Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
When some of the early church leaders saw Jerusalem destroyed in the second Jewish revolt (A.D. 132-135) and the Jews excluded from Jerusalem upon penalty of death, they reasoned that the nation of Israel was apparently beyond any hope of recovery. Tertullian wrote:
"The Jews are scattered wanderers, excluded from their own land of Judea; this shows how they erred and forsook their calling, and how Judaism has been, therefore, superceded by Christianity" (The Apology).
These Gentile converts saw the condition of Israel, destroyed and seemingly beyond any hope of recovery, and reasoned that they would never be restored, in spite of the clear Revelation from God that ethnic Israel has not been cast away. Tertullian was not alone in this belief, as witnessed by the words of Justin Martyr in his conversation with the Jew Trypho:
"For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even at the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us" (Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew, Chapter 82).
These men ASSUMED that God had cast away Israel. Their false belief was not based on the Scriptures but instead on what they saw and reasoned had happened.
Noted church historian W.H.C. Frend observes that with this second fall of Jerusalem, "all hope of a restored Temple and Holy City now faded, and the Jews were thrown on to the defensive. The reference of the prophecies to an earthly restoration of the Jewish kingdom and Messiah in the form of a deliverer from Rome rule had to be abandoned" (Frend, "The Old Testament in the Age of the Greek Apologists A.D.130-180," Scottish Journal of Theology, 26).
Because the early Gentile Christians did not believe that national Israel would be restored they were left with a problem. How could they explain the following verses:
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east...Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev.7:2-4).
According to their ideas the reference to "Israel" here could not be speaking of a restored nation of Israel so they reasoned that these verses must be in respect to the Church, which is His Body. They assumed that God had forever cast away national Israel, and the church had taken her place. Cyprian stated his belief that "the Jews, according to what had been foretold, had departed from God, and had lost God's favor while the Christians succeeded to their place" (Cyprian, Treatise 12-Three Books of Testimony Against the Jews).
So we can see that some of the people in the early church put what they saw with their eyes ABOVE what the Scriptures actually say. That explains how the false teaching that the Church is "spiritual Israel" came into existence.
"The Jews are scattered wanderers, excluded from their own land of Judea; this shows how they erred and forsook their calling, and how Judaism has been, therefore, superceded by Christianity" (The Apology).
These Gentile converts saw the condition of Israel, destroyed and seemingly beyond any hope of recovery, and reasoned that they would never be restored, in spite of the clear Revelation from God that ethnic Israel has not been cast away. Tertullian was not alone in this belief, as witnessed by the words of Justin Martyr in his conversation with the Jew Trypho:
"For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even at the present time. And hence you ought to understand that [the gifts] formerly among your nation have been transferred to us" (Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew, Chapter 82).
These men ASSUMED that God had cast away Israel. Their false belief was not based on the Scriptures but instead on what they saw and reasoned had happened.
Noted church historian W.H.C. Frend observes that with this second fall of Jerusalem, "all hope of a restored Temple and Holy City now faded, and the Jews were thrown on to the defensive. The reference of the prophecies to an earthly restoration of the Jewish kingdom and Messiah in the form of a deliverer from Rome rule had to be abandoned" (Frend, "The Old Testament in the Age of the Greek Apologists A.D.130-180," Scottish Journal of Theology, 26).
Because the early Gentile Christians did not believe that national Israel would be restored they were left with a problem. How could they explain the following verses:
"And I saw another angel ascending from the east...Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel" (Rev.7:2-4).
According to their ideas the reference to "Israel" here could not be speaking of a restored nation of Israel so they reasoned that these verses must be in respect to the Church, which is His Body. They assumed that God had forever cast away national Israel, and the church had taken her place. Cyprian stated his belief that "the Jews, according to what had been foretold, had departed from God, and had lost God's favor while the Christians succeeded to their place" (Cyprian, Treatise 12-Three Books of Testimony Against the Jews).
So we can see that some of the people in the early church put what they saw with their eyes ABOVE what the Scriptures actually say. That explains how the false teaching that the Church is "spiritual Israel" came into existence.
