WHEN WILL THE NATIONS BE DASHED IN PIECES?
By James White
Our no-law opponents formerly supposed that they had a strong hold in the letter to the Romans; and so long as they could confine the argument to separate verses or detached sentences, so long they could give an air of plausibility to their views. But when the whole is taken in connection, and every part allowed to have its proper bearing, and a harmony of the whole obtained, we find in it an unanswerable argument for the perpetuity of the law. And so it is in regard to the question of the restoration of the Jews; while a few expressions only from a single chapter are considered, a construction may be placed upon them altogether at variance with the tenor of the whole epistle. The eleventh chapter of Romans is much relied upon to prove that the Jews will be restored, nationally, to a pre-eminence in the purpose of God's grace; but the previous chapters positively forbid that such a construction be placed upon it. In the first chapter, after expressing his confidence in the saving power of the gospel, and laying the sure foundation of justification by faith, the apostle described the world in its sinful condition. This description has been, by some, applied to parts of the world, or to the heathen. But the Apostle makes his own application. He says: Therefore, "thou art inexcusable, O man whosoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." Chap. ii, 1. From this application it is vain to appeal; and that this change is just, and sustained by the Word, I purpose to notice at another time. The Apostle then goes on to show that Jews and Gentiles are alike subject to the wrath of God for disobedience, and are alike the recipients of his grace through patient continuance in well-doing, "for there is no respect of persons with God." That obedience, and not merely profession, name, or birth, is pleasing to God, is clearly shown in the latter part of chap. ii, where the Jew is told that if he is a transgressor of the law his circumcision is made uncircumcision; but if the Gentile keep the law his uncircumcision is counted for circumcision. As circumcision was the token of the covenant made with Abraham, it was of course considered a mark to designate his children. Then the Apostle's meaning is evident.—If the Jew transgresses the law his circumcision is made uncircumcision, and his title to the name of Abraham's seed is destroyed; but if the Gentile keeps the righteousness of the law his uncircumcision is counted for circumcision, and he can rightly claim the blessing of Abraham's circumcised children. The conclusion is obvious, that outward distinctions are destroyed, and now "he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." Chap. ii, 28, 29. The real advantage which the Jew possessed is stated in chap. iii, 1, 2, but in verses 9, 10, he says: "What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." After thus proving the whole world guilty, justification by faith (the only hope of the guilty) is again introduced, and again it is declared that "there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" [verses 22, 23:] of course, boasting is excluded; [verse 27:] and well may the Apostle exclaim: "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." Verses 29, 30. Let those who claim a special blessing for Abraham's natural descendants carefully examine the statements in chap. iv. It begins with an inquiry as to what "Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found." This is an important query; for surely none of his children according to the flesh, can claim more than he, their father, obtained "as it respects the flesh." (Whiting.) But the argument of the Apostle makes it evident that he received nothing at all for such a consideration. If he received any thing as it respects the flesh, it was, of course, received as his own right, and then he would have cause to glory, (though not before God,) [verse 2,] but Paul says boasting is excluded by the law of faith, and Abraham's blessing or justification was of faith, by believing on him that justifieth, therefore, the children of Abraham can claim nothing by reason of their birth; but must seek it, like Abraham, by faith; and the blessing of Abraham, (justification by faith,) comes upon all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles; and Abraham himself received the blessing in uncircumcision, "and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also." Verse 2. As all are sinners, all are under the condemnation of the law, and there can be no justification by the law. The children of Israel promised to keep it, but they did not; and the covenant under which they received the law could not, therefore, confer the blessing. If that covenant could have secured the blessing they would have stood independent of Abraham, and thus have set aside justification by faith, and destroyed the claim of all believers; as it is said in verse 14, "For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect," and in Gal. iii, 18: "For if the inheritance be of the law it is not of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise." I hope all who are affected with Judaizing notions will carefully consider these points. In the succeeding chapters are enforced the declarations respecting the law and justification by faith, and the subject of Abraham's children is again brought up in chap. iv. Some of the expressions in this chapter have been considered; and although Paul was by birth a Jew, and had a feeling for his "kinsmen according to the flesh," he could not deny himself and destroy the facts set forth in the previous chapters, but cuts off the claim of the unfaithful to the name of Israel or Abraham's children. And it is of those—the unbelieving descendants of Jacob—that he speaks in his comparison of the vessels of the potter; God had endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Verse 22. He has certainly endured much of that rebellious people, considering the privileges conferred upon them; and the application is evident from this connection, and from chap. x, 21. "But to Israel he saith, all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." The believers in Christ, "not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles," are "vessels of mercy" prepared unto glory; and the prophecies as well as the promise to Abraham are brought in to attest this truth. Hosea says: "I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God." Isaiah says, "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, A REMNANT shall be saved. For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." Rom. ix, 25-28. God's people are now composed of believing GENTILES and the believing remnant of Israel. And186these are one, "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." Chap. x, 12, 13. In the latter part of this chapter the plea of ignorance, which some have made in favor of the Jews, is effectually answered. They have not all obeyed the gospel; [verse 16;] but it is not because they have not heard; [verse 18;] nor because they did not know; [verse 19;] but because they were "a disobedient and gainsaying people." Verse 21. I come now to an examination of chap. xi, which has been termed (incorrectly, I think) the stronghold of Judaism. The expressions in previous chapters, also in the letter to the Ephesians, are plain and positive, and clearly prove that God has no special regard for the literal descendants of Jacob; and that his purpose and promises will all be fulfilled without again building up the middle wall that Christ in his gospel has broken down. And if Paul has shown in chap. xi, that in God's purpose of grace there is a difference, he has certainly contradicted what he said in other scriptures, especially in chapters ii and ix, and in his letter to the Ephesians. I am well aware that it is supposed or inferred that there are two points established in Rom. xi, which conflict with the position of the Apostle in the scriptures I have quoted: 1. That there is a difference admitted between Israel and the believing Gentiles; and 2d, All Israel will be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. First, I am free to admit all the difference that can be claimed in harmony with the Word. All will perceive and allow that there are two senses in which the term Israel is used; and there are also other words used in the same manner, that is, in two different senses, namely, the seed of Abraham, the inheritance, the sanctuary, Jerusalem, Jews, and circumcision. These are used in both senses in the New Testament, yet there is seldom any difficulty experienced in ascertaining the proper sense in which each is used, by the connection, if we may except Israel. They may all be classed together as follows: Israel according to the flesh, the land of Palestine under the curse, the sanctuary or pattern of heavenly things, Jerusalem which now is, Jews outwardly, and circumcision outward in the flesh. These all belong in one class. On the other hand we find Israel the faithful children of promise, an incorruptible, undefiled, and eternal inheritance, the heavenly Sanctuary, Jerusalem which is above, Jews inwardly, and circumcision of the heart—in the spirit. These two classes belong to two different systems: one of enmity—the other of peace; [Eph. ii, 14, 15;] and each has its own place in its own system, and cannot be transferred to the other by any means; so that he who is outwardly a Jew, an Israelite according to the flesh, of the first class, can no more take his place in the other class, or gospel system, without becoming Abraham's seed by faith in Christ, than the Greek or the Hottentot. That there is a natural difference must be admitted by all, and there is also a difference between Englishmen and Frenchmen, and between males and females, but does the difference make one more acceptable to God than the other? By no means. Of what avail then is a natural or rational difference while in the purpose of God as set forth in the gospel of his Son, there is no difference? There is a natural and very plain difference between English, French, and German emigrants to this country, but when they become naturalized the government grants the same protection and immunities to all, because in naturalization they all become citizens of this commonwealth. So of the Gentiles: they were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel;" but the gospel of Christ is the great naturalization rule by which they who were afar off are made nigh, and are "no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and ARE BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES," of whom there were twelve—one to each tribe in "the commonwealth of Israel." The second point I have stated as the inference is generally claimed: that all Israel will be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; and if this is not as this scripture is understood by our opponents then I fail to see what special claim they can institute for the Jew. Says the objector, God has not cast them away, for blindness has happened to them in part. Verses 1, 25. True, God did not cast them away in the sense of utterly rejecting them, but still calls them to be reconciled to him, and receive the blessing of Abraham through faith in Christ; and blindness has happened to them only in part, for if it had happened wholly not even a remnant could be saved; and all Israel in verse 28 must refer to this remnant. There are others that are "of Israel," but the remnant alone are Israel. Will any claim salvation for more of them than the remnant? If so, where is the promise? Paul makes the promise of God fulfilled in the remnant, [chap. ix, 27, 28,] and adds: "And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, (a very small remnant—Isa. i, 9,) we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha." Verse 29. He claims no more than this in Rom. xi, and certainly no other scripture presents a more favorable appearance for Judaism; and as the promise only refers to the remnant, is there any need of a change of dispensation, or that they receive special privilege, in order to its fulfilment? I think not. But the fullness of the Gentiles must come in first, says the objector. There is the great mistake. The text does not say, and then shall all Israel be saved; nor after that time shall all Israel be saved; but it says: "And SO shall all Israel be saved;" verse 26. The definition of so, is thus, or in like manner; and by examining the whole context we find that it refers to the act of grafting into the good olive tree through faith. Of the word so, Webster says it is followed by as. Walker says: it answers to as, either preceding or following; and there is no antecedent to which it can refer agreeably to the definition given by Webster, Walker, and others, but this: that as the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in through their faith, and being ingrafted into the good olive tree, (which is Christ,) so (in like manner) shall all Israel be saved;" for "they also, if they continue not still in unbelief, will be ingrafted:" (Whiting, verse 23.) The 25th verse refers to manner, and not to time; but the question of time is clearly settled in the first part of the chapter. Having previously settled the point that the remnant will be saved, he says: "Even so then AT THIS PRESENT TIME also there is a remnant according to the election of grace;" verse 5. The following paragraph is from J. Litch: "Verses 26, 27. 'And so all Israel,' the holy seed, as above, who shall return, as the substance of the sacred oak, 'shall be saved,' in the kingdom of God, and unto eternal life. 'As it is written' in Isa. lix, 20, 'There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.' This is nearly a literal rendering of the Septuagint version, while the reading of our translation of the passage is a literal rendering of the Hebrew, as follows: 'And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob.'" Both Whiting and Macknight render verse 28—"they are enemies on your account:" that is, because the grace of the gospel had overstepped the bounds of their peculiarities, they were enemies to it: an instance of the manifestation of this enmity is recorded in Acts xiii, 45: "But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." And so the scripture is fulfilled: "Let their table (the law of commandments contained in ordinances) be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block." Rom. xi, 9. That law recognized a difference between Jews and Gentiles, and when the middle wall was broken down, and the difference destroyed, it became a stumbling-block, or snare through their prejudice, and they were enemies on account of the Gentiles. On a close examination I fail to see anything in Rom. xi, which at all favors the idea of the national restoration of the Jews, or of probation, after the coming of Christ, to fulfill the promises of God, in respect to them. But, it is said, God's name was specially called upon them. True; but at the end of the seventy weeks, "God did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name," and now his name is called upon them. Acts xv, 14, 17. Hosea says, as quoted in Rom. xi, 28: "And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God." The name of God is called upon his children. Those who now unjustly claim the name of Jews, (being only Jews outwardly,) the Lord speaks of as being "of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie;" [Rev. iii, 9;] therefore, instead of God's name being called upon them, the name of Satan properly belongs to them, and the Saviour himself places it upon them. To believers, of every nation, it is said, Ye are the children of the living God; but to the impenitent descendants of Israel it is said, "Ye are of your father the Devil." John viii, 44. Surely, it is no small mistake to say that the name of God is now called upon them, as some do say, when the Saviour has placed upon them the name of the Devil; for they are his children. The scriptures here noticed might with profit be dwelt upon at much greater length, and many others might be noticed of the same import; but I think we may safely leave it with every candid Bible student that the objection which supposes the literal descendants of Jacob must be restored to the land of Palestine, or have peculiar privileges granted to them in this or any other age, is without force, and is founded upon a misapprehension of the scriptures which reveal God's gracious purposes.
J. H. W.
(To be Continued.)