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The Dangers of Christian Zionism & The Orthodox Christian Response

 By Bishop Stephen (Victory)

Introduction: A Distorted Theology with Global Consequences

Christian Zionism, though often regarded by its proponents as a noble alliance with the Jewish people and a defense of biblical prophecy, represents a serious distortion of the Christian faith and a deviation from the Orthodox understanding of Scripture, the Church, and eschatology. Though it is largely a Protestant phenomenon, its political influence and theological errors have crept into the wider Christian consciousness, including, regrettably, among some Orthodox faithful.

This article will explore the roots of Christian Zionism, its theological errors, the dangers it poses, both spiritually and geopolitically, and the Orthodox response grounded in patristic theology, ecclesiology, and a Christ-centered reading of Scripture. While the Orthodox Church loves and respects the Jewish people, she categorically rejects any theology that undermines the New Covenant, separates Jesus from the fulfillment of prophecy, or redefines the Church as a political player on the world stage.

I. Defining Christian Zionism

Christian Zionism is a theological and political movement that interprets the modern State of Israel as the direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy and believes that the Jewish people possess an unconditional divine right to the land of Palestine. It is rooted primarily in Dispensationalist theology—a 19th-century Protestant innovation advanced by John Nelson Darby and later popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible.¹

According to this framework, God has two separate plans: one for Israel (understood ethnically and nationally), and another for the Church. This dichotomy leads Christian Zionists to interpret many Old Testament prophecies as having yet-to-be-fulfilled national applications for modern Israel, even after the coming of Christ and the inauguration of the New Covenant.

Such a view departs fundamentally from the patristic and apostolic understanding of redemptive history. The Church is not a “parenthesis” in God's plan, nor are ethnic or geopolitical entities vehicles of divine salvation. The Church is the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16), the fulfillment, not the postponement, of God's covenantal promises.

II. The Theological Errors of Christian Zionism

1. A Rejected Christ is a Rejected Covenant

The New Testament teaches clearly that the old covenant was fulfilled and superseded in Christ. St. Paul writes that "Christ is the end (telos) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom. 10:4). The epistle to the Hebrews is emphatic that the old covenant is now obsolete: "In speaking of a new covenant, He makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:13).²

Christian Zionism, however, treats the Mosaic covenant as still active, binding, and redemptive apart from faith in Christ. This position implicitly denies the sufficiency of the Gospel. As Orthodox Christians, we cannot affirm that there is a separate salvific plan for those who reject Christ. As St. Peter boldly declared to the Jewish Sanhedrin: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

2. A Carnal Reading of Prophecy

Christian Zionism reads prophecy through a carnal and literalist lens, seeking geopolitical fulfillments of promises that the New Testament reinterprets spiritually and ecclesially. For example, they point to Genesis 15:18 and believe that Israel’s possession of land from the Nile to the Euphrates remains God’s goal. But the Church Fathers understood such promises as types and shadows fulfilled in the Church and in Christ.

Origen, in his Homilies on Joshua, wrote:

“We Christians do not look for a promised land in the East… but we look for the heavenly Jerusalem.”³

St. John Chrysostom similarly warned against returning to the shadows of Judaism:

“Why do you seek the old Jerusalem, when the new and heavenly one has been opened to you?”⁴

This error is compounded when Christian Zionists support violent and unjust policies under the assumption that modern Israel enjoys divine immunity. They misapply biblical passages meant for ancient Israel or eschatological judgment and use them to justify nationalism, war, and apartheid-like treatment of Palestinians.

3. The Confusion of the Church and the State

By equating the modern, secular state of Israel with the Israel of God, Christian Zionism conflates the Church with a political entity. This undermines Orthodox ecclesiology. The Church is not a nation defined by ethnicity or land but is the Body of Christ, transcending all nations, tribes, and tongues (Rev. 7:9). The spiritual boundaries of the Church are not drawn along lines of ancestry or geography, but baptism and faith in Christ.

III. The Dangers of Christian Zionism

1. Doctrinal Confusion

When Orthodox Christians adopt Christian Zionist assumptions, they unknowingly surrender key elements of Orthodox theology. The belief in multiple covenants, separate redemptive plans, or a postponed Kingdom of God is incompatible with the Nicene faith. It also fosters a defective ecclesiology and eschatology that distorts our hope in Christ's return.

2. Moral Compromise

By supporting the Israeli state uncritically, many Christian Zionists overlook grave moral injustices, such as displacement, violence, and human rights violations committed against Palestinian Christians and Muslims. The Church must never sanctify injustice for political or theological convenience. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil,” says the prophet (Isa. 5:20). Orthodox Christians are called to speak truth, even when it is politically inconvenient.

3. Undermining Evangelism

If the Jewish people have a separate covenant, why evangelize them? Christian Zionism undermines the apostolic mission to preach the Gospel to all nations, including the Jews. This stands in contrast to the early Church, where the apostles preached first to the Jews, pleading with them to receive their Messiah (Acts 2–4; Rom. 1:16).

St. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, insisted:

“They who are the seed of Abraham according to the flesh shall in no wise inherit the kingdom of God, unless they believe in Christ.”⁵

Orthodoxy holds that faith in Christ is the one and only path to salvation—both for Jew and Gentile.

IV. The Orthodox Response

The Orthodox Church has never affirmed Christian Zionism. She views the Church as the continuation and fulfillment of the Israel of God. As St. Irenaeus taught, “In the Church, God has gathered together all who believe in Him from every tribe and tongue.”⁶

The modern State of Israel is a secular nation-state, not a divine fulfillment. Its political actions must be judged ethically, not theologically. Orthodox Christians must also remember the plight of Palestinian Christians, many of whom suffer under occupation. Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, in a 2021 appeal, stated:

“The Christian presence in the Holy Land is under threat. Church properties and heritage are under systematic attack by radical groups… We call on our brothers and sisters in Christ to stand with us.”⁷

The Orthodox Church must resist the politicization of eschatology. Our hope is not in the reconstitution of a temple in Jerusalem or the expansion of territorial borders, but in the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. The true Holy Land is not a disputed piece of earth, but the Kingdom of Heaven.

Conclusion: Standing with Christ, Not with Ideology

Christian Zionism may masquerade as biblical fidelity and moral clarity, but it is, at root, a deformation of Christian doctrine. It replaces Christ with nationalism, the Church with a nation-state, and the Gospel with geopolitics. The Orthodox Church must stand firm in her theology, resisting the pressure to align with any ideology—right or left—that compromises the Cross.

Our calling is not to bless the kingdoms of this world, but to proclaim a Kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). The Church must speak prophetically, not politically; theologically, not tribally. Let us love all people, Jew and Gentile, Israeli and Palestinian, but let us not confuse that love with theological flattery or compromise.

Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. In Him, all the promises of God are “Yes and Amen” (2 Cor. 1:20). Let us cling to Him alone, reject false Zionisms, and await the Jerusalem that is above, “which is free, and she is our mother” (Gal. 4:26).

Footnotes

  1. John Nelson Darby, Synopsis of the Books of the Bible (London: G. Morrish, 1857).

  2. Holy Scripture, The Epistle to the Hebrews 8:13, Orthodox Study Bible (St. Athanasius Academy, 2008).

  3. Origen, Homilies on Joshua, trans. Barbara J. Bruce (Washington D.C.: Catholic University Press, 2002), Homily 15.

  4. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians, Homily 11.

  5. St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 140.

  6. St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 6.

  7. Patriarch Theophilos III, “Statement on Christian Presence in the Holy Land,” Jerusalem Patriarchate News, December 2021.

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