, it is very convincingly demonstrated that
national Israel did exhibit -- and still exhibits -- something of a bridge-like function
among the nations, even if that ministry today is obscured by generations of mutual
misunderstanding between Jews and Gentiles. The very existenceof the Christian Church
itself would have been impossible without the deposit of faith that constituted the
Israelite Tradition, which tradition formed and informed the Messiah himself as well as
the early apostolic band. The ultimate issue, logically speaking, is whether or not the
Christian church (understood as essentially Gentile, as is largely true today, or essentially
Jewish, as was true in the first years after the resurrection of Jesus, or a hybrid of the two)
can take up Israelite/Jewish characteristics and functions without destroying the
covenantal holiness and character of national Israel. The answer to this question must rest
upon a close, biblical theological examination of the topic of the New Covenant
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originally articulated by the prophet Jeremiah, and possible modes of application and
fulfillment of that covenant. It is to this issue that we now turn.
Indeed, the most remarkable biblical text from the Hebrew scriptures which
speaks of the enduring quality of the covenant establishing Israel as a national entity
forever is Jeremiah 31:31-37, remarkable because it neatly, in one stroke, establishes both
the reality of the New (or Re-Newed) Covenant and Gods eternal purpose to keep Israel
as a distinct nation among the nations of the world. This association of the New
Covenant with enduring national identity clearly addresses the roots of supersessionism
and replacement theology, whereby Israels existence is either marginalized or
allegorized as being irrelevant to Gods economic dealings in view of the Churchs
standing before God. The Hebrew scriptures, however, taken as a whole, fairly assume an
ongoing and even eternal quality of distinctiveness concerning Israel among the nations,
even when other nations are specifically mentioned as ultimately enjoying Gods
gracious covenant blessings in the context of the new age of the Messiah (Isaiah 19:19-
25).
It is the complex topic of the New Covenant and possible modalities of its
implementation that we now turn to. Scholarly analysis and discussion of the New
Covenant is extensive and fascinating. We must immediately recognize the tension
between those who hold to a classical covenant theology perspective on the matter, and
those who adhere to the dispensationalist school. Among even those who subscribe to
elements of a dispensationalist approach to biblical interpretation, the topic of the New
Covenant provides a rich source of reflection and controversy. However, the Greek New
Testament scriptural exegesis treatment of the New Covenant greatly impacts ones
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disposition toward the larger theological question of supersessionism. An appreciation for
the biblical hermeneutic one selects to analyze the New Covenant and its provisions and
applications provides the best opportunity for the theologian and minister to consider
dispassionately whether or not supersessionism represents the best interpretive system for
biblical studies in the manner concerning national Israel.
Rodney J. Decker discerned three major positions concerning this application of
the New Covenant to the church. We will consider his discussion on these in a moment. It
is important, however, to note that although Decker considers the topic a virtual non-
issue for covenant and nondispensational theologians (who largely reject any other
position than that the New Covenant is the churchs possession, period), Daniel Juster,
whose background includes both Reformed covenant and dispensational influences, takes
a hybrid approach to the topic, and produced a hermeneutic in which Deckers work is
indeed (or should be!) most relevant to the work of theology across the board. Says
Juster, I should mention my indebtedness to both Dispensational and Covenant
Theology. I am sympathetic to features in both and disagree with both(7). 8 I concur
with Juster; one need not be a dispensationalist to appreciate the richness of the theme of
the New Covenant; indeed, the New Covenant in its fullness preempts any interpretive
scheme that would attempt to limit its application according to restrictive orcultist
theories of biblical understanding.
According to Decker, the three divergent views of the New Covenant (which
nonetheless overlap in places) are as follows:
1) The Church has a different New Covenant than Israel;
2) The Church has no relationship to the New Covenant;
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3) The Church participates in some aspects of the New Covenant. 9
Decker traces some shifting about in the thinking of leading dispensationalist theologians
such as Ryrie and Walvoord who now repudiate the first position, essentially relegating
hold-outs such as Miles Stanford as possessing an indefensible position on it. Concerning
arguments for the second position such as were articulated by J. N. Darby, he states that
it is nearly impossible to find contemporary advocates for it in print today (Decker
436).Darby does have one insight, however, that I find intriguing in that he invokes the
idea of the church being one with the Mediator of the new covenant (Notes on the
Epistle to the Hebrews, 72-73, qtd in Decker 437). This insight provides a possible
application to Psalms 45 and the picture of the Royal Marriage whereby the Queen a
likely symbol of the church is associated with the Lord in a manner that belongs to a
realm outside of legal provision. This, of course, does not by any means establish
Darbys position, but it does suggest another modality whereby the New Covenant is, in
fact, manifested among men.
Finally, Decker acknowledges that the majority view among dispensational
circles today is that the church participates in some way in the New Covenant (Decker
441), but then cites the diversity among the adherents of that view. He particularly cites
the work of Homer A. Kent, Jr. from his article, The New Covenant and the Church in
Grace Theological Journal. 10Decker summarizes Kents position by stating that the
covenant will be fulfilled eschatologically with Israel but is participated in
soteriologically by the church today (qtd. in Decker 442). He also cites Bruce A. Ware
who notes Israel and the church share theologically rich and important elements of
commonality [including coparticipation in the one new covenant] while at the same
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time maintaining distinct identities (qtd. In Decker 443). 11 It is important to note here
that Ware is not arguing for a Christless salvation for Israel, only a distinctive future
redemption for the nation under precisely the same terms that salvation comes to anybody
by the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the subsequent reception by faith engendered
in the human soul. It is also important to again emphasize that although this entire line of
discussion may seem relevant only to those associated with the dispensationalist school,
such an assumption is unfortunate. As Daniel Juster commented in his own discussion of
the classic concerns of the Princeton School of Theology at the turn of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, we affirm with the Covenant Theologian the unitary nature of the
Covenants (Juster, Covenant 9). The issue is really not whether the Covenant or
Dispensationalist position is the controlling one; the issue is concerned squarely with the
topic of fulfillment as regards the one New Covenant. Both schools can find convergence
with this perspective. Certainly integrity of biblical language regarding national Israel in
the context of fulfillment was on the mind of none other than Covenant theologian John
Murray when he argued for an interpretation of Romans that maintained the term Israel
in the ninth through eleventh chapters of the epistle could not possibly include Gentiles
(qtd. in Juster, Israel 12).12 He was preceded by none other than Bezas own
discernment that the epistle includes a reference to a restoration of national Israel to
Gods favor (qtd. in Juster, Israel 7). 13 All this is assumed concrete and absolute, in
spite of the fact that neither Luther nor Calvin acknowledged such a position vis--vis
national Israel.
Having established this unifying codex, we continue our discussion on the topic
of fulfillment, noting that Decker cites Bruce Comptons dissertation on the New
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Covenant, An Examination of the New Covenant in the Old and New Testaments
(prepared under the supervision of Homer Kent). Compton, says Decker:
argues against using fulfillment terminology [concerning the churchs
participation in the New Covenant] because, as he defines fulfill, it
implies that the church is the complete fulfillment of the covenant,
replacing Israel as the covenant partner. (Decker 447, emphasis mine).
In his footnote on Compton, Decker adds, Instead of fulfill, Compton uses phrases
such as participate in, involved with, recipients of, presently benefits in, dual
application, involved in the benefits of, and others (Decker 447). Partial
implementation and division of blessings are noted as precedents regarding the
Abrahamic Covenant (Decker 448). The conclusion of the matter for Decker is that the
third viewpoint (page 6) is preferred today, and with this I heartily concur. Lest however,
he be without critique here, I must partially disagree with a side observation in his
conclusion:
The inclusion of remnant Jews in the church during the present
dispensation does not demand [the notion of] partial fulfillment, for they
are incorporated into the body of Christ as are all other believers. There is
no distinction in the church between Jew and Greek (Gal. 3:28). These
Jews participate in the New Covenant today on the same basis as Gentiles
who are baptized into Christ, not as inaugural representatives of the
covenant partners. (454)
I previously registered my dissent concerning an interpretation of Galatians 3:28 erasing
all earthly distinctions. What I discern here is a dispensationalist whose theological
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method briefly turned him, ironically enough, towards a quasi-covenant direction as
regards the Messianic Jewish believer, a curious perspective that unhappily possesses all
of the weaknesses and none of the strengths of either school! Very germane to this thesis
project, and vigorously to the contrary, I argue that the Messianic Jewish believer, while
not exactly a partial fulfillment, rigorously speaking of the New Covenant (the full
provisions of which include the securing of perfect obedience and that exhortations to
know the Lord will be obviated), is nonetheless the harbinger of that day when their kin
according to the flesh do in fact experience that fulfillment (certainly Paul was fairly
anxious to establish his Hebrew heritage and ongoing identity throughout the New
Testament, an observation we will return to later in this chapter). Although it is true the
Messianic Jew today receives Christ by faith, objectively speaking, in the same manner
as the Gentile, it is very often not true that the faith unto salvation is experienced,
subjectively, the same way. The Gentile experiences Christ from outside his cultural
context; the Jew receives him from within an ethos that directly testifies to him.
Testimonies of Messianic believers are frequently compelling in their particular depth
and emotional impact, all of which speak to the greater mystery of Israel. Or as one wag
once put it, Jews are like everybody else, only more so!
By way of transition now to a broader issue regarding the biblical framework for
this thesis project, I cite again Daniel Juster:
The issue of worship form is related to our concept of fulfillment. Is the
past to be reflected in the forms expressing New Covenant fulfillment, or
is the past forgotten and even abrogated? Jacob Joaz, influenced by Oscar
Cullmanns writings, has beautifully said: The past is seen as salvation
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history in the light of the present, but the present cannot be recognized at
all as salvation history without the positive presentation of the past. This
is so because, again I quote, salvation-history forms a whole that as such
remains ever present. It is the present meaning of the past in the presence
of fulfillment that Messianic Judaism seeks to keep alive. (Covenant
12)14
It is interesting to note that biblical scholarship today is starting to question the admitted
long-standing rule that everything in the Old Testament be qualified and understood
strictly by way of reference to the New Testament, as in the Old Testament predicts
the New Testament; the New fulfills the Old. This overly simplistic axiom has virtually
ruled scripture exegesis and biblical theology, but now is effectively challenged by
outstanding scholars such as Christopher Seitz and others. They argue that the Hebrew
text has its own proper standing quite outside of any consideration of the Greek
scriptures. The relationship between the two testaments is much more complex than
assumed before, much more interactive and dynamic. This line of reasoning enriches our
understanding of the Word of God in general, and enabling a more informed approach to
the issues this project addresses. The approach might well be termed holistic, even
catholic, in the best sense of the word. Its growing influence is the fruit of a post-
Holocaust consciousness in the church that is willing to discern the manner in which
supersessionism has historically skewed biblical studies.
The limited lens through which Christian commentary, until recently, viewed
the Greek scriptures largely predisposed the Gentile church to acknowledge no ongoing
relevance for the Jewish believer in the context of a distinct Jewish identity or lifestyle
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within the church, since things Jewish may well be regarded aspasse. The Gospels
sanction no such idea. Jesus does challenge certain interpretations of the Torah
throughout his ministry, but the charge that he is a marginal Jew is incorrect. Jesus had
an innovative and intuitive approach to the Torah and the prophets that truly astounded
his listeners and observers, but outright rejection of the written revelation of God in the
Torah-Neviim-Kithubim (Tanak, or Hebrew Bible) is nowhere to be found in Jesus
teaching or example. There are, of course, not a few who would dispute this statement.
Influenced as they are by the supersessionistic standard approach of Christianexegesis as
regards things Jewish, this is understandable. Donald Hagner, however, in his capacity of
chaired professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary notes that the (non-
Messianic) Jewish understanding of Jesus attitude to the Law comprises a broad
spectrum that includes many scholars like Herbert Loewe, who maintains that Jesus was
a faithful upholder of the Law all his life (Hagner 94).
Probably among the most enduring challenges to such an understanding is the
misapplied charge ofJudaizing, a style of polemic attributed to St. Pauls Epistle to the
Galatians. It is important in this vein to examine both Pauls instruction to the church in
Galatia and his own example of, as a Jew, honoring a Jewish lifestyle in a variety of
contexts. One does observe that along with this apostles struggles with early Jewish
believers who possessed an inadequate appreciation of the all-sufficiency of Christ for
salvation, the early church in its first ecumenical council (as recorded in Acts 15) gives
permission for Gentiles to become Christians without first becoming proselytes to
Judaism. What is vital to note here, however, is that what was not at issue in Acts 15 was
the ongoing relevance of the Hebrew scriptures and a Jewish lifestyle for Jewish
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Christians; that much was simply assumed. 15 The assembled council even implies that
the Gentiles may very well benefit from frequenting the synagogues so as to hear the
Word of God from the divinely inspired scrolls of Israel (Acts 15:21).
Paul himself acknowledges all this by his behavior in relation to Jewish
observance. His Apostles to the Gentiles maintained a rather complex, at times seeming
contradictory, praxis with regard to his national heritage. He eats with Gentile believers
and upbraids Peter for failing to do so (this entails no flouting of the Hebrew scripture, as
equivocal as that canon is concerning the Gentiles indeed, Ruth and Ezra display that
very tension -- only a rabbinic interpretation about the uncleanness of the peoples of
the nations); see especially Acts 10:28 in this regard. But he also shows special eagerness
to be in Jerusalem during the Shavuot/Pentecost holy day (Acts 20:16b), mentions the
Fast (probably Yom Kippur Acts 27:9), delays departure from Philippi for Troas to
celebrate the feast of Unleavened Bread (Acts 20:6), and twice undertakes a special vow
as prescribed by the Law, the second one resulting in his arrest in Jerusalem (Acts
18:18b; 21:23-26).
While Paul observed many Jewish rites, he found others unduly promoted Jewish
legal observance, especially among Gentiles, because such partisans of the faith fail to
understand the transformed nature of the believers relationship to the Torah (even the
rabbis believed that when Messiah came he would bring a New Law, not in the sense
of abrogation of the old, but in fuller development of it). He acknowledges outright the
goodness of the Law in Romans 7:12, but also the inability of sinful humanity to keep it.
Therefore, argues Paul, the Torah as implemented as an often onerous (Acts 15:10)
system of righteousness with God is null and void with the manifestation of Christ among
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the nations, who is the terminus and relativizer of any and all mere systems of approach
to God. The Torah, in Pauls view, is a standard by which righteous attitudes and
behaviors can be known to exist among the believers; it is also a representation of the
character of God as it is manifest in the human situation. It is good and holy. It is not,
however, in and of itself a means to either justification or sanctification (Galatians 3:3).
Actually, Pauls most impassioned assertion is that faith works through love, i.e.
through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:6b; 3:2). The mode or manner of
salvation, comprehensively understood as justifying and sanctifying grace working within
the believer, is entirely the Spirits doing. The pneumatic gift procured through faith in
the death and resurrection of Jesus upon repentance from sin, and bestowed through the
churchs ministry (Acts 8:17) affects the first phase of the New Covenant spoken of in
Jeremiah 31, resulting in the first fruits of redemption. Torah,in this economy, is
transformed from an inferior system of works-righteousness and salvation, corrupted
because of the flesh, to a holy standard whereby we may contemplate the character and
excellence of him who fulfilled its requirements exactly and in their fullness, and who by
grace offers eternal life and holy wisdom to those who respond to his call.
Scholarly opinion concerning this topic is replete with perspectives all across the
spectrum. Notes Raymond Brown, . . . an enormous amount of scholarly labor has been
expended on this very difficult topic (578).16 I find especially intriguing W.D. Davies
analysis of this important topic, although I do not infer some of the things he did from the
biblical evidence. Claims Davies:
the universalism that . . . was implicit in the depth of Pauls experience of
God in Christ . . . in . . . its strict logical expression in life was never
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achieved. In fact, both in life and thought, the Book of Acts and the
Epistles of Paul reveal a conflict in the latter which was never completely
resolved, a conflict between the claims of the old Israel after the flesh and
the new Israel after the Spirit, between his nationalism and his
Christianity. It is, indeed, from this tension that there arise most of the
inconsistencies that have puzzled interpreters of Paul; and it is only in the
light of the Judaism of the first century A.D. that this is to be understood.
(Paul 58-59)
Intriguingly, Davies goes on to trace this same ambivalence in the Hebrew scriptural
tradition itself, as we also noted earlier (59-66).
While I do not subscribe to the inference Davies draws above, his insight is
compelling as he considers this great apostle. Davies refers to [t]he discovery that the
Gentile was his [Pauls] brother in Christ . . . as the solution of an inner conflict: it was
a thrilling mystery (Paul 67). Nevertheless, Davies relies on C.H. Dodds argument
that there is no ground for assigning any special place in the future to the Jewish nation
as such as something, ultimately, that Paul could not conceive (qtd. in Davies Paul
75).17 Then says Davies:
The fact that when the Messiah came to his own, his own received him
not, was a shattering blow to him, and he reels under the emotional tension
caused by the rejection of Jesus by Jewry. He yearns over his people . . .
Despite his noble universalism he finds it impossible not to assign a
special place to his own people. (75)
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And so in due course by his concluding chapter, Davies ends, . . . throughout his life
Paul . . . assigned to the Jews in the Christian no less than in the pre-Christian
dispensation a place of peculiar importance (321, emphasis mine). He continues flatly:
A Paul who when he became a Christian had ceased to be a Jew would
not be the Paul that we know; it was part of his very integrity as a man that
he should retain his Hebrew accent, as it were, even in his new faith. We
believe that Pauls concern for Israel after the flesh is a tribute to the
profundity of his thought no less than to the warmth of his affections,
because, as we have previously asserted, it is a sublimation of nationalism
in Christ such as Paul yearned for his own people that must always be
desired and not its suppression or extinction. (321-22 emphasis mine)
Davies, according to his conclusion, experiences the very ambivalence he argues
he observed in Paul. Consider this:
It was the historic factthat the Old Israel had been chosen at the Exodus
and had been, as a result, in a relation, if we may so express it, of peculiar
intimacy throughout the ages with God . . . it was this that made Pauls
nationalism invade his Christianity. . . one thing at least shines clear, that
Israel after the flesh persistsas an enigma to the twentieth no less than to
the preceding centuries. (322 emphases mine).
And finally a most profound statement, that fairly lays the rock foundation for this
thesis project:
Paul thought of the incoming of the Old Israel into the Church as life
from the dead. Whether he was justified in this extreme [a la Davies]
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claim, whatever its exact meaning, we cannot say, but it cannot be
doubted that a Christendom which is almost entirely Gentile would gain
by the incursion of the Old Israel, which is still the heir of the prophets.
(322 emphasis mine)
In one fell stroke, Davies discerns what is the central concern of this project and its
biblical moorings, and he seems overcome by the theme. This has also been my lived
experience as a Gentile in active fellowship with Messianic Jews for over a quarter
century; we may at first cavil, but ultimately the depth of wealth, wisdom and
knowledge in God will convince us otherwise (Romans 11:33).
One could cite many other Greek scripture references relative to this question, but
they all may be considered along the analytical lines just presented. A comprehensive
examination of the teaching and modeled lifestyle of the early church leadership (all the
canonical apostolic writers being Jewish, except Luke) virtually compels one to
acknowledge that, far from being a negative or marginal factor in the life of the early
church, Jewish observance among the Jewish contingent in the Body of Christ was
pervasive and highly regarded. They displayed integrity of God-given identity as they
worshipped the Father with, in, and through the risen Lord and Messiah, in the power
of the Holy Spirit, and in an identifiable Jewish manner. In addition, and this is key to the
thesis under consideration, it was their very Jewishness in loving and dynamic relation to
the Gentile brethren that was very much in the mind and intentional design of God with
regard to the functioning of the Body of His Son. Having established an irrevocable
covenant with Jewish flesh, He now continues to honor that covenant in a renewed and
expanded context whereby the richness of His grace abounds beyond the initial recipients
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to embrace an entire planet (Isaiah 49:6), indeed an entire Universe (Colossians 1:20), all
the while preserving the integrity, identity and special functioning of the component parts
of the whole (Ephesians 4:15-16) in a glorious economy of grace and mutual blessing.
Israels Oblation in the Midst of the Gentile Church
It is now for us to draw these biblical threads into a cord of insight regarding the
Lords intention for the full functioning of the church and the indwelling Glory of the
Spirits fullness. According to some commentators, including Alan Ross, the framework
for the book of Romans may be understood as a gospel exposition that utilizes the
Hebrew temple sacrificial system as a metaphor for Gods grand design for the ministry
of the church (Ross). Starting with the Levitical sacrifices pertaining to atonement and
sin-and-guilt-purgation, Paul progresses throughout his epistle by moving to sacrifices
offered in view of the atonement already achieved, to the establishment of a broad
spectrum of sacrificial/sacramental bonds including dedication, thanksgiving, restitution
and peace or well-being. Gods ultimate desire is to receive an offering of the nations
(Romans 15:15-16), concerning which Paul sees himself as a priest in a catalytic role.
Certainly the Holy Eucharist itself represents the highest example of a thanksgiving
offering to the Lord that rises to Him as a sweet smelling savor, and he exhorts
Christians to be dedicated or conformed to the Lords will and purpose (Romans 12:1-2),
which represents a lifelong act of acceptable spiritual service, or worship.
Now what is most interesting about this sacrificial metaphor is that Paul, nearly
out of the blue, invokes the situation regarding the nation of Israel! Romans 9 - 11 stand
in a curious way relative to the other material in the epistle; in some ways, these three
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chapters might almost represent a divergence from the apostles main argument
concerning justification and sanctification, and the offering of the church to God. If,
however, we continue with the sacrificial metaphor, Pauls heartfelt cry for Israels
salvation in the very midst of the book suggests he believes Israels participation in the
economy of salvation to be central to the whole project of the oblation to God intended
by the divine plan. Without Israel on board Paul implies, there would be a terrible
omission in the human oblation God desires. The sacrifice of Jesus must surely be
effectual for Israel, enabling her own central role in the plan of God. This is an Israel
which possesses the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the
worship, and the promises (Romans 9:4); in short, a people with a history, a concrete
existence and a, perhaps scandalous, particularity not unlike that of its Messiah.
The place of Messianic Israel among the Messianic representatives of the Gentile
nations might be therefore crucial to the overall health and effective functioning of the
Body of the Messiah. Without the presence of an identifiable Messianic Israel in the
church, the church is incomplete and even twisted in its self-understanding and witness. It
is also stymied in its appropriation of the full revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures,
comprehensively understood.
The only remedy to such a situation is obvious, namely the re-incorporation of a
once estranged identifiable Messianic Israel into the full life of the church. More will be
said in the next chapter concerning historic ecclesiastical prohibitions and canonical
censures of the practice of the faith of Israel on the part of believing Jews (including the
Inquisition), but there is no question but that a hearty and substantial repentance must be
demonstrated by the Gentile church for its disobedience to explicit commands in the
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Greek scriptures (Romans 11:11-25). We, however belatedly, must aggressively pursue
Gentile-Jewish reconciliation in the church. Opportunities to promote reconciliation and
interaction between Gentiles and Jews in the Body of the Messiah would also serve the
promotion of greater general health in the church, and better enable its universal mission
and ministry.
For the biblical reasons stated in this chapter, this thesis project rests upon a firm
foundation indeed from the Word of God. The theological ideas only touched on in this
chapter must now be developed more fully in the next.
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CHAPTER THREE
A THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION -
SUPERSESSIONISM AND ITS IMPACT:
REMEDIES AND RESULTS
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
To go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *Whom you have prepared for all the world to see;
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
And the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
(Common Book of Prayer 120)
It is with these lines from our evening office, The Song of Simeon, derived
from Luke 2:29-32, that we transition from biblical analysis to a theology of counter-
supersessionism, including the fruits of repentance that follow upon reconciliation
between the Jewish and Gentile wings of the Christian faith. To apply this concept, I also
wish to advance an effective theology of pastoral action that I believe will better enable
the church to operate fully as God intended, particularly with respect to the all-important
communication and application of the written Word found in the corpus of the Hebrew
scriptures.
Guiding Assumptions
In chapter one, the thesis asserted that Gentile Christians (specifically for the
purpose of this project, a representation of adult communicants from the Episcopal
diocese of Fort Worth) find themselves quite challenged today to fully understand and
appropriate the riches of the scriptures found in the Hebrew Bible. Actually, one might
also add that because of this deficiency, portions of the Greek scriptural tradition are
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often misunderstood and misapplied. I specifically assert that this problem is especially
apparent in this post-modern era in which many vestiges of scriptural comprehension
once enjoyed by our ancestors have largely disappeared. I say vestiges because I also
argue that key deficiencies in scriptural understanding have been experienced by the
church since its earliest history as a result of its supersessionism with regard to things
Jewish (I will formally define this term shortly). Paradoxically, I also assert that the post-
modern context with its receptivity to post-Enlightenment epistemological modalities
provides significant opportunities for the correction of this problem through a dynamic of
the Holy Spirit which manifests itself in a truly holistic and catholic Christian
community, one that fully accounts for all its members, Jew and Gentile alike.18 I propose
that unique and real, if somewhat difficult to define, aspects of Messianic Jewish -
Gentile Christian interaction, interaction where there is an exchange of spirituality, will
establish ecclesial conditions for the possibility of the fullness of the Spirit to be present
so as to bring the Body of Christ into all Truth.
The Problem of Supersessionism and its Consequences
TheNunc Dimittis that introduces this chapter provides a succinct scriptural
summary of Gods overall intention for the economy of salvation through the incarnate
Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Light and Glory are key words in this canticle,
light pertaining to what the ministry of the Hebrew Messiah would bring to the nations of
the world, and glory pertaining to what that same ministry would bring to the redeemed
physical descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This beautiful piece of scripture
holds forth a vision of Israel and the nations in vital relationship to each other as distinct
entities of the in-breaking Kingdom of God. Dan and Patricia Juster build upon this
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vision in their book, One People, Many Tribes. They propose that the model of the
church in its various aspects, phases and modalities is a Messianic commonwealth. Like
any commonwealth, there is a root nation orethnos, and a constellation of diverse
derivatives of this mother body. The various colonies and tribal off-shoots of the root
nation enjoy a rich variety of lifestyles and practices, but all of them sustain an ongoing
relationship with the root nation, and subscribe to certain basic or core principles that
enable them to cohere and interrelate peaceably, but without dilution of the separate
identities associated with each sub-group.
The central unifying principle is the light of Christ of the Kingdom of God (John
1:4-5). The wellspring of all redeemed life is to be found in Jesus Christ, and Him alone,
who possesses the fullness of Him who fills all things. This enabling eternal light,
although complete in itself, does not exist merely for its own sake, but by the Fathers
design exists to order and energize the universe (Colossians 1:16-17). The glory of the
Lord that Israel is meant to enjoy by intimate association with Him thereby also
establishes her forever as a distinct expression of the divine will. A hostile challenge to
this vision is the reality of supersessionism, here defined as the theological notion that the
church utterly replaced Israel in the mind of God, at least in terms of the promised
blessings of the covenant (covenantal curses for disobedience remain, however, in this
scheme, in fact are fundamental to it). According to Franklin Littell, the myth of
supersession has two foci: (1) God is finished with the Jews; (2) the new Israel (the
Christian church) takes the place of the Jewish people as carrier of history (qtd. in
Bloesch 131).19 In this same article, Bloesch notes that Lutheran scholar Johannes
Aagaard asserts, the church is . . . the sole eschatological reality (Bloesch 131).
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Another term more or less synonymous for supersessionism is so-called replacement
theology. Interestingly, Walter A. Elwells Evangelical Dictionary of Theology contains
no entry for either supersessionism or replacement theology, but it does contain an
entry entitled Restoration of Israel with a cross-reference to an article entitled, Israel
and Prophecy (938; 572-74). This article, by P.C. Craigie, further referencing works by
C.E. Amerding and W.W. Gasque, as well as G.E. Ladd and G.P. Richardson,
acknowledges the difficulty in interpretation of texts that may or may not suggest that the
church has comprehensively become the New Israel, logically replacing national or
even a dispersed ethnic Israel in Gods prophetic plan. Observes Craigie, concerning the
diverse prophetic witness, . . . it is not that the respective messages contradict each
other, but rather that the truth toward which they point eludes the descriptive capacity of
human language (qtd. in Elwell 573). 20 He concludes, however, [i]n summary, the
biblical perspective emerging from the writings of the prophets is that human history has
a direction and movement within the providence of God in which Israel has a continuing
place (Elwell 574). Thus, the overall thrust here repudiates the idea that God is finished
with national or ethnic Israel with regard to a renewed relationship of blessing. 21 I
subscribe to this theological trajectory in light of the biblical and theological arguments I
present in this chapter, as well as chapters two and five.
Rather more unequivocal is the remarkable references to ethnic Israel in the new
Catechism of the Catholic Church. The subject index of this comprehensive tome under
Israel; Israelites contains the following three sub-heading references: call of Israel
irrevocable, 839; Church formed in advance in Israel, 759-62; and Israels hope,
674. The second reference presents an understanding of national Israel vis--vis the
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church that can only be described as covenant theology in its tone, and the third is as
explicit as possible that ethnic Israel will be a true and vital component of the Kingdom
of Christ in its fullness (suggesting something of a dispensational character). This is truly
a balanced and comprehensive vision, very much consistent with that of Dan Justers
approach to the biblical and theological issues involved.
What I find most troubling about supersessionism, in light of these critiques of its
rationale, is that it purports to seemingly glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by denying that his
light and ministry have relevance or vital application with respect to the covenant made
with the descendents of the patriarchs. We say we are Christ-centered when we
denigrate the patriarchal covenants, and relegate the Hebrew scriptures and their concerns
to an inferior position in our scriptural thinking. This does not really enhance the dignity
and Lordship of Jesus Christ, but actually diminishes the full impact of his light and
glory. It also tended, historically, to deflect the duty for ongoing self-examination and
repentance by, in the words of James and Christine Ward, taking every prophetic word
of judgment as a word about other people, in this case ethnic Israel (123). Although I do
not agree with these authors concerning the spiritual standing of those of ethnic Israel
who do not maintain a faith relationship with the Messiah Jesus (they appear to subscribe
to a parallel track theory of salvation, a troubling idea consisting of unscriptural and
trendy notions of salvation that effectively exempt Jewish people from entering into
Gods purposes through the Lord Jesus Christ), they are correct in pointing out some of
the deleterious effects of supersessionism on the Body of Christ itself (more on this
momentarily).
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In response to these unscriptural exemptions from living, Messianic faith, and the
regrettable actions of certain Christian denominations to dilute the universal call to that
faith, some theologians expressed dissent to such developments. In Supersessionism,
Engraftment, and Jewish-Christian Dialogue: Reflections on the Presbyterian Statement
on Jewish-Christian Relations, Robert R. Hann argued against an unbiblical
undermining of the call to all people to embrace the gospel on the occasion of the issuing
of the 1987 Statement by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
pertinent to the matter of Jewish-Christian relations. By way of summary, Hann dissents
from the implicit universalism of the PCUSA statement, and analyzes supersessionism in
an approving manner as an early and pervasive reaction of the historic church against
Jewish claims that contradicted the gospel message. After building a context that argues
from a base of post-biblical patristic polemic, Hann then launches into a brief
consideration of Romans 11 that eviscerates most of the text of what Dan Juster
maintains is a growing exegetical consensus concerning Gods astonishing plans for
ethnic Israel (Juster, Israel and the Church 11).Although Hanns defense of the
integrity of the gospel is a most commendable thing, he overstates his case, failing
thereby to accurately grasp the very complex issues involved.
In contrast, Bloeschs paper, mentioned earlier, comes closer to the mark in my
view. A most important insight is contained in this statement:
What is important to understand is that both Israels rejection and the
Gentiles election are acts of God that belong to the mystery of divine
providence. To be sure, Israels disobedience provoked Gods
displeasure . . . In Romans 11 we are introduced to the still deeper mystery
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that Gods rejection of Israel is not final . . . but only provisional . . . In
the No of Gods rejection is hidden the Yes of his election. (133-34)
He goes on to briefly note, [i]t was the Puritans and Pietists who reclaimed the Pauline
hope for Israel as a nation and through Israel hope for the world (134). More on this
topic will be presented in the next section. Bloesch also spends a good deal of space on
the reflection and writings of Karl and Markus Barth concerning Romans 11, where they
point out, Gods mercy must and shall be revealed to all Israel (qtd. in Bloesch 134).22
Toward the end of his paper, Bloesch cites again from A Shorter Commentary, . . . the
whole Church of Jesus Christ needs the Jews. She needs their failure . . . their rejection . .
. but she needs even more their full entrance into the faith in the Messiah, their addition
to the Gentiles and Jews who already do believe in him (qtd. in 141). Markus, for his
part, is cited both in Bloesch (141-42) and Ellison (101-102) as recognizing no terminus
for Gods providential and covenantal concern for ethnic Israel.
Opposed to these healthy inclusions, supersessionism is a form of schism,
probably the earliest and most destructive schism in the churchs history. The apostle
Paul, as noted in the last chapter, issued severe warnings to the Gentile contingent at the
church in Rome to the effect that they must never elevate their sense of themselves, their
status in Gods mind and intention, above even unbelieving Israel (how much more
applicable to believing Israel!).23 The rank and well documented disobedience of the
church generally in the second century and onward in failing to honor this charge
produced conditions in which the fullness of Gods revelation was increasingly
unavailable to the church, a fullness that abides in Christ as expressed through the
universal churchs gracious unity-in-diversity. This doubtless sounds like a radical
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statement, and I would have also eschewed such a view until recently. Consideration,
however, of an excerpt from Ephraim Radners The End of the Church: A Pneumatology
of Christian Division in the West in connection with a doctoral seminar at Trinity
Episcopal School for Ministry in 1998 reveals, in tandem with an important initiative
called Toward Jerusalem Council Two, that, regretfully, such is in fact the case. (Toward
Jerusalem Council Two, or TJC2, will be discussed in detail in chapter five).
Radners compelling thesis argues that, in view of second millennial Western
schismatic activity (he does not examine the schisms of the first millennium, including
the Messianic Jewish-Gentile split), the church lost the ability to appropriate scripture, to
consistently receive the realm of the miraculous, to truly taste the Bread of Life, and to
order its ministries in a coherent fashion. He further argues that the schisms of the West
have resulted in a virtual abandonment of the church, in a macro sense (phrasing mine)
at least, by the Holy Spirit. If the church is thus deprived we cannot even repent from our
state, denied the grace to do so which only arises from that same Spirit. (The Spirit, of
course, is nonetheless quite active in individuals and even godly groups of Spirit-renewal
minded people, but as a comprehensive entity, the church-as-a-whole is Spirit-deprived
and often therefore depraved).
I take Radners argument one step further by application to what might be termed
the Ur-schism, truly and literally the mother of all schisms, the great divorce of the
Gentile church from its Jewish roots. Gentiles predominated in the church during the
second century and beyond.In the absence of apostolic correction through the ministry
of The Twelve, who formed the Jewish nucleus of the proto-Church of the Messiah,
what to do about the Old Testament and the lifestyle of faithful Jewish believers
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became a significant issue.His Holiness John Paul II commented on this topic in an
address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, April 11, 1997. He said:
Since the second century A.D., the church has been faced with the
temptation to separate the New Testament from the Old, and to oppose
one to the other. . . It is impossible fully to express the mystery of Christ
without reference to the Old Testament. . . . By taking part in the
synagogue celebrations where the Old Testament texts were read and
commented on . . . He became an authentic son of Israel, deeply rooted in
his own peoples long history. (qtd. in Carroll vii, emphasis mine)
The developing theology of the Christian church started with honest questions about how
to understand and apply a two-fold scriptural canon consisting of a historic Hebrew
component and a more recent apostolic, Greek-language witness. Then Justin Martyrs
and Irenaeus standard model of scriptural interpretation rendered Gods covenant with
Israel and her life in the world as largely irrelevant for shaping conclusions about how
Gods consummating and redemptive purposes engage creation in universal and enduring
ways (Soulen 48). 24 Local church councils followed suit in succeeding centuries,
imposing restrictions on Jewish expression in an uncoordinated fashion. Along the way
there would be many other insults and denigrations of the Hebraic heritage, Marcions
outright rejection of the God of Israel and the Old Testament being merely a
particularly low point in this downward spiral (The Churchs condemnation of Marcion
was laudable, but that he could gain any following is symptomatic of the growing
problem of supersessionism). Finally, the second council of Nicea explicitly and
universally proscribed any aspect of Jewish observance, Messianic or otherwise, in a
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triumphalist Christendom on pain of excommunication and civil censure, nothing less
than full-blown anti-Semitism and blatant supersessionism-come-of-age.
Interestingly, there are some intriguing hints of appreciation for the Hebraic
heritage and Israels national identity buried in patristic literature. Hilary of Poitiers
makes reference to the contribution of natural (an intriguing adjective for a people
whose ancestors often produced offspring through rather challenged obstetrical
modalities) Israel, ultimately redeemed, to the adornment and extension of the blessed
city. He declares, Israel, now in captivity, will continue the construction of the house
when the fullness of the nations has come (qtd. in Wright 433).
25
Thus does one
churchman of the era display at least a rudimentary appreciation for some ongoing
significance of the covenants God forged with Israel, although his words might be
construed as deferring that significance until a future epoch. Even here, however, he
speaks of redeemed Israel as laboring in conjunction with the redeemed from all the
nations at the time of the Lordsparousia, thereby acknowledging a measure of
interrelationship and reciprocity between distinct entities.
Such happy hints of recognition of Gods total purpose are, however, undermined
by the growing sense of hostility toward Israel and her covenants evident in church
history, culminating arguably in the destruction of entire faith communities in the
twentieth century at the hands of an at least complacent and compliant European
Christianity. And as Soulen argues, the European theological minds of the nineteenth
century were quite content to propose what he terms a Disembodied God (78). He
specifically analyzes the work of Kant and Schleiermacher to demonstrate that the notion
of Christian Divinity without Jewish Flesh (57) was taking over educated thinking on
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the topic of the Jews and the place of the Old Testament in Christian theology in that era.
The influence of that sort of reflection on the ability of the church to properly appropriate
scripture was devastating. In addition, the theological violence inherent in that project
both summarized and recapitulated the centuries of negativity and distortion that
preceded it with regards to things Jewish, and established something of an at least
indirect rationale for Hitlers final solution. When all is said and done, the sound of
Christendoms final fall and crash to the ground, and the rise of Post-Modernism may
well be traced to the churchs long-term refusal to heed the clear prescription for its own
survival found in Romans chapters 9 - 11.
An Historical Excursus
For those of us who hold frankly and unapologetically to an evangelical and
theologically conservative, biblical faith, there is a redemptive and exciting story to relate
and consider here that serves as a something of a counterbalance to the largely dismal
historic character of Christian thought and practice with regard to things Jewish. It is a
story that contains a number of important and happy intersections with developments in
Christian England from the days of the Reformation (that same story, however, also
contains one intersection with the Anglo-Catholic movement at its very inception, which
I regret to admit as one who largely embraces its tenets, that I must regard as less than
felicitous; see endnote #7). I will trace these developments in some detail, but the
following may serve as a summary of the impact of them on the highest levels of British
civil and ecclesiastical governance a century ago:
The great event of Israels return to God in Christ, and His to Israel, said
Bishop Handley C.G. Moule, honorary chaplain to the Queen of England
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from 1898 to 1901, will be the signal and the means of a vast rise of
spiritual life in the universal church, and of an unexampled ingathering of
regenerate souls from the world. (qtd. in M. Brown 25)26
From where did such a remarkable statement derive, in view of the
overwhelmingly negative character of Christian reflection on natural Israel throughout
history? What formed and informed the theological project that could produce such
insight in the England of that time (and is there any chance it could occur again)? 27 It is
to these questions that we now turn our attention.
The theological position and sentiment that fueled Bishop Moules comment
concerning Israel cited above derives from what Dan Juster calls Evangelical Pietism.
Rooted in seventeenth century English Puritanism (Dissenters in their time from the
perspective of the Church of England), and influential via Lutheran German Pietists,
Scandinavian Free Churches and the Moravians on some establishment Anglicans in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Evangelical Pietism (as understood by Juster)
eschews the utilization of state power to establish a particular state church, but rather
promotes a lively, biblical and personal faith that nonetheless, for all its distrust of
official religion, seeks a strong influence for the Christian faith on society at large.
Quite to the point of this discussion, Juster declares, [i]t is my contention that where
Evangelical Pietism is strong the Jewish people find friends and allies for their rights in
society (Jewish People 4). 28
Now we must reflect on the contribution of English Puritans to a recovering sense
of the place of natural Israel in the plan and purposes of God in and for the church, no
less than the world. The seminal work on this topic is Ian Murrays The Puritan Hope.
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Murrays scholarship is truly astonishing in its scope and impact. He devotes the better
part of two chapters of this book, and not a little of the rest, to the place of natural Israel
in the theology and most importantly prayer life of Puritan leaders and congregations
both in England and America. Tracing the impact of the public recovery of the scriptures
during the English Reformation on the church, Murray examines the issue of certain
aspects of unfulfilled biblical prophecy as the wellspring of Puritan life and spirituality.
Certainly all the reformers focused on the Second Coming of the Lord as a prime
influence in the life of a church emerging from the Middle Age