Christian doctrine is that Jesus established a new covenant between mankind and God, replacing the old covenant between God and Israel.
A theological issue that raises is the relationhip between God and Israel. When the new covenant was established, either the Jews continued to have a relationship with God under their old covenant (dual theology) or they lost their relationship with God (replacement theology).
Christian Preterists point to the destruction of the Jewish state around AD70 as evidence that god did indeed break wth the Jews. The historical/social/poitical issue is whether dcoctrines such as preterism are a) causes of or ) caused by anti-semitism
Hi Keith,
fascinating question. Interestingly, I hold to covenant theology - but not to replacement theology. Christian doctrine does not teach that Jesus established a new covenant but rather that there were two covenants. (yes I know the arguments otherwise - we will get to those in due course) the first was the covenant of works - which Adam broke and subsequently all of humanity received (covenantal) death. Hence God established a second covenant - the one of grace. This covenant was confirmed by Noah, the Abraham, then David, then finally and most fully Jesus. In actuality Jesus was the fulfillment of all of these covenant of graces - but more importantly unlike Adam, Jesus himself was able to keep the covenant of works which enable him to be the perfect lamb.
It was on this basis that we can talk about a new covenant that Jesus introduced at the Last Supper. More about that later.
Your point seems to be about the Jewish state - the called out people of God in the OT v the suggested replacement, namely the church and how this leads to anti-semitism. some theologians have taken this view - such as Luther.
the OT - see the minor prophets, such as Hosea actually state that God divorced Israel - hence it is unfair to suggest it started with the Christians. In fact if you read any of the OT prophets - the Jews brought their judgment quite fairly upon themselves and it would not be too difficult to find that many nations in the OT prior to Christianity wanted to destroy Israel from very early on.
Christians don't argue seriously that the church replaced Israel. If you understand Jewish language - you would find that Jesus is termed the new Israel. He was and is a Jew. The church was never about a national position - it was about a multinational position - and this flowed initially from Abraham - father of many nations. Hence churches around the world are some of the most multi-national organisations in the world. It is no fluke that the predominant multi-national countries are those with the strongest Protestant backgrounds.
so it is a little misleading to say that preterists say God broke with the Jews and replaced them. It is more accurate to say that God took the Jewish nation as a springboard and spread itself. Don't forget that the early church was predominantly Jewish - most of the books of the NT were written by Jews.
God did not break with the Jews. Although he did judge the Jewish world because it rejected Jesus. Yet, as it did in the OT it took the remnant of Jews and used them to take his glorious gospel into all of the world.
Some Christians - took an unbiblical view that it was the Jews who killed Jesus. They say the church has replaced the Jews as God's called. Yet this is a false narrative. There is a very strong Jewish element within the Christian church. This comes in many forms - and there are many reformed - preterist Christian Jews. (Now admittedly many Jews would say you cannot be Christian and a Jew at the same time) Yet many people would say that the Jewish world at the time of Christ and leading into the destruction of the Temple changed dramatically to the extent that the Jewish world divided into two. Those who had to live religiously despite the heart of their religion - the temple being ripped asunder from them. And those other Jews who saw the hand of God substantially transforming the temple from a building to a people. the former became the modern Jews. the latter becoming the Christians. Ironically this makes the modern Jew the younger brother of the Church because the church at Pentecost was born before the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
Yet, I would totally agree that the anti-semiticsim demonstrated in some quarters in the church is insidious and needs to be stamped out.
