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17 results for “Church Fathers”
Clear searchA history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
How Supersessionism Took Root in the Early Church A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension Supersessionism did not appear in one moment through one theologian. It developed as the Church became increasingly Gentile…
Read article →Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing
Are Abraham's Seed and the Israel of God the Church? Christ the promised Seed, Gentile inheritance, and Paul's final blessing Galatians contains two of the strongest arguments for identifying the Church as Israel. First, Paul says that…
Read article →What 'yea and Amen' in Christ means for Israel and the covenants
Do All God's Promises Transfer to the Church? What "yea and Amen" in Christ means for Israel and the covenants Paul makes one of the most comprehensive statements about the promises of God: "For all the promises of God in him ar…
Read article →The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God
Israel and the Church: Why This Series Matters The question reaches beyond prophecy to the faithfulness of God Has the Church replaced Israel in the purpose of God? Some Christians answer yes, although the…
Read article →Fulfilment in Christ, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and Israel's future mercy
…and the fulfilment of Israel's story. Those who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed. The Church receives Israel's covenant titles, the kingdom is taken from unbelieving Israel and given to a fruit-bearing nation, and all God's promises are yea and amen in Christ. There is one go…
Read article →The olive tree, the natural branches, and the limits of the metaphor
…within it, and unbelieving Jewish branches have been removed. Surely the tree is now the Church, the Church is Israel, and the distinction has disappeared. That argument gives the metaphor real weight, but it moves too quickly. Paul does not say that Gentiles are grafted into Is…
Read article →Why Israel's failure cannot make the word of God fail
…solve the problem by saying that Israel's name and promises now refer exclusively to the Church. Instead, the nation remains "beloved for the fathers' sakes", because "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:28-29). The phrase does not excuse unbelief. It…
Read article →Conditional blessing, irrevocable promise, and fulfilment in Christ
…ld remain impossible. God promises the very cleansing and obedience He requires. Does the Church receive the new covenant? Yes. Jesus identified the cup at the Last Supper as "the new testament in my blood" (Luke 22:20). Paul called himself and his fellow workers ministers of the…
Read article →One Messiah, one gospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel
…ospel, and God's continuing purpose for Israel This series began with a question: has the Church permanently replaced Israel in the purpose of God? The answer cannot be reached by asking whether Christ fulfils the promises. He does. Nor can it be settled by asking whether Gentile…
Read article →Election within Abraham's family, the believing remnant, and the future of the nation
…the children of promise: everyone who believes in Christ, whether Jewish or Gentile. The Church is therefore the Israel within Israel, while unbelieving ethnic Israel no longer possesses a distinct covenant identity or future. Paul certainly denies that physical descent guarante…
Read article →The positive argument of the whole series, brought together
…whole doctrine. Together they form a coherent movement: Christ completes and gathers His Church, resumes Daniel's unfinished programme concerning Israel and Jerusalem, judges the beast's world while saving a multitude within it, and later returns with His redeemed people to deli…
Read article →Why apantēsis does not settle the timing of the rapture
…o second comings? The objection is sometimes restated rhetorically: if Christ gathers the Church and later descends in judgement, pretribulationism has invented two second comings. That misdescribes the claim. Pretribulationism sees one future advent with distinguishable movement…
Read article →What God's faithfulness to Israel means for everyone who trusts His promises
…doctrine. It tests how we understand the faithfulness of the God upon whose promises the Church itself depends. The opposing case deserves to be stated fairly Most thoughtful supersessionists do not believe God lied to Israel. They do not imagine Him tearing up His covenants or…
Read article →Regathering, national rebirth, and the spiritual renewal still to come
…h scattered thee." —Deuteronomy 30:3 The passage continues with return to the land of the fathers and an inward work of God: "the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart" so that Israel will love Him (Deuteronomy 30:5-6). Judgement and restoration therefore form one covenant seq…
Read article →Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await
…christ Must Come First, Is Christ's Coming Imminent? Signs, expectancy, and the event the Church is told to await Imminency does not mean that Christ was required to return within the apostles' lifetime. It means that no revealed prophetic event must first occur before the Church…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…'s measured programme for Israel and Jerusalem awaits its final phase while God forms the Church from Jew and Gentile in one body. The length of the interval is not a defect in God's promise. Scripture repeatedly joins divine patience to the apparent delay of judgement (2 Peter 3…
Read article →The gathering of the elect, one taken and one left, and Paul's revealed mystery
…hered as the kingdom approaches. These features do not make the passage irrelevant to the Church. All Scripture instructs the Church, and Christians living before the destruction of Jerusalem could heed Christ's warning. They do show that the discourse is operating within Israel'…
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