The Identity of the God of Israel in Christian Theology: Continuity, Contest, and Christological Reconfiguration
The theological architecture of Christianity rests upon a singular, audacious premise: that the God revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is identical to Yahweh, the God of the patriarchs, the liberator of the Exodus, and the sovereign Lord of the Hebrew Scriptures. This identification is not merely an assumption of early Christian thought but its central battleground. Far from being a seamless transition, the assertion that the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" is the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" required a rigorous intellectual, liturgical, and polemical defense against internal dualisms (such as Marcionism) and external criticisms.
This report provides an exhaustive, expert-level analysis of how Christianity presents its God as the God of Israel. Through a detailed examination of New Testament philology, the "Divine Identity" Christology of Paul, the anti-Gnostic polemics of the Church Fathers, and the "archaeology" of early Eucharistic liturgy, we demonstrate that Christianity claims this identity through a dual process of appropriation (claiming the titles and authority of Yahweh) and reconfiguration (redefining monotheism around the person of Christ). Furthermore, the report engages with the difficult historical legacy of supersessionism—the theological displacement of the Jewish people—and examines modern post-supersessionist attempts to articulate a theology where the Church acts as a witness to the God of Israel without erasing the covenantal particularity of the Jewish people.
Section I: The Narrative of Continuity in the New Testament
The primary mechanism by which early Christianity presented its God was through a staunch narrative of continuity. The New Testament writers, almost without exception, refused to present Jesus as the emissary of a new deity. Instead, they labored to demonstrate that the "Christ event" was the climax of Israel’s own history, orchestrated by Israel’s own God. This continuity is established through specific linguistic markers, the recapitulation of redemptive history, and the deliberate application of the "Divine Name" to Jesus.
1.1 The Lukan Witness: The God of the Fathers in Acts and the Benedictus
The writings of Luke (the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles) serve as the most explicit historical repository for the earliest Christian self-definition. In the Lukan narrative, the transition from a Jewish sect to a universal Gentile mission is mediated by a refusal to abandon the ancestral God. The "God of Israel" is not left behind in Jerusalem; He is the one directing the expansion to the ends of the earth.
The Kerygmatic Speeches: Legal Citation of the Covenant
In the kerygmatic speeches of the early chapters of Acts, the Apostles do not preach a generic monotheism (the "one God" of the philosophers) but specifically invoke the covenantal God of the history of redemption. Peter’s speech in Solomon's Portico (Acts 3) is paradigmatic. He explicitly anchors the miracle of healing and the resurrection in the patriarchal lineage: "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus".1
This formula—The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—is technically precise. In Second Temple Judaism, this triadic invocation acted as a legal citation of the Covenant. By invoking this specific title, Peter asserts that the resurrection of Jesus is the act by which Yahweh fulfills the promises made to the Patriarchs. The resurrection is not presented as a novelty or a disruption of the divine plan but as a covenantal necessity. As noted in theological analysis of Acts, the phrase "God of our fathers" serves to bridge the potential rupture caused by the crucifixion; the God who raised Jesus is the same God who led the Exodus, establishing a hermeneutic of continuity that prevents the movement from devolving into a new religion detached from its roots.1
Furthermore, the use of the title Pais ("Servant") for Jesus in these speeches (Acts 3:13, 3:26) connects him directly to the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13–53:12). The "God of Israel" is here identifying Himself with the destiny of His Servant. The theological logic is rigorous: only the God of Israel can vindicate the Servant of Israel. Therefore, the resurrection is the supreme validation that the God of Christianity is the God of the prophets.3
In Acts 5:30, Peter reiterates before the Sanhedrin: "The God of our fathers raised Jesus." Here, the verb ēgeiren (raised) carries a double resonance. As noted by Bock, it echoes the Old Testament formula where God "raises up" (egieren) a judge or a prophet (Judges 3:9, Deut 18:15). Thus, Jesus is positioned in the long line of Israel's deliverers, yet transcends them as the "Prince and Savior".1 This linguistic choice forces the listener to categorize Jesus not as an alien intruder but as the ultimate intervention of the God of history.
Stephen’s Apology: The Continuity of Rejection
Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 further intensifies this identification. Before the Sanhedrin, Stephen recounts the history of Israel, quoting the divine self-disclosure to Moses at the burning bush: "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob".3 Stephen’s apologetic strategy is counter-intuitive but profound: he argues that the rejection of Jesus by the current leadership is actually proof that Jesus is from God, because Israel has historically rejected the deliverers sent by the God of Israel (Joseph, Moses, the Prophets).
By identifying the "God of our fathers" as the primary actor in the Christ event, and the rejection of that event as consistent with Israel's history of recalcitrance, Luke ensures that the Christian movement is viewed as the "Way" (Acts 24:14)—the true continuation of ancestral worship, rather than a schismatic departure.5 Stephen accuses his executioners of failing to keep the law given by angels, thereby positioning the Christian martyr as the true defender of the Mosaic revelation against those who claim to guard it.6
The Benedictus: The Horn of Salvation
The Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), the song of Zechariah, stands as one of the clearest pre-Pauline articulations of this theology. It begins with a berakah (blessing): "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people".1
This passage utilizes deeply embedded Old Testament imagery that would be unintelligible outside the context of Israel’s covenant.
The Horn of Salvation: The "raising up of a horn of salvation" in the "house of his servant David" (Luke 1:69) connects Jesus directly to the Davidic covenant (Psalm 132:17) and the deliverance types of the Judges.1
The Mercy and the Oath: The "God of Israel" here is defined by His hesed (mercy) and His remembrance of the "holy covenant" sworn to Abraham (Luke 1:72-73).
Visitation: The "visitation" (epeskepsato) of God is not merely a spiritual presence but an interventionist rescue, echoing the language of the Exodus (Exodus 3:16).
The theological import is that the God of Christianity is the God of redemption history. He is identified not by abstract attributes of perfection (as in Greek philosophy) but by His specific historical acts of delivering Israel. To worship this God is to worship the One who is bound by oath to the house of David and the seed of Abraham.7
1.2 Pauline Theology: The "Divine Identity" and the Reworking of the Shema
Pauline theology presents a sophisticated negotiation of identity. Paul, the "Apostle to the Gentiles," maintains a rigorous Jewish monotheism while simultaneously reconfiguring the identity of the "One God" to include Jesus. This is not the abandonment of the God of Israel, but—in Paul's view—the revelation of His full identity.
1 Corinthians 8:6 and the Christological Monotheism
The central creed of Israel, the Shema (Deut 6:4), declares: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one." Scholars such as Richard Bauckham, N.T. Wright, and Larry Hurtado argue that Paul does not abandon this creed but "reworks" or "splits" it to incorporate Jesus, creating what is termed "Christological Monotheism".8
In 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul writes:
"yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."
This verse is a careful exegetical restructuring of the Shema.
Table 1: The Pauline Reworking of the Shema
Element of Shema (Deut 6:4 LXX)
Pauline Reformulation (1 Cor 8:6)
Theological Implication
Theos (God)
"One God, the Father"
The Father retains the title of Creator/Source ("from whom"), corresponding to Elohim.
Kyrios (Lord - YHWH)
"One Lord, Jesus Christ"
Jesus assumes the covenant name YHWH/Kyrios ("through whom"), corresponding to the Tetragrammaton.
Echad (One)
Applied to both Father and Lord
Monotheism is maintained but differentiated; the "One God" includes both the Father and the Lord.
This formulation suggests that for Paul, the identity of the "God of Israel" is now constituted by the relationship between the Father and the Lord Jesus. Jesus is not an addition to the Shema (which would be polytheism), but is identified within the unique divine identity.11 As Bauckham argues, the "Divine Identity" in Second Temple Judaism was defined by two unique prerogatives: sole creation and sole rule. By attributing the agency of creation ("through whom are all things") to Jesus, Paul places him on the divine side of the Creator/creature divide, identifying him with the God of Israel who "stretched out the heavens alone" (Isaiah 44:24).12
The Significance of "Kyrios" and the Septuagint
A critical mechanism for this identification is the title Kyrios (Lord). In the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible used by the early Church, the sacred Tetragrammaton (YHWH) was regularly translated as Kyrios.14 This substitution created a linguistic bridge that allowed New Testament writers to apply Yahweh-texts directly to Jesus without explicit blasphemy, yet with clear theological intent.
Joel 2:32 in Romans 10:13: Paul quotes "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." In the context of Joel, "Lord" is unequivocally YHWH. Paul applies this directly to Jesus, asserting that salvation comes through invoking Jesus as YHWH.16
Isaiah 45:23 in Philippians 2:10-11: The Christ Hymn states that "every knee should bow... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." This is a direct citation of YHWH’s declaration of unique sovereignty in Isaiah ("To me every knee shall bow"). By applying this to Jesus, Paul identifies Jesus’ universal lordship with YHWH’s exclusive claim to deity. God has given Jesus "the name that is above every name"—which, in a Jewish context, can only be the Tetragrammaton itself.10
This usage confirms that early Christians did not view Jesus as a secondary divinity or a demi-god, but as fully sharing the identity of the God of Israel. To confess "Jesus is Lord" was to identify him with the God of the Burning Bush.
The God of Israel in Romans 9-11
In Romans, Paul wrestles with the crisis of Jewish unbelief. He explicitly affirms that the privileges of Israel—the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises—belong to his kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom 9:4-5). Crucially, he asserts that "Christ is over all, God blessed forever" (Rom 9:5), a doxology that, depending on punctuation, identifies Christ directly as God.17
Paul’s concept of the "Israel of God" (Gal 6:16) remains a point of intense scholarly debate. While traditional supersessionism interprets this as the Church replacing ethnic Israel, recent scholarship suggests Paul maintains a distinction. The "God of Israel" remains faithful to the irrevocable call of the Jewish people (Rom 11:29), suggesting that the Christian God is bound by His historical promises to the patriarchs, even amidst the Gentile influx. The Christian God is the God who has not rejected His people (Rom 11:1), despite appearances.17
1.3 Johannine Theology: The True Vine and the "I AM"
The Gospel of John utilizes the imagery of Israel to center the divine identity on Jesus. The metaphor of the "Vine" in John 15 ("I am the true vine") is a direct appropriation of a symbol used for Israel in the Hebrew Bible (Psalm 80, Isaiah 5, Jeremiah 2).20
By claiming to be the True Vine, Jesus presents himself as the locus of the covenant. In the Old Testament, Israel was the vine planted by God; in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is the vine, and the disciples (and by extension, the Church) are branches. This is often interpreted as the ultimate expression of fulfillment theology—Jesus embodies the destiny of Israel. To be connected to the God of Israel, one must now be grafted into Jesus.22
Furthermore, the "I AM" (Ego Eimi) statements in John are widely recognized as echoing the Divine Name revealed at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14) and the absolute "I AM" declarations of Isaiah 40-55, reinforcing the identification of Jesus with the God of Israel. When Jesus says "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58), he lays claim to the eternal existence that belongs solely to the God of Israel, provoking an attempt at stoning—the punishment for blasphemy.24
Section II: The Liturgical Archive – Preservation of the Divine Name
While systematic theology in the later centuries sometimes drifted toward abstract metaphysics, the liturgy of the early Church served as a conservative force, preserving the Hebraic titles and covenantal invocations of God. The principle of lex orandi, lex credendi (the law of prayer establishes the law of belief) demonstrates that early Christians prayed to God as the God of the Jews, embedding this identity into the weekly rhythm of worship.
2.1 The Sanctus and the Lord God of Sabaoth
One of the most enduring liturgical links to the Temple worship is the Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy"). Found in the earliest anaphoras (Eucharistic prayers), it combines the vision of Isaiah 6:3 ("Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts") with the Messianic greeting of Psalm 118:26 ("Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord").25
The retention of the Hebrew title Sabaoth (Hosts) in the Latin and Greek liturgies (Dominus Deus Sabaoth, Kyrios Sabaoth) is significant. It identifies the Christian God as the warrior-creator God of the Hebrew prophets, the commander of heavenly armies. This title was not translated into a generic "God of Power" (Pantokrator) in the earliest rites but kept in its Semitic form, anchoring the Christian Eucharist in the prophetic vision of Jerusalem’s Temple. By singing the Sanctus, the Church claims to participate in the heavenly liturgy revealed to the Jewish prophet Isaiah.25
2.2 The Anaphoras: God of the Patriarchs
The Eucharistic prayers (Anaphoras) of the early Church frequently addressed the Father using the full patriarchal formula, explicitly identifying the recipient of the sacrifice with the God of Genesis.
The Liturgy of St. James: This liturgy, historically associated with the Church of Jerusalem, contains a dialogue where the priest commands the people to "Lift up your hearts." The people respond: "To Thee, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, the exceeding glorious King".28 This explicit naming prevents any Gnostic drift; the God receiving the Eucharist is the same God who received the ram on Mount Moriah.
The Anaphora of Addai and Mari: This East Syrian anaphora, one of the oldest in continuous use, addresses God as "O God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, O glorious King!".29 It emphasizes continuity, praising God for the preservation of the "righteous from the beginning".30 The use of "Israel" (Jacob's covenant name) rather than "Jacob" highlights the national and covenantal dimension of the deity.
Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII): This 4th-century compilation contains prayers that invoke "God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" as the "God of the living," directly citing Jesus’ argument from the Synoptics to prove the resurrection (Matt 22:32). The prayer connects the God of the patriarchs to the God of the resurrection, reinforcing the Lukan theology that the resurrection is a patriarchal promise fulfilled.31
These liturgical texts confirm that the "God of the Philosophers" had not displaced the "God of Abraham" in the worship life of the Church. The Eucharist was understood as a sacrifice offered to the same God who accepted the sacrifices of the Patriarchs, thereby claiming the heritage of the Temple for the Christian altar.
2.3 The Didache: The Vine of David
The Didache, an early Christian manual (c. late 1st/early 2nd century), contains a Eucharistic prayer that is strikingly Jewish in character and devoid of later Hellenistic abstraction. Over the cup, the community prays:
"We give you thanks, Father, for the holy vine of David, your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant".32
This reference to the "Vine of David" fuses the Johannine "True Vine" imagery with Davidic Messianism. It identifies the blood of Christ (the cup) with the vitality and fulfillment of the Davidic line. Furthermore, the prayer ends with the Aramaic Maranatha ("Our Lord, come!") and "Hosanna to the God of David".33 This demonstrates a primitive Palestinian Christology where Jesus is the conduit to the "God of David," maintaining a distinct hierarchy yet an inseparable bond between the Father and the Davidic hope. The "God of David" is the God who keeps the dynastic promise; the Church, in drinking the cup, claims to be the beneficiary of that promise.
Section III: The Great Crisis of Identity – Marcion vs. Orthodoxy
The most severe challenge to the identification of the Christian God with the God of Israel arose in the 2nd century with Marcion of Sinope. The Church’s fierce response to Marcion forced it to articulate definitively that the Father of Jesus was indeed the Creator, the Demiurge, and the Lawgiver of the Old Testament. This conflict was the crucible in which the doctrine of the "Old Testament" as Christian scripture was forged.
3.1 The Marcionite Rupture
Marcion argued for a radical dualism that sought to sever Christianity completely from Judaism. He posited two distinct deities:
The Creator (Demiurge): The God of the Old Testament—just, wrathful, legalistic, the creator of a flawed material world, and the patron of Israel. Marcion viewed this God as incompetent (unable to find Adam in the garden) and bellicose ("mighty in war").
The Stranger God (The Father): The God revealed by Jesus—pure love, mercy, previously unknown, alien to the material world, and superior to the Creator. This God had no prior history with humanity until the appearance of Jesus.35
Marcion contended that the God of Israel was "judicial, harsh, and mighty in war," whereas Jesus revealed a God of placid goodness who "prepared no fire in hell" and "never takes offense".36 Consequently, Marcion excised the Old Testament from his canon and purged the Gospel of Luke and Pauline epistles of references that identified Jesus’ Father with the Creator (the Apostolikon).35 This was an attempt to create a Christianity that was "pure" of Jewish contamination.
3.2 The Orthodox Counter-Offensive: Unity of the Covenants
The proto-orthodox response (Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian) was a defense of the single subject of divine history. They argued that the God of Justice and the God of Love are one and the same, and that the New Testament is unintelligible without the Old.
Tertullian: Justice as a Function of Goodness
In his Adversus Marcionem, Tertullian dismantles Marcion’s dichotomy by arguing that "God is not otherwise God than as the great Supreme" and that supremacy implies uniqueness—there cannot be two supreme beings. If Marcion's "Stranger God" is not the Creator, he is powerless over the material world; if he is the Creator, he is the God of Israel.38
Tertullian addresses the moral argument directly: Justice is not the opposite of Goodness but its necessary corollary. He writes, "The entire office of justice in this respect becomes an agency for goodness... whatever it chastises by its condemnation, it, in fact, benefits with good".39 A God who cannot judge evil (Marcion’s God) is incapable of true goodness because he cannot protect the good from the wicked. Tertullian validates the identity of the Christian God by proving that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Creator: "Christ must be pronounced to belong to the Creator, if He has administered His dispensations, fulfilled His prophecies... expressed His attributes".40
Irenaeus: The Two Hands of God and Recapitulation
Irenaeus of Lyons provided the most comprehensive theological synthesis against the Gnostic and Marcionite threat. He formulated the doctrine of the "Two Hands of God"—the Son and the Holy Spirit—through whom the Father created all things.41 By asserting that the Word (Jesus) was the agent of creation, Irenaeus inextricably linked the Redeemer to the Creator. There is no "Stranger God"; the Hands that formed Adam from the mud are the same Hands that healed the blind and were nailed to the cross.
Central to Irenaeus is the doctrine of Recapitulation (anakephalaiosis). Jesus does not abolish the history of Israel; he "sums it up" in himself. Jesus is the New Adam who succeeds where the old Adam failed. He relives the history of Israel (e.g., the temptation in the wilderness corresponding to Israel’s wilderness wanderings) but in obedience.43
Typological Unity: Irenaeus argues that the "craftsman" of the Old Covenant is the same "Father" of the New. The Law was a pedagogue, not an alien imposition. The difference between the covenants is one of growth, not contradiction. Humanity was in its infancy under the Law and has reached maturity in Christ.45
Soteriological Necessity: If the God of Israel is not the Father of Jesus, then the material world (created by the God of Israel) is not saved. For Irenaeus, the salvation of the flesh requires that the Savior be the agent of the Creator. If the Creator is evil or inferior, then the flesh is irredeemable. Thus, the identity of the God of Israel as the True God is the guarantee of the resurrection of the body.46
Irenaeus effectively canonicalized the view that the God of Christianity is the God of Genesis, securing the Old Testament as Christian scripture and ensuring that the God of Jesus would forever be identified as the God of Abraham.
Section IV: Supersessionism and the "True Israel"
If the Church worships the God of Israel, what becomes of the people of Israel? The Christian claim to the "God of Israel" historically led to the displacement of the Jewish people from their covenantal status—a theological stance known as supersessionism. This section examines how the Church appropriated the title "Israel" and the implications of this appropriation for the Jewish people.
4.1 Justin Martyr and the Appropriation of "Israel"
In his Dialogue with Trypho (c. 155 AD), Justin Martyr explicitly argues that the Church is the "true spiritual Israel".48 Justin’s argument rests on the idea that the Old Covenant was temporary and carnal, intended only until the coming of Christ.
Appropriation of Titles: Justin claims the title "Israel" for the Church. He argues that the Jews have forfeited their status through idolatry and the rejection of Christ. "We who have been quarried out from the bowels of Christ are the true Israelite race," he declares.
The New Law: Justin posits that Christ is the New Law and the New Covenant, rendering the Mosaic observances (Sabbath, Circumcision) obsolete. He argues that these laws were given to Jews specifically because of their hardness of heart, a mark of punishment rather than privilege.48
This "replacement" logic suggests that God is the God of Israel only in the sense that the Church is now Israel. The "carnal" Israel is disinherited. This laid the groundwork for the standard supersessionist narrative that dominated Christian theology for centuries, where the existence of the Jewish people was seen as a theological fossil.50
4.2 Types of Supersessionism vs. Remnant Theology
Scholars distinguish between different forms of this theology:
Punitive Supersessionism: Israel is rejected by God as punishment for killing Christ (the deicide charge).
Economic Supersessionism: The function of Israel was to prepare for the Messiah; once He came, their role expired (obsolescence).
Structural Supersessionism: The narrative of salvation history is told in a way that renders Israel’s ongoing existence theologically redundant (Creation -> Fall -> Christ -> Church). Israel serves as a placeholder that is discarded once the reality arrives.51
In contrast, Remnant Theology (based on Romans 11) argues that God has not rejected His people. Paul insists, "Has God rejected his people? By no means!" (Rom 11:1). The "remnant" of Jewish believers (like Paul) sanctifies the whole. The existence of a remnant proves God’s fidelity to the "God of Israel" title—He has not broken His promise to the patriarchs, even if the majority are temporarily hardened.53
4.3 Post-Supersessionism and the Irrevocable Covenant
In the post-Holocaust era, theologians like R. Kendall Soulen have challenged the "Standard Canonical Narrative" of Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation because it tends to erase Israel’s particularity. Soulen argues for a "Post-Supersessionist" theology that affirms the irrevocability of God’s covenant with the Jewish people (Rom 11:29).55
Table 2: Theological Models of the God-Israel Relationship
Model
View of "God of Israel"
Status of Jewish People
Key Proponents
Supersessionism (Replacement)
God transfers title/covenant to the Church.
Disinherited; Old Covenant is obsolete.
Justin Martyr, Traditional Medieval Theology
Fulfillment Theology
God fulfills promises in Christ; Church is the expansion of Israel.
Jewish institutions are types fulfilled in Christ; ongoing Jewish role is debated.
Irenaeus, Many Modern Evangelicals
Post-Supersessionism
God remains in covenant with Jewish people; Church is grafted in.
Election is irrevocable; Jews and Church are distinct but related partners.
Kendall Soulen, Mark Nanos, Catholic Church (Post-Nostra Aetate)
Soulen argues that the "God of Israel" cannot be truly known if the carnal reality of the Jewish people is spiritualized away. The Tetragrammaton (YHWH) itself serves as a reminder of God’s particular loyalty to a specific people, a loyalty that the Church participates in but does not usurp. The Church witnesses to the Messiah of Israel; the Jewish people witness to the endurance of the eternal covenant.56
Conclusion
The presentation of God in Christianity as the God of Israel is a dynamic of tension, characterized by both fierce fidelity to the Old Testament and a radical Christological reinterpretation.
The evidence indicates a profound continuity: The New Testament and early liturgy steadfastly refuse to sever the Father of Jesus from the God of the Patriarchs. The retention of titles like "God of Abraham," "Lord of Sabaoth," and the use of Kyrios for Jesus demonstrate a commitment to the identity of Yahweh. The battle against Marcionism was essentially a battle to save the "God of Israel" for the Church—to affirm that the material world and its Creator are good and redeemed.
However, this continuity was historically accompanied by appropriation. By claiming to be the "True Israel" and the "True Vine," the Church often displaced the historical people of Israel from their covenantal narrative, leading to supersessionist theologies that are only now being rigorously deconstructed.
Ultimately, Christianity presents itself as the worship of the God of Israel re-identified by the resurrection of Jesus. It claims that to know the God of Abraham, one must know Him as the Father of the Son; and to honor the Son, one must recognize Him as sharing the unique, sovereign identity of the God of Israel. The "God of our Fathers" is the God who raised Jesus from the dead, binding the Church eternally to the history, the scriptures, and the God of the Jews. The Church asserts that it does not worship a new God, but worships the ancient God in the "last days," participating in the fulfillment of the promises made to the fathers.
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