The Heresy of Replacement Theology

For several years after the church was born in Jerusalem, it was exclusively Jewish in membership. The Jews who accepted Jesus as Messiah and Savior were persecuted severely by Jews who rejected Him (Book of Hebrews). That persecution prompted Jewish believers to scatter to areas where Samaritans and Gentiles were predominant. Through their witness, Samaritans and many Gentiles became believers in Jesus and part of the church. Before the end of the first century of its existence, the church had become predominantly Gentile in membership.” As a result, the church began to experience significant changes from what it had been when it was mainly Jewish in membership. Within one hundred years after the apostles of Christ were gone, the “majority of Gentile Christians regarded the Jewish Scriptures as authoritative,” but began to think “of themselves as the true spiritual heirs of Israel,” and “claimed for themselves the promises which the Hebrews held that Yahweh had made to them.” Some then Thought that “The Christians held that, the Jews having been rejected by God, they themselves had become the chosen people.” They claimed that God permanently ended Israel’s unique relationship with Him as a nation, and replaced it with the church as His unique people. Thus, the Christians had become the Israel of God.