{"id":14643,"date":"2020-02-08T05:45:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T09:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/?p=14643"},"modified":"2019-10-03T07:50:12","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T11:50:12","slug":"paul-and-supersessionism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2020\/02\/paul-and-supersessionism\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul and Supersessionism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I find it hard to deny that Paul held to some species of supersessionism, not a replacement of Israel, but certainly a redefinition of Israel based on the coming of the Messiah and the inclusion of the Gentiles. Of course, Romans 9-11 is really the key passage one has to wrestle with here.<\/p>\n

Whereas some Jewish groups conceived of themselves as an elect within Israel, Jews superseding other Jews in a salvific-eschatological narrative, Paul\u2019s discourse is different. For Paul, the advent of Christ has created a fissure within ethnic Israel between those who believe and those who do not, between an Israel according to the flesh and an Israel according to the promise (Rom 9:6-21). For the promissory Israel, they comprise of a remnant of Christ-believing Jews (Rom 9:27-29; 11:1-5) and Gentile Christ-believers who are grafted into promissory Israel\u2019s election by faith (Rom 9:22-26; 10:4-13; 11:20, 24). For Paul, \u201cIsrael\u201d is a prestige label for the superordinate group comprised of Christ-believing Jews and Gentiles, who can be described elsewhere as an \u201cinward Jew\u201d (Rom 2:29), \u201cchildren of the living God\u201d (Rom 9:26), the \u201ccircumcision\u201d (Phil 3:3), and the \u201cIsrael of God\u201d (Gal 6:16). This leaves ethnic Israel in an ambiguous space. On the one hand, they are objects of \u201cwrath\u201d (Rom 9:22), because they \u201cstumbled,\u201d (Rom 9:32-33; 11:11-12), they committed a \u201ctransgression\u201d (Rom 11:11-12), there are \u201cdefeated\u201d (Rom 11:12), they have become \u201ca disobedient and obstinate people\u201d (Rom 10:21; 11:30-31), they have been \u201chardened\u201d (Rom 9:18; 11:7, 25), experienced \u201crejection\u201d (Rom 11:15), were \u201cbroken off because of unbelief\u201d (Rom 11:20), and become \u201cenemies of God\u201d (Rom 11:28). But on the other hand, Paul simultaneously affirms too that God has \u201cnot rejected his people\u201d (Rom 11:1-2), Israel is not \u201cbeyond recovery\u201d (Rom 11:11), God\u2019s love for Israel immutable (Rom 11:28), and Israel\u2019s election is irrevocable (Rom 11:29).<\/p>\n

The tension here is real and Paul intensifies it further. He does that first by ruling out point black a pure replacement view of Israel, attacking the thesis that the \u201cBranches were broken off so that I might be grafted in\u201d (Rom 11:19). Then, second, Paul has no place for a sonderweg <\/em>where Israel is saved under the auspices of an existing Mosaic scheme. Israel can and will be saved, but with a note of christological conditionality: \u201cif they do not persist in unbelief\u201d (Rom 11:23). The dilemma is not whether Israel is elect, but how Israel\u2019s election and disobedience to the gospel will be resolved and how she relates to believing Jews and Gentiles.<\/p>\n

The relationship of Christ-believing Gentiles to non-Christ-believing Jews is not one of superiority. How could it be? The Jews still have \u201cadvantages\u201d (\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c3\u1f79\u03c2; Rom 3:1) and an enviable list of privileges including a genealogical relationship to the patriarchs and the Messiah (Rom 9:4-5). Importantly, the relationship between them is not competitive, but an interlocking destiny (Rom 11:17-20, 28-31; cf. 1:16; 2:9-10; 15:8-9). Gentile redemption is nourished by its Jewish roots (Rom 11:16-17). The proof of this is that Israel\u2019s misstep over the Messiah occasioned \u201criches for the world\u201d (Rom 11:12) and brought \u201creconciliation to the world\u201d (Rom 11:15). Israel\u2019s disbelief and disobedience led to Gentile inclusion (Rom 11:11, 31). Their gospel failure is \u201cfor\u201d the benefit of the Gentiles as much as their election is \u201cfor\u201d the benefit of bringing the patriarchal promises about many nations worshipping God to fruition (Rom 11:28; cf. 15:7-8). At the same time, the Gentiles\u2019 worship of God will hopefully prompt ethnic Israel to \u201cjealousy\u201d (Rom 11:11, 14), so that ethnic Israel can be grafted back into God\u2019s purposes (Rom 11:23-24). Such a vision justifies the continued mission of proclamation to ethnic Israel (Rom 10:1, 14-15; 11:14), so that she can be \u201csaved\u201d in the present time (Rom 10:13; 11:14), or in an eschatological consummation (Rom 11:26). God\u2019s purposes for ethnic Israel in the end are their \u201cfullness\u201d (\u03c0\u03bb\u1f75\u03c1\u03c9\u03bc\u03b1; Rom 11:12), \u201cacceptance\u201d (\u03c0\u03c1\u1f79\u03c3\u03bb\u03b7\u03bc\u03c8\u03b9\u03c2; Rom 11:15), and \u201cforgiveness\u201d (Rom 11:27; Isa 27:9; Jer 31:34). Thus, God\u2019s mercy may appear capricious (Rom 9:15-16, 18, 23) but it proves in the end to be comprehensive, since God\u2019s electing mercy for promissory Israel (Rom 9:6-29) will eschatologically encompass even ethnic Israel (Rom 11:30-32). That is the \u201cmystery\u201d of which he speaks (Rom 11:25). In which case, Israel\u2019s covenantal privileges and even her stumbling are the instrument for Gentile deliverance which makes Israel intrinsic to Gentile salvation. Israel might be disobedient, disparage members of Christ\u2019s body, but she remains indispensable to God\u2019s purposes. Thus, with Bruce Longenecker: \u201cPaul imagined ethnic Israel, whether hardened or enlivened, to play the role of God\u2019s specially chosen instrument in the course of salvation history. And in this Paul sees the intransience of God\u2019s covenant with the Jews.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Longenecker, \u201cAssessing Supersessionism,\u201d 39.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I find it hard to deny that Paul held to some species of supersessionism, not a replacement of Israel, but certainly a redefinition of Israel based on the coming of the Messiah and the inclusion of the Gentiles. Of course, Romans 9-11 is really the key passage one has to wrestle with here. Whereas some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":11177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPaul and Supersessionism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I find it hard to deny that Paul held to some species of supersessionism, not a replacement of Israel, but certainly a redefinition of Israel based on the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2020\/02\/paul-and-supersessionism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul and Supersessionism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I find it hard to deny that Paul held to some species of supersessionism, not a replacement of Israel, but certainly a redefinition of Israel based on the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2020\/02\/paul-and-supersessionism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euangelion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michael.bird.33\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-08T09:45:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-03T11:50:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/34\/2018\/06\/Paul-icon.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"401\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"599\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael F. 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