(AgapePress) - A Southern Baptist leader says Christians need to strongly oppose the false doctrine that the church has replaced Israel as God's chosen people.

Former SBC President Paige Patterson says "replacement theology" contradicts scripture and undermines God's character -- and that Christians must confront in love those who teach "replacement theology," which has fueled shameful historical events such as the Spanish Inquisition and the Nazi Holocaust.

Patterson says throughout the entire Bible, Israel refers to the Jewish people -- and he says those who believe otherwise have a distorted interpretation of scripture.

"We do have to point out that what they're doing is to take huge portions of the Scripture and simply say, 'That doesn't fit my thinking, and therefore every time I see "Israel" I'm going to read "the Church".' That's isogesis, it isn't exegesis," Patterson says. "I think we have to hold their feet to the fire. What on earth was [the Apostle] Paul talking about in Romans 9:10-11, where he says that God has not cast away his ancient people whom He foreknew?"

Patterson says Christ came, as He said, to bring the Kingdom to Israel -- and that the Apostle Paul makes it clear that God did not break His covenant with the Jews.

"Paul says, 'I, too, am a Jew. My heart's desire and prayer to God [is] that Israel might be saved'," Patterson explains. "And then in the eleventh chapter, he finally says that the blindness has happened in part unto Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And then when that has happened, then all Israel shall be saved."

According to Patterson, Paul either meant what he obviously said, or else one has to totally misinterpret and read into Paul whatever one wants to read into him.

© 2002 AgapePress all rights reserved.

E-mail this page to a friend

Printer-Friendly Version

Read all of our current headlines