By Liaf
Upon studying the last chapter of Romans, I
hope that I did not convey the idea that the Jews were totally an
object or wrath beyond recovery. Indeed, end-time prophecy
demands their restoration with all Israel. Likewise, I hope that
I did not elevate the lost house of Israel so much as the chosen
seed that they did not deserve punishment. Later on in these
chapters, we shall see that the house of Israel was punished too.
However, as I stated, they were a marred vessel of clay.
That means they got a pretty big dent in their heads (when they
were exiled before the Jews and wandered amongst the nations for
a time) but they could still be worked on later. We must remember
that they were blind to their identity due to their
disobedience--- some of which was idolatry and Sabbath-breaking. Their
fall was needed too so that they could be re-covenanted in Christ
and so that in their eventual greatness they could be a light to
the Gentiles as the book of Isaiah states. In the meantime while
the Gospel was launched, the Apostle Paul was given that special
revelation that the (non-Israelite) Gentiles were included in the
plan of salvation when Paul boldly asserted he was the Apostle to
the Gentiles --- a claim none of the other original Apostles
made. In addition, as Israel was being reworked, keep in mind
there was still an “election of grace” (which we did
not talk about in detail yet) from Israel--- a chosen remnant
of the gospel. Israel as a birthright nation(s) was and is an
election of race--- just because they are recipients of promises
do not mean they all have spiritual promises and
salvation. The promises of race are earthly blessings,
which as we said many times before was God’s vehicle of
blessing and a way to carry out His purpose in the glorious
gospel of Christ. It is by this path that the promise “And
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”
found in Genesis 22. Me thinks that Christian missionaries would
have worked better if they were citizens of and backed by
powerful and rich nations than if they came from third world
countries without the protection and financing to support them.
Wouldn’t you? That’s the way all the nations of
the Earth were to be blessed. Let’s read on Romans chapter
10:
Romans 10:1-5: Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth.
For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall
live by them.
I am assuming that Paul was speaking in the
present tense when he made this statement. In this case, Paul was
making reference to “Israel, which followed after the law”.
How do we know? We know this because Paul is referring to
the Israelites that were trying to establish righteousness by the
Law of Moses. Remember, Paul was concerned about his kinsmen who
were Jews. In the past tense sense (what a rhyme!), this could
refer to the house of Israel also before their exile since they
were caught up in all manners of false and contorted religion
(with its strange mixes) and were therefore ignorant of the way
of righteousness. Therefore, their fall set the stage for that
working by God of the marred vessel. However, I do not see any
reason to make this more complicated than what it is.
Let’s
play the evangelist’s advocate for a time and say this
applies to the Jew as commonly taught. I have no problem with
that since we shall see that Paul is going to expand a little
about the righteousness of faith versus the righteousness by Law.
We must understand that Israel is the framework
that his exegesis is centered around, but the exegesis itself
expands out to “Law vs. faith” righteousness applicable
to everybody. By the way, Paul was stating here that those
who follow the Law should live by it, and as a result he would
gain eternal life. That’s right! If you or I could keep the
Law perfectly, we’d have eternal life. That’s why Jesus
rose again from the dead. But what we should realize (that the
Jew seemingly didn’t), because we have life in us we are
able to keep the Law. It is not that keeping the Law gives us
life. However, we do not have life, but death through Adam,
therefore we cannot keep it, for if we had life instead, we would
be able to keep it as Jesus did. The Jews, as do many people,
have the caboose before the engine because they misunderstand
this completely. Therefore, the Law is God’s perfect
standard and as such is not done away with. What is done
away is the covenant of the Law as a means of salvation.
Keeping it perfectly guaranteed eternal life and demonstrated
that eternal life was in the one who could keep it. But since we
could not keep it, that covenant was replaced by one of grace.
And again so that I do not downplay the idea of grace before
the Law, Paul made it clear that Abraham was justified by faith
and that the Law was the schoolmaster to bring us to
Christ (i.e., it made us see the need for a Savior and the
covenant of grace). Actually, this is the way God worked all
along, but hard lessons regarding our spiritual condition and
righteousness had to be learned.
Romans 10:6-11: But the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart,
Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from
above:)
Or, Who shall descend into the deep?
(that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith,
which we preach;
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
In essence, Paul is explaining the nature of
righteousness by faith--- or to put it another way, it’s
characteristics. First of all, righteousness by faith does not
aspire for one to become perfect through works by elevating
oneself to a standard up to God. In other words, there is no need
to look up for God by trying to achieve some standard. My father
and I used to joke about people who imagined God that they prayed
to as “an old man with a long beard sitting on a big chair
in heaven”. Likewise, righteousness by faith does not do the
opposite, either. For example, one does not have to sink to the
low depths of trials or to some mystical search to find
God’s presence. Nor does one have to adjust their standards
of righteousness down to find God. I suppose some feel they are
more capable of being saved because of their intense searching.
They have searched so much that God must have the mercy to
save them. Nope. Neither “trick” works with God.
Rather, (and Paul was actually quoting Old Testament Scripture)
God is right here. Believe in Him here and now--- that
is righteousness by faith. In other words, faith believes in the
framework of the present world and time. God is not “out
there” somewhere who can only be reached because we achieved
some sort of criteria or made a mysterious spiritual search.
That’s not faith. In short, the bold typed Scripture above
is the crux of what Paul meant by righteousness by faith.
Let’s continue reading:
Romans 10:12-15: For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom
they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Paul then made this important point about
the nature of faith--- now that we know its modus operandi, we
must understand that faith is by election of grace. It would be
simply awful if people were saved for the same reason that Israel
was chosen: because of their race. No. Israel is an election of
race but that only designates them for God’s earthly purpose
resulting in physical blessing. This would be used as a means for
spiritual blessing of all people. Got that? Suppose the end
result you want is a house. The lumber used for that house is
special (election of grace). However, some lumber may be used to
frame out the house and then later discarded or possibly
eventually used in the house itself (election of race) and that
does not include the idea that much more lumber and tools have
been used to achieve that end result (meaning there is much more
material to make the house than what it ends up to be). I hope
that’s a suitable analogy. Thus, as Paul said, “whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
because that is the nature of God’s grace that works by
faith. The next part regards Paul’s concern about spreading
the gospel, but we must understand that the Gentile included the
lost house of Israel. The elect race (the Lost Tribes viz. the
birthright tribe of Joseph) was also to become some of the
election of grace to spread the gospel. This passage cannot be
applied to the Jew since they tried to hinder and silence Paul
everywhere he went! If he was still on the subject of Israel
here, and Israel was merely the “Jew” under the Law as
commonly taught, why does Paul act as if they do not know about
the gospel when he made it clear that they are the enemies of it?
That is a contradiction and does not make sense.
Romans 10:16-21: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily,
their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the
ends of the world.
But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you [the part of Israel which follows the Law] to jealousy by them that are no people [by the part of Israel who would lose their identity], and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Now we must follow the general thought
here from the last passage of Scripture (Romans 10:12-15) and
this passage (verses 16-21). The idea in the previous passage was
that anybody (Jew or Greek) might obtain grace through faith. We
must remember that Paul was basically contrasting the works of
the Law and grace. Therefore, he would often refer to his own
kinsmen (i.e. the part of Israel which followed the Law) as
“Jews” and the remaining people as Gentiles (Greek).
However, they must hear the gospel that was foreshadowed. In
this next passage of Scripture, Paul noted the reaction
especially of those followers of the Law: not all obey the
gospel. But for those who will obey, faith can only come by
hearing the gospel. In addition, people must have the ability to
hear. So he asked the question, “Have they not heard?”.
Yes…. Everybody has heard. They were prepared for the truth
of God. The phrase “their sound went into all the earth,
and their words unto the ends of the world” is a quote
from Psalms 19:4. As we teach on this web site, God’s Word
is told in the stars by virtue of their names. Before there was a
written Bible, the stars were one testimony of God declaring the
redemptive story of Christ (in the Zodiac). Therefore, those with
the ability to hear will hear. They are “without
excuse”. I personally believe that if one dies before having
the opportunity to hear the gospel, that God will judge them by
the light they had (the stars are one revelation). Their
obedience or rebellion of what they thought was truth is an
indicator of what they would do with the gospel. Now I do not
teach we should not preach the gospel, but in that situation that
is the only alternative (Romans 2:15).
What about the hardheaded Israelites? Paul
ended this chapter by quoting Isaiah 65. This is Israel
“which follows after the Law” again. These are the
Jews. Isaiah 65 contrasts two groups of people--- yet it is
addressed to Israel. That’s no surprise to our readers of
this web site since they ought to distinguish between the house
of Israel and the house of Judah by now. However, traditional
church doctrine explains away this contrast by claiming these are
Jews and Christians. No, not exactly. Again, this is Judah and
the elect house of Israel, which would be re-covenanted in Christ
thereby becoming Christian. Isaiah 65:1-2 says, “I am sought
of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me
not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not
called by my name [this is Israel]. I have spread out my
hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a
way that was not good, after their own thoughts [this is Judah]
”
Where did we see this “not called by
my name” idea before? Does that sound like our lessons on
Hosea chapter one regarding the Lost Tribes? How about what Jesus
said in Matthew 21:43? We had a message out about that topic long
ago regarding Jesus’ Great Commission. The Jews would lose
the Kingdom and instead it would go to the house of Israel. If
you continue reading Isaiah 65:13-15, you will see the contrast
between the blessed “servants” and “you” (or
“ye” if you have KJV). This contrast is exactly what
Paul was applying to the elect (the servants of the house of
Israel) and “you” (the Jews).
I think that the traditional
“Jew” and “Christian” idea applies in a
sense, but the difference in what we teach here (and what we know
Paul was teaching) is that one part of Israel, which followed
after the Law, did not obtain grace because they tried to obtain
righteousness through the Law. The racially elect people of
Israel, namely the tribe of Joseph would become great and a
multitude of nations in whom many would be called by an election
of grace. Therefore, the responsibility of spreading the gospel
to the entire world was still on a certain elect part of Israel
so that the promise to Abraham “in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed” is true. This is the part
of Israel that would have a “new name” as prophesied
throughout the Bible because they went from Law to grace.
“What is the difference compared to the way the church
teaches this contrast?” you may ask. Plenty. The primary
difference is that the church teaches that the responsibility of
preaching the gospel and thus the coming Kingdom of God was
placed on non-Israelite Gentiles and the racially elect people of
God are dormant regarding the gospel. This severely contradicts
God’s plan and purpose in calling a certain race to begin
with. In addition, there are many covenantal promises that would
not be (nor ever will be) fulfilled if this were the case. And if
God cannot be trusted to carry out His intended plan with His
chosen race, then we cannot depend on Him for grace!