Error of Preterism and Christianity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylrYeXPWGJg

One of the core failures of Preterism is its refusal to take Paul’s teaching about Israel seriously. Many preterists claim that God is finished with national Israel — that everything was fulfilled in the past and that Israel no longer has a distinct role in God’s plan. But Romans chapters 9 through 11 stand as a direct contradiction to that claim. Paul explains in detail that Israel has been temporarily set aside in unbelief until the fullness of the nations (Gentiles) has come in — and after that, “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:25–27). That is future, not past.

This cannot be reduced to “spiritual Israel” or allegory. Paul distinguishes clearly between believing Gentiles and national Israel, saying that the Gentiles were grafted in temporarily, but Israel will be grafted back into her own olive tree in due time (Romans 11:23–24). If God is finished with Israel, then these words have no meaning. But they do have meaning — because God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable (Romans 11:29).

So let me ask you this: if you believe in the idea of “spiritual Israel,” or that God is finished with national Israel, then how do you make sense of Romans 9–11? Paul explicitly says that Israel has been set aside for a time until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in — and then “all Israel will be saved.” If Israel is supposedly already finished, or permanently absorbed into some vague “spiritual” category, then who exactly is Paul referring to when he says all Israel?

To reinterpret “Israel” as anything other than the very nation Paul is discussing requires ignoring the plain context of the chapter and replacing Paul’s meaning with theological speculation. It becomes a circular argument — first redefining Israel into something symbolic, then using that redefinition to claim that Israel no longer has a future. But Paul is not speaking in metaphor. He distinguishes Israel from the nations, discusses their current unbelief, their future restoration, and God’s faithfulness to His covenant with them. To deny that is not interpretation — it’s rewriting the text to fit a doctrine rather than allowing the doctrine to be shaped by the text.

Preterism requires ignoring this or spiritualizing it away, as if Paul were not speaking about a real nation, real history, and a real future rescue. But Paul’s argument is explicit: Israel’s stumbling is partial and temporary, not permanent (Romans 11:11). Their rejection leads to reconciliation for the nations now — but their future acceptance will mean “life from the dead” (Romans 11:15). That language points directly to resurrection and the final defeat of death — realities that have obviously not yet occurred.

And this exposes a deeper problem. The gospel Paul proclaims does not end with historical events in the first century — it ends with the abolition of sin and death themselves (1 Corinthians 15:21–26). Yet sin and death still exist. Humanity still dies. Mortality still reigns. The world remains in decay, and creation still groans (Romans 8:20–22). If the ultimate outcome of Christ’s work is the destruction of death and the reconciliation of all (1 Corinthians 15:22–28; Colossians 1:20), and those things have not yet happened, then fulfillment is still future. Anything else is fantasy.

Preterism collapses because it treats time-bound judgment events as the end of God’s purpose instead of seeing them as stages in a larger redemptive plan. Paul’s message reveals a trajectory — from Adam to Christ, from mortality to immortality, from alienation to reconciliation, from death to life. That process is not complete until the last enemy — death — is abolished (1 Corinthians 15:26). And as long as death remains, the story is not finished.

This is where rightly dividing God’s purpose matters. Israel’s story is not erased — it is unfinished. God has paused their role while He gathers the nations, but He has not abandoned them. The fullness of the nations has not yet arrived. Death has not yet ended. Reconciliation is not yet consummated. Therefore, the future work of Christ — including Israel’s restoration and the final defeat of death — remains ahead, not behind us.

Preterism reduces Paul’s sweeping cosmic gospel into a narrow historical interpretation. Paul reveals something far greater: a God who is moving history toward a consummation where all are made alive in Christ, Israel is restored in its time, and God becomes All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). Anything Errorshort of that — no matter how religiously packaged — is not Paul’s gospel.

Preterists think that God has already done everything and all in existence now isn’t essential to His plan and that is blasphemy, all is essential, all is of God, and all is working towards the end goal of sin and death abolished and God All in all. So, not there yet.