How Supersessionism Damages The Identity of God

When the church fathers began fighting off heresies In the Patristic period, seeking to define the theological borders of Christianity, individual sin and soteriology became the focal point, while the Tenakh witness of the God and Israel and its dealings with the nations, along with the other important dimensions of history and humanity in the Tenakh became virtually unimportant or irrelevant (Soulen, 50; RavCarl, lecture 1).  Preserving certain aspects of the Apostolic tradition, namely Yeshua’s Messiahship, the early church Fathers did so to the detriment of Hashem’s true identity and reputation as the God of Israel.  For instance, when Christians hold to some form of Structural supersessionism, Soulen notes that they essentially belittle the role of Israel as the eternal people of God, while usurping the status and privileges of carnal Israel (but not necessarily the responsibility) as the new spiritual Israel (Soulen 4, 55).  Moreover, when Christians read the bible according to standard narrative – creation, fall of Adam (first Adam), redemption in Christ (last Adam), and the final consummation – the Tenakh witness of the God and Israel and its dealings with the nations, along with the other important dimensions of history and humanity in the Tenakh became virtually unimportant or irrelevant (Soulen 50).  If this is not damaging enough to Hashem’s identity, this faulty structure, which Soulen identifies as “foreshortening,” renders His covenant with Israel insignificant and irrelevant for understanding how Hashem works as a consummator and redeemer (Soulen 16, 32, 52).  First, it drastically enervates and attenuates the identity and witness of Hashem in Tenakh by marginalizing his proceedings with Israel and the nations, impotent without Christ’s redemption in the Apostolic Writings (RavCarl, Supersessionism And Its Discontents).  Secondly, it tarnishes Hashem’s reputation since it threatens to disassociate Him from the people He is bound to by covenant, whom He calls His own, and whom He promises to keep forever: “thus says Adonai: “If I have not made My covenant of day and night firm, and the fixed patterns ordering the heavens and earth, only then would I reject the offspring of Jacob….(Jeremiah 33:25-26, TLV).”  Alternatively, the witness of Hashem in Tenakh stands on its own because it tells the story of how Hashem reveals himself in creation through the wonders of the Exodus, choosing to indwell the children of Isreal in the mikdash.  

When Christians hold to the Economic form of supersessionism, they falsely perceive carnal Israel as a people who were only kept by Hashem only for a fleeting moment, until Christ comes to embody the nation and fulfill their destiny as the light to the nations, only to cast them away after their rejection.  While there are truthful elements to the idea of Yeshua accomplishing what Israel and humanity couldn’t without divine intervention, the former contradicts the scriptures, since the covenants are unbreakable.  For instance, the standard canonical narrative damages Hashem’s reputation because, despite His eternal covenant with Israel, it threatens to detach his Name from Israel, attempting to tragically obliterate God’s identity with Israel, and Israel’s identity as the firstborn son and chosen people (Soulen 4-7; RavCarl, Supersessionism And Its Discontents).  Soulen argues in favor of Wyschogrod, who affirms Israel as the corporeal children of God permanently bound to Hashem by covenantal reality as the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  As a central feature and theme of Tenakh, one who desires to know Hashem cannot do so apart from the children of Israel since Hashem chose to reveal Himself to humanity as the God of Israel through the likeness of Avraham, Isaac, Israel, and Yeshua (Soulen 8).  He also rightfully argues that while the canonical narrative attempts to sever God from Israel, it is impossible to separate Hashem from the people whom He chooses to identify with and reveal Himself through in the Tenakh, resulting in a massive blow to the Christian confession since it disassociates His Name from the people He belongs to and calls his own (Soulen  4).