Romans: Verse-By-Verse
By William R. Newell
Chapter 10
Paul's Prayer for Israel, who had Zeal, without Knowledge of, or Subjection to, God's Righteousness: Fundamental Contrast between the Righteousness of Doing and That of Believing. Verses 1-10. The Believing Method was According to Israel's Own
Scriptures,--unto which They did not Hearken: as God had Foretold.
Verses 11-21.
1 Brethren, the dear wish of
this heart of mine, and my prayer to God for them,
[Israel] is for [their] salvation. 2 For I
bear witness to them that they have a zeal for God,
but not at all according to knowledge. 3 For
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking
to establish their own, they did not subject
themselves to God's righteousness. 4 For
Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness, to
every one that believeth. Verse 2: He bears them this witness, and gladly,
that they had a zeal for God, but he most strongly denies
that there was any real knowledge of God and His ways in that zeal.
Mohammedans have zeal. When I passed through the Azhar Mosque, in
Cairo, a Moslem merchant was kneeling, forehead on the carpet, in
prayer. Four hours later I saw him still kneeling! And outside were
over 10,000 students, diligently learning the Koran! Zeal must not
be Mistaken for knowledge in Divine things. See Josephus quoted
below. [207] It is perhaps unkind in this place, (so tender with
Paul), to cite the religious zeal of pagan or Mohammedan. But Paul
himself classes the "beggarly elements" of Jew and pagan together!
(Gal 4:8-10), since the cross.
Verse 3: But it is certainly a terrible thing we
see. Here is the Jew with God's own Book, the Old Testament
Scriptures, in his hand, and blind to that Scripture's revelation of
his guilty, lost state before God. The Jews were in a fearful
condition in two ways: First, they were wholly ignorant of the one
great, vital fact sinners must know: that righteousness, life, and
all things are a free gift of the grace of God; and that the Law was
meant only to make them discover their sin and their own helpless
need of the outright gift of righteousness from God. The expression
ignorant of God's righteousness, does not mean that the Jewish
people were ignorant of holiness and righteousness as attributes of
God,--in fact, they prided themselves on the knowledge of such a God
as over against the hideous pagan gods. But the righteousness of
which they were wholly ignorant was that while "God Himself was
just," He was also "the Justifier of the ungodly" of all who
"believed on Jesus." As we said in Chapter Nine, the Jews had
seized upon their possession of the Law as in itself giving them a
standing with God. Our Lord could have spoken to almost any Jew as
He did to the woman at Sychar's well: "If thou knewest the gift
of God, and Who it is that saith to thee!" For of a gift
of righteousness they had no conception. The Law dispensation was necessarily unfruitful,
"making nothing perfect," because it neither imparted life, nor gave
strength to fulfil its demands. As Paul writes to the Hebrews, there
was a "disannulling" of it, and a "vanishing away" of the legal
covenant (Heb 7:18; Heb 8:13). When Christ came, although born under the Law in
order to redeem Israel (Gal 4:4-5), yet He Himself, from the very
beginning, took the place of the Law! In the Sermon on the Mount
(Matthew 5, 6, and 7) He declared: "It was said . . . but I say."
He came, indeed, not to destroy but to fulfil, and inasmuch as
Israel was under the curse of the Law, He redeemed them that were
under the Law by becoming Himself a curse for them (Gal 3:13). Although Christ in His ministry, ("lest we cause to
stumble,"-- Mat 17:27) paid due heed to Moses' directions (as in the
case of the leper--"Go show thyself to the priest"), yet He never,
for example, enforced the Sabbath: indeed He freely wrought
healings on that day, in the face of the murderous hatred of the
legalists. The Law was designed not to bring about
self-righteousness or self-hope, but contrariwise, self-despair. The
law witnessed to a man his need of a mediator--as at Sinai (Deu
5:23-27). Christ Himself is the righteousness of God. When He died,
bearing the sin of the world, the Law's demand for human
righteousness was over, ended, closed up, set aside. Christ
has now been "made of God unto us righteousness": we want no other.
But it is not easy to subject ourselves unto God's righteousness:
for God justifies the ungodly. Justification is a gift for
very beggars, the only hope for the guilty, lost and undone
[208]
The Jews, ignorant of God's gift of righteousness utterly refused
thus to subject themselves. They said "We know that God has spoken
to Moses, but as for this man [Jesus], we know not whence He is!"
John the Baptist's ministry is full of meaning here.
It is both a precious and an awful thing--the results of John's
testimony. Luke tells us: "All the people, when they heard [John],
and the publicans, justified God [when John preached repentance and
confession of their sins], being baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the
counsel of God, being not baptized of him" (Luk 7:29-30). It is
touching to the spiritual heart to find, for Instance, that all five
of those converted in the first chapter of John were John's
disciples. Second, to this day they seek to "establish their
own righteousness." But in this path that "seemeth right unto a man"
is the way of death, yea, of direct rebellion against God.
[209]
They (the Jews) were desperately set on
establishing, building up that which God had cast down, that is,
human righteousness. They heard with deaf ears their own prophets'
voices: "There is none righteous, no not one." "All our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Therefore, the Jews were, and
are today, worse off than the heathen. Their Law--"whensoever Moses
is read, a veil lieth upon their heart" (2Co 3:15). According to Isa
25:7, there is "a covering that covereth all peoples, a veil
that is spread over all nations" (to be removed in Millennial
days, thank God!). But over the face of the Israelite there is now
not only the common blindness of man to his own condition as a
sinner, but, added to that, the false confidence the Jew has in his
own righteousness because the Law was given by Jehovah to his
nation. [210]
Verse 4: Christ is the end of the Law unto
righteousness to every one that believeth. There has been much
discussion of the meaning of the word "end" here. Let us see if
Scripture does not clear up this matter for us. When Christ died, He
bore for Israel the curse of the Law, for they, and they alone, were
under the Law. Divine Law, being broken, does not ask for future
good conduct on the part of the infractor; but for his death,--and
that only. Now Christ having died, all the claims of the Law against
that nation which had been placed under law were completely met and
ended. So that even Jews could now believe, and say, "I am
dead to the Law!" To him that believeth, therefore, Jew or Gentile,
Christ, dead, buried, and risen, is the end of law for
righteousness,--in the sense of law's disappearance from the
scene! Law does not know, or take cognizance of believers! We
read in Chapter Seven (verse 6(Rom 7:6)) that those who had been
under the Law were discharged from the Law, brought to nought, put
out of business (katargeo( The Scripture must be obeyed with the obedience of
belief: "Ye are not under law [not under that principle] but
under grace" (the contrary principle). "Ye are brought to nothing
from Christ [literally, "put out of business from Christ"], ye who
would be justified by the Law; ye are fallen away from grace" (Gal
5:4). Paul writes in Heb 7:18-19 : "There is a disannulling
of a foregoing commandment, because of its weakness and
unprofitableness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and a bringing
in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh
unto God." Again, "Christ abolished in His flesh the enmity [between
Jew and Gentile], even the Law of commandments contained in
ordinances" (Eph 2:15); again, speaking as a Hebrew believer, Paul
says, "Christ blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was
against us which was contrary to us: and He hath taken it out of the
way, nailing it to the cross" (Col 2:14). If these Scriptures do not set forth a complete
closing up of any believer's account toward the Law, or to the whole
legal principle, I know nothing of the meaning of words. The words Christ is the end of the Law,
cannot mean Christ is the "fulfilment of what the law required."
The Law required obedience to precepts--or death for disobedience.
Now Christ died! If it be answered, that before He died He
fulfilled the claims of the Law, kept it perfectly, and that this
law-keeping of Christ was reckoned as over against the Israelite's
breaking of the Law, then I ask, Why should Christ die? If
the claims of the Law were met in Christ's earthly obedience, and if
that earthly life of obedience is "reckoned to those who believe"
the curse of the Law has been removed by "vicarious law-keeping."
Why should Christ die?
Now this idea of Christ's keeping the Law for "us"
(for they will include us among the Israelites! although the Law was
not given us Gentiles), is a deadly heresy, no matter who teaches
it. Paul tells us plainly how the curse of the Law was removed:
"Christ redeemed us," (meaning Jewish believers), "from the curse of
the Law, having become a curse for us" (Gal 3:13). And how He became
a curse, is seen in Deu 21:23 : "He that is hanged is accursed of
God." It was on the cross, not by an "earthly life of obedience,"
that Christ bore the Law's curse! There was no law given "which could make alive,"
Paul says; "otherwise righteousness would have been by it."
Therefore those who speak of Christ as taking the place of
fulfilling the Law for us,--as "the object at which the Law aimed"
(Alford); or, "the fulfilment or accomplishment of the Law"
(Calvin); give the Law an office that God did not give it.
There is not in all Scripture a hint of the doctrine that Christ's
earthly life--His obedience as a man under the Law, is "put to the
account" of any sinner whatsoever! That obedience, which was
perfect, was in order that He might "present Himself through the
eternal Spirit without spot unto God," as a sin-offering. It also
was in order to His sacrificial death, as "a curse," for Israel. The gospel does not begin for any sinner, Jew or
Gentile, until the cross: "I delivered unto you first of all,
that Christ died for our sins" (1Co 15:3). And for those under the Law, that was the end (telos( Therefore we must believe God when He says in Rom
5:20 : "The Law came in [not as an essential, but] as a
circumstantial thing." (The Greek word, pareis lthe, "came in
along-side," can mean nothing else.) In Paul's explanation of God's dealing with Israel
in Rom 9:31-33; Rom 10:5-10; Rom 11:5, Rom 11:6, the meaning of this
word telos "end," appears: that, when an Israelite believed
on Christ he was as completely through with the Law for
righteousness as if it had never been given. He had righteousness by
another way! The vast discussion among commentators concerning
the expression "the end of the Law," would never have been, had it
been recognized: (1) that God gave the Law only to Israel--as He
said; (2) that it was a temporary thing, a "ministration of death,"
to reveal sin, and therefore the necessity of Christ's death; (3)
that Christ having come, the day of the Law was over--it was
"annulled" see Heb 7:18. It is because Reformed theology has kept us Gentiles
under the Law,--if not as a means of righteousness, then as "a rule
of life," that all the trouble has arisen. The Law is no more a
rule of life than it is a means of righteousness. Walking in the
Spirit has now taken the place of walking by ordinances. God has
another principle under which He has put his saints: "Ye are not
under law, but, under grace!"
5 For Moses writeth that the
man that doeth the righteousness which is of the
Law shall live thereby. 6 But the
righteousness which' of faith saith thus. Say
not in thy heart. Who shall ascend into heaven?
(that is, to bring Christ down:) or, 7
Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is, to
bring Christ up from the dead.) 8 But
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, in thy
mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of
faith, which we preach: 9 because if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be [thy]
Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved:
10 for with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. Now follows a most remarkable use by Paul of a
Scripture out of Moses' own mouth which he spake to Israel
concerning the Law, and which Paul here applies to Christ. It will
be best to quote the passage from Deu 30:11-14 in full:
Now Moses' answer to all this is, "The word
is nigh unto thee-- in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest
do it." That is, the written words of the Law the people knew: they
could repeat them; they were told to teach them diligently unto
their children, and, as David did, "hide them in their hearts " that
they might not sin. It was all simple, indeed. And, of course, there
were those, like Joshua, who said, "As for me and my house, we will
serve Jehovah"; or who, like Zecharias and Elisabeth in Luk 1:6,
were "righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless." But the great point Moses makes with Israel is that
there was the Law, in simple, plain words. They needed no sign, no
manifestation; that had all been done at Sinai. But the great
difficulty in the human heart (with Israel just as with us), is
simple subjection to God's words. See how the Jews in our
Lord's day kept asking of Him, "Show us a sign from heaven."
[211]
Verse 6: Now Paul knows the human heart to be the
same today as in the days of Moses, so he lifts out of Deuteronomy
Moses's words about the Law and applies them to faith in Christ:
The righteousness which is of faith [instead of asking a sign]
saith thus, Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven?
(that is, to bring Christ down:). This would be the natural
working of the heart of a Jew. The Messiah, Christ, was to be sent
to him from God; in fact, the nation had kept looking for Him. But
the perpetual rising of unbelief, apart from "a sign from heaven,"
was there. It is very striking, as has been observed by others,
that the Spirit of God should select the verses quoted above from
Deuteronomy. For this chapter plainly prophesies that the Jews will
be scattered among the nations because of their despising of God's
Law. So that all hope from the Law will have perished, and they will
be cast wholly upon the mercy of God:
Verse 7: So that the Jew said in his heart. Who
can ascend to heaven to bring Him down unto me? Then further,
Christ being proclaimed that He had been sent already, and had borne
their iniquities according to prophecy,--that He had died,--there
would come the question in the Jewish heart: Who shall go down
into the abyss and bring Him up from the regions of the dead
[212] that I may see Him and thus believe on Him?
Verse 8: Now, answering all these inquiries, these
sign-askings, came the simple word of faith preached by Paul.
This expression, "the word of faith," involves the whole story of
the gospel: that Jesus was the Christ, that He had come, died for
sin, been buried, been raised, and been seen by many witnesses after
His resurrection (1Co 15:3-8). Verses 9 and 10: Paul speaks, then, in these
verses--as if addressing a Jewish hearer: If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus as Lord [literally, Jesus, Lord; or, Jesus
to be (thy) Lord], and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It is assumed the whole
gospel has been preached to this hearer. And now is he persuaded
that this Risen Jesus, was really the Messiah? And, though rejected
by Israel, that He is Lord over all,--the Deity? And is his
Lord? And is he willing so to confess Him as his own Lord before
men?
With thy mouth--We remember that in our Lord's
ministry among the Jews, "Even of the rulers many believed on
Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest
they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory of
men more than the glory of God" (Joh 12:42-43). Then does this Jewish hearer, in short, being
persuaded of Jesus' Lordship and confessing it, believe in his very
heart that God raised Him from the dead? For Christianity, as
we have said, "begins with the resurrection." No matter how
thoroughly persuaded a Jew might be that Jesus fulfilled the
prophecies in His birth, life, ministry, and death; there remained
this stupendous task of faith, to believe in the heart that God
had raised Him from the power and domain of death, of that which
was the wages of sin,--the "King of Terrors" (Job 18:14) of the
whole world! Those thus confessing Christ's Lordship, and
believing in the heart that God had raised Him, would be saved! The
explanation of the apostle of what has happened in such a case is,
that with the heart the man, believed unto righteousness; while
with the mouth the faith of the heart is boldly followed in
confession, resulting in salvation.
You may ask, would not a Jew (for these chapters
particularly concern Jews) who had "believed unto righteousness"
have, thus, salvation?
[213] It is better to let the Scripture
language stand. God here connects the word salvation with the word
confession, not with the word faith. Peter, in his second epistle,
speaks of those who "had known the way of righteousness," which is
always faith,--and then afterward "turned back from the holy
commandment delivered unto them" (2Pe 2:20-21); while our Lord in
Luke 8 says of the rocky-ground hearer that he "believed for a
while, and in time of temptation fell away." Therefore, while in
both parts of Rom 10:10, Paul refers to the man of verse 9 as one
who is to be "saved," it is well to let the verse remain as it is.
The Lord when on earth among the Jews asked that they confess Him
publicly; the Spirit still asks this. Not only Jews but Gentiles
must confess Him; although the form of presentation of the truth in
Chapter Ten is as it would apply to a Jew, to whom had been offered
a Messiah, concerning whose claims he had to decide, according to
several Old Testament Scriptures. The Gentiles did not have the
Scriptures, and the matter of the presentation of the gospel to them
was much more simple. But "confession with the mouth" will follow
"the faith of God's elect," Jew or Gentile.
Now, as ever when dealing with the Jews, Paul turns
to their Scriptures, and quotes eight times from the Old Testament,
before this Tenth Chapter is out--thirty times altogether in these
three chapters (9,10, and 11)!
11 For the Scripture saith.
Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to
shame. 12 For there is no distinction
between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord
of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him:
13 for, Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How
then shall they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? and how shall they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? and how shall they
hear without a preacher? 15 and how shall
they preach, except they be sent? even as it is
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that
bring glad tidings of good things! They should have been warned also that inasmuch as
believing was God's way--the path in which those who walked
would not be put to shame; those who chose the way of works, of
self-righteousness, would surely be put to shame. This word
"ashamed" or "put to shame" is in the Hebrew, to flee--from fear.
Those who have exercised simple faith in Christ, and abide thus in
Him, shall "have boldness: and not be ashamed before Him [Christ] at
His coming"--";boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is,
even so are we in this world" (1Jn 2:28; 1Jn 4:17). This "whosoever" message is further developed in
verse 12, where we see the familiar words no distinction between
Jew and Greek. We remember this as the exact expression used as
to universal sinnerhood in Chapter 3:22(Rom 3:22); which is now used
as to salvation. For, first, He is Lord of all, and
second, He is rich unto all that call upon Him.
These great words must be laid to heart. They bring
great comfort, directly to any Jews who desire the Savior, and also
to the hearts of all of us, Jew and Gentile, because the universal
availability of salvation is so gloriously opened out here, based as
it is upon the universal lordship of Christ. As Peter said at
Cornelius' house to Gentiles, "The word which He sent unto the
children of Israel, preaching good tidings of peace by Jesus Christ
(He is Lord of all)." It is a great day when a human heart turns to
this Savior who is Lord of all, for he immediately finds Him "rich
unto all." Verse 13: And then the great word by the prophet
Joel is brought forward: Whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved (Joe 2:32). Now who could miss the
meaning of this simplest of all messages? Now, (if we should preach
on this verse!) First, salvation is promised. Second, it is a be-saved,
not save-yourself, salvation. Third, it is the Lord who is to
do it. Fourth, He does it for those who call upon His Name.
Fifth, He does it for the whosoevers, for anybody.
What a preacher, Joel! But note that Paul is writing to Jews, and is
giving Old Testament texts. For Paul's great gospel message is to
hear and believe "the word of the cross, which is the power of God."
This message goes away beyond that of the Old Testament. Paul
preached the good news of a work finished. It was for the
"whosoevers": and Joel's use of that word should have convinced any
Jew of God's purpose of salvation to any one, to all. But Paul does
not mean that his gospel was "Call on the Lord." His gospel was,
Christ died for our sins: He was buried, and was raised, for you:
hear and believe. These "whosoevers" should have taught the Jews that
the way of salvation was not by their Law or any special way for
them, but for any and all. Alas, the word "whosoever" was too wide
for the narrow Jewish mind in Joel's day and Paul's day and is so
today. [214]
Verses 14 and 15: But now Paul takes these two
"whosoever" verses, and from them answers the Jew, who not only
relied on his law-keeping instead of on simple faith to save him,
but also denied that either Paul or any of the apostles had any
right to proclaim salvation by a simple message,--a message that
left out the Law and Judaism. If salvation were to come unto them
that "call on the name of the Lord" argues Paul, calling is
impossible to one who has not believed on the Lord; and believing is
impossible to one who has not heard the message about the Lord; and
hearing is impossible unless some one comes preaching the message;
and preaching is impossible except the messenger be Divinely sent!
And again Paul clinches it with the Scripture (Isa 52:7): How
beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good
things! Moses' Law was not glad tidings, but a ministration of
death and condemnation. "The Law worketh wrath." But the
gospel--"Glad tidings! Good things!" And God who knows, calls
"beautiful" the feet that carry such news. Are our feet
"beautiful"--in God's eyes? Paul now, with a saddened heart, goes back to the
record of Israel's refusing the glad tidings:
16 But they did not all
hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith,
Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So
faith is from a report, but the report through
the word of Christ. 18 But I say, Did
they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out
into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of
the world. 19 But I say. Did Israel not
know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to
jealousy with that which is no nation, With a
nation void of understanding will I anger you.
20 And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought
Me not; I became manifest unto them that asked
not of Me. 21 But as to Israel he saith,
All the day long did I spread out My hands unto
a disobedient and gainsaying people. "This people's
heart is waxed gross, And their ears
are dull of hearing, And their eyes
they have closed; Lest haply they
should perceive with their eyes,
And hear with
their ears, And understand
with their heart, And should turn
again, And I should
heal them" (Mat 13:15).
Verse 17: So faith is from a report; but the
report through the word of Christ--The Greek term here for
"word" is rhema( It is here that the missionary urge comes! Christ
must, indeed, utter His creating word from Heaven to the dead soul,
saying, Live! But in 2Co 5:18-20, we see that while "God was,
indeed, in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," He has
"committed to us [Greek, "placed in us"] the word of
reconciliation." So that God is entreating by us: we beseech
(people) on behalf of Christ, "Be ye reconciled to God!" Faith, indeed, comes of hearing. Do not
imagine men will be saved in any other way. Earnest, prayerful
Cornelius is commanded (and that by an angel) to send for "Simon
whose surname is Peter, who shall speak to thee words by
which thou shalt be saved" (Act 11:14). "It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching [lit., the preached thing--Christ
crucified] to save them that believe" (1Co 1:21 marg.). Note also
that "faith cometh." If you hear, with a willing heart, the
good news, that Christ died for you; that He was buried; that He was
raised from the dead:--by truly "hearing," faith will "come" to you.
You do not have to do a thing but hear! So there is God's part--He
gave, by the Spirit, the written Word. And Christ's part,--He
speaks, quickening the Word. And your part: "He that hath ears,
hear." Verse 18: But Paul goes on to mourn: But I say,
Did they [Israel] not hear? Yea, verily. And then he
makes a quotation from a wholly unexpected Scripture, even Psa 19:4
:
Their sound went out
into all the earth, And their words unto
the ends of the world.
[215] I will provoke you to
jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of
understanding will I anger you. Verse 20: Now finally Paul calls Isaiah again to the
witness stand; and Isaiah gives a double testimony: he is indeed
very bold in his prophecy of Gentile salvation:
I was found of them that
sought me not; I became manifest unto
them that asked not of me.
How Jews could read this passage and remain unmoved,
in their traditions, formalities, and unbelief, only faithful
preachers can imagine,--who have had to deal with the titanic
possibilities of evil and unbelief in the human heart. As showing how far Christendom has lost the whole
spirit of the gospel, we remind you that everywhere people have the
idea they ought to "seek" salvation; they are everywhere told
they ought to "go to church."
[216]
How many now reading these words believe that Rom
10:20 is God's program for this Gentile day? You say, Should we not
seek God? No! You should sit down and hear what is written in
Romans: first, about your guilt, then about your helplessness, and
then about the inability of the Law to do anything but condemn you;
and then believe on Christ whom God hath sent; and then praise God
for righteousness apart from works, apart from
ordinances! hear how God laid sin, your sin, on a Substitute, His
own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and that now, sin being put away,
God has raised Him from the dead. Seek God? No! God is the Seeker,
and He has sought and is now seeking those that asked not of Him,
and has been found of those who sought Him not!--but simply
heard the good news and believed! Praise His Holy
Name! Verse 21: But, alas, poor Israel! Jehovah, through
Isaiah, speaks thus of them: All the day long did I spread out my
hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people (Isa 65:2). What
yearning, what love, what pleading, what patience! And it is The
Creator, God Himself, here, spreading out His hands! Towards
whom? Towards a disobedient people; a people that, being rebuked,
did deny and gainsay their prophets, and even their own Messiah,--as
they do unto this day!
[217]
It should astonish and warn us--every unbelieving
Jew we see! Astonish us, that the human heart should treat God so!
And warn us: for, as we shall see in the next chapter, we Gentiles
are now being "visited" by God,--this same God of Love: and He is
stretching out His hands to usward! May we early yield to Him! And here, lest we miss the lesson for us, in
considering wretched Israel's rejection of their Messiah, let us
read a message to our own hearts:
THE GREAT UNKNOWN
WHY dost Thou pass unheeded, Treading with pierced feet The halls of the kingly palace, The busy street? Oh marvellous in Thy beauty, Crowned with the light of God, Why fall they not down to worship Where Thou hast trod? Why are Thy hands extended Beseeching whilst men pass by With their empty words and their laughter, Yet passing on to die? Unseen, unknown, unregarded, Calling and waiting yet-- They hear Thy knock and they tremble-- They hear, and they forget. And Thou in the midst art standing Of old and forever the same-- Thou hearest their songs and their jesting, But not Thy name. The thirty-three years forgotten Of the weary way Thou hast trod-- Thou art but a name unwelcome, O Savior God! Yet amongst the highways and hedges, Amongst the lame and the blind, The poor and the maimed and the outcast, Still dost Thou seek and find-- There by the wayside lying The eyes of Thy love can see The wounded, the naked, the dying, Too helpless to come to Thee. So Thou art watching and waiting Till the wedding is furnished with guests-- And the last of the sorrowful singeth, And the last of the weary rests.-- C. P. C. (in Hymns of Ter Steegen).
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[207] 1."The Jew knows the Law better than his own name . . . The great feasts were frequented by countless thousands, . . . Over and above the requirements of the Law, ascetic religious exercises advocated by the teachers of the Law came into vogue . . . Even the Hellenised and Alexandrian Jews under Caligula died on the cross and by fire, and the Palestinian prisoners in the last war died by the claws of African lions in the amphitheatre, rather than sin against the Law. What Greek would do the like? . . . The Jews also exhibited an ardent zeal for the conversion of the Gentiles to the Law of Moses. The proselytes filled Asia Minor and Syria, and--to the indignation of Tacitus--Italy and Rome." Surely the Jews of Josephus' day had a "zeal for God." [208] 1."This is what God calls subjecting ourselves to God's righteousness': finding a righteousness which is neither of nor in ourselves, but finding Christ before God and the proud will, through grace, submitting to be saved by that which is not of or in ourselves. It is Christ instead of self--instead of our place in the flesh." Roland Hill, at the close of a great meeting, saw a lady riding in an elegant carriage, who commanded her coachman to halt, and beckoned Mr. Hill to approach her. "Sir," she said, "my coachman came to your meetings and says you told him how to be saved; so that he is now very happy. Please tell me how a lady of the nobility is to be saved, for I also desire to be happy." "Madame," said the preacher, "Christ died for the whole world. God says there is no difference. All are to be saved through simple faith in Him." "Do you mean," she said haughtily, "that I must be saved in the same way as my coachman?" "Precisely. There is no other way." "Then," she said, "I will have none of it!" and she made her coachman drive away. [209] As Stifler so well says: "The Jews claimed that in following the Law they were submitting to God, for He gave the Law. No, says Paul; in so doing you are not submitting to the righteousness of God. For Christ [whom God gave and you reject] is the end of the Law for [with a view of] righteousness to every one that believeth.' The Jew's system was one of doing; but God's was one of believing, one of grace. Law and grace are mutually exclusive and antagonistic systems. Because the Jew held to Law he was not in subjection to God. The proof that he was not is the great principle of grace here recorded." [210] It is with unutterable sadness that we contemplate the even worse condition of the Laodicean Church of today! "Wretched, poor, miserable, blind, naked"--and knowing it not! Christ on the outside of the door! Yet outwardly rich, and increased with goods! [211] It is so to this day, and sad to say, the tendency to demand "signs" is increasing rather than lessening. If a man come announcing "healing meetings" (although no such "meetings for healing" are known in Scripture), the place will be crowded. History is full of spiritual wreckage caused by "Lo, here," and "Lo, there!" [212] Our Lord plainly said he would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Mat 12:40). This was not Joseph's tomb (which was on the surface of the earth), but the Hebrew Sheol (Greek, Hades(G86)), which is always in Scripture located below the earth's surface--even "the lower parts of the earth" (Eph 4:9). To another compartment of these "lower parts" the wicked also went; as see Psa 63:9. That this was in the general region called Hades, the rich man of Luk 16:22-23 proves. (Always read the Revised Version about the words Sheol--Hades: for it transliterates them. The King James simply obscures them by various renderings.) While Christ's body lay in Joseph's tomb "not seeing corruption," His soul (or quickened spirit, 1Pe 3:18)--as Peter and Paul, quoting Psa 16:10, plainly show (Act 2:31; Act 13:34; Act 13:37) was duly brought up again "from the depths of the earth" (Psa 71:20). [213] 1.Faith is directly connected with the word "righteousness" or "justification," about twenty times in the New Testament, but faith is directly connected with the word "salvation" only four times; and these four instances (Rom 1:16, 1Pe 1:5; 1Pe 1:9-10) themselves show that whereas righteousness expresses the present standing of a believing one; salvation is a larger and more inclusive word--in the sense of Rom 13:11 : "Awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer to us than when we believed." (In this verse our bodily redemption at Christ's coming, is included). And, 1Pe 1:5 : "Guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." This shows that although we do "receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls" (1Pe 1:9), the word salvation in general includes not only the salvation of our souls, but also the consummation of our final deliverance at Christ's coming. I do not find "salvation," then, connected in Scripture with any but those who shall thus be found in Christ at His coming. The words of Paul in Corinthians (1Co 15:1-4) outlining His gospel, are, "Ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you." In the preceding verse, he declares that they had "received" the gospel which he had preached unto them. But this gospel was not to be let go. As our Lord says concerning the good ground hearers in Luk 8:15 : "These are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience." In 1Th 5:21 the same word is translated "hold fast that which is good." It is solemnly used also in Heb 3:6; Heb 3:14; Heb 10:23. This is no argument against Divine election, or the eternal security of the saints. But it is a truth that must be, and really is, faced by every godly soul. Over and over, of course, in the Gospels, the word for saved (sozo(G4982)) is used. The word of our Lord is, "Thy faith hath saved thee," (or, A.V. "made thee whole"--same Greek word). It is also used concerning salvation: Mat 19:25, Act 2:21; Act 16:30-31. Paul also uses this word in Rom 5:9-10; Rom 10:13, etc. What we are urging is that we connect in our own thinking, and confession of our Lord,--the word "faith" with righteousness, as Scripture in the Epistles so constantly does. In times of darkness and weak faith such as this, the rescue from doom is uppermost in the believer's mind; whereas God would have his standing in Christ uppermost! How constantly we hear in a testimony meeting, "I have been, or I was, saved ten years," etc.; and how very seldom, if ever, the testimony is: I have been declared righteous by faith, and have peace with God. I am righteous before God, through my Savior's death. I thank God I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. The old Methodists used to testify to their justification,--"justified state," they called it. But then old-fashioned Methodist preachers, preached of coming judgment, of eternal punishment, of the sinner's terrible danger; and they boldly spoke of pardon as what the sinner needed. We believe God has given still more light upon Scripture since those days, but would God we had the moral earnestness and the wonderfully bright experiences of the old-fashioned Methodists! Again we say, God generally connects faith with righteousness. Let us do likewise. [214] And alas, also, there are those who insist that the Jew has a special place right through this dispensation; that he must always be "first," that there is a difference, although God says plainly in Chapter Three that there is no difference between Jew and Greek as to sinnership, guilt; and no difference as to the lordship of Christ and the availability of salvation to the "whosoevers," Jew or Gentile. If Paul were among us today, he would abhor and decry the special, esoteric methods of approach to the Jew in vogue in some pretentious quarters today. Become all things to the Jew, to win him, certainly. Paul did. But tell him the truth, that he is just a whosoever, and nobody else! The terrible prophecy of Eze 20:33-38 (read R. V. only, here) is about to be fulfilled concerning the scattered millions of Israel: "As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out; and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face." What the poor, wretched Jewish exiles need this hour is a Paul to go right in amongst them with a "whosoever" message for sinners, not a "literary-approach" Paul, but the exact opposite, with perhaps "bodily presence weak and speech of no account," but "provoking them to jealousy" by boasting in a Messiah whom their nation has lost,--a nation to whom God is not now offering a Messiah, but instead salvation, as common whosoevers, no-distinction people, ordinary guilty sinners, I protest that in Acts 28 God through Paul officially closed the door to the national offer of the gospel to the Jews, and that thereafter to treat the Jew as having a special place with God, is to deny Scripture. [215] The use of the plural "their"--"their sound," "their words," here, is immediately evident in the familiar Psalm itself: "The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world," "Their" voice is the vast chorus of the created universe, and of course plural. But Paul has just been speaking here of hearing coming by Christ's word. But, Christ is Himself the Creator of all this universe! For "all things were created by Him and for Him." We must keep this fact in mind and allow the words of the Psalm to witness to the universality of the testimony concerning Christ. The emphasis on into all the earth; unto the ends of the earth must have included Israel, The "invisible things of God were clearly perceived from the creation of the world, even His everlasting power and divinity,"--as we saw concerning all men in Chapter One,--but the Jews had immeasurably more! God had come down and spoken to them on Mount Sinai; then their prophets, and then the Son, the Heir, had come; yea, and through the apostles and Stephen they had had the testimony of the Holy Spirit directly from Christ on high! So Israel had indeed "heard"! Therefore, in quoting Psalm Nineteen, Paul holds Israel to the "voice" of creation as if no other people existed. It was their Psalm! [216] It is an excellent thing to go where God's saints gather; and to "meetings for unsaved people. But attending meetings saves no one. There is a Savior! And good news about Him to be believed for yourself! [217] "And he (Manasseh) set the graven image of the idol, which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son. In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I Put My name forever': . . . And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel." "All the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place." But alas, we read: "They mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against His people, till there was no remedy" (2Ch 33:7; 2Ch 33:9; 2Ch 36:14-16).
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