Has the Church Replaced Israel? Replacement Theology Debate

I hope many Christians will benefit from this debate and find it edifying. Thg and I share some common grounds; we both believe there is only one way of salvation for all mankind that is through faith and acceptance of Jesus; and that we all Jews or Gentiles fall short before God with respect to personal justification. Whole mankind equally needs God to be saved (Rom 3). Furthermore he is an Evangelical, meaning he holds scriptures to be our sole authority and rule of faith, unlike Roman Catholicism or its other off shoot branches like Orthodoxy. So let us begin examining the scriptures. Has the Church replaced Israel? Meaning: Is God done with Israel, and it is no longer God’s nation? The Church superseded Israel or the role and promises given to Israel are transferred to another group--the Church? I say NO. It has been a popular traditional theology for many that the Church has replaced Israel, and the national promises to Israel are to be applied on the Church! Quite surprisingly my opponent implied that the election of Israel by God was so incidental that he doesn’t even think it was ever a chosen nation in the first place. He believes God never even intended to choose or create a nation distinct among mankind. Was the election of Israel merely a tragic incident of the sinful fallen nature of man, or God seriously created a unique nation for his own glory and purpose for mankind? Have Israel and many Christians badly misunderstood the purpose and identity of Israel for being God’s nation, as he says? Let us pay attention to God’s words:God promised Abram to be a “great nation” (Gen 12:2-3) “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. ” God said regarding Abraham's promised descendants - Gen 15:14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Abram became Abraham, meaning father of many nations. The promise of the great nation to Abraham was fulfilled through his grandson Jacob who is called Israel, through him the nation established. Note: Abraham begot many children but Israel is through Jacob’s descendants only. In Genesis 15 God made a national covenant, promising to give his descendants the land of Israel. Only God passed through the sacrificed animals. It was an ancient way of making a covenant between two parties; both walk through the sacrificed animals and take oath that if they break the covenant- may the same happen to them as the killed animals. Only God walked through the pieces, it was a unilateral & unconditional covenant-- the national covenant with boundaries. Sinai covenant was made through Moses with a list of observations and commands, which was the justification or salvation covenant; it was a conditional covenant. Moses’ people were reminded of the Promised Land they were to conquer. Read God’s words to Moses concerning his plans for Israel's Exo 34:10 “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you”. Apostle Paul wrote in his detailed theological essay, the book of Romans explaining about Israel in Romans 9-11. In chap. 9 he explains God’s sovereign choice; throughout the chapters he speaks about the ethnic original Israel (not any spiritual new Israel). Explaining their inheritance to the: adoption, glory, covenant, law, worship, promises. He expresses grief over the unbelief of majority of his brothers, he says their unbelief does not prove as if God’s words have failed. Not all Israel has fallen in unbelief. There is a “saved Israel” within Israel (Rom 9:5-8) which includes Paul, Peter and all early believers who were Jews. The saved remnant qualifies the promise as contrast to the unsaved which is merely according to flesh. Yet the unsaved Jews too remain under Israel, nevertheless. He explains the purpose of God’s choosing someone. In chap. 10 he explains how through Christ, now the salvation is available to whole world. In Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile but one God for all. Gentiles can too receive same salvation promises through faith in Jesus, they are saved as Gentiles without becoming Jews (cf Acts 15; 1Cor7:17-24; Rom 15:8-13). Not once in NT do we find Gentile believers called as Jews or Israel. Many times Paul refers them explicitly as "you Gentiles". Believers are one in Christ with respect to salvation; there is no male or female, Jew or Gentile, slave or master in Christ but we are one; there is no class or caste system. It doesn’t mean we cease to be male and female; Jew and Gentile. Our distinctiveness has not dissolved. Romans 11 is very important and most relevant chapter for the topic. Paul again explains the saved remnant of Israel that always survives. Verse1 “I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! ” Verse 11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means”. NET “Absolutely not! ” KJV “God forbid”. Greek Testament reads: me genoito, an expression, used 15 times in the New Testament. It reflects a strong prohibition, a warning. The sense is: “You should never conclude such a thing! God forbid that you should think this! No way! ” (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, 1996, p. 482). Perhaps he had such promises of God in his mind while writing Rom 11:1? (Isaiah 41:9-17 HCSB)9 I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you. 10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand. 11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish. 12 You will look for those who contend with you, but you will not find them. Those who war against you will become absolutely nothing. 13 For I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you. 14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel: I will help you — this is the LORD’s declaration. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board, new, with many teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize them and make hills into chaff. 16 You will winnow them and a wind will carry them away, a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel. 17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Paul in v25 he talks about these facts as the mystery, to which he doesn’t want us to be ignorant of; he warns the ignorance of these truths may cause arrogance or conceited. Do not be ignorant of this mystery lest you be conceited in your own eyes. He says in v29 “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. ” To these promises and election of Israel which we are debating- are irrevocable. Paul is just reiterating the old promises as they are eternal and unconditional covenant with national Israel. Read what God said in Jeremiah 31:33-35; 33:23-26. These are some undeniable scriptural evidence that Israel stands as God's nation. Church and Israel are separate. Could God be more explicit than this? Let us not harden our hearts from the word of God and try to make him a liar, rather let us say Amen to his solemn promises and plans. If God can break his promises with Israel, how can you be sure he will be faithful with the Church?