The greatest value of this article is found in its recognition that Saint Irenaeus of Lyons has been misunderstood to be a pre-millennialist, when, in actuality, he is an Orthodox saint who believed in the eternal reign of Christ to follow upon His Second Coming.

The writer, who seems to be a Reformed Protestant preterist, implies that Irenaeus was in error regarding the future coming of Antichrist. Irenaeus is not alone in this view. It seems all of the holy fathers who spoke on this subject are in agreement with him.

The writer also speaks of Irenaeus having "a heavy dose of replacement theology." "Replacement theology" alleges that the Church replaces Israel. Yet, this is not what Irenaeus says. Rather, Irenaeus quotes Isaiah the Prophet, saying, "The children of Jacob shall strike root, and Israel shall flourish, and the whole world shall be filled with his fruit." Irenaeus is saying that the Church is of the fruit of Israel. The Church is a faithful continuation of Israel because, by faith, the Gentiles have been grafted into the believing remnant of Israel. Nevertheless, Irenaeus does not speak of unbelieving Israel being "replaced" by the Church. Surely, Saint Irenaeus, a man steeped in Scripture and the teachings of the Apostles, would agree with the Apostle Paul's statements regarding unbelieving Israel.

According to the Apostle Paul, the Church is a continuation of Holy Israel. Nevertheless, Saint Paul does not consign unbelieving Israel, that is, the non-Christian Jews, to oblivion by saying that the Church replaces them so that they basically become a non-entity and are, therefore, inconsequential. That is NOT what Paul says. Rather, what the Apostles says is as follows:

"I wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the worship, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, Who is over all, God, blessed for ever" (Romans 9:3-5). Here the Apostle is speaking of the Jews who have rejected Christ and he is stating that, despite their unbelief, they are the natural heirs (Rom 11:24) of all the aforementioned blessings. The Apostle goes on to explain that the unbelieving Jews, the natural heirs, have failed to receive these blessings because of unbelief (9:31-32), and through their unbelief, these blessings have come to the Gentiles (11:7-22). The Apostle is very clear: God has not cast away his people, Israel, because there is a remnant of believing Israel that forms the stock of the Church into which the Gentiles have been engrafted (11:1-6, 16-21). But what of those natural heirs who do not believe? Elijah makes intercession to God against them for they are those who kill His prophets and destroy His altars (11:3). Though they seek their inheritance they cannot obtain it because they have refused to believe (11:7), nevertheless, that inheritance still pertains to them as the natural heirs as Saint Paul has already said (Rom 9:3-5).

What the Apostle is describing is NOT a "replacement" of natural heirs by the Church. Rather, natural heirs remain natural heirs, even though they may fail to obtain their inheritance through unbelief. But such unbelieving natural heirs are not "destined" to abide in unbelief. In fact, the Apostle says, the natural branches, which naturally pertain to the holy stock of Israel, can be re-engrafted into the holy remnant, the believing Olive Tree, "if they abide not still in unbelief" (11:23-24). The Apostle is very hopeful of such a re-engrafting of Jews en masse as are others of the holy fathers, including Saint John of Damascus. The Apostle Paul continues, "If the fall of [the Jews] be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more [will be the Jews'] fullness?" (11:12). In other words, when the unbelieving natural branches, the unbelieving Jews, come into their full inheritance in the Church through faith in Christ, the result will be greater than when the Gentiles came into the Church. "If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (11:15). Through this parallelism, we can see that just as the reconciliation of the world followed upon the Jewish rejection of Messiah, so also the universal resurrection will follow upon the Jews' acceptance of Jesus as Messiah.

Jewish people have been being joined to Christ in the Church from the beginning, but compared to the number of Jews who initially rejected Christ, those Jews who first believed in Him--the faithful remnant, the holy stock--were quite few. When will such an acceptance of Jesus Christ by the Jews happen en masse and not simply "in part"? The Apostle Paul answers this question, saying that "blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel shall be saved" (11:25-26), not just a believing remnant, but the believing whole of Israel. Christ also spoke of this time when He said, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). God has not given up on unbelieving Jews, but is attempting to provoke them toward faith through jealousy (11:11). God has not "replaced" the unbelieving Jews with the Church because, the gifts and invitation of God are irrevocable (11:29). God still intends to fulfill His promises to the Patriarchs by giving inheritance to the natural heirs via their ultimate union with the Church through faith in Christ Jesus. The natural heirs, even when unbelieving, remain beloved to God for the sakes of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (11:28). God has consigned everyone, whether Jew or Gentile, to disobedience that He may have mercy upon us all (11:32), and His mercy endures forever. ( )