David Parsons, Media Director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, has written an interesting article on Fulfillment Theology. The article appears in The Jerusalem Post. Fulfillment Theology teaches that God has finished working with Israel and that the calling of Israel has been fulfilled with the birth of the church.

The following is an excerpt taken from Parsons’ article:

While most born-again Christians today are supportive of Israel, there is a growing movement among Evangelicals which is sympathetic to Palestinian suffering and claims to statehood. Yet to provide a biblical basis for their position, they are generally uncomfortable with being identified with classical Replacement theology, due to its malevolent fruit – namely the pogroms, inquisitions and expulsions, right up to the Holocaust.

So instead, these Christians are turning to the trendy new answer of Fulfillment theology. This is a biblical outlook which does give natural Israel some credit for having been chosen by God for redemptive purposes. But this calling is seen as having been already “fulfilled” with the coming of Christ and the birth of the Church. Thus it ends up at the same place as Replacement theology in concluding that God is finished with Israel, albeit with less inherent hostility toward the Jews.

Parsons criticizes Replacement Theology by discussing how God promises the restoration of Israel in fulfillment of God’s covenant with David. He concludes that “natural Israel still has a redemptive role to play” since natural Israel is still the elect people of God, “even in their unbelief.”

You can read the article in its entirety here.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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