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I AM TELLING THE TRUTH IN
CHRIST: Aletheian lego (1SPAI) en Christo:
(1:9;
2 Corinthians 1:23;
11:31;
12:19;
Galatians 1:20;
Philippians 1:8;
1 Thessalonians 2:5;
1 Timothy 2:7;
5:21)
Related resources...
Summary on the Attributes of God
Spurgeon on the Attributes of God
Israel of God - Is God "Finished"
with Israel in His prophetic plan?
Off Site - Table
Comparing/contrasting Israel & Church
Off Site - Does the Church Fulfill
Israel's Program? - John Walvoord
The Jewish People, Jesus Christ and World History
- S Lewis Johnson
Are you confused about God's plan for Israel?
Then I highly recommend Tony
Garland's
12 Hour Course on Romans 9-11
in which he addresses in depth the question of What
Will Happen to Israel?
(click)
or see the individual lectures below)
Romans 9:1-5 Paul's Sorrow Concerning Israel
Romans 9:6-13
Children of the Promise
Romans 9:14-24
The Potter and the Clay
Romans 9:25-33
A Remnant Will be Saved
Romans 10:1-13
The Righteousness of God
Romans 10:14-21
Has Israel Not Heard?
Romans 11:1-6
God Has Not Cast Away The Jews
Romans 11:7-15
Life from the Dead
Romans 11:16-24
Two Olive Trees
Romans 11:25-36
The Salvation of Israel
Note that when you click the
preceding links, each link will in turn give you several choices
including an Mp3 message and brief transcript notes. The Mp3's
are long (avg 70+ min) but are in depth and thoroughly Scriptural with
many quotations from the Old Testament, which is often much less well
understood than the NT by many in the church today. Garland takes a
literal approach to Scripture, and his love for the Jews and passion to
see them saved comes through very clearly in these 12 hours of teaching!
Take your home Bible Study group through this series if you dare. Take
notes on the tapes as the transcripts are a very abbreviated version of
the audio messages. This course is highly recommended for all who love
Israel! I think you will agree that Tony Garland, despite coming to
faith after age 30 as an engineer, clearly has been given a special
anointing by God to promulgate the truth concerning Israel and God's
glorious future plan for the Jews. Garland has also produced more than
20 hours of superb audio teaching in his verse by verse commentary on
the
Revelation (in
depth transcripts also available) which will unravel (in a way you did
not think was possible considering the plethora of divergent
interpretations) God's final message of the triumph and return of the
our Lord Jesus Christ as the King of kings and Lord of lords! Maranatha!
Telling truth...not lying...my conscience -
Note Paul's reiteration of his sincerity - this is like a triple oath.
Do you think Paul is passionate for his unsaved Jewish brethren?!
Observe also that
Romans 9 begins with a cry of grief and ends Romans 11 with a eulogy of
praise as the truth of God's faithfulness to His covenant promises to
Israel unfolds. (see notes
Romans 11:33;
34;
35;
36) As noted in the table above, one
can summarize these three chapters with the word "sovereignty". Is is a
sad commentary on modern day Christianity that God's sovereignty is not
a very popular topic.
Ray Stedman for example wrote that
When I preached this message (on Romans 9) at the 8:30 service this
morning, a man walked out the door cursing God because he treated men
this way.
Wayne Barber
introduces Romans 9-12
emphasizing that...
We are going into a very difficult passage of
Scripture... Paul... moves from our salvation, which we have in Christ
Jesus, to... Israel. And immediately there is a change here in his
message. I feel like it would be very important for us at this point to
look at the
Attributes of God.
If we don’t understand God, the character of God, then it is going to be
very difficult to grasp how He is going to do what Paul says in chapters
9, 10 and 11. From 8:35 through 9:5 there is a mood swing. You go from
the pinnacle of joy and ecstasy when it comes to your salvation into the
very depths of despair of 9:1-5....It is incredible the mood swing that
Paul goes through. Now why? Because you see, Paul is a Jew, a converted
Jew. But as a converted Jew, he now understands what the Old Testament
was teaching all along. He understands that the only way his Jewish
brethren, the people whom he loves with all of his heart, can ever be
justified is by faith in Jesus Christ and Him alone. And he is beginning
to deal now with his people. And when he thinks of Israel, knowing that
Israel has rejected Jesus as their Messiah, knowing the fact that they
were His special people in the Old Testament, knowing all of these
things, his heart turns from joy to sorrow as he realizes they are
blinded. They cannot realize that Jesus is the Messiah, the one they
have been looking for. (The
Attributes of God)
Anticipating the doctrine of election in this chapter Martin Luther
wrote...
Who hath not known passion, cross, and travail of death, cannot treat of
foreknowledge (election of grace) without injury and inward enmity
toward God. Wherefore take heed that thou drink not wine while thou art
yet a sucking child. Each doctrine hath its own reason and measure and
age.
James Denney (The Expositor’s Greek Testament) describing
Paul’s opening words writes that...
This solemn asseveration (a positive, earnest affirmation) is meant to
clear him of the suspicion that in preaching to the Gentiles he is
animated by hostility or even indifference to the Jews.
Paul is
going to explain why the Jews as a nation have not embraced the Gospel
and salvation by grace through faith Christ. Paul shows
the relationship of the Jews to the gospel in 2 major ways:
First in (Ro 9:1-10:21) he
explains that the word of God has not failed. The gospel has not failed but the Jew has failed.
Second (Ro 11:1-32) he
explains that God has not rejected Israel but that
there is (and always has been) a
remnant
even as he writes his
letter. Israel's' rejection is the Gentile's salvation.
"All Israel" (all that place their faith in Christ) will be saved because the gifts
and calling of God are
irrevocable.
So in these three
great chapters from Romans Paul explains that not only does God's Word not fail,
but God's Promises do not fail.
The sad fact is that regardless of the Jew's claim to be "chosen" by God
(His "elect") many are not of the elect as used in the NT sense. Paul
goes on to teach that God's elective purposes include the
Gentiles and that God's sovereignty does not obligate Him to anyone.
Paul explains that God has established that righteousness is by faith alone
and that He has the
sovereign right to do this. And so Paul explains that the Jew
cannot disagree with God's sovereign choosing of Isaac and Jacob. He then show
explains that they cannot disagree with the
election of Jew and Gentile. In this section Paul explains the truths
that although God
sovereignly chooses, man is still responsible. Finally, Paul emphasizes
that God's purpose for
Israel will be fulfilled because His will is never thwarted.
I AM NOT LYING MY CONSCIENCE
BEARING ME WITNESS IN THE HOLY
SPIRIT: ou pseudomai (1SPMI) summarturouses (PAPFSG) moi tes suneideseos mou en pneumati
hagio:
The Greek more
literally reads, “my conscience bearing joint-testimony with me” and
this is done “within the sphere of the Holy Spirit” or in the control of
the Holy Spirit. The New Century Version translates it as
My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me that I am not
lying.
Conscience: (4893)
(suneidesis
from sun
= with + eido = know) (Click
for in depth word study
of suneidesis) (Click
for more notes on on this website on "conscience")
literally means a "knowing with", a co-knowledge with oneself or
a being of one's own witness in the sense that one's own conscience
"takes the stand" as the chief witness, testifying either to one's
innocence or guilt. It describes the witness borne to one's conduct by
that faculty by which we apprehend the will of God. Webster
defines "conscience" as the sense or consciousness of the
moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or
character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good.
The Greek noun Suneidesis is the exact counterpart of the
Latin con-science, “a knowing with,” a
shared or joint knowledge. It is our awareness of ourselves in all the
relationships of life, especially ethical relationships. We have ideas
of right and wrong; and when we perceive their truth and claims on us,
and will not obey, our souls are at war with themselves and with the law
of God Suneidesis is that process of thought which
distinguishes what it considers morally good or bad, commending the
good, condemning the bad, and so prompting to do the former and avoid
the latter.
This is no phony
protest on Paul's part, like some people who say, "I'm only telling you
this because I love you," and then proceed to cut us to pieces. "No,"
Paul says, "my conscience supports me in this, and the Holy Spirit
himself confirms that my anguish is genuine and real. It is deep and
lasting."
What a lesson this is on how to approach someone you want to help,
someone who isn't very eager to receive what you have to say. You never
come on -- Paul never does -- with accusations, or with bitter words, or
denunciations, or even with the issues that separate you. Paul first
identifies with their deep hurt; he feels with them.
This is like the story of the two
preachers...
"I hear you dismissed your pastor.
What was wrong?" The friend said, "Well, he kept telling us we were
going to hell." The man said, "What does the new pastor say?" The friend
said, "The new pastor keeps saying we're going to hell too." "So what's
the difference?" "Well," the friend said, "the difference is that when
the first one said it, he sounded like he was glad of it, but when the
new man says it, he sounds like it is breaking his heart."
Charles Spurgeon when asked how he reconciled divine sovereignty and
human responsibility regarding the mystery of election,
replied...
I never try to reconcile friends.
In Romans 9-11, Paul's discussion of Israel is not an interruption but an
illustration of his theme. He explains Israel's history in these
chapters as outlined in the following table...
|
Summary of Romans
9-11 |
|
Romans 9 |
Romans 10 |
Romans 11 |
Past
Election |
Present
Rejection |
Future
Restoration |
God's Sovereignty
Israel's Election by God |
Man's responsibility
Israel's Rejection of God |
God's Ways Higher
God Not Rejecting Israel |
In Romans 9-11
Paul proves
that God has been righteous in all His dealings with Israel and has not
failed to work out His divine promise to or purpose for the Jews and
that likewise He will not fail to
work out His purposes for the church.
As you observe and meditate on these
weighty passages in Romans 9-11 keep the following considerations in
mind...
Remember that one doctrine never "outweighs" another doctrine. Just
because the Scripture speaks more about the responsibility of man than
it does about predestination does not mean you can ignore the latter as
"unimportant". There is perfect harmony between all the doctrines of God
and to reiterate you do not need to "reconcile friends." It is as if
both doctrines are on either side of a plumbline that perfectly
separates the two teachings. When men begin to move that "plumbline"
toward one doctrine or the other, inevitably and unavoidably, distortion
will occur. Stated in another way, remember that using our finite intelligence,
we can carry the doctrines to what seems to us to be a
logical conclusion, but is one that God never intended. When God drops
the plumb line beloved, let it hang. Some would say that if God chooses some
for salvation then logically He chooses others to go to eternal
damnation. You have just moved the plumb line!
Remember that there are
only four Scriptures that specifically address predestination of man, Romans 8:29-30
(see
notes)
which speaks of becoming conformed to the image of His Son, Ephesians 1:5
(see
sermon) which deals with our adoption as sons and Ephesians 1:11
(see
sermon) which addresses
God's purpose for having obtaining an inheritance. And who are these
addressing? Unbelievers or believers? Clearly these are addressed to the
children of God, those who by grace through faith have been saved,
regenerated and born again. How do men distort these passages? They come along
and say
that if God predestined some men to adoption as His sons, then He must have
predestined others to condemnation. Where does the Bible make that
declaration? The Bible does not make that assertion. The point is that
we can reach erroneous conclusions when we reason that if "A" is true
and "B" is
true, then it equals "C" and we try to put this together in our finite
minds but the conclusion cannot be validated from the Scriptures.
The fourth mention of predestination is found in
Acts 4:27,28 where God predestined the trial
and crucifixion of His only Son, Jesus Christ.
In summary, as you observe Romans 9-11, allow God to speak for Himself
and do not attempt to take the passage beyond what
it says nor attempt to diminish what it says. For example, don't say "Surely God doesn't really mean that." Don't speculate.
Be aware that the Bible
does not give any clue why God choose and predestined those He did. This
is holy ground which we must not profane. As you study these passages, remember what God's
Word teaches about God Himself
(incomprehensible, transcendent, loving, just, holy, omniscient, etc).
Since God is not like man, man is in no position to judge God's
sovereign interactions with man. God is holy and is total and absolute purity. God is
just and absolutely fair. Eternally just. Eternally fair. God is righteous.
Whatever He does is what is right. God is abounding in love and infinite
in mercy. When you feel yourself beginning to question God's ways and
integrity, consider taking a "time out" and "washing" your mind with the
water of His Word concerning His glorious attributes (see
Attributes of God or read
Spurgeon on the Attributes of God)
or if you prefer run into the strong tower of His matchless Names (Studies
on the Names of the LORD),
which are in their essence a reflection of His character and His
attributes. |
