THE BOCC PRESENTS “From Covenant to Counterfeit: How the Early Church Replaced Israel”

“From Covenant to Counterfeit: How the Early Church Replaced Israel”
This message uncovers how the early Church’s reading of Galatians 3 and Romans 11 drifted from Paul’s covenantal intent toward the invention of “spiritual Israel.”
In Scripture, Paul defends the continuity of God’s covenant with Israel, explaining how the scattered believing Israelites are reconciled within that covenant—not replaced. But by the 2nd–3rd centuries, writers such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Origen introduced language like alēthinòs Israēl (“true Israel”), Israēl katà pneûma (“Israel according to the Spirit”), and nova Israel (“new Israel”). These ideas subtly shifted theology from covenantal continuation to covenantal replacement, laying the groundwork for post-Constantinian supersessionism.
Key Scriptures:
• Galatians 3:16, 26–29 — Paul’s focus on the Seed (Christ) and those joined to Him by covenantal faith, not replacement.
• Romans 11:1–2, 17–26 — Israel not cast away; scattered believing Israelites grafted again into Israel’s olive tree, not a new tree.
• Exodus 19:5–6, Jeremiah 31:31–33, Ephesians 2:11–19 — Continuity of covenant people through obedience and repentance.
Historical Context:
• By the early 3rd century AD, long before Constantine, Greek and Latin apologists were redefining Israel spiritually, detaching faith from heritage.
• This intellectual theology became the seedbed for supersessionism, later reinforced by imperial Christianity.
Takeaways:
Paul taught grafting in fallen Israel, not replacing.

“Spiritual Israel” is a post-apostolic invention that erases the covenant identity of the biblical Israelites.

Restoration requires returning to the covenant language of Scripture, not the philosophical categories of the Church Fathers.

Message Summary: The gospel fulfills—not replaces—the promises to Israel. God’s covenant people are not rebranded by empire or theology but restored through repentance, faith, and obedience.
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