READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (10)
[p. 123] READINGS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS (10)
Romans 9:1 - 5; Romans 10:1 - 4; Romans 11:22 - 36
JT We have already had before us that this epistle is the adjustment of things on the earth. The chapters we have considered show how man is adjusted individually with God. These chapters show how the promises are reconciled with the truth of the gospel, and how Israel came into their place according to God’s counsels as regards the earth.
Rem In a way, what we get unfolded here is as necessary as the ark in the days of Noah. That is, if the ways of God are to be performed on the earth, clearly it must be in connection with Israel brought into adjustment with God; therefore, we must have something to make clear how God adjusts the promises made to the fathers with the present position of Israel, and it is here unfolded.
JT The chronology we get in Genesis as regards the family of Noah ends with the statement, “And by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood” (Genesis 10:32). And then later we see how the nations are to be blessed through Abraham. But in 1 Chronicles the idea of chronology is to show how all are to be connected with David. This section shows, in the adjustment of things on earth, how God has all the nations before Him; they are taken up provisionally now for blessing on the ground of faith (Israel is blinded for the moment, but ultimately, according to the original purposes, Israel will come in for the first place on earth). So that Chronicles contains the spiritual link — how the nations are linked up typically with Christ. In Genesis we have the outward facts stated, so that a believer can account satisfactorily for himself as to the origin, or history, of any nation he may have to [p. 124] do with; but in Chronicles the links are spiritual, and Christ, as typified in David, is the centre for all.
BTF What was the point about David in contrast to Abraham? I did not quite get it.
JT I was remarking that in 1 Chronicles the genealogies all merge in David — beginning with Adam, Seth and so on. So that 1 Chronicles is spiritual chronology in that way. It fits in here because this section shows how the nations are in the mind of God for blessing and are brought in for the moment on the ground of faith; but not continuing in the goodness of God, they lose the place they now have, and Israel will return to their own place again. So that the principle of election stands; whatever may seem to contradict it outwardly, God ever reverts to His original thought.
BTF That would make the present moment a wonderful one in connection with God’s ways.
JT It is a great moment in that He is pleased to take up the nations in Christ on the principle of faith. And of course, we come in there. The word for us is that we are to continue, “Take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: ... toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off”.
Rem So that, Jew or gentile, in the final result everything is established on the basis of the sovereignty of God. It is a question of election.
CAM Man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty go together, do they not? They both seem emphasised in this section.
JT Yes. God’s sovereign purpose must ultimately prevail.
CAM Thus one is safe in putting everything on that ground, and yet one has to bring in the thought of [p. 125] responsibility too.
JT Certainly. We are to continue in God’s goodness.
AFM Would you give us the setting of these three chapters?
JT Chapter 9 is especially marked by the thought of sovereignty — the principle of election — showing that whatever claims the Jews had in the way of priority, they were necessarily founded on the sovereignty of God. The fact that Ishmael and Esau were shut out, although elder brethren, establishes the fact that Israel’s position was on the ground of sovereignty. The feature in chapter 10 is, “The word” — the preaching. “The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach”. That was their position then. Deuteronomy 30 is cited, when Israel is regarded as having failed absolutely: “For the word is very near to thee”. It was not far away from them. So we have the sovereignty of God in chapter 9, the word and the preaching in chapter 10, and the ultimate reinstatement of Israel in chapter 11.
AFM Salvation is very prominent in chapter 10. Then the natural branches are graffed in in chapter 11, where all are seen as coming in on the ground of sovereign mercy. It is this which enables the apostle to utter his doxology at the close.
Rem In chapter 10 the preaching goes out to the extremities of the habitable world. So the sovereignty of God is by no means confined to Israel; but embraces all the nations of the earth. It is by the way of preaching, but the preaching of itself carries the idea of sovereignty; that seems to go right through this section. If Israel are finally to come in again, it is because the sovereignty of God works in that way.
JT So, “God hath shut up together all in unbelief, in order that he might show mercy to all”.
BTF Chapter 10 is a most interesting account of the way that God is pleased to work at the present moment; “How shall they hear without one who preaches? and how shall they preach unless they have been sent?”
ANW One is struck in observing the number of quotations from the Old Testament that these three chapters contain.
JT The apostle intended to justify God’s position, as seen in his ministry, in the eyes of the Jews and so brought in these scriptures. In a masterly way he weaves a fabric with material from the Old Testament.
AFM The point of departure with the Jew was that he stumbled at the stumbling-stone, and that paved the way for the grace of God to go out to the nations. The apostle shows clearly God’s right to address all men in Christ.
WB-w Was it the sovereign rights of God in mercy in connection with the world?
JT Yes. The apostle adjusts everything on the earth in relation to God. Here His faithfulness in regard of the promises to Israel is established.
WB-w Chapter 3 would be God’s rights in mercy to the believer.
JT But there was this outstanding question from the times of Abraham, which had to be adjusted; and the adjustment of it involves the sovereignty of God and the faithfulness of God. This latter is very important, and these chapters show how He is faithful — whatever He has promised He brings to pass, and Christ is the Vessel through whom it is brought to pass.
Rem I think the Jew would be apt to overlook the fact that the nations were included in the promise, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). The Jew would confine things to himself as a son of Israel; but the promise of [p. 127] God extended to all nations of the earth. So here, things are brought out side by side and adjusted. Nothing fails.
CAM The apostle had such knowledge of the ways of God, and yet he speaks of himself as going through such sorrow in connection with Israel: why is that?
JT Does it not show that he intended to bring out the great affection he had for his nation after the flesh? That affection runs right through these chapters, and lends force and lustre to what he says. It is not a cold outline of the faithfulness of God in connection with Israel; it is an outline by one whose affections are bound up in it. He virtually says, If there is any question as to Israel’s blessing, I am personally an answer to it: I am an Israelite and have the blessing; therefore the blessing is unquestionable which God has in mind for every true Israelite.
ANW The climax of all their favours was Christ, “Of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen”.
JT He sets out in that verse what Israel’s privileges are from the divine side. First, he says, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not”. I think we might note, particularly, that in dealing with the promises of God, Paul should bring in this question of veracity. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul refers to the Corinthians charging him with lightness; but he bases everything on what God is: “But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us ... was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen”. So here he says, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit”. A most forcible way of putting the facts. Then he says, “I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart, for I have wished”, not, I wish, “I myself, to be a curse from the Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh; who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises; whose are the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ”. All their advantages and privileges are stated there. One who could speak thus is competent to do so, and should be heard, for his affections were in the subject which engaged him. He virtually says, ‘I am not behind Moses’. Moses had said, “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written” (Exodus 32:32).
Rem In fact, he expressed here most beautifully the sacrifice of Christ — He was blotted out for them. I was thinking of the depths of his affection. It was that affection which forced him to go to Jerusalem. He would go to see if he could not win them for Christ. The Spirit witnessed that he should not go up to Jerusalem; but, his heart was set on winning them for Christ.
AFM Do you think we have a parallel here with what we get in Matthew 11, the Lord there speaks of the unrepentant cities where His mighty works were done, and then retreats into the purpose of God — there were the babes? So here he says, “Not however as though the word of God had failed”; and brings in the line of purpose.
JT “Not however as though the word of God had failed; for not all are Israel which are of Israel; nor because they are seed of Abraham are all children: but, In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee. That is, they that are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned as seed”. It [p. 129] is remarkable that he should use the expression, “children of God” there.
JD-s I have thought that these chapters give us the past, present and future of Israel. And, as has been justly said, the apostle shows how the promises of God are quite consistent with the truth that he had enunciated in the early part of the epistle. This parenthesis comes in so that there might be no question as to that. While God is dealing very freely today, He is not forgetting what He has promised. And further, taking more the spirit of what we have in these chapters, it would appear as though God had a remnant among His people to bring forward at the right time. I do not say they are acknowledged publicly; nor can they get blessing apart from the church; but it occurs to me that it is clearly in the apostle’s mind and it is what he had before him.
JT He says, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace”.
Rem I suppose Paul himself was an example of that very thing. He was an Israelite, therefore an expression of the faithfulness of God, and was added to the assembly. One does not doubt that in all ages, a line of Israel has been added to the assembly, fulfilling the faithfulness of God as to His promises to the fathers, which will go right through until Israel is turned to again.
JT The citations from Hosea would concur with that. In verse 25, “I will call not-my-people My people; and the-not-beloved Beloved” (chapter 2:23). Then in verse 27, “But Esaias cries concerning Israel, Should the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved” (Isaiah 10:22). Again in verse 29, “And according as Esaias said before, Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and made like even as Gomorrha” (Isaiah 1:9).
[p. 130] Rem So Isaiah prepares us for that in chapter 6 of his prophecy, “But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof”. There is preserved a remnant.
WB-w It will not be merely sovereignty on God’s part; there will be faith on their side as well, will there not?
Rem There must be. It could not be apart from faith.
JT Historically the remnant were added to the assembly just on that ground, and Paul himself is an example here. So that the thoughts of God do not lapse; they are ever present in a living way. Paul was an Israelite indeed.
Ques What connection has the remnant of Israel at present with the Israel to come into view in the future?
JT Divine thoughts do not lapse. All the features of the testimony that centred in Israel, according to Peter’s epistles, are connected with the saints now. Although we may not have literally converted Jews amongst us, we have those who are really Jews; that is, every converted person is a Jew according to Romans, as chapter 2:29 shows. So that the features of the testimony are continued. But at the beginning of christianity the Jewish remnant was incorporated in the church, and in that way preserved (Acts 2:47).
Rem In connection with the promises to the fathers, I think that in the assembly there has always been a representative of the seed of Abraham. While I fully go with what you say, as to the spiritual significance of what is Israel indeed, yet the promises to the fathers and the perpetuation of the line of the seed of Abraham is a matter to be considered. As we get at the beginning of chapter 11, “I say then, Has [p. 131] God cast away his people? Far be the thought. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin”. There is an indication that, preserved in the assembly, the line of the seed of Abraham is carried over until the world to come, and one rather cherishes that thought.
JD-s When God comes to take up His dealings with the earth, Israel will be the centre and He will have the nucleus in the remnant to bring forward.
JT Whether there are literally converted Jews in the assembly at the present moment or not, we know they were there at the outset. Paul’s statement proves it.
Rem So God has not cast away His people. It is like the preservation of a line in the carrying over from the remnant at the outset to the remnant introduced in the world to come.
AFM I suppose every one who comes gets the blessing; he gets it on the ground of sovereign mercy, whether Jew or gentile.
JT I think it is a great point — the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of mercy, and then His faithfulness in carrying out what He promised sovereignly.
ANW Do you not regard the bringing in of election here a bold stroke on the part of the apostle in a treatise on the gospel? When preaching the gospel you hardly bring in both sides.
JT You can see the force of his argument because he is dealing with those whose claim depended on it. Whatever privileges they had, they were based on sovereignty, therefore it was a strong argument.
ANW It is a wonderful argument, and Paul is remarkably vigorous in bringing it in here where the responsibility of man is raised. “I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau”. Then the case of Pharaoh is introduced but he justifies God on both [p. 132] sides.
JT The cases he cites establish the principle of election, and so whatever the Jew might say as to his ministry, he was fortified.
Rem I think his own case is a very remarkable one. If you take Peter, James, John and the others, they were brought in before the rejection of the Holy Spirit, and before the Lord had written upon them, “Lo-ammi”, — not My people; but Paul himself was taken up, not only after the rejection of Stephen, but as identified with it, so that he becomes a remarkable example as to how the sovereignty of God asserts itself in connection with Israel, even if governmentally He has to give them up.
JT He calls attention to that in 1 Timothy 1. It is well worth noting. He is an example, or “a delineation”: “But for this reason”, he says, “mercy was shown me, that in me, the first, Jesus Christ might display the whole long-suffering, for a delineation of those about to believe on him to life eternal”. He was in that way an example of God’s sovereign mercy.
JD-s It is remarkable how he speaks of mercy too. It corresponds with the subject we have before us, because all is put on the ground of mercy in these chapters. While sovereignty has its place, and the faithfulness of God, the way it works out is in the mercy of God. At the same time I think that the sovereignty of God should be introduced in preaching the gospel.
ANW As a rule, we rather impress the responsibility to believe in preaching.
JD-s That is quite right; we need to be balanced regarding the two sides.
JT Only you have in view that the elect “may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus”.
ANW What strikes me is that the apostle in bringing in this argument reaches such a climax — that God’s judgments are unsearchable and His ways [p. 133] untraceable, on account of which he bows in a spirit of worship.
JT The beginning and the end of the subject, we might say, is the cream. There is the great affection he had for the people first of all, and then how his heart is moved in the presence of God, so that he is a worshipper. The working out of the counsels of God in regard of the earth itself becomes the occasion of worship.
Rem His doxology really breathes the spirit of the final psalms, that is, when the whole earth is brought into the light of the adjustment of God’s ways — everything that hath breath praises the Lord. The doxology here suggests that.
WB-w God is not defeated. None of His thoughts are lost.
JT No. I think there is food for our souls in the affections that underlie the statement of the facts. For it is a beautiful piece of fabric, woven out of Old Testament material, coloured and ornamented with New Testament threads, and yet an earthly thing. The colour is not blue; we might say it is crimson and purple, and withal beautifully woven.
AFM The casting off of the Jew is the world’s reconciliation; is not that an important factor for the gentiles?
JT It is brought in incidentally; but the point is the reception of the Jews at the end. “If their casting away be the world’s reconciliation, what their reception but life from among the dead?”. It is a new thing: Ezekiel enlarges upon what it shall be. It is life from the dead. They stand on the earth “an exceeding great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).
Rem There is a contrast between these chapters and Moses in Exodus 33; “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be [p. 134] gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face”. But these three chapters are the weaving together, and the display of the adjustment of all the ways of God, so that everything is perfectly harmonious. This doxology of praise takes up what Moses could not; all is brought into view and the heart is delighted and worships.
JT The weaving out of this fabric from Old Testament material is very fine, adorned with New Testament thoughts; only all connected with the earth, but founded on the death of Christ. The heart of the apostle is moved at the end in the light of what God effects on the ground of His sovereign mercy, “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be rendered to him? For of him, and through him, and for him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen”. It is like Ephesians 3 as regards the church, although it is the heavenly side there, “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”. In Romans it is the adjustment of things on earth leading to worship. Ephesians 3 is the accomplishment of the counsels of God in connection with the church. It is a higher thought; but the heart is moved in both cases to worship God.
BTF Do you think that expression of praise is drawn from these three chapters, or includes the whole epistle?
JT It is especially suggested by the skill with which God works out His own purposes in regard of Israel, in spite of the difficulties.
AFM His judgments and His ways, would [p. 135] you say?
JT Yes. When you come to Ephesians 3 you are on a higher platform. It is not there a question of His ways but of His eternal counsels, “to him be glory ...”.
ANW The counsels are not said to be unsearchable.
JT No. I think the unsearchableness of things has reference to what we have to do with today — the labyrinth which has been brought about by man’s will in connection with the nations. Men have just done as they pleased, and there has been no thought at all in the arrangements of the nations as to the purpose of God. It never once enters into the minds of the statesmen of the world. But this chapter is a question of the mind of God and He is behind all that goes on here on earth. This doxology shows a heart that is in the secret of that. The things which occur publicly are the veil of providence which the statesmen of this world cannot penetrate; but the christian, like Paul, goes behind these happenings and knows what God’s mind is, and is restful, and worshipful; for he sees a moment when He shall set His King upon the holy hill of Zion. He has the wisdom to bring it about, hence the apostle is moved here to utter this wonderful doxology.
CAM The meaning of all this has been treasured in the assembly, so the assembly in the day to come will be intelligent as to the working out of it; the one who speaks here is one of the assembly — the light he has belongs to the assembly.
JT In Colossians and Ephesians we have the mystery. This leads on to it because it is a question of God’s wisdom. The mystery is really the solution of everything. Paul had the light of it but does not develop it in Romans. Touching on it in the last chapter he says, “According to the revelation of the mystery, as to which silence has been kept in the times of the ages”. It means that God had kept it [p. 136] from the nations throughout those dark ages — the light of His counsel concerning Christ and the assembly. That is the point in the mystery, “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him”.
Rem So in this very chapter the apostle says, “I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery”. Things were in mystery; but he did not want them or us to be ignorant of it. John comes in, in the Revelation, and shows us the light of the establishment of things, according to heavenly counsel, and the adjusted condition of things upon earth — the two are blended in Revelation 21.
JD-s It is remarkable how the apostle saw his way through things — through the maze of things as they were affecting him and the saints of God in that day. And as he saw his way through them, he was able to give praise to God — to fall back on the sovereignty of God and to call into his argument that God would be God, and would act for Himself, and from Himself, apart altogether from the failure. And when he saw how God was going to bring to pass that which pertained to the earth in His own good time, he was filled with praise and wonder. That was the meaning of the doxology — the way God was going to effect things for Himself, and according to His pleasure, in connection with all pertaining to the earth; but more especially, in connection with His people to whom He had made the promises.
JT In order that the christian should be qualified to take up the mystery, as in Colossians and Ephesians, he has to be adjusted as regards his position on the earth; because Colossians and Ephesians involve elevation. How can one go up, unless adjusted below in regard of the righteousness of God,
[p. 137] and the power of God, and the love of God, and the faithfulness of God? One has to be adjusted in regard of these things in order to be free to ascend.
JS The church, as such, is not introduced in these three chapters; but on the other hand, the light of all the arrangements in respect of the nations and Israel is treasured in the assembly.
TH Is that why we have in Galatians 6:16, peace and mercy “upon the Israel of God”?
JT Yes, “the Israel of God”.
WB-w It is not the ascension of Christ here: but the resurrection of Christ.
CAM When Paul said to king Agrippa, “Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come” (Acts 26:7), you do not regard that as applying to individuals?
JT “Our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night”, he says. It is difficult for us to reconcile that with the literal fact; but it is best to admit that Paul must have known what he said. So James writes, “To the twelve tribes which are in the dispersion”. They evidently had an existence then known to the apostles.
CAM While the other two tribes we know will come into blessing, yet the birthright always was with the ten, was it not? In Joseph.
JT Joseph had the birthright.
CAM So that is the assurance that the twelve tribes will be brought in.
JT We were noticing last week that in Genesis 37 it says, “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren”. That is all you get for a good many chapters; all the others are ignored until their faces are toward Joseph — until they are seen going down to him in Egypt. So the whole of the twelve tribes shall come into recognition when their faces are Christward.
[p. 138] Rem When the Lord comes into the temple Anna is there, of the tribe of Asher. She is of the ten tribes. It helps one, as seeing that God has kept His eye on that which appeared to be lost; so that when Paul says before king Agrippa, “Our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night”, one thinks of Anna, of the tribe of Asher: she departed not from the temple, she was waiting for the Lord. I have not a doubt but that the promise of God to the fathers keeps at all times the line of the twelve tribes, even as Anna was on that line. She was the spiritual element gathered out from the twelve tribes which otherwise were lost.
JT So, if we go by Paul and James, we must not say the ten tribes are lost.