The True Replacement Error: Removing Jesus Christ from the Identity of Israel
Much debate has occurred over whether or not the Church replaces/fulfills (whichever word you desire to choose) Israel of the Old Testament at the advent of Christ. The great zeal within Evangelicals often upholds the present nation of Israel as a continuation of God's promises and places a future eschatological role for these Jews. While this dissertation is going to wade some into the eschatological apologetic noise, the objective is an elevation of our focus to the glory of Jesus Christ rather than the crowning of men and temporal things.
The proper place to start is with historical Christian theologians on their thoughts of the identity of Israel. The purpose for this section is not to convince you with what they say, since these men are not authoritative; rather to illustrate a picture of historical continuity that will come into importance of comparing where we are now. Scripture should be the only place that speaks to the mind on matters of belief and convictions, which will be covered following our analysis on the historical Christian record.
The Identity of Israel in Church History
Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)
Dialogue with Trypho Chapter 135 (link)
Justin Martyr interprets Isaiah 43:15 and Isaiah 42:1-4 in a Christological typology and expands the Scripture passages to illustrate his hermeneutic more clearly. Whether or not this is proper is besides the objective, we are here to observe what kind of focus these Christians had.
And when Scripture says, ‘I am the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who have made known Israel your King,’ will you not understand that truly Christ is the everlasting King? For you are aware that Jacob the son of Isaac was never a king. And therefore Scripture again, explaining to us, says what king is meant by Jacob and Israel: ‘Jacob is my Servant, I will uphold Him; and Israel is mine Elect, my soul shall receive Him. I have given Him my Spirit; and He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, and His voice shall not be heard without. The bruised reed He shall not break, and the smoking flax He shall not quench, until He shall bring forth judgment to victory. He shall shine, and shall not be broken, until He set judgment on the earth. And in His name shall the Gentiles trust.’ Then is it Jacob the patriarch in whom the Gentiles and yourselves shall trust? or is it not Christ? As, therefore, Christ is the Israel and the Jacob, even so we, who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ, are the true Israelitic race.
Justin Martyr explicitly makes the case that Jesus Christ is Israel. That Christ took on the identity of Israel during His ministry and completed the mission Israel was supposed to become. Those who are spiritually born again in Christ become the true Israelites according to his interpretation.
Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202 AD)
Against Heresies Book 4, Chapter 21.3 (link)If any one, again, will look into Jacob's actions, he shall find them not destitute of meaning, but full of import with regard to the dispensations. Thus, in the first place, at his birth, since he laid hold on his brother's heel, Genesis 25:26 he was called Jacob, that is, the supplanter— one who holds, but is not held; binding the feet, but not being bound; striving and conquering; grasping in his hand his adversary's heel, that is, victory. For to this end was the Lord born, the type of whose birth he set forth beforehand, of whom also John says in the Apocalypse: “He went forth conquering”, that He should conquer. (Revelation 6:2) In the next place, [Jacob] received the rights of the first-born, when his brother looked on them with contempt; even as also the younger nation received Him, Christ, the first-begotten, when the elder nation rejected Him, saying, “We have no king but Cæsar.” (John 19:15) But in Christ every blessing [is summed up], and therefore the latter people has snatched away the blessings of the former from the Father, just as Jacob took away the blessing of this Esau. For which cause his brother suffered the plots and persecutions of a brother, just as the Church suffers this self-same thing from the Jews. In a foreign country were the twelve tribes born, the race of Israel, inasmuch as Christ was also, in a strange country, to generate the twelve-pillared foundation of the Church. Various colored sheep were allotted to this Jacob as his wages; and the wages of Christ are human beings, who from various and diverse nations come together into one cohort of faith, as the Father promised Him, saying, “Ask of Me, and I will give You the heathen for Your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession.” And as from the multitude of his sons the prophets of the Lord [afterwards] arose, there was every necessity that Jacob should beget sons from the two sisters, even as Christ did from the two laws of one and the same Father; and in like manner also from the handmaids, indicating that Christ should raise up sons of God, both from freemen and from slaves after the flesh, bestowing upon all, in the same manner, the gift of the Spirit, who vivifies us. But he (Jacob) did all things for the sake of the younger, she who had the handsome eyes, Rachel, who prefigured the Church, for which Christ endured patiently; who at that time, indeed, by means of His patriarchs and prophets, was prefiguring and declaring beforehand future things, fulfilling His part by anticipation in the dispensations of God, and accustoming His inheritance to obey God, and to pass through the world as in a state of pilgrimage, to follow His word, and to indicate beforehand things to come. For with God there is nothing without purpose or due signification.
Irenaeus considers Jesus Christ to be a type for Israel and sees that every blessing is "summed up" in Christ. A case is made that Christ took on the identity of Jacob, with Jacob's story being a foreshadow of what was to happen with the birthright of the Jews handed over to the Church. Another fascinating parallel drawn by Irenaeus is the typology of Jacob having sons from two sisters, just as Christ did from two laws of the same Father. However, the Church is considered to be Rachel–the one whom Jacob ultimately desired.So the Jews are trifling, and the time in question, which they refer to the future, is actually come. For when did prophet and vision cease from Israel, save when Christ came, the Holy of Holies? For it is a sign, and an important proof, of the coming of the Word of God, that Jerusalem no longer stands, nor is any prophet raised up nor vision revealed to them — and that very naturally. For when He that was signified had come, what need was there any longer of any to signify Him? When the truth was there, what need any more of the shadow? For this was the reason of their prophesying at all — namely, till the true Righteousness should come, and He that was to ransom the sins of all. And this was why Jerusalem stood till then — namely, that there they might be exercised in the types as a preparation for the reality. So when the Holy of Holies had come, naturally vision and prophecy were sealed and the kingdom of Jerusalem ceased. For kings were to be anointed among them only until the Holy of Holies should have been anointed; and Jacob prophesies that the kingdom of the Jews should be established until Him, as follows:— The ruler Genesis 49:10 shall not fail from Juda, nor the Prince from his loins, until that which is laid up for him shall come; and he is the expectation of the nations. Whence the Saviour also Himself cried aloud and said: The law and the prophets prophesied until John. If then there is now among the Jews king or prophet or vision, they do well to deny the Christ that has come. But if there is neither king nor vision, but from that time forth all prophecy is sealed and the city and temple taken, why are they so irreligious and so perverse as to see what has happened, and yet to deny Christ, Who has brought it all to pass? Or why, when they see even heathens deserting their idols, and placing their hope, through Christ, on the God of Israel, do they deny Christ, Who was born of the root of Jesse after the flesh and henceforth is King? For if the nations were worshipping some other God, and not confessing the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses, then, once more, they would be doing well in alleging that God had not come. But if the Gentiles are honouring the same God that gave the law to Moses and made the promise to Abraham, and Whose word the Jews dishonoured — why are they ignorant, or rather why do they choose to ignore, that the Lord foretold by the Scriptures has shone forth upon the world, and appeared to it in bodily form, as the Scripture said: The Lord God has shined upon us; and again: He sent His Word and healed them; and again: Not a messenger, not an angel, but the Lord Himself saved them? Their state may be compared to that of one out of his right mind, who sees the earth illumined by the sun, but denies the sun that illumines it. For what more is there for him whom they expect to do, when he has come? To call the heathen? But they are called already. To make prophecy, and king, and vision to cease? This too has already come to pass. To expose the godlessness of idolatry? It is already exposed and condemned. Or to destroy death? He is already destroyed. What then has not come to pass, that the Christ must do? What is left unfulfilled, that the Jews should now disbelieve with impunity? For if, I say — which is just what we actually see — there is no longer king nor prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them, but even the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and Gentiles, leaving their godlessness, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham, through the Word, even our Lord Jesus Christ, then it must be plain, even to those who are exceedingly obstinate, that the Christ has come, and that He has illumined absolutely all with His light, and given them the true and divine teaching concerning His Father. So one can fairly refute the Jews by these and by other arguments from the Divine Scriptures.
Athanasius preambles the chapter with the following, "What more remains for the Messiah to do, that Christ has not done?" The case being made is Jesus Christ fulfilled the mission of Israel, and the purpose of Israel was to "signify" Him. In other words, Israel was a type for Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ was to conquer death and establish righteousness to the world, Athanasius proposes the question what more is the purpose of corporate Israel. With the end of the religious Jerusalem and the prophetic mission, he views the apex in Christ rather than a further role for a temporal Israel....
In holy Scripture the word ‘as,’ is wont to be used, sometimes for resemblance, sometimes for reality. For it is for resemblance, as when the Apostle says, As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing: [2 Cor. 6 10] but for the reality, as John says, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father. [John 1, 14] But in this passage it makes no difference, whether it is put for resemblance, or reality: for, in whatever way it is taken, the evil life of the wicked is plainly signified. But holy Scripture specially calls unbelievers ‘ungodly.’ For sinners are distinguished from ungodly by this difference, that though every ungodly man is a sinner, yet every sinner is not ungodly. For even a man who is godly in the Faith can be called a sinner. Whence John says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. [1 John 1, 8] But a man is properly called ‘ungodly’ who is estranged from the holiness of religion. For of such the Prophet says, The ungodly shall not rise up in the judgment. [Ps. 1, 5] But Holy Church is called the place of beholders. For people rightly assemble therein, in order that the True Light, which is God Himself, may be seen. Whence it is said to Moses, There is a place by Me, and thou shall stand upon a rock, when My Majesty passeth by. [Ex. 33, 21. 22.] And shortly afterwards, I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back parts. [ib. 23.] For, by the place, is typified the Church, but by the rock, the Lord, but by Moses, the multitude of the people of Israel, which did not believe, when the Lord was preaching upon earth. It stood, therefore, on the rock, beholding the back of the Lord, as He was passing by: because in truth having been brought into Holy Church, after the Passion and Ascension of the Lord, it obtained a knowledge of the faith in Christ, and beheld the back parts of Him, Whose presence it had not seen. Let it be said, then, of those whom Divine Vengeance finds within Holy Church, still persisting in their iniquities; let it be said of these, whose conduct Paul describes thus, Who confess that they know God, but in words they deny Him: [Tit. 1, 16] let it be said of these, He hath smitten them as ungodly in the place of beholders. For they were standing in that place, where they seemed to see God. They loved darkness in that very place, where the light of truth is beheld. And although they had had their eyes opened in faith, yet they kept them closed in their works. Whence it is also well said of Judaea, Her watchmen are blind, because, namely, they did not behold in works that which they saw in profession. Whence it is written also of Balaam, Who falling hath his eyes open. [Num. 24, 16] For, falling in works, he kept his eyes open in contemplation. In like manner these also, who open their eyes in faith, and who see not in works, who are placed, from their appearance of piety, within the Church, are found, by their ungodly conversation, without the Church. Of whom it is well written in another place, I saw the ungodly buried, who when they were alive, were in the holy place, and were praised in the city, as men of just works. [Eccles. 8, 10]
Gregory the Great sees Exodus 33 as a foreshadow through "the place of beholders" for the Church and its future role of gathered believers. Additionally, the rock represents Christ, and the "back parts of God" symbolize the post-Incarnation knowledge of Christ, seen in hindsight. In this sense, the Church is the fulfillment of the Old Testament imagery of God's dwelling place and the site of divine revelation. Gregory sees the Church as inheriting Israel's role as the covenant people of God, with Christ as its cornerstone.
Bede the Venerable (672-735 AD)
Ecclesiastical History of England Book 5, Chapter 21 (link)
He, therefore, who shall contend that the full Paschal moon can happen before the equinox, disagrees with the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, in the celebration of the greatest mysteries, and agrees with those who trust that they may be saved without the grace of Christ preventing them, and who presume to teach that they might have attained to perfect righteousness, though the true Light had never by death and resurrection vanquished the darkness of the world. Thus, after the rising of the sun at the equinox, and after the full moon of the first month following in her order, that is, after the end of the fourteenth day of the same month, all which we have received by the Law to be observed, we still, as we are taught in the Gospel, wait in the third week for the Lord’s day; and so, at length, we celebrate the offering of our Easter solemnity, to show that we are not, with the ancients, doing honour to the casting off of the yoke of Egyptian bondage; but that, with devout faith and love, we worship the Redemption of the whole world, which having been prefigured in the deliverance of the ancient people of God, was fulfilled in Christ’s Resurrection, and that we may signify that we rejoice in the sure and certain hope of our own resurrection, which we believe will likewise happen on the Lord’s day.
Bede the Venerable uses the term "prefigured" to describe the events of Passover and the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage serve as a type of the greater spiritual reality realized in Christ's death and resurrection, which is celebrated in the holiday of Easter. By referring to these Old Testament events as types, Bede illustrates Israel's historical role find their culmination and ultimate meaning in Christ, who embodies Israel's purpose, mission, and covenantal promises.John Scotus Eriugena (810-877 AD)
Commentarius in Evangelium Secundum Joannem 0307C (link)
These things, said to have been done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, represent human nature in a mystical way. Bethany, interpreted as "the house of obedience," signifies human nature before the fall, created to obey divine commands within the boundaries of paradise, the natural good of its own creation. Before sin, it was designed to cling always to its Creator, to whom it was conformed in image, through contemplation and love. Beyond the Jordan, Bethany symbolizes human nature that resides outside the flowing grace of God after the Incarnation of the Word, suffering a lack of divine goods and the dryness of wisdom. Bethany in Judea, near Jerusalem, represents the same human nature liberated through the Incarnation of the Word of God. Through the streams of divine grace, distributed first through the sacraments of baptism, it is brought into the confession of faith and obedience to divine laws, finding unity in the Church. Jerusalem, interpreted as the "vision of peace," signifies the heavenly city, which human nature has not yet fully attained but will enter after the general resurrection when it will be fully brought into the divine vision and eternal peace. Even now, however, it is not far from the heavenly homeland, as it remains in the house of obedience while still in the flesh. Partially illuminated by the grace of the Redeemer, it knows the truth in part and prophesies in part, symbolically signifying what it cannot yet fully understand through mystical teachings.
This passage could only be located in Latin, which has been translated into English for this dissertation. John Scotus Eriugena identifies the spiritual meaning behind the temporal Old Testament locations within Israel, interpreting them as symbols of the greater mission of redemption accomplished in Christ and culminating in the Church. He emphasizes that Jerusalem's eschatological role is not realized in a temporal restoration but as the spiritual and heavenly city. For Scotus, typological symbols serve as foreshadows that ultimately give way to the fullness of truth, with the focus on spiritual realities rather than the physical nation of Israel as central to salvation history.
Odo of Cluny (878-942 AD)
Collationes Book 3, Chapter 14 (link)
Concerning the sufferings endured by neighbors at the hands of neighbors, we must recount the two generations of humanity: the good and the wicked, beginning from their origin. Let everyone examine the actions of these two generations and discern to which they belong by understanding the works they perform. There are two generations of humanity, originating from the two sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. These generations continue to the last people who will be born, sometimes intermingled, sometimes divided. About the generation of the good, which begins with the righteous Abel, it is written: "You are a chosen race" (1 Peter 2:9). And again: "The generation of the upright shall be blessed" (Psalm 112:2). And elsewhere: "The Lord is in the generation of the righteous" (Psalm 14:5). Concerning the wicked generation, which begins with Cain, it is written: "A perverse and crooked generation" (Psalm 78:8), and also: "A generation that did not set its heart aright" (ibid.). And further: "A nation devoid of counsel" (Deuteronomy 32:28). What could be more devoid of counsel than, as it follows, failing to consider its end? The generation of the good has its city in Jerusalem. Part of it already reigns in heaven, while part sojourns here on earth. Its humble king is Christ, of whom it is said: "Behold, your King comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey’s colt" (Zechariah 9:9). The generation of the wicked, however, has its city in Babylon, partly damned in hell and partly still occupied in the service of iniquity. This generation has its proud king, the devil, of whom it is written: "He is king over all the sons of pride" (Job 41:34).
This passage could only be located in Latin, which has been translated into English for this dissertation. Scriptural references such as "You are a chosen race" (1 Peter 2:9) and "The generation of the upright shall be blessed" (Psalm 112:2) are typically used to describe Israel in its covenantal context. Odo reinterprets these as descriptors of the spiritual Israel—the Church, comprised of the righteous across all ages. No longer does Odo see a national Israel, but a universal body of believers (generation of the righteous) in which these verses apply to. Jerusalem here is a metaphor for the spiritual community of the righteous, anchored in God's eternal plan. Some of its members are here on earth and the rest are in heavenly places. While primarily a spiritual image, Odo allows room for a temporal Jerusalem as the visible community of the faithful, embodied in the Church.
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109 AD)
Homiliae et Exhortationes First Homily 0586B (link)
The Wisdom of God declares itself as created because He
became man. He who had earlier affirmed Himself as begotten before all ages by
the Father, says: “I, wisdom, came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the
firstborn before all creation” (Ecclesiasticus 24:5). The tabernacle of this
wisdom is the assumed body, of which it is said elsewhere: “He has set His
tabernacle in the sun” (Psalm 19:5), meaning His body is revealed in the
clearest vision. In this tabernacle, the Father rested because He found no sin
within it to offend Him but rather the fullness of justice, in which He could
delightfully rest. Hence, He said: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matthew 17:5). The prophet also proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon Him” (Isaiah 11:2).
Thus, as previously stated, the incarnate wisdom of God speaks, seeking the Father’s glory in all things. He declares that the Father said to Him: “In Jacob,” etc. Jacob, meaning “supplanter,” signifies those who wrestle against and overthrow vices with labor. Israel, meaning “upright of God” or “man seeing God,” signifies those who, having subdued vices, maintain perfect righteousness of life and devote themselves to contemplation. “In Jacob,” then, refers to the wrestlers, as the Apostle says: “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17), so that, strengthened by His power, they may become victors. “In Israel” refers to those He possesses as an inheritance, never to lose them, who, having subdued their vices, have chosen the better part which shall not be taken from them. This is echoed by Isaiah: “The work of My hands is for the Assyrian, but My inheritance is for Israel” (Isaiah 19:25).
The Assyrian, meaning “one who directs,” symbolizes those striving to overcome the depravity of vices and direct themselves rightly. For such persons, the work of Christ’s hands provides His abiding help. Israel, now at rest, is held as an inheritance. Moreover, the Savior plants His roots in the elect so that He may never be separated from their hearts, as the Apostle asks: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). For one who can be separated from the love of Christ does not have Christ planted as a root in his soul.
On Wisdom's Eternal Presence
It continues: “From the beginning, and before the ages, I
was created, and to the future age, I will not cease. In the holy dwelling, I
ministered before Him. So I was established in Zion, and in the holy city, I
rested. In Jerusalem, my power resides. I took root among a glorified people,
and in the portion of my God, is My inheritance. And My dwelling is in the
fullness of the saints.”
From the beginning of the world and before the ages, this wisdom was created in predestination according to its humanity. For from the foundation of the world and before the ages, God predestined in the secret counsel of His will that His Word would become flesh—that the Lord of all would mercifully assume the form of a servant to redeem His servants. What He, as Creator of all things, predestined to occur was already accomplished in His sight. Thus, “before the ages” He created Him in His humanity, as it is written: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
“From the beginning,” meaning from the creation of the first man, and “before the ages,” meaning from the creation of the first being, this wisdom was created as predestined. When man was formed, and when angels were created, it was foreseen that the Only-Begotten of God would become man to mercifully raise fallen humanity.
On Christ’s Enduring Mission
“To the future age, I will not cease” reflects that no
temptation of the devil nor persecution by tyrants will cause the Christian
faith to perish before the world’s end. For this purpose, Wisdom was created
before the world’s beginning. As it also says: “I will not cease in their
descendants to the holy age” (Ecclesiasticus 24:46), and in the Gospel:
“Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the age”
(Matthew 28:20).
“In the holy dwelling, I ministered before Him.” This holy dwelling refers to the sanctuary of heaven, where Christ ministers before God as an eternal high priest. As the Apostle writes: “For Christ did not enter into sanctuaries made with hands, which are copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, that He might appear now in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). He also says: “We have such a high priest, seated at the right hand of the throne of majesty in heaven, a minister of the holy places and the true tabernacle that the Lord, not man, set up” (Hebrews 8:1–2).
“And so I was established in Zion.” Zion, meaning “watchtower” or “speculation,” represents the homeland of the blessed, whose inhabitants continually behold the glory of God. There, Christ is firmly established in His humanity, seated at the right hand of the Father, showing Him the wounds of His passion on our behalf.
“In Jerusalem, My power resides.” The heavenly Jerusalem—rightly called the “vision of peace”—is where the Redeemer’s authority resides, for He has power to do all He wills in heaven and earth, as He declares: “All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).
Wisdom’s Root and Inheritance
“And I took root among a glorified people.”
The root of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The glorified
people refers to the multitude of the faithful, to whom Peter says: “To you who
believe, honor belongs” (1 Peter 2:7). Thus, Wisdom, which is Christ, has taken
root in this people, because He has granted them the fear of God, which
prevents them from sinning, as it is written: “The fear of the Lord drives out
sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27). For whoever lacks fear cannot be justified.
Furthermore, the glorified people represents the community of the religious, in
whom Christ is so deeply rooted that He cannot be removed. As previously
mentioned, the Father told Him: “In My chosen ones, plant roots.”
“And in the portion of My God, is His inheritance.”
The portions of God are the elect of the Church, the various
orders of saints, and the diverse actions of the righteous. Christ, as both God
and man, possesses an inheritance in all these portions of God. The just of the
Church, along with all who serve Him honorably in various vocations and deeds,
will belong to His eternal inheritance.
“And in the fullness of the saints, My dwelling will be.”
This fullness refers to the completion of the saints, where
none of them will be absent. When their number is fulfilled, all the assembly
will be gathered. There, the incarnate Wisdom will dwell forever, delighted by
their merits. She will not go to the reprobates who will be damned, for she
will no longer exhort them to conversion.
This passage could only be located in Latin, which has been translated into English for this dissertation. Anselm extensively outlines his interpretation of Israel and its spiritual significance with the relation to the Church, which he views as the fulfillment of Israel's identity. Israel is not seen as physical nation but a spiritual community being signified in the faithful wrestlers (Jacob) and the perfected saints (Israel). Anselm does not see the Church replacing Israel; rather, it fulfills Israel's purpose in the gathering of the elect from all nations into a heavenly Jerusalem. The inheritance of Israel, which was previously tied to physical land and lineage, is seen as participation in God's eternal kingdom.
Peter Lombard (1096-1160 AD)
Collectanea in Epistolas Pauli 1455C (link)
Who would lament him who was once considered dead? For God, who is no respecter of persons, long ago decreed that these would not be saved. He condemns no one before they sin, nor crowns anyone before they conquer. However, in His foreknowledge, He has determined the future will of each person by which they will be either condemned or crowned. It is as if it were said: The Jews do not believe in the Savior, which grieves me. But, He says, this is what God foretold would happen—that not all children of the flesh are the seed of Abraham, but rather those who have faith, by which Isaac was born. And this is why the Jews do not believe. This does not mean, however, that the word of God has failed, nor that God’s promise has become void, even if not all are saved. Although some have erred, those who are true Israelites are saved, as was promised. And this is what is meant when it is said: “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” It is as if it were said: Truly, the promise is not unfulfilled, even if not all are saved, because not all who are descended from Israel according to the flesh are truly Israelites, nor are all who are the seed of Abraham according to the flesh truly his children or heirs. In this, it is shown that it is solely by grace, not lineage, that one becomes a child of God. As it is said: “In Isaac, your seed will be called,” meaning that those who are like Isaac, who was prefigured as the promised son of Abraham, will be reckoned as the seed. Not those who make themselves righteous, but those whom God makes righteous. As the prophet says to the Church: “I am the Lord who makes you.” These are the children of the free woman above, who is our mother. But the children of the flesh belong to earthly Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children. Just as Isaac did not merit the promise of his birth, so too were these children promised adoption solely by grace and not by merit. Therefore, it is rightly said, “Your seed will be called,” because it is by God’s calling that one becomes the seed of Abraham. That is why it is said, “In Isaac,” and not in Jacob or Esau, because Isaac was born as a type of Christ. Jacob and Esau, on the other hand, represent two peoples, the faithful and the unfaithful. Yet, there were good and faithful people descended from Esau, as evidenced by Job, who was one of Esau’s descendants, the fifth from Abraham. The Apostle himself explains this, adding: “That is, not the children of the flesh are children of God,” meaning the children of Abraham, but rather those who are children of the promise, who are reckoned in the seed because they are born of God’s calling. That Isaac was born of God’s promise is shown in the very words of the promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” Not only Sarah, but also Rebecca received a promise. Though she conceived by one act of union with Isaac, she had two sons. This was said so that no one would attribute the differences between the children to the merit of their parents. For Esau was not born when the parents were evil, nor Jacob when they were good. Rather, it is shown that no one is saved by lineage, as Ishmael, born of Abraham, was rejected, while Isaac, also born of Abraham, was saved by grace alone. The promise to Rebecca shows that no one is chosen by their own merits or the merits of their parents, but solely by grace. This is why it is said: “The elder will serve the younger,” and this was declared before either child was born, to demonstrate that God’s purpose and election are according to grace, not human works. The prophecy that “the elder will serve the younger” applies not only to the literal Jacob and Esau but also typologically: the Jewish people, who were first in worshiping one God, will serve the Christian people, who came later. The Jews, as the custodians of the Scriptures, are like librarians carrying books for us. As it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This does not refer to past or future merits but to God’s grace, which chose Jacob while withholding grace from Esau.
This passage could only be located in Latin, which has been translated into English for this dissertation. Peter Lombard typologically connects Isaac's miraculous birth to Christ's birth and mission, which aligns the identity of Israel to Christ. Only those who are "in Isaac", i.e. share his faith and promise, are considered Abraham's seed according to Lombard. He sees Jacob representing the faithful (the Church), while Esau represents the unfaithful. Their relationships prefigure the dynamic between the Jewish people (custodians of the Law) and Christians, who are the beneficiaries of grace. He outlines the earthly Jerusalem, tied to the flesh and bondage, represents the old covenant, while the heavenly Jerusalem, tied to freedom and grace, representing the Church. The conclusion he draws is those physically descendant from Abraham do not carry a special guarantee, where God's promises are fulfilled through grace, not by human effort or lineage.
Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 AD)
Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew 24:32-35 (link)
Origen: Yet shall the generation of the Church survive the
whole of this world, that it may inherit the world to come, yet it shall not
pass away until all these things have come to pass. But when all these shall
have been fulfilled, then not the earth only but the heavens also shall pass
away; that is, not only the men whose life is earthly, and who are therefore
called the earth, but also they whose conversation is in heaven, and who are
therefore called the heaven; these “shall pass away” to things to come, that
they may come to better things. But the words spoken by the Saviour shall not
pass away, because they effect and shall ever effect their purpose; but the
perfect and they that admit no further improvement, passing through what they
are, come to that which they are not; and this is that, “My words shall not
pass away.” And perhaps the words of Moses and the Prophets have passed away,
because all that they prophesied has been fulfilled; but the words of Christ
are always complete, daily fulfilling and to be fulfilled in the saints. Or
perhaps we ought not to say that the words of Moses and the Prophets are once
for all fulfilled; seeing they also are the words of the Son of God, and are
fulfilled continually.
Jerome: Or, by “generation” here He means the whole human
race, and the Jews in particular. And He adds, “Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away,” to confirm their faith in what has
gone before; as though He had said, it is easier to destroy things solid and
immovable, than that aught should fail of my words.
Hilary: For heaven and earth have in their constitution no
necessity of existence, but Christ’s words derived from eternity have in them
such virtue that they must needs abide.
Jerome: The heaven and the earth shall pass away by a
change, not by annihilation; for how should the “sun be darkened, and the moon
not give her light,” if earth and heaven in which these are should be no more?
Raban.: The heaven which shall pass away is not the starry
[marg. note: sidereum] but the atmospheric [marg. note: aereum] heaven which of
old was destroyed by the deluge.
Chrys.: He brings forward the elements of the earth to shew
that the Church is of more value than either heaven or earth, and that He is
Maker of all things. [marg. note: 2 Pet 3:5]
Thomas Aquinas selected and organized interpretations to create a cohesive view on each verse. In this portion, Aquinas quotes from Origen, Jerome, Hilary of Poitiers, Rabanus Maurus, and Chrysostom. By including these passages without critique or modification, this signals agreement or at least acknowledgement of its validity within the broader tradition. Aquinas emphasizes the medieval theological view that the Church fulfills and surpasses Israel's role in salvation history, with the Church inheriting the promises initially given to Israel. The inclusion of Origen's insistence on the eternal and active nature of Christ's words reinforces the Church's role as the ongoing realization of God's kingdom. Jerome broadens "generation" to refer to both humanity as a whole and the Jewish people, while highlighting Christ's affirmation of the enduring validity of His words to secure faith in past promises. This further suggests the Church's continuity with Israel's history. The inclusion of Chrysostom creates a focus on the supremacy of the Church, declaring it more valuable than heaven or earth, as Christ prioritizes his Church. All together, Aquinas uses these theologians to articulate the Church's identity as the spiritual and eternal fulfillment of Israel's role.
John Wycliffe (1328-1384 AD)
De Vicili Dominio I Chapter 30 (link)
Matthew demonstrates how Christ, in His humanity, naturally
descended from the patriarchs, while Luke shows how humanity ascends
spiritually to God through the priesthood of Christ. This resolves the apparent
contradiction in Scripture.
From this, it is evident that every person predestined to
salvation must possess a title to any dominion derived from Christ, their
Father and firstborn Brother, by hereditary right. This is shown in John
1:12: “To all who received Him, He gave the right to become children of
God.” Similarly, the Apostle says in Romans 8:17: “If we are
children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Just as
the soul precedes the body naturally and essentially, so too does the title of
dominion by the hereditary right of Christ through grace. This is a necessary
prerequisite for anyone to hold dominion in any way after the fall. Hence the
Apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 15:22: “As in Adam all die, so in
Christ all will be made alive.”
It is also evident that every generation of God’s people
must be saved by hereditary right, corresponding to the status of being adopted
sons, imitators, and those informed by Christ. For God must, by grace, adopt
every such person as His son, and consequently, that person must imitate Christ
in conduct. This cannot occur unless Christ, through His Spirit, informs the
person. Thus, it is clear that there are three hereditary spiritual rights
required before any civil or corporeal inheritance:
- Adoption
pertains to the Father,
- Imitation
pertains to the Incarnate Word,
- Informing
pertains to the Holy Spirit.
This generation is referenced by 1 John 5:1: “Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” And regarding such
an inheritance, the same text adds: “We know that everyone born of God does
not sin... for God’s seed remains in them.” Here is a hereditary title from
a spiritual generation. Therefore, how much effort should we devote to
observing the law of our Father and Brother, Jesus Christ, without whose
observance and regeneration we can possess nothing in civil terms?
Beyond this, there is a threefold carnal hereditary right:
A person may claim a title through their father Adam, Noah, and other rulers of the world from whom they descend carnally. However, this is only valid if spiritual regeneration precedes it, and they follow the moral example of their forebears.
The Apostle states in Romans 4:16 that the hereditary
promise of both the earthly land (where seven nations were expelled) and the
land of the living (symbolized by that earthly land) was made to Abraham’s
imitative children, not merely to his carnal descendants. The patriarchs,
however, aspired more to the latter. The Apostle writes: “Not all who are
descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants
are they all his children. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your
offspring will be reckoned.” (Romans 9:6-7). He explains further: “It is
not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the
promise are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.” (Romans 9:8). This same idea
is reiterated in Galatians 4:28-29.
There is no doubt here: no temporal inheritance is granted to a person unless it is first given by God through grace. If it is the role of politicians to examine the conduct of rulers, then it is undoubtedly their responsibility to discern who is fit to reign. Without virtue, no one can civilly govern. Regarding the question of whether hereditary succession or election is better for determining a king, it is stated that universal and perpetual laws should not be imposed on such matters by human judgment. Instead, the best course for a kingdom is to follow the method that produces the most virtuous ruler, best suited for governance.
When rulers rely on universal human principles in their judgments without reference to the law of charity—which is itself the reason for reigning—they become entangled in numerous errors over time. Human law, not divine law, creates confusion among legal experts. No one can inherit possession unless God chooses them, and by the grace of hereditary succession, grants it to them as imitators of His Son.
This passage could only be located in Latin, which has been translated into English for this dissertation. Wycliffe distinguishes between the carnal Israel (those descended by the flesh) and the spiritual Israel (those who imitate the faith of Abraham). He states the true heirs of the promises granted to Israel are not merely to physical descendants; rather, those who are spiritually reborn in Christ. The analysis is made that temporal inheritance is subordinate to spiritual inheritance through Christ, who is the ultimate grantor of all rights and dominion.
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471 AD)
The Founders of the New Devotion Life of John Cacabus (link)
One day therefore he and another who was chosen to be his companion disguised themselves as beggars and went forth, when it was already late in the day, to beg bread, wishing to prove the truth of what these poor men had said. And John Ketel cried before the doors and said, “Give somewhat for God’s Sake to a poor stranger who would fain be in Jerusalem.” By this he meant not that Jerusalem on earth which slew Christ and the 240 Prophets, but the Fatherland Above whose inhabitants are the Saints and Angels of God; for that country the poor stranger John did sigh, being for the time far off in the body from the Heavenly Jerusalem, though in his soul he drew nearer to Her every day.
Thomas à Kempis writes of a story of a man, who pursued a life of holiness, and disguised himself as a beggar to prove a point mastery in the arts of knowledge does not gain access to God's truth without humility. During this story, a particular statement is made by John that he gladly wishes to be in Jerusalem. However, Kempis makes a clarification of what this Jerusalem is and affirms its meaning. Kempis outlines that Jerusalem reaches its completion spiritually in heaven, not the temporal Jerusalem. This Heavenly Jerusalem contains its citizens (the saints of the Church), who are those transformed by faith in Christ.
Martin Luther (1483-1546 AD)
A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians 3:7 (link)
Verse 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. This is the main point of Paul’s argument against the Jews: The children of Abraham are those who believe and not those who are born of Abraham’s flesh and blood. This point Paul drives home with all his might because the Jews attached saving value to the genealogical fact: “We are the seed and children of Abraham.” Let us begin with Abraham and learn how this friend of God was justified and saved. Not because he left his country, his relatives, his father’s house; not because he was circumcised; not because he stood ready to sacrifice his own son Isaac in whom he had the promise of posterity. Abraham was justified because he believed. Paul’s argumentation runs like this: “Since this is the unmistakable testimony of Holy Writ, why do you take your stand upon circumcision and the Law? Was not Abraham, your father, of whom you make so much, justified and saved without circumcision and the Law by faith alone?” Paul therefore concludes: “They which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.” Abraham was the father of the faithful. In order to be a child of the believing Abraham you must believe as he did. Otherwise you are merely the physical offspring of the procreating Abraham, i.e., you were conceived and born in sin unto wrath and condemnation. Ishmael and Isaac were both the natural children of Abraham. By rights Ishmael should have enjoyed the prerogatives of the firstborn, if physical generation had any special value. Nevertheless he was left out in the cold while Isaac was called. This goes to prove that the children of faith are the real children of Abraham. Some find fault with Paul for applying the term “faith” in Genesis 15:6 to Christ. They think Paul’s use of the term too wide and general. They think its meaning should be restricted to the context. They claim Abraham’s faith had no more in it than a belief in the promise of God that he should have seed. We reply: Faith presupposes the assurance of God’s mercy. This assurance takes in the confidence that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. Never will the conscience trust in God unless it can be sure of God’s mercy and promises in Christ. Now all the promises of God lead back to the first promise concerning Christ: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” The faith of the fathers in the Old Testament era, and our faith in the New Testament are one and the same faith in Christ Jesus, although times and conditions may differ. Peter acknowledged this in the words: “Which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they” (Acts 15: 10, 11). And Paul writes: “And did all drink the spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (I Cor. 10:4). And Christ Himself declared: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). The faith of the fathers was directed at the Christ who was to come, while ours rests in the Christ who has come. Time does not change the object of true faith, or the Holy Spirit. There has always been and always will be one mind, one impression, one faith concerning Christ among true believers whether they live in times past, now, or in times to come. We too believe in the Christ to come as the fathers did in the Old Testament, for we look for Christ to come again on the last day to judge the quick and the dead. Verse 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. Paul is saying: “You know from the example of Abraham and from the plain testimony of the Scriptures that they are the children of Abraham, who have faith in Christ, regardless of their nationality, regardless of the Law, regardless of works, regardless of their parentage. The promise was made unto Abraham, ‘Thou shalt be a father of many nations’; again, ‘And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”’ To prevent the Jews from misinterpreting the word “nations,” the Scriptures are careful to say “many nations.” The true children of Abraham are the believers in Christ from all nations.
Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians 3:7 makes the distinction between the "children of promise" (spiritual Israel) and the "children of the flesh" (carnal Israel). Those who believe in Christ, whether it be looking forward to the Christ to come or looking backward, are the true heirs of the promises of Israel. Luther makes the point if temporal inheritance truly mattered, then the birthright would have stayed with Ishmael. Since it is of the spiritual inheritance of faith that matters, the birthright was allowed to be transferred to Isaac. The most important thing, however, is that Luther sees the fulfillment of all promises completed in Christ for all generations before and after the first advent.
John Calvin (1509-1564 AD)
Commentary on Romans 15:8-10 (link)
8. Now I say, that Jesus Christ, etc. He now shows that
Christ has embraced us all, so that he leaves no difference between the Jews
and the Gentiles, except that in the first place he was promised to the Jewish
nation, and was in a manner peculiarly destined for them, before he was
revealed to the Gentiles. But he shows, that with respect to that which was the
seed of all contentions, there was no difference between them; for he had
gathered them both from a miserable dispersion, and brought them, when gathered,
into the Father’s kingdom, that they might be one flock, in one sheepfold,
under one shepherd. It is hence right, he declares, that they should continue
united together, and not despise one another; for Christ despised neither of
them. He then speaks first of the Jews, and says, that Christ was sent to them,
in order to accomplish the truth of God by performing the promises given to the
Fathers: and it was no common honor, that Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth,
put on flesh, that he might procure salvation for them; for the more he humbled
himself for their sake, the greater was the honor he conferred on them. But
this point he evidently assumes as a thing indubitable. The more strange it is,
that there is such effrontery in some fanatical heads, that they hesitate not
to regard the promises of the Old Testament as temporal, and to confine them to
the present world. And lest the Gentiles should claim any excellency above the
Jews, Paul expressly declares, that the salvation which Christ has brought
belonged by covenant to the Jews; for by his coming he fulfilled what the
Father had formerly promised to Abraham, and thus he became the minister of
that people. It hence follows that the old covenant was in reality spiritual,
though it was annexed to earthly types; for the fulfillment, of which Paul now
speaks, must necessarily relate to eternal salvation. And further, lest any one
should cavil, and say, that so great a salvation was promised to posterity,
when the covenant was deposited in the hand of Abraham, he expressly declares
that the promises were made to the Fathers. Either then the benefits of Christ
must be confined to temporal things, or the covenant made with Abraham must be
extended beyond the things of this world.
9. The Gentiles also, etc. This is the second point, on
proving which he dwells longer, because it was not so evident. The first
testimony he quotes is taken from Psalm 18; which Romans 15:7-12 psalm is
recorded also in 2 Samuel 22, where no doubt a prophecy is mentioned concerning
the kingdom of Christ; and from it Paul proves the calling of the Gentiles,
because it is there promised, that a confession to the glory of God should be
made among the Gentiles; for we cannot really make God known, except among
those who hear his praises while they are sung by us. Hence that God’s name may
be known among the Gentiles, they must be favored with the knowledge of him,
and come into communion with his people: for you may observe this everywhere in
Scripture, that God’s praises cannot be declared, except in the assembly of the
faithful, who have ears capable of hearing his praise.
10 Exult, ye Gentiles, with his people This verse is
commonly considered as if it was taken from the song of Moses; but with this I
cannot agree; for Moses’ design there was to terrify the adversaries of Israel
by setting forth his greatness, rather than to invite them to a common joy. I
hence think that this is quoted from Psalm 47:5, where it is written, “Exult
and rejoice let the Gentiles, because thou judgest the nations in equity, and
the Gentiles on the earth thou guidest.” And Paul adds, with his people, and he
did this by way of explanation; for the Prophet in that psalm no doubt connects
the Gentiles with Israel, and invites both alike to rejoice; and there is no
joy without the knowledge of God.
While John Calvin gives acknowledgement to the historical priority given to the Jews to bring about the Messiah, he illustrates that Christ's coming fulfilled the Old Testament promises. Calvin states these promises were ultimately spiritual in nature, not merely temporal or earthly. Criticism is also made to those who limit the Old Testament promises to worldly blessings and confining God to them. He sees the covenant made with Abraham as spiritual at its core using symbols as mere shadows that all find its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. From this, Calvin describes Christ uniting Jews and Gentiles into one kingdom and shepherd bringing the Gentiles into the promises originally made to Israel. Thus, forming a single flock (the Church). An important note is how Calvin interprets Psalm 18 as the calling of the Gentiles being foretold in the Old Testament.
John Owen (1616-1683 AD)
The Death of Death in the Death of Christ Chapter 4 (link)
Arg. X. We argue from the type to the antitype, or the thing signified by it; which will evidently restrain the oblation of Christ to God’s elect. The people of Israel were certainly, in all remarkable things that happened unto them, typical of the church of God; as the apostle at large [declares], 1 Cor. x. 11. Especially, their institutions and ordinances were all representative of the spiritual things of the gospel; their priests, altar, sacrifices, were but all shadows of the good things to come in Jesus Christ; their Canaan was a type of heaven, Heb. iv. 3, 9; as also Jerusalem or Sion, Gal. iv. 26, Heb. xii. 22. The whole people itself was a type of God’s church, his elect, his chosen and called people: whence as they were called a “holy people, a royal priesthood;” so also, in allusion to them, are believers, 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. Yea, God’s people are in innumerable places called his “Israel,” as it is farther expounded, Heb. viii. 8. A true Israelite is as much as a true believer, John i. 47; and he is a Jew who is so in the hidden man of the heart. I hope it need not be proved that that people, as delivered from bondage, preserved, taken nigh unto God, brought into Canaan, was typical of God’s spiritual church, of elect believers. Whence we thus argue:— Those only are really and spiritually redeemed by Jesus Christ who were designed, signified, typified by the people of Israel in their carnal, typical redemption (for no reason in the world can be rendered why some should be typed out in the same condition, partakers of the same good, and not others); but by the people of the Jews, in their deliverance from Egypt, bringing into Canaan, with all their ordinances and institutions, only the elect, the church of God, was typed out, as was before proved. And, in truth, it is the most senseless thing in the world, to imagine that the Jews were under a type to all the whole world, or indeed to any but God’s chosen ones, as is proved at large, Heb. ix., x. Were the Jews and their ordinances types to the seven nations whom they destroyed and supplanted in Canaan? were they so to Egyptians, infidels, and haters of God and his Christ? We conclude, then, assuredly, from that just proportion that ought to be observed between the types and the things typified, that only the elect of God, his church and chosen ones, are redeemed by Jesus Christ.
John Owen reveals his deep reliance on Scripture to illustrate the source of his typology hermeneutic. In doing so, he underlines the people of Israel being a type, a mere shadow, of the Church using 1 Corinthians 10:11 to do so. Owen sees all the Old Testament practices, institutions, and nations as representations of the ultimate spiritual realization in the gospel of Christ. Faith and trust in God are seen as the true mark of an Israelite rather than a carnal inheritance. To see Israel as any other representation or purpose, Owen views this as a senseless approach missing the grander picture of what God has done and is doing for an eternal design beyond the temporal.
John Gill (1697-1771 AD)
Doctrinal Divinity Book 5, Chapter 12 (link)
2b1. All that are blessed of the Father are blessed by
Christ; God, as the God and Father of Christ, blessed his people with all
spiritual blessings in him; and those that are blessed in him are blessed by
him; the same the Father blesses, the Son does also; to whom he will say at the
great day, “Come, ye blessed of my Father” (Eph. 1:3; Matthew 25:34).
2b2. All that are chosen of God in Christ are blessed by
him; for they are blessed with all spiritual blessings according as they are
chosen in him; their election of God is the standard, rule, and measure of all
after blessings; that stands at the front of them and secures all the rest;
“whom he did predestinate, them he also called”,&c. (Rom. 8:30). The elect
of God are the objects of all the blessings of grace which arise from Christ’s
death, resurrection, session at the right hand of God, and his intercession
there; or otherwise there would be no strength nor force in the triumphant
challenge of the apostle (Rom. 8:33, 34).
2b3. All that are given to Christ by the Father are blessed
by him; for these he prays for blessings, on these he bestows them; he
manifests the name of God unto them, his favour and grace, and the blessings of
it; his gospel, and the privileges belonging to it; he confers grace on them,
keeps them by his power, and gives unto them eternal life (John 17:2, 6, 8, 9,
11, 12, 24).
2b4. All the covenant ones are blessed by Christ; all that
are in covenant have a right to the blessings of it, and they are blessed with
it; God is their covenant God, and happy are they whose God he is; God, even
their own God, will bless them. The covenant of grace is ordered in all things
and sure; and Christ, the mediator of it, in whose hands they are, gives them
the sure mercies of David.
2b5. All the spiritual Israel of God, the whole Israel of
God, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, are blessed by Christ; what is said
of literal Israel, “Happy art thou, O Israel, —O people saved by the Lord”
(Deut. 33:29), is true of mystic Israel, or the elect of God among all nations;
that Israel whom God has chosen, and Christ has redeemed and called by name;
these are the seed of Israel that are justified in Christ, and saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation (Ps. 135:4; Isa. 43:1; 45:17, 25).
John Gill boldly states what is largely the thesis of his entire work Doctrinal Divinity; in which he begins at the beginning of Genesis all the way through the end of the Old Testament showing how all points and is fulfilled in Christ using the New Testament to do so. All the practices, all the figures, all the events, all the promises, all the prophecies were pointing to a greater spiritual completion in Christ that transcends temporal prefigures. That the true Israel are those of the elect of God from all nations justified and saved in Christ, who brought everlasting salvation. Gill sees this covenantal grace for all nations was the true design and completion to the promises made in the Old Testament.
John Wesley (1703-1791 AD)
Wesley's Notes on the Bible Notes on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 9 (link)
6. Not as if - The Jews imagined that the word of God must
fail if all their nation were not saved. This St. Paul now refutes, and proves
that the word itself had foretold their falling away. The word of God - The
promises of God to Israel. Had fallen to the ground - This could not be. Even
now, says the apostle, some enjoy the promises; and hereafter "all Israel
shall be saved." This is the sum of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh
chapters. For - Here he enters upon the proof of it. All are not Israel, who are
of Israel - The Jews vehemently maintained the contrary; namely, that all who
were born Israelites, and they only, were the people of God. The former part of
this assertion is refuted here, the latter, ver. 24, &c. The sum is, God
accepts all believers, and them only; and this is no way contrary to his word.
Nay, he hath declared in his word, both by types and by express testimonies,
that believers are accepted as the "children of the promise," while
unbelievers are rejected, though they are "children after the flesh."
All are not Israel - Not in the favour of God. Who are lineally descended of
Israel.
7. Neither because they are lineally the seed of Abraham,
will it follow that they are all children of God - This did not hold even in
Abraham's own family; and much less in his remote descendants. But God then
said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called - That is, Isaac, not Ishmael, shall be
called thy seed; that seed to which the promise is made.
8. That is, Not the children, &c. - As if he had said,
This is a clear type of things to come; showing us, that in all succeeding
generations, not the children of the flesh, the lineal descendants
of Abraham, but the children of the promise, they to whom the promise is made,
that is, believers, are the children of God. Gen. xxi, 12.
9. For this is the word of the promise - By the power of
which Isaac was conceived, and not by the power of nature. Not, Whosoever is
born of thee shall be blessed, but, At this time - Which I now appoint. I will
come, and Sarah shall have a son - And he shall inherit the blessing. Gen.
xviii, 10.
10. And that God's blessing does not belong to all the
descendants of Abraham, appears not only by this instance, but by that of Esau
and Jacob, who was chosen to inherit the blessing, before either of them had
done good or evil. The apostle mentions this to show, that neither were their
ancestors accepted through any merit of their own. That the purpose of God
according to election might stand - Whose purpose was, to elect or choose the
promised seed. Not of works - Not for any preceding merit in him he chose. But
of him that called - Of his own good pleasure who called to that privilege whom
he saw good.
12. The elder - Esau. Shall serve the younger - Not in
person, for he never did; but in his posterity. Accordingly the Edomites were
often brought into subjection by the Israelites. Gen. xxv, 23.
13. As it is written - With which word in Genesis, spoken so
long before, that of Malachi agrees. I have loved Jacob - With a peculiar love;
that is, the Israelites, the posterity of Jacob. And I have, comparatively,
hated Esau - That is, the Edomites, the posterity of Esau. But observe,
1. This does not relate to the person of Jacob or Esau
2. Nor does it relate to the eternal state either of them or
their posterity. Thus far the apostle has been proving his proposition, namely,
that the exclusion of a great part of the seed of Abraham, yea, and of Isaac,
from the special promises of God, was so far from being impossible, that,
according to the scriptures themselves, it had actually happened. He now
introduces and refutes an objection. Mal. i, 2, 3.
14. Is there injustice with God - Is it unjust in God to give Jacob the blessing rather than Esau? or to accept believers, and them only. God forbid - In no wise. This is well consistent with justice; for he has a right to fix the terms on which he will show mercy, according to his declaration to Moses, petitioning for all the people, after they had committed idolatry with the golden calf. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy - According to the terms I myself have fixed. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion - Namely, on those only who submit to my terms, who accept of it in the way that I have appointed.
15. Exod. xxxiii, 19.
16. It - The blessing. Therefore is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth - It is not the effect either of the will or the works
of man, but of the grace and power of God. The will of man is here opposed to
the grace of God, and man's running, to the divine operation. And this
general declaration respects not only Isaac and Jacob, and the Israelites in
the time of Moses, but likewise all the spiritual children of Abraham, even to
the end of the world.
John Wesley's remarks on this particular typological lens is scattered all about in his more than 4000 pages of the Bible indicating an active hermeneutic. Wesley underlines the spiritual nature of the promises given to Abraham and illustrates through his descendants how it was never about the temporal. He sees the special promises are inherited to those who are justified by faith in Christ. This makes Israel not a carnal entity, but a spiritual one. Wesley uses Paul's statements in Romans 9 to support this interpretation showing nothing about us or our ability to gain favor matters in the divine election of God.
Philip Schaff (1819-1893 AD)
History of the Christian Church, Volume 1 Chapter 10 (link)
3. Immediately before the advent of the Messiah the whole Old Testament, the law and the prophets, Moses and Isaiah together, reappeared for a short season embodied in John the Baptist, and then in unrivalled humility disappeared as the red dawn in the splendor of the rising sun of the new covenant. This remarkable man, earnestly preaching repentance in the wilderness and laying the axe at the root of the tree, and at the same time comforting with prophecy, and pointing to the atoning Lamb of God, was indeed, as the immediate forerunner of the New Testament economy, and the personal friend of the heavenly Bridegroom, the greatest of them that were born of woman; yet in his official character as the representative of the ancient preparatory economy he stands lower than the least in that kingdom of Christ, which is infinitely more glorious than all its types and shadows in the past. This is the Jewish religion, as it flowed from the fountain of divine revelation and lived in the true Israel, the spiritual children of Abraham, in John the Baptist, his parents and disciples, in the mother of Jesus, her kindred and friends, in the venerable Simeon, and the prophetess Anna, in Lazarus and his pious sisters, in the apostles and the first disciples, who embraced Jesus of Nazareth as the fulfiller of the law and the prophets, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, and who were the first fruits of the Christian Church.
Philip Schaff sees John the Baptist's official role as the culmination and embodiment of the Old Testament and as the final bridge between the Old and New Covenants, which becomes eclipsed by Christ. The Jewish religion is considered as types and shadows and reaches its fulfillment in the first coming of Christ. The true Israel is identified to be found in the spiritual children of Abraham. In other words, those who responded in faith to Christ are the true heirs of the promises given to Abraham gathering together in the Church. This highlights Schaff's belief that the true continuation of God's covenantal promises is not found in ethnic Israel, but those who recognized and embraced Christ.
The Identity Crisis of the Church
We have now illustrated a cohesive and unbroken line of what Christianity has interpreted to be the true Israel and the official role of the Church. This was done with 21 theologians, most of which are brilliant spiritual giants, across 18 centuries starting from the very end of the Apostolic Age. The dominant hermeneutic throughout all Christianity is that of a Christological typology seeing the fulfillment of all Old Testament promises coming to completion in the first advent Christ, who took on the role of Israel as a nation and succeeded in its mission of redemption of the world. The true heirs of the Abrahamic promise were always considered to be those of faith in Christ with the spiritual superseding the temporal figures. These theologians see the kingdom of God in the here and now, not some delayed objective. Some of these men speculated if the wandering Jews of their time would ever come to Christ, but they never saw a reconstruction of the temporal kingdom of Israel as a primary eschatological importance. You can see in numerous passages quoted above that mainline Christianity, even in split denominations, seriously frowned upon the idea of the temporal aspects in the Old Testament being of great significance over the spiritual nature being conveyed.
All of these mainline Christian theologians did not have a literal, one-dimensional interpretation of the Bible. However, they also saw over-allegorizing as a problem. As Augustine of Hippo outlines this hermeneutic in The City of God Book 17 :
2. Therefore prophetic utterances of three kinds are to be found; forasmuch as there are some relating to the earthly Jerusalem, some to the heavenly, and some to both. I think it proper to prove what I say by examples. The prophet Nathan was sent to convict king David of heinous sin, and predict to him what future evils should be consequent on it. Who can question that this and the like pertain to the terrestrial city, whether publicly, that is, for the safety or help of the people, or privately, when there are given forth for each one's private good divine utterances whereby something of the future may be known for the use of temporal life? But where we read, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make for the house of Israel, and for the house of Judah, a new testament: not according to the testament that I settled for their fathers in the day when I laid hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my testament, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the testament that I will make for the house of Israel: after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my laws in their mind, and will write them upon their hearts, and I will see to them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people;"— without doubt this is prophesied to the Jerusalem above, whose reward is God Himself, and whose chief and entire good it is to have Him, and to be His. But this pertains to both, that the city of God is called Jerusalem, and that it is prophesied the house of God shall be in it; and this prophecy seems to be fulfilled when king Solomon builds that most noble temple. For these things both happened in the earthly Jerusalem, as history shows, and were types of the heavenly Jerusalem. And this kind of prophecy, as it were compacted and commingled of both the others in the ancient canonical books, containing historical narratives, is of very great significance, and has exercised and exercises greatly the wits of those who search holy writ. For example, what we read of historically as predicted and fulfilled in the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, we must also inquire the allegorical meaning of, as it is to be fulfilled in the seed of Abraham according to faith. And so much is this the case, that some have thought there is nothing in these books either foretold and effected, or effected although not foretold, that does not insinuate something else which is to be referred by figurative signification to the city of God on high, and to her children who are pilgrims in this life. But if this be so, then the utterances of the prophets, or rather the whole of those Scriptures that are reckoned under the title of the Old Testament, will be not of three, but of two different kinds. For there will be nothing there which pertains to the terrestrial Jerusalem only, if whatever is there said and fulfilled of or concerning her signifies something which also refers by allegorical prefiguration to the celestial Jerusalem; but there will be only two kinds one that pertains to the free Jerusalem, the other to both. But just as, I think, they err greatly who are of opinion that none of the records of affairs in that kind of writings mean anything more than that they so happened, so I think those very daring who contend that the whole gist of their contents lies in allegorical significations. Therefore I have said they are threefold, not two-fold. Yet, in holding this opinion, I do not blame those who may be able to draw out of everything there a spiritual meaning, only saving, first of all, the historical truth. For the rest, what believer can doubt that those things are spoken vainly which are such that, whether said to have been done or to be yet to come, they do not beseem either human or divine affairs? Who would not recall these to spiritual understanding if he could, or confess that they should be recalled by him who is able?
Augustine views a one-dimensional approach as a grave mistake, whether it be a literal or purely allegorical, because it misses the nature of ourselves and this world. Everything in this world, including mankind, are made up of the temporal and the spiritual nature. To interpret Scripture solely through one of these elements would be like considering only one element of ourselves—body or spirit. To do so would be in great error. How does Augustine, along with all these other theologians, keep this balance in hermeneutics? By having Scripture interpret the balance for them, which is widely illustrated in the quoted passages from the various theologians above of how they did so.
Today, however, the dominating hermeneutic in western Protestant Christianity is a literal and one-dimensional style under the name of dispensationalism. How did we have a great departure from a dominant Christological typology hermeneutic stemming 18 continuous centuries to what we have today? Not only is dispensationalism a hermeneutic of literalism, but it also runs a great thematic application of eschatology with it. The level of focus on eschatology in western Protestantism today is actually quite jarring relative to the last 2,000 years of the Christianity when one studies its historical writings. This should be not considered as a mere doctrinal fad, rather an entire mindset shift that is unrecognizable relative to the history of the Church. When Christians in the past found themselves in a period of horrors beyond description, such as the Black Plague (14th century), the Great Plague and London Fire (1665-1666), the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), Christians at this time did not speculate if it was the end of days. These time periods were widely seen as divine judgement rather than a definitive sign of Christ's return. Why? Because Christians back then did not associate dark days of destruction with the Second Coming. That eschatological hermeneutic did not exist. Surely, early Christians speculated on whether the Second Coming was near, but it was for different questions and understanding of Scripture than what we experience today.
The expectation of specific events of evil being direct signs of the end of the world became a belief system in the modern era with the rise of dispensationalism. In more direct words, the dispensational hermeneutic and affiliated eschatology applied today is a new idea and a great departure from 1,800 years of the Christian Church. The lack of concern, attempts of justification, the unawareness of the laity, and the outright denial of this fact is outright absurd. Premillennialism certainly existed in early Christianity with men like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, but not a post-rapture, post-tribulation type of premillennialism. We can even see in their quoted writings in this dissertation that they saw the fulfillment of Israel with the Church in the first advent of Christ. The type of eschatology and hermeneutic we see prevalent with dispensationalism today came from John Nelson Darby in the year 1830 making it just under 200 years old. As someone who analyzed and processed hundreds writings and manuscripts in Latin, Early Modern English, and present-day English from a wide berth of theologians spanning 2,000 years to write this dissertation, John Darby's writings are the earliest I could locate just the foundation of contemporary belief the restored corporal Jewish nation holding eschatological significance.
Fragments of dispensationalist ideas can be found that is somewhat recognizable but still depart from the advanced hermeneutic preached over pulpits today. Adso of Montier-en-Der (910-992 AD) was one particular monk with vivid apocalyptic interpretation randomly appearing in a sea of Christological typology. Adso's writing, Libellus de Antichristo, sees the nation of Israel being restored with the Jews rather than the Church with the Anti-Christ deceiving them as a false Messiah. While Adso applies these ideas in a unique way, he draws from earlier theological sources—Ephrem the Syrian (4th century), Ambrose of Milan (4th century), and strange pseudepigrapha. As mentioned before, they all outline fragments of what we would consider contemporary dispensationalism. These three obscure men stand out as islands in Church history and are considered countercultural to their times. While John Darby may have been influenced by their writings, he does not consider the foundation of dispensational ideas to have continuity. The following is from John Darby's The Hopes of the Church of God, Lecture 3 (link):
This evening I am going to speak of the coming of Christ. Many questions link themselves with this great one, as for instance, the reign of Antichrist. But I shall limit myself this evening to the event itself —namely, the coming of the Lord.
I began by reading Acts 1 because the promise of the Lord’s
return is there set forth as the alone hope of the Church, as the first object
which would of necessity fix the attention of the disciples, when they were
vainly following with their eyes the ascending Saviour, who was going to be
hidden in God. In this chapter, just as the Lord was about to leave them, three
remarkable features appear. The first is that the disciples desired to know
when and how God would restore the kingdom of Israel. Now Jesus did not say
that this was never to happen; He only said that the time of this restoration
is not revealed. It belonged to times and seasons which the Father has put in
His own power. The second is that the Holy Spirit was about to come; and the
third, that during the time the disciples were looking towards heaven, two
angels said to them, “Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen Him go into heaven.”
They were, then, to expect the return of Christ.
If we study the history of the Church, we shall find it to
have declined in spirituality exactly in proportion as this doctrine of the
expectation of the Saviour’s return had been lost sight of. In forgetting this
truth it has become weak and worldly. Not, however, wishing to quit the sphere
of the Word, let us see therein how the feeling of the return of Christ ruled
the intelligence, sustained the hope, inspired the conduct, of the apostles. We
have only to this end to look through a few passages of the New Testament.
Acts 3:19-21. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come [or,
so that the times of refreshing may come] from the presence of the Lord.” The
Holy Spirit is come; He has remained with the Church, but the times of
refreshing will come “from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus.”
It is impossible to apply this passage to the Holy Spirit, because He was
already, at that time, come down, and had said by the mouth of the Apostle,
“Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.”
And, in truth, the Holy Spirit has not restored all things. He who is to come,
according to this passage, is not to come to judge the dead, nor that the world
may be burnt up and destroyed, but it is specially for “the restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets.”
John Darby identifies that the expectation of Christ's return was foundational to the Apostolic Church. However, by explicitly stating: "If we study the history of the Church, we shall find it to have declined in spirituality exactly in proportion as this doctrine of the expectation of the Saviour’s return had been lost sight of. In forgetting this truth it has become weak and worldly." Darby believes what he is going over in these lectures of a post-rapture, post-tribulation, post-restoration-of-Israel premillennialism has been lost or obscured in the Church since the Apostolic Age. This type of restorationist view is analogous with Joseph Smith of the same time period. For further evidence of this mindset, Darby also states the following in The Hopes of the Church of God :
Ch. 4:13-18. It is remarkable that the consolation which he
gives to those who surrounded the death-bed of a Christian is their friend’s
return with Jesus, and their mutual meeting. It is customary to say, “Be
content: he is gone to glory.” This was not the way with the Apostle. The
comfort which he proposes to those who are mourning the death of a believer is,
“Be content; God will bring them back.” What a change must not the habitual
feelings of Christians have undergone, since the consolation given by an
apostle is counted in this day as foolishness! The believers in Thessalonica
were penetrated to such a degree with the hope of the return of Christ, that
they did not think of dying before that event, and when one of them departed,
his friends were afflicted with the fear that he would not be present at that
happy moment. Paul reassures them by asserting that those “who sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him.” We can understand by this example to what a degree
the Church has put away the hope which occupied the souls of the first
converts. How far distant we are from the apostolic views, which we have
replaced by the idea of an intermediate state of happiness (the soul separated
from the body), a condition true, indeed, and by much superior to ours on the
earth, but vague, and which at best is a state of waiting. Jesus Himself waits,
and the dead saints wait.
Darby, once again, acknowledges the lack of continuity in the historical Church with the dispensational ideas he is introducing. He criticizes the primary focus of Christians on the idea that the dead are in heaven instead of the focus on Christ's return and the resurrection. Darby argues that even Jesus "waits" for his moment, which is an allusion to Hebrews 10:12-13 of Christ waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. This introduces an image of a literal vengeful and conquering Messiah, much like the Jews of the New Testament expected. Darby exclaims how much in amazement he is in of how far the Church had moved from the apostolic mindset, and even suggesting if Paul returned to the Church at that time he would be dismissed by modern Christians in matters of eschatology. This statement underscores Darby's belief that the doctrine of Christ's return being central to the message of the Bible had been lost or greatly fragmented.
Scattered across Darby's writings and publications, one can observe the context and format he is introducing these ideas—something newly discovered that he is revealing to an audience. No reference is made to past Christian theologians and alludes to the fact the departure happened shortly after the apostles. While authority is not based in traditions of the Church, a sudden radical departure in hermeneutics of the Bible, and affiliated eschatology, is extremely dangerous. An acceptance of such a departure comes with the argument that God has given you a special truth that has not been shown to faithful believers before you for well over a thousand years. Many of which put their lives on the line just to inquire on doctrinal truths obscured by history. Those of the Reformation era, including precursor figures, went to extreme lengths of doctrinal criticisms for the sake of retrieval and ended up doubling down on a Christological typology hermeneutic, along with the Church as the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises. Martin Luther even explored the idea of some form of a restoration of the Jews through the gospel and stated the following:
"The Jews are blood-relations of our Lord; if it were proper to boast of flesh and blood, the
Jews belong more to Christ than we. I beg, therefore, my dear Papist, if you become tired of
abusing me as a heretic, that you begin to revile me as a Jew."
However, these sentiments changed early on in Luther's life to a rather aggressive and provocative tone as he came to view the Jews of his time as something far different than what they claimed heritage from. Scripture and the gospel have no room for anti-Semitism or any form of hatred. That being said, these men of the Reformation movement were far from being dim and collectively explored every avenue one could take in all doctrine. To dismiss observations simply on the notion of sensitivities from recent history is how we end up with time period biases that lead to error.
However, what has happened with the adoption of dispensationalism is far worse than just outright dismissal of 1,800 continuous years of Church identity with Israel and typological hermeneutic. The narrative has been rewritten to fit an agenda of historical dispensational continuity, along with great indifference to Church history to the point of most Christians unaware of the great departure. If one is curious how those of the LDS faith are able to buy into a corrupt theology with an insane origin story (boy finds a rock while digging a well, which is used as a seer stone to find treasure and eventually the Book of Mormon by putting the rock in a hat to see words), it is precisely through the same path Christians are onto today–entirely unaware of Church history and only fed small pieces of events connected by great amounts of institutional conjecture. An isolation of hermeneutics without reading outside the generally accepted communal writings within your generation is how you also end up believing Mormonism is true. The same way Roman Catholics end up where they are is by hijacking history and falsely applying a narrative of continuity to historical Church figures. If Catholics would read Gregory the Great's writings, like what was done for this dissertation, they would alarmingly find the person they transpose the papal office onto has writings containing a gospel of grace and Scriptural arguments of the Eucharist being purely figurative in nature, not something that is literally transformed.
What has happened is more than just a departure, it is an identity crisis of the Church. What was seen as Christ's great achievement of culminating all the promises into a gospel of grace within a single universal body is now reduced to a mere parenthesis, a mystery, a pause in the plan. Christ's accomplishments in His First Coming are hacked away to fit the desires of man–a selfish temporal restitution of damages done by evil from others and confining Christ's reign to the physical. The Church is just a parallel event rather than the very means of restoring creation. Hope is now clouded in prophetic doom without acknowledging the complete triumphant here and now. Even the identity of Christ is changed from a suffering servant full of grace, even to unbelievers, to a future vengeful Lord willing to subject unbelievers to a house of horrors and torment before casting them to hell. With this type of eschatological focus, the Church no longer sees itself as worthy to bring about the full glory of the kingdom of God and passes its significance to a temporal reign of ethnic Jews, who are far different today than what they draw their heritage from. The objective is no longer about restoration of God's creation in glory, rather a hope of escapism in a rapture. The Church is fundamentally in defensive mode rather than offensive.
This is the fruit of dispensationalism–an identity crisis and a receding Church. This now begs the question of its legitimacy and depths of error. A major sign for any form of belief ungrounded in Godly truth is if its principles evolve over time in order to survive and be accepted. While Christian theological beliefs have oscillated through history, there is always a return to the same core principles of truth. For this analysis on dispensationalism, we will refer to Steve Gregg, who identifies these evolutions over time. Steve Gregg is not some random person voicing opinions on eschatology, like many do (I am now guilty). His passions of ministry are so intense that he does not have time for notoriety in the contemporary theologian country club and the continuous conveyor belt of publications. That being said, Steve Gregg is a master scriptorian having hundreds of hours of eschatological commentary on YouTube and some of the most extensive research on all the interpretations of Revelation. In his article Is dispensationalism Indispensable? (link) he identifies the following:
Classical Dispensationalism (1830-1940s) - earliest forms of dispensational thinking found in John Nelson Darby, C.I. Scofield, and Lewis Sperry Chafer. Distinguished by God having two "New Covenants" and two "peoples of God"–God's eternal "heavenly" people of the Church and God's eternal "earthly" people of Israel.
Revised Dispensationalism (1950-1985) - writings of Charles C. Ryrie, John Walvoord, Dwight Pentecost, and Charles Feinberg. They maintain the classical's view of the separation of Israel and the Church but abandoned the "two New Covenants" approach.
Progressive Dispensationalism (1985-present) - writings of Craig A. Blaising, Darrel L. Bock, and Robert L. Saucy. These do not recognize the stark discontinuity between Israel and the Church. Instead, they modify the idea of a complete postponement of the Davidic kingdom and recognize the Church as the Davidic kingdom in an "inaugurated phase" of fulfillment. Christ is reigning in heaven and will later do so on a physical throne on earth during the millennium.
Oscillating around a common mean is a stark difference than evolution. One returns back from deviation and the other continues a linear trajectory away from its origin to survive. This pattern outlined by Steve Gregg is one of evolution, not a return to the mean. The LDS church carries this same pattern, and even adopted a form of dispensational eschatology in the 1940's. Even this apocalyptic outlook changed in the LDS church from one generation to the next to whatever was culturally acceptable in the U.S. at the time. Excitement and application appear to vary within dispensationalism depending on the current events of the time, whether it be a nuclear holocaust of the 20th century or engagements within the Middle East of the 21st century, much like those within the LDS faith does. This is not a good commonality. The Church is supposed to be fearless and steady in its demeanor filled with the hope of Christ, not some speculative messengers of worry and impending destruction.
Could this criticism of evolution be applied to other camps of eschatology? Yes, most certainly, and they have their issues because of that. This is why our focus of eschatology should be entirely Christ centric rather than worrying so much about the details of the individual's place within the picture of restoration. We look to a mythical future journey of man rather than being willing to experience the tangible and personal one we are all in now. If one wants to get down to the “why” of so many of our Christian predecessors embracing a Christological typology hermeneutic, it is for this very reason. Historical events of exhilaration or terror come and go that are often impossible to predict, but Jesus Christ and His truths always stay the same. Instead of parading and marveling at the literal Biblical narratives and stories of men in the past, present, and future; we should look above it all glorifying the very author of such a story—Christ our king. Seeking the Bible’s own interpretation to see the spiritual meaning behind figures and events is not mere allegorizing. This practice is desiring to worship the divine hand who created them. To acknowledge the folly in speculating the next religiously important event and surrendering in humility to God’s will in the here and now instead. Viewing God's promises strictly to the physical lineage or temporal establishment alone were often dismissed by our forefathers as absurd and a violation of the very nature of grace. Promises of inheritance based on physical lineage alone was seen as a system of inheritance apart from grace–unmerited favor. Being worthy of being titled and preserved as a chosen people regardless of your faith comes with the heavy implication that God owes a due. Combine this reasoning with Galatians 3:7–"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham."–along with Romans 9:6-8, Galatians 3:29, and Romans 4:13-16; promises existing outside the fulfillment within the Church was out of the question for our Christian predecessors.
The identity of the true people of Israel was always seen as those of faith in Christ, who are now gathered across the world in the Church in fulfillment. Our forbearers had so much reverence and honor for Jesus Christ, that they could not bring themselves to the very idea of stating His First Advent was incomplete in the nature of fulfillment. The ones really spiritually in tune saw death and unatoned sin as the true enemy to be conquered, not some band of men living within a certain time frame to be subjected to torment. To think some threshold of depravity and rebellion will be crossed to deserve such a fate within a dispensation of our fallen world entirely fails to realize there is no more threshold for any of us to cross. That was already encountered at birth for everyone.
The Israel of God in Scripture
Tradition is not authority. However, the importance of listening to our Christian predecessors is to avoid errors in time-period bias and hermeneutic. To dismiss or ignore what God has done to preserve His truth in prior generations leaves us prone to doctrinal drift. As illustrated, the mainline hermeneutic of the identity of Israel for centuries was typological. What did they see in the authority of Scripture to embrace this hermeneutic and why did they continue for so many years? To answer these questions, we will now explore Scripture using itself to directly interpret the identity of Israel showing where this Christological hermeneutic came from.
Matthew 2:14-15 – Hosea 11:1
And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
The apostle Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 and states that this passage is a prophecy that was fulfilled by Jesus Christ when he returned as a child from Egypt after the death of Herod. The curious nature of this declaration of Hosea 11:1 being a prophecy is that in context this verse in Hosea explicitly refers to the literal, corporal nation of Israel (verse 2 added for clarification) :
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
How can this passage be a prophecy, while the prophet Hosea was explicitly writing about the corporal nation of Israel? In order for this verse to be a prophecy and a literal historical narrative, it becomes multi-dimensional—that of the physical and the spiritual. The physical and literal side of the verse is the ethnic nation of Israel. The spiritual side is Jesus Christ. Since a verse about Israel is being applied to Jesus Christ by the apostle Matthew, this carries the heavy theological implication that Jesus Christ is Israel. While this bold connection begs to be unpacked, we will first explore more verses in the "this was to fulfill" formula to illustrate this central theme of Jesus Christ taking on the identity of Israel.
Matthew 2:16-18 – Jeremiah 31:15
Then Herod,
when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he
sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who
were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from
the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was
heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no
more.”
The original context of Jeremiah 31 is during the Babylonian exile. Ramah was the staging point for deporting captives out of Israel. "Rachel weeping" is the symbol of Israel's matriarch lamenting the loss of her descendants being taken away into exile. This passage in Jeremiah 31 is explicitly a historical lament and not a stated oracle. The apostle Matthew typologically applies this event to Herod's massacre of the infants in Bethlehem after Jesus' birth. Matthew reveals the spiritual nature of this verse as an oracle being fulfilled, with Jesus as the new focal point of Israel's story. In other words, Jesus Christ is Israel.
Matthew 12:17-21 – Isaiah 42:1-4
This was to
fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
“Behold,
my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not quarrel or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory;
and in his name the Gentiles
will hope.”
Isaiah 42 introduces the "Servant of the Lord," often identified with Israel itself in the historical role (Isaiah 41:8-9: "You, Israel, are my servant"). The passage describes God's anointing of this servant to bring justice, set in the context of Israel's exile and restoration. While it has a future-oriented tone, this passage is rooted in Israel's historical national identity, not a messianic prediction in a narrow sense. The apostle Matthew applies this to Jesus' healing ministry and quiet demeanor in Matthew 12. This servant role is identified as being fulfilled in Jesus as the ideal Israel, embodying the mission to the nations that the ethnic nation failed to achieve. In other words, Jesus Christ is Israel.
1 Corinthians 15:55 – Hosea 13:14
When the
perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then
shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is
swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of
death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to
God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the context of Hosea 13:9-16, God speaks to the nation of Israel's judgement and hints at a future deliverance. The apostle Paul applies Hosea's words of a historical narrative to Christ's redemptive work in a typological manner stating this passage came to pass in Christ. Jesus, taking on the identity of Israel, experiences judgement (the cross) and achieves the redemption Hosea's Israel could only anticipate. In other words, Jesus Christ is Israel.
Luke 18:31-33; 24:46 – Hosea 6:2
And taking the twelve, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."
...
And said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead"
The particular element to focus on is Christ proclaiming to be resurrected "on the third day", which is stated by Jesus to be predicted in the Old Testament. While the apostles referenced three Psalms (Psalm 2:7 in Acts 13:33; Psalm 16:10 in Acts 2:31; Psalm 118:22 in Acts 4:11) to illustrate the fulfillment in the promises of the resurrection of Jesus, not one of these passages refer to any resurrection "on the third day". This makes none of these references as the particular source of Jesus' prediction of time. However, the Scripture passage that does is Hosea 6:2 (verse 1 added for clarification) :
"Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him."
Not only does this verse verbally match "on the third day" in Luke 18 and 24, but it also refers to a type of restoration. In context, this promise of restoration delivered by Hosea was applied to the nation of Israel in Assyrian exile. However, it is not inventive to view Hosea 6:2 as referring to the doctrine of resurrection. This is a very old Jewish traditional exegesis to combine Jonah 1:17 (also referring to deliverance on the third day) with Hosea 6:2 to illustrate and strengthen the doctrine of resurrection from the dead. The Scriptural source for Jesus' prediction is strongly concluded to have come from the combination of Hosea 6:2 and Jonah 1:17. Thus, Jesus applied the symbolic expression of Hosea's prophecy regarding Israel's restoration "on the third day" to Himself, His substitutionary death, and resurrection. The resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of Israel the prophet Hosea spoke of. In other words, Jesus Christ is Israel. This also carries the theological implication Christ's resurrection accomplished the promised restoration of Israel in an eschatological sense.
Matthew
8:16-17 – Isaiah 53:4
That evening
they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the
spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill
what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our
diseases.”
Isaiah 53 takes place during the Babylonian exile and describes the "Suffering Servant," often identified with Israel itself (Isaiah 49:3) enduring exile as a historical reality. The sorrow, grief, and affliction in Isaiah 53:4 reflect the nation's collective experience under God's judgement, which was not seen as a predictive vision of a future individual until later Jewish and Christian interpretation. Originally, this passage was viewed as a poetic reflection on Israel's past and present suffering with a restorative hope. Scripture is primarily written for the audience and is time relevant. Isaiah 40-55 maintains a cohesive focus on the comforting of Israel in exile and envisioning their return (e.g., Isaiah 52:7-10, 54:1-3). Viewing Isaiah 53:4 as a standalone prophecy about a coming Messiah would feel disjointed and disrupt the flow given that this passage is bookended with a historical narrative of Israel's exile. The apostle Matthew typologically applying Christ's First Advent is the most compelling way to reconcile the historical context that does not negate its original meaning.
The evidence for this multidimensional understanding is within the book of Isaiah itself. Isaiah's Servant is explicitly the corporal Israel (Isaiah 41:8, 49:3), yet other passages (52:13-53:12) describe an individual-like figure as the Servant. Thus, a typological interpretation is made within the Old and New Testaments on this particular passage honoring the original audience's hope while revealing a greater redemptive arc. This illustration shows Christ's ministry as the climactic realization of the Servant's role that the corporal Israel failed to fully achieve. In other words, Jesus Christ became Israel and fulfilled its mission.
Typology Explained
If we have a series of passages linking Jesus Christ's mission of fulfillment to a historical narrative of the nation of Israel, including passages on restoration, then literal prophetic fulfillment in eschatology goes through the cross of Christ and is transformed into Christ's resurrection. Israel's mission found completion in Jesus Christ. For the last century and a half, we have turned eschatology into a misnomer centering it to a literal final set of days before the Second Coming. The truth is, the era of the Church is eschatological Hebrews 1:1-2 :
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to
our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also he created the world.
The first verse refers to the Old Covenant, but the second verse refers to the New and labeling it as "in these last days." Eschatology is not something to look forward to, it has already happened at the First Advent of Christ and the establishment of His Church. We are currently in eschatological times and have been for two millennium. This is the heavy theological implication of these typological fulfillments outlined by Scripture. The identity of Israel became elevated to a position higher than any temporal object could ever be–it became the manifestation of God in the flesh. The First Advent's accomplishments was not limited to sin and death, it completed all promises given by God in the Old Testament. To say otherwise would imply the eternal sacrifice of infinite worth was still incomplete in fulfillment. Such a belief of incomplete Old Covenant promises narrows down fulfillment contingent to man, which the historical narrative of Scripture repeatedly proved we are not sufficient enough to even approach the avenue leading to completion. Why would God, who is all encompassing and eternal, want to confine His glory of Israel to a mere piece of land in the physical realm that has a beginning? How much more could God glorify Himself by giving the identity of Israel to the most magnificent and eternal being to enter into our realm?
The reality is the true replacement error is removing Jesus Christ from the identity of Israel. This modern uproar over replacing the ethnic nation of Israel with the Church is positively bizarre not only in a historical precedence, but also in a logical sense. Additionally, to say the Church is Israel (or "replaces" it) is not entirely correct either. Just as those in the Church are the members of the Body of Christ, all believers are the members of Israel, not the glorified identity of Israel. This contemporary debate is fighting in the mere temporal realm, while the real purpose is glorified in an eternal sense unfathomably beyond. Plenty of historical Christian theologians have abbreviated this concept of Israel simply with the Church, with the grander identity in Christ read between the lines. This, I believe, is not the best practice. Others are fully associating Israel with the Church to incorrectly feed a nationalist, and likely a post-millennialist, agenda as many are doing today.
The sole purpose of a typological hermeneutic is to heed the guidance of Jesus Christ by finding Him in all Scripture Luke 24:27 :
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he
interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Dismissing this hermeneutic with a pejorative of allegorizing is quite unfortunate, given the objective of seeing Christ in all Scripture and to elevate His First Advent by finding all promises fulfilled in Him with this event. One may ask, however, where this term "type" came from and its application to Scripture further questioning origin. Alas, we have no further to look to than Scripture itself Romans 5:14 :
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose
sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who
was to come.
The Greek word used for "type" is typos (τύπος), which means a figure, an imprint, a model, an example, an imitation, a shadow of something greater. This was done by the apostle Paul in an example that Adam was a prefigure of the one who was to come–Jesus Christ. In essence, the literal historical narrative of Adam has a greater spiritual meaning in Jesus Christ. Paul's typological outline is not isolated here and appears in 1 Corinthians 10:1-11 :
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our
fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were
baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual
food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual
Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of
them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things took place as examples for us, that we
might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as
it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” We
must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three
thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of
them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and
were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an
example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the
ages has come.
The Greek word "typos" is used twice in the highlighted words of "example" in a context of describing a historical narrative in the Old Testament pointing to a greater spiritual meaning in Christ and His First Advent. Once more in Hebrews 8:1-6 :
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a
high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty
in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set
up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices;
thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he
were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who
offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly
things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God,
saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown
you on the mountain.” But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as
much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since
it is enacted on better promises.
Later Church Fathers were not the hermeneutical inventors of "allegorizing" historical narratives for a spiritual, typological meaning. The apostle Paul was. Neither were these passages from Paul (or the debated author of Hebrews) an isolated fun exercise of his that do not go beyond what he illustrated if so much historical narrative of ethnic Israel is being interpreted as prophecy fulfilled by the other apostles (we have merely just dipped our toes in the examples of this dissertation). Paul continues with this allegorizing approach in Galatians 4:21-31 :
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not
listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave
woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to
the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this
may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from
Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in
slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our
mother. For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and
cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the
one who has a husband.”
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But
just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who
was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the
Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave
woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are
not children of the slave but of the free woman.
The immediate argument here for those with a dispensational hermeneutic is this passage is only referring to the Church's current standing and the earthly Jerusalem awaiting a literal restoration in a future dispensation. This view makes two peoples, two destinies, two Jerusalems (the spiritual heavenly Jerusalem and the literal city). In this passage, Paul does not hint at two parallel fulfillments. He puts Hagar (slavery, Old Covenant, present Jerusalem) against Sarah (freedom, New Covenant, Jerusalem above) as a binary contrast, not a dual-track prophecy. The promise (v. 23, 28) is singular and fulfilled in Christ (Galatians 3:16), and the Church (both Jew and Gentile) it its heir as common believers. To say a future Israelite Jerusalem will exist, this is importing a distinction that Paul does not make. Why would Paul leave out such an important distinction if there was to be a literal future Jerusalem? If the Jerusalem above is the mother of all believers, which is backed by Hebrews 12:22-24, why split off a literal Jerusalem for Jews later? Would this not undermine Paul's whole case against ethnic division, which is the whole theme of Galatians?
The importance of hermeneutics is to have the Bible interpret itself, which just about all Christians would agree with. However, this concept needs to be applied in the strictest sense with prophecy. If we cannot find verses directly referencing Ezekiel 40-48 of the temple visions interpreting them to a specific future fulfillment, we cannot transpose these temple visions onto another Scripture passage to alter its meaning. This type of interpretive anarchy has no end and is the prominent hermeneutic style of the LDS church that it uses to justify its pre-1830 existence and additional scriptural canon. What Christological typology does in an eschatological sense is look to see how a verse directly quotes and interprets another verse or concept through the mission of Jesus Christ alone. In other words, Jesus Christ is the key to all prophecy in Scripture and not the oscillating events around us or our modern biases.
If one is still focused on the purpose of the temporal nation of Israel, let us look to Isaiah 40:1-5 :
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The first section of the passage is God calling to comfort of His people. The warfare has ended and the iniquity of the people of Israel is pardoned. Is God now focused on material success and nationalistic exaltation? No. The hope God is offering is a deep spiritual restoration and relationship with God. The second section is a command to prepare a way in the wilderness for the Lord with the emphasis on God's imminent arrival. The metaphorical expressions are rich illustrating the transformative impact of God's presence. The culmination of this passage is the promise that the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all people will see it. This is the ultimate hope being offered to Israel: not that they will be exalted above all other nations in a temporal sense, but that they will witness and be a part of the revelation of God's glory. The phrase "all flesh shall see it together" emphasizes God's presence and glory being revealed to all, which transcends national boundaries and temporal concerns.
Isaiah 40:1-5 directs Israel's hope away from a nationalistic and material expectations toward the profound reality of God dwelling among His people. This is the purpose of the historical and temporal Israel, which has been fulfilled in entirety with Jesus Christ at the First Advent. The glory of Israel cannot achieve anything greater than the majesty of Christ's First Advent. With the modern formation of Israel today, one should ask is it truly a work of God or a self-fulfillment of prophecy engineered by the hearts of men not much different than the Medieval crusades in function.
Reflections
When I was raised devoutly in Mormonism, I militantly studied the Bible alongside LDS canon. No matter how much I tried, I could not understand the Bible and it seemed like a series of random events mixed in with riddles. Once I hit spiritual rock-bottom and surrendered myself to God, He gave me a precious and undeserved gift upon deliverance. I could sense a providential Hand reach inside my mind and flip a switch that allowed me to understand the truths within the Bible so clearly in a way I could never before. I had tried so hard in Mormonism, even in borderline monkish ascetism, to understand the Bible through my own volition and I failed. 25 years worth of dedication completely eclipsed by the abilities given to me in a single day. This monumental moment in my life illustrated many things, but the glaring takeaway is that interpreting the Bible is not through the efforts and abilities of your own. Your role is to respond and surrender to the burning desire God lit inside you to search Him in His Word. Your personality and background God raised you up in may add flair and style, but the very ability to know the extensive truths is all from God. The Bible is perfectly clear, but our minds deceive itself.
With my own depravity of full display, I humbly approached God as the Fountain of all knowledge and wisdom. I did not care for my own gain or benefit, for I deserved nothing. I tried that life and only attracted spiritual darkness. Out of simple desire to align my will with God's will, I began asking questions to God in prayer. These questions had no angle or bias, they were simple and open ended. What should I believe about eschatology? I hear this and that, but what is it that you want me to learn for your will and purpose? Is this what I should even focus on right now? The journey that transpired following these questions has been more illuminating than I could have ever imagined. The tools and resources that suddenly appeared were not serendipitous; rather, they providential in timing and impact. Such things I had searched for on my own only to find nothing until I had asked God.
I have no right or ability to say that this is the way or formula to understanding God's truths. What I am trying to illustrate is knowledge and wisdom comes from God and not solely through a system of what peers around you say. This is not to insult the faith of Christians. The amount of resources and literature for the core principles of the gospel are so brilliantly and clearly laid out in ways never before seen in Church history that anyone can establish a relationship with God. My concern is this healthy application seems to wane fast in eschatology and respective hermeneutics, which lean too heavily on peers rather than God. The application of one's own abilities and efforts often seem to overshadow the enabling power of God in this doctrine. Certainly, God uses peers and writings of others to illuminate His truth within the Word. However, I am beginning to wonder how long has it been for individuals since they have simply asked God on what it is they should believe in eschatology, if they have at all. The reasoning for prompting such a harsh question is due to the observable time-period bias and widespread ignorance to recent hermeneutic shift.
My journey in eschatology and hermeneutics is not yet finished, and Scripture is the final authority for all. What I can do is extend the invitation given to me, which is to forget your own importance and abilities and submit yourselves to God to understand Scripture. A useful tool shown to me by the Spirit of the Lord is whenever you are interpreting Scripture ask yourself and to God, "Does this elevate and glorify Christ or does it obscure the focus in a distracting way?" By doing so in contemporary eschatology, I immediately began to weep for what the answer was to that question. Too much appeared rather familiar from a past life I vowed to never make the same mistake of being blind to Church history. Former Mormons very well know the importance of understanding one's own institutional history. It is almost as if the devil himself would say, "Show me an objective, and I will show you how much history needs to be forgotten and obscured."
Historical Christianity had their issues with pagan anthropomorphism and the exaltation of new age kingdoms. While the Reformation successfully jettisoned the paganized characteristics of the Church, the new blind spot for the Church is secular anthropomorphism. This is much deeper than the worship rock concerts, LGBTQ embracement, and female ministers. The very mindset has changed across all Protestant Christianity with the application of Scripture to be shaped into a moralistic, functionally legalistic, personal spiritualistic journey of Christian relativism. The conservative evangelical denominations are not as explicit, but still suffer these ailments underneath the expository approach. Even with community-driven congregations, there seems to be a shadow technocratic, managerial authority channeling worship and evangelism into a predictable and confined way.
The point is the need of a theological retrieval learning from our past in prayerful consideration. The lack thereof has resulted in an unknowing shift of focusing so much inwardly on our personal benefit of being saved and the elevation of one's moralistic journey. By morphing secularism into worship, Christians have been seduced by Boethius' wheel of Fortune centering their prayers and concern on its cycle. We fail to realize inconsistency is Fortune's very essence and that a sense of control is an illusion. Born into this world naked and devoid of anything, we mistakenly believe we deserve the resources of Fortune. In reality, Fortune of this world exercises its own rights just as the Heavenly powers allow itself to decorate the year of the earth with fruit and flowers and then disfigure it with cloud and cold.
With this mindset, dispensationalism was not adopted by mere chance with the publication of a study Bible and establishment of seminaries. The literal and one-dimensional hermeneutic was embraced, because it caters to a way of reading the Bible that feels immediate, accessible, and tailored to the individual. This offers a clear and concrete answer to a mind shaped by plain-sense reasoning and science: this happened, that will happen, here is what it means for me. No need for layers or communal understanding to mediate it aligning to an ethos where personal agency and direct experience reign. Thus, the historical typology was abandoned. Typology is inherently multidimensional weaving Old and New Testaments into a unified story of God's redemptive plan. This hermeneutic is less about "what does this mean for me right now?" and more about "how does this fit into the grand, cosmic drama of God and His people?" Typology is a collective, church-centered mindset–one that assumes a shared history. Instead of focusing about my readiness with contemporary thinking, the historical mindset was focused on God's mysterious, overarching glory. In essence, the former prioritizes the self as the interpretive center, while the typological later disperses meaning across time, community, and divine mystery. The danger with contemporary hermeneutics is treating the Bible like a self-help book instead of a sprawling epic novel.
This is why upon deconstructing out of Mormonism and reconstructing through historical Christian literature to do so was so confusing to me when reading and listening to modern commentary. The very mindset of our Christian forefathers stretching back centuries is remarkably different. I found contemporary writings mostly insufficient to address the depths and complexities of the deception placed into my mind, so I was guided by the Spirit to utilize historical writings as a roadmap to the Bible. Within the first year of my deliverance, I was confronted with a choice upon the realization of the two clashing mindsets. I chose to embrace the historical mindset, not out of tradition, however, but out of answer to prayer with God using my past to show me the way. Mormonism not only has a literal, one-dimension hermeneutic, it worships the very wheel of Fortune hand-in-hand with self-exaltation. One's piety is directly perceived with Fortune's cycle position. Moralistic individualism is explicitly applauded as each person takes their turn self-aggrandizing over the pulpit. A life of such delusion wounded my soul more than one can possibly imagine.
My wayfaring soul already knew what lay ahead down the separate Scripture application roads of academic secularism, paganism, Judaized Christianity, demonic darkness, consolation of the dead, relativity, individualism, and moralistic spirituality; because I had already experienced them. All I wanted was to worship the Word of God in a way that elevates Jesus Christ more than anything else, because that was the only path left. If Jesus Christ is the Word, then should not all Scripture point to Him? A Christological typology hermeneutic naturally fit this desire to forget oneself and submit to a narrative of a loving, merciful, and magnificent God. We do not need an immediate answer to every struggle and event, rather the response is to embrace they mystery of God's plan and control. As Lady Philosophy spoke to Boethius as he was waiting his unjust execution in The Consolation of Philosophy, "The Lord would not allow success, its mutiny to grace." The triumph of worldly evil is deceptive and fleeting, but this rebellious success will never undermine God's purpose or true blessing. We have to trust in the almighty God embracing the journey that has been set before us letting the conclusion come as it may. This is the rallying cry of our Christian forefathers.
As one approaches such a noisy topic of eschatology and hermeneutics, it should be viewed as an ongoing relational journey with God rather than a hasty decision imposed by peers. I admire the great zeal of teachers to get the full extensive truth out to all, but I fear it can quickly become dogmatic if an instructional relationship with the Lord is not cultured first. You can be a light in the dark to those who need to walk the paths themselves, but not a ferry giving them a quick tour of the scenes around them. Brothers in Christ, it is not about mere apologetics that act as a light for the path of eschatological hermeneutics, it is the very mindset that needs to be shaped by God.
Elevate your focus and study in Scripture to Jesus Christ our Lord and you will find depths there you never knew could exist. No hope lies within the exaltations of the temporal leaving those clinging to it chasing an evanescent dream. We are being lulled to sleep by complacency in modernity. Lift up your eyes beyond the circumstances of yourself and see the works of the almighty God. Unify yourself with the will of the Father and not of the temptations of Fortune. God, help the Church realize its role and the true identity of Israel being placed in Jesus Christ–the King of kings and Ruler of all.