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WordExplain by James T. Bartsch |
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"Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." Isaiah 60:3
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Introduction. Tim M. Sigler. pp. 5-8
"This book is about how the Christian church, down through the centuries, has forsaken Israel, and why this is a biblical and theological mistake." (p. 5) "Indeed, more than just neglecting Israel, it has been suggested that the church's history with the Jewish people has been written in blood and punctuated with violence. Crusades, expulsions, pogroms, and even the Holocaust were perpetrated against the Jewish people by some who claimed biblical ground for persecuting the Jewish people." (p. 5) This book answers two questions: "(1) How is it that Israel has become so forsaken in the history of the church? and (2) Why does forsaking Israel matter biblically and theologically?" (p. 8) Chapter 1. The Curious Case of the Church Fathers and Israel. Larry D. Pettegrew. pp. 11-40 "Most of this chapter interacts with the Ante-Nicene Fathers from both the East and the West. Our time period then is from about A.D. 96, when Clement of Rome wrote a letter to a church at Corinth, until the middle of the third century -- a total of about 150 years after the death of the last Apostle." (p. 13) These church fathers were not on a par with the original Apostles. Most of them changed their minds about various aspects of theology. Augustine, for example, was a premillennialist in his early career. But he later became an amillennialist. (p. 13) "The Early Fathers Were Premillennialists." (p. 15) "According to some scholars, at least fifteen of the better-known early Fathers were premillennialists" (pp. 15-16). Pettegrew cites evidence to support that the following early church fathers were premillennialists: Papias (died ca 150) (pp. 17-18); Irenaeus (died 200) (pp. 18-19); Justin Martyr (died 165) (p. 19), "The Early Fathers Were Historic Premillennialists." (p. 20) "As Hauser, a committed pretribulationist, acknowledges, 'The Church Fathers believed that the Church would be on earth during the tribulation period. This is seen in the earliest writers and there is nothing in the other writers to contradict this'" (p. 21). "So, the answer to our second question is that though the early church fathers were premillennialists, they were historic premillennialists, not dispensational premillennialists. They believed that the church had permanently replaced Israel, that the church would be in the Tribulation, that the rapture of the church would occur after the Tribulation (i.e., posttribulationism), and that the church would be the focus of the millennial kingdom." (p. 22) "What the Fathers were teaching about God's permanent replacement of Israel with the Gentile church ran counter to what the New Testament reaches. In the theology of the New Testament writers, 'the Jews have not entirely forfeited their election.'" (p. 31) Pettegrew concludes with his belief that the Gentile Fathers' animus against Jewish Israel was the driving force for their acceptance of supersessionism. Their animus caused them to develop a non-literal "spiritualization" of the Old Testament prophecies. They believed Israel was the type and that the Church was the fulfillment of the type. In their minds, now that the fulfillment of the type, the Church has come, there is no longer any need to take the type seriously. (pp. 39-40) Chapter 2. Augustine: From the "Not Yet" to the "Already." David L. Burggraff (pp. 41-74) Augustine
of Hippo is unquestionably one of the greatest theologians of all time.
His influence over Western thought – religious and otherwise – is
total; he remains inescapable even over 15 centuries after his death.
He has been hailed as the first medieval, or even the first modern man;
and his greatest works rank with the timeless literature of the ages
... It is little exaggeration to say that the whole history of the
Western Church for the last 1,500 years is the story of Augustine's
influence. 1 (p. 43)
In his preface to the Retractationes, Augustine himself revealed the fluidity of his thought during his own lifetime. He said, "Perhaps whoever will read my works in the order in which they were written will discover how I made progress while writing them." Burggraff, in this chapter, seeks to demonstrate how Augustine's change of thinking lead him to put forth an interpretation of Revelation 20, found in his City of God, that would be the basis for amillennialism and postmillennialism. In short, Augustine's' doctrine of the kingdom changed from "not yet" to "already." (p. 44) "Augustine's Eschatology." (p. 58) Augustine asserts that the present age of conflict in which the church lives is actually (and frankly, to WordExplain, unbelievably) the Millennium. He argues that many Christians misunderstand Revelation 20:1-6 by thinking that the first resurrection is physical, and that the thousand years will be a form of Sabbath rest for the people of God. He, like Origen before him, now rejects the chiliasm that he previously held because of the sensuous nature of the delights it offers. Augustine misinterprets the essence of premillennialism, misinterpreting its adherents as believing that the time of resurrected saints in the thousand years will be spent in "the most unrestrained material feasts" (59). (In this preceding paragraph, I have loosely quoted Burggraff.) As an alternative to chiliasm,
Augustine offers a view of Revelation 20:1-6 in which the thousand
years
(Millennium) represent the last period of history, the present church
age, during which Satan is prevented from controlling believers. As a
consequence of interpreting the Millennium as this present age,
Augustine interprets the binding of Satan to be in effect in this
present age as well. (59) After concluding that the binding of Satan is
synonymous with the victory of Christ in His first advent, Augustine
draws the conclusion that the "first (59) resurrection" of Revelation
20:5 is the spiritual birth of believers – the passing of a person from
spiritual death to life, or what we have come to call conversion. All
those who partake in the first resurrection are those who, during the
entire course of the church age (the thousand ears), have been
converted to Christ. (60)2
... It is central to Augustine's' conception of heaven that there will be no government in it, no imperium. Saints will not need to keep themselves in order, not to be kept in order by a governing body of other saints, nor by God. (60) 3 "Augustine's Eschatological Change: History's Influencer Had Been Influenced." (p. 60) "In City of God, Book XX, Chapters 6-11, dealing with Revelation 20:1-6, it is apparent that Tyconius the Donatist influenced Augustine's thinking. 4 Similar terminology, explanations, and scriptural citations support this claim." (61) Augustine thoroughly bought into Tyconius' non-literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6. Sadly, his non-literal view became the standard of interpretation not only for Roman Catholicism, but also for the Reformers and for main-line Protestant denominations to this very day. What specific areas did Augustine address? The Two Resurrections. (P. 66) Rev. 20:4 refers to followers of Jesus who had remained true to Him during the terrible days of the Tribulation. They had been beheaded for their faith. "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." In Rev. 20:6 John refers to those who had been resurrected before the Millennium began as having taken part in the "first resurrection." About them he states, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death (see Rev. 20:14) has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years." John implies a second resurrection, although he does not precisely use that term. He refers to it in Rev. 20:5, where he states, "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed." Then, referring back to those who had been resurrected prior to the Millennium, he states, "This is the first resurrection" (Rev. 20:5). The second resurrection is alluded to in Rev. 20:11-15. John saw a great white throne, and the one sitting on it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. John saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Books were opened and the now-resurrected dead were judged according to what was written therein. It appears that all who appear here are the wicked dead. Their names are not found written in the Book of Life, and they were thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:15), which John defines as "The Second Death" (Rev. 20:14). Augustine, later in life, did not agree with the plain teaching of this passage. According to him, the First Resurrection is a spiritual resurrection. It takes place in this life and preserves us from coming into the second death. Also, according to Augustine, the Second Resurrection "does not occur now, but in the end of the world, and which is of the body, not of the soul" (Burggraff, p. 66). In the Book of Revelation, both resurrections are literal, both involving not only the body but also the soul. The First Resurrection allows its participants to participate in the joys of the Millennium. The Second Resurrection deposits its victims bodily in the Lake of Fire forever. See the Glossary Entries First Resurrection and Second Resurrection. The Thousand Years. (p. 66) Augustine discussed Revelation 20:1-6 in his De civitate Dei contra paganos (On the City of God Against the Pagans) 20.7. He states, "The
evangelist John has spoken of these two resurrections in the book which
is called the Apocalypse, ... some Christians ... construe the passage
into ridiculous fancies." (Then, as reproduced in Berggraff, p. 66) he
proceeds to quote Rev. 20:1, 6.) Augustine continues on, "Those
who, on the strength of this passage, have suspected that the
first resurrection is future and bodily, have been moved, among other
things, specially by the number of a thousand years,.... I myself, too,
once held this opinion.... such assertions can be believed only by the
carnal. They who do believe them are called by the spiritual Chiliasts,
[note by JTB.
To Augustine this term is a pejorative.] which we may literally
reproduce by the name Millenarians. It were a tedious process to refute
these opinions point by point: We prefer proceeding to show how that
passage of Scripture should be understood. (NPNF 2:426). (p. 67)
So, Augustine calls me, who takes these Scriptures literally, as being engaged in "ridiculous fancies." He further classifies me as being "carnal," while he and others who take these Scriptures non-literally, he thinks, are "spiritual." My reply is that perhaps we better let the Lord judge who is engaged in ridiculous fancies and who is carnal and who is spiritual. He then proceeds to state how numbers in Revelation should be treated. He believes that numbers such as seven, or ten, or twelve, or one thousand "are often put for time universal." (67) Thus,
Augustine would explicitly say in De Civ. D. 20.9 that the "thousand
years" denotes not literally one thousand years but "the period
beginning with Christ's first coming" and includes all the years of the
Christian era, no matter how long it will last. Thousand would mea
that, for Augustine, the Millennium is "an allegorical representation
of the historical church in its present state ...." (p. 68)
The Reign of the Saints (p. 68) After
a lengthy discussion on the thousand years and the binding and loosing
of the devil in chapters 7 and 8 of Book 20, Augustine deals with the
meaning of the reign of the saints with Christ for a thousand
years. He comments, "But while the devil is bound, the saints reign
with Christ during the same thousand years, understood in the same way,
that is, of the time of His first coming." Again, Augustine does not
view this as a future, literal thousand years. He sees the
"thousand years" as referring to this present time. Obviously, the
nation of Israel plays no positive role in Augustine's kingdom
theology. (68)
My response to Augustine's non-literal hermeneutic is this: (1) If Satan is bound now, how can we possibly account for all the evil that exists in our world? (2) And if we are presently reigning with Christ, the Christian life and the promises of God consist of little but spiritual, moral, and physical bankruptcy. In conclusion, "Obviously, everything that Augustine wrote about the Millennium was church centered. Augustine had no room in his theology for a restoration of Israel to her land, with her Messiah ruling from Jerusalem for a thousand years." (71) Chapter 3: Israel and the Dark Side of the Reformation. By Larry D. Pettergrew. pp. 75-105. Pettegrew begins, (p. 75) After
Augustine, theology was essentially static for over one thousand years.
The Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages perpetuated Augustine's
method of interpretation of Scripture and his doctrine of the "kingdom
already." The riches of the Roman Catholic Church, as exhibited by the
magnificent church buildings, fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies
about Israel's glorious future (Isa 35 and 60, for examples). God now
intended that the church, not future redeemed Israel, would be rich and
powerful.
God used the Reformers to restore biblical theology in a number of areas: Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria. They taught that salvation "comes by grace through faith, not by sacramental works." But there was a dark side of the Reformation. There were two ways in which the Reformers continued to forsake Israel. These ways were (1) anti-Semitism and (2) Covenant Theology. Anti-Semitism (pp. 76-78)
In his early ministry, Martin Luther was more conciliatory and gracious toward Jewish people. But over time, he changed. He wrote a little book, "On the Jews and Their Lies." Pettegrew's assessment is stark. "Luther's analysis of the Jews is hostile, full of sarcasm and mean language" (p. 76). Luther took the "position that all of the seventy weeks of Daniel were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70" (p. 77). At the end of his booklet, Luther advised government officials and pastors as to how to deal with Jewish people: (1) Set fire to their synagogues or schools; (2) Destroy their houses; (3) Take away their prayer books and Talmudic writings; (4) Forbid the rabbis to teach; (5) Abolish safe-conduct on the highways for Jews; (6) Prohibit them to make money through usury; (7) Make the young Jews do physical labor. Even though the Lutheran princes did not follow all Luther's advice, the die had been cast. "...Reformation Lutherans were militant supersessionists" (p. 78). Covenant Theology and Israel (pp. 78-104)
In a space of about 25 pages, Pettegrew introduces the Covenants and the founders of Covenant Theology. He begins the discussion in this manner: Though there is much in Reformed theology to be appreciated, Reformed theologians retained the state-church and supersessionism. But they also began to reformulate, step by step, supersessionism into a theological system that eventually became known as covenant theology. In covenant theology, supersessionism was codifed, and Israel was in effect covered over by three theological covenants (p. 78).
Pettegrew continues, Covenantalists did not emphasize the biblical covenants like the Abrahamic
or New Covenants, but their system was based on theological covenants:
the covenant of grace, the covenant of works, and the covenant of
redemption (p. 79).
According to Berkhof, the Covenant of Grace (p. 79) "may be defined as that gracious agreement between the offended God and the offending but elect sinner, in which God promises salvation through faith in Christ, and the sinner accepts this believingly, promising a life of faith and obedience." 4 The Covenant of Works is "an agreement in the Garden of Eden between God and Adam wherein God promises life for perfect obedience and death for disobedience" (p. 79). "In the Covenant of Redemption, God the Father and God the Son entered a pact or covenant in eternity past. In this pact, (1) the Father gives the Son as the redeemer and head of the elect. In response, (2) the Son offers Himself to the Father as a perfect vicarious sacrifice. (3) The Holy Spirit, who is not an actual partner in this pact, agrees to administer the plan of salvation" (p. 79). Four Important Reformed Theologians Who Can Be Considered Founders of Covenant Theology
"Zwingli's vision for Zurich, and ultimately all of Switzerland, was for it to become a 'reformed Israel, -- that is, a Reformed state-church." Zwingli was looking at a national reformation, rather than a separatist reformation. "His initial reforms ... were built on the parallel of Israel and Zurich as national entities" (p. 82). Zwingli was initially close to such men as Conrad Grebel, Felix Mantz, and George Blaurock. But when these men began preaching and practicing re-baptizing believers (Anabaptism), Zwingli grew more and more opposed to them. Ultimately, "He and other state-church authorities drowned and beheaded the Anabaptists, burned them at the stake, and confiscated their property" (p. 84). Zwingli's theology allowed for only one covenant, the Law given by Moses. He went so far as to deny the validity of the New Covenant, despite the clear teaching of Jeremiah, Paul, and the writer of Hebrews. Here is a quotation from one of his treatises: Paul
speaks of two testaments, but the one he calls a testament by a misuse
of language, when he wishes them to be understood who, although they
were under that one eternal covenant and testament.... Paul therefore
called the way of these a testament, not that it was a true testament,
but by a copying or imitation of those who so named it. (p. 85)
"Zwingli was, of course, a supersessionist. Since there is only one covenant, the Jews were the people of God in the Old Testament; but 'now when we who are Gentiles are God's people and the Jews are cut off, there is only one people of God, not two.'" The author concludes that "Zwingli does not entertain the idea that Israel has a national future" (p. 85). Zwingli desired to see all Swiss cantons become Reformed, but only about half of them did so. There were two "Wars of Kappel" between the Roman Catholic and Swiss cantons. The second War of Kappel began when "Zwingli's Christian Civil Union applied a food bloockade on the Roman Catholic cantons" (p. 87). On October 11, 1531, 7,000 Roman Catholic troops attacked Zurich. Zurich was unprepared, and the battle lasted only a few minutes. 500 Zurichers, inclulding twenty-four pastors, and Zwingli himself ... were slaughtered. The victorious Catholics found Zwingli's body and burned it (p. 87). I am reminded of Jesus' warning to Peter, "Put your sword back in its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword" (Matt. 26:52). 1 Jonathan Hill, The History of Christian Thought (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 78, 91. Return to Text 2 Fairbairn, "Contemporary Millennial/Tribulational Debates" in Blomberg and Chung, eds, A Case for Historic Premillennialism, 116. Return to Text 3 Markus, Saeculum, notes: "There was a fundamental insight behind Augustine's theology of the two cities which he had undoubtedly learnt from Tyconius.... The Body of Christ had 'two parts', or the one Body, the Church, could be seen simultaneously as holy and wicked. This was the insight for which Augustine above all praised Tyconius.... But Tyconius was the first to have elaborated a theology of the Church's holiness as eschatological [italics mine].... This was the foundation on which Augustine built his theology of the 'two cities'," 116-117." (61) Return to Text 4 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 277. Return to Text Updated May 7, 2024
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