The Poison of Replacement: How Supersessionism Warped Christianity’s Relationship with Israel

What is supersessionism, and why is this Christian theology so detrimental to the Jewish people? Supersessionism is the belief that the promises, covenants, blessings, and election bestowed upon the Jewish people in the Hebrew Bible have (1) been transferred to Christians and (2) been abrogated, cancelled, or made obsolete for Jewish people. This theology has proven disastrous in Jewish-Christian relations. Nevertheless, it was a historical development and a distortion, not an inherent element of the message of Jesus.

The Genesis of Replacement: From Family Dispute to Theological System

The earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish (1st century CE). However, as the movement grew and gentiles joined, a shift began. This set the stage for supersessionism— the belief that the Church replaced Israel as God’s chosen people.

The emergence of this theology was not immediate but resulted from a combination of factors. Supersessionism requires a theological “recipe” of specific ingredients—and the resulting stew has justified centuries of antisemitism.

Table 1 – Theological and Ethical Ingredients For Antisemitism

#	Theological/Ethical Ingredient	Result
T1	The chosenness of the Jewish people is denied and replaced by the chosenness of Christians.	The basis for theological rejection of Jewish people
T2	The Jewishness of Jewish people is seen as an irreconcilable obstacle to faith and/or obsolete.	The basis for de-Judaification
T3	It is inferred that God’s judgment of Israel in 70 and 135 CE implies irreversible divine rejection for killing Jesus.	The basis for Christian triumphalism or apathy towards Jews
T4	It is believed that it is morally justifiable to use coercion (in general) to solve the problem of unbelief.	The ethical basis for the use of human force against Jews
T5	It is believed that church or government leaders have legitimate authority to apply coercion to Jews to solve the problem of unbelief.	The ecclesiastical or political basis for legal coercion of Jews
T6	Once coercion is allowed as a justifiable solution, the ethical limits of coercion must be defined, including the morality of forced sermons, confiscations, imprisonments, kidnappings, book burning, synagogue burning, expulsions, and executions.	The working out of details relating to using force against Jews

The Core Theological Ingredients (T1-T3)

The election of the Jewish people began with Abraham and all the descendants of his sons Isaac and Jacob. God chose the Jewish people to be his own by covenant. The first crucial step in Christian supersessionism was to deny that God saw the Jewish people as chosen any longer (T1). Instead, Christians started teaching that they themselves were the only chosen ones; Jewish people had forfeited their election and were no longer God’s chosen people. Paul’s letters, with their emphasis on the ongoing covenant relationship with Israel (esp. Romans 11:28–29), stand in direct contrast to this. Yet, as gentile Jesus-followers became the majority, the unique status of Israel began to be minimized. This fueled a process of reinterpreting Scripture, allegorizing Jewish promises, and claiming the Church as the “true” Israel.

Connected to this was the dismissal of Jewish identity as inherently valuable (T2). The idea that Jewishness was an “obsolete” trait, relevant only before the coming of Messiah, gained traction. This was not merely a theological disagreement, but a devaluation of a people’s covenants, culture, promised perpetuity and future, and their God-given identity.

Crucially, a negative interpretation of God’s judgment on Israel’s leadership in 70 CE (when the Second Temple was destroyed) became widespread (T3). The catastrophe was not interpreted as divine discipline within the covenant, but as irreversible rejection of the Jewish people for rejecting Jesus. This laid the groundwork for a narrative that portrayed Jewish people as permanently outside God’s favor—with the absence of the Temple to prove it.

These theological shifts created a justification for diminishing the dignity of the Jewish people. It was not just disagreement over Messiah, but a complete re-writing of God’s plan.

The Rise of Power and the Ethics of Coercion (T4-T6)

However, theological error alone does not cause persecution. It requires a belief that coercion is morally acceptable. The early church, existing as a persecuted minority, consistently rejected violence and embraced religious liberty. The church fathers Tertullian and Lactantius were especially eloquent about Christianity being supportive of freedom of religion. But a monumental shift occurred with the conversion of Constantine and his legalization of Christianity in the Roman Empire in 312 CE.

Constantine’s support transformed Christianity from a persecuted sect to a protected, legal religion, which soon led to its becoming the official religion of the Empire under Emperor Theodosius I (380 CE). This new political power created the conditions for T4: the belief that the church had the right to enforce religious belief. This wasn’t initially applied to Jewish people, but the precedent was set.

The influential theologian Augustine of Hippo (354–430) provided the theological justification for religious coercion. He argued that the church, like a mother correcting a child, could, and even should, enforce belief for the good of the “erring” (Letter 93). This was a dangerous leap, justifying interference in others’ faith.

This justification spiraled into more explicit justification for persecution with the details of implementation (T5 & T6). Augustine, by appealing to Psalm 59:11, advocated that Jewish people should be kept in subjugated status, “witnessing” to the truth of the Torah as a defeated people, but never thriving.

With these theological ingredients fully in place, persecution and discrimination became justifiable in the minds of Christians—and, tragically, commonplace in Christian societies.

From the Medieval Era to the Holocaust (and Beyond)

The centuries that followed saw the horrific application of this theological framework. Emperors enacted anti-Jewish laws (4th century CE onwards), church officials preached against Jewish people, and the systematic targeting of Jewish people for subjugation began. The forced isolation of Jewish people in ghettos, the imposition of distinctive clothing, and the persecution of Jewish professionals were all rooted in supersessionist ideology.

The horrific culmination of this history was the Holocaust—a genocide fueled by theological distortions that demonized Jewish people and justified their mass murder.

It Didn’t Have to Be This Way

The “recipe” for antisemitism requires the poison of replacement theology (T1–T3), combined with the dangerous belief that coercion is justifiable (T4–T6). The early church’s non-coercive stance, its commitment to Jewish identity, and its affirmation of the irrevocable promises to Israel provide a path forward.

We believe that following Jesus demands a rejection of supersessionism, a recognition of Israel’s ongoing covenant relationship with God, and a commitment to justice, love and respect for all people, especially those historically targeted and persecuted. To truly follow Yeshua, one must embrace the entirety of God’s plan for redemption, which includes the Jewish people, not their replacement.