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SECTION g (continued) –
Doctrine: Justification, National (9:30
– 10:21)
Balanced
by SECTION G – Doctrine: Justification, Individual (3:21
– 4:25)
Romans Ten – Verses 1 to 21
01. Indeed, brethren, the delight of my
heart
and my petition to God for their sake is for salvation.
Intense zeal, religious fervor, coupled with
self-righteousness, does not lead to salvation. God demands subjection to
His righteousness in Christ. The law should establish their unrighteousness
and thus reveal God's righteousness, which is manifested in Christ. Israel,
as a nation, will be saved when they see Him Whom they stabbed, and
recognize Him as their Righteousness. Concordant
Commentary
Paul
had always been committed to his beliefs, fervent in his dedication to Judaism
and fanatical in his self-righteous persecution of the fledgling Christian
ecclesia (even to always casting his ballot in the Sanhedrin for the death
penalty to be imposed on those brought for trial). His commitment to the
religion of his fathers was neither merely academic nor passive but
practical and zealously dynamic.
Phil.3:5,6 in circumcision the eighth day, of the race of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews,
in relation to law, a Pharisee,
6 in relation to zeal, persecuting the ecclesia,
in relation to the righteousness which is in law,
becoming blameless.
Gal.1:14 …I progressed in Judaism above many contemporaries in my
race,
being inherently exceedingly more zealous
for the traditions of my fathers.
His conversion
did not turn him against either Judaism or his fellow-Israelites. He now
saw that, from the advent of Christ
among His people, the ritualistic Judaic religion that he had so
ardently been defending had become bereft of God’s blessings and should be
looked on as ‘the infirm and poor elements’ in a vain attempt to worship
God. True worship must be in spirit and truth.
Act.3:22,23 "Moses, indeed, said that: A Prophet
will the Lord your God,
be raising up to you
from among your brethren, as me.
Him you shall hear,
according to all, whatsoever He should be speaking to you.
23 Yet it shall be that every soul whatsoever which should not hear that Prophet shall be utterly exterminated from among
the people.
Gal.4:9,10 Yet now, knowing God, yet rather
being known by God,
how are you turning back
again to the infirm and poor elements
for which you want to
slave again anew?
10 Days are you
scrutinizing, and months and seasons and years.
Jn.4:24 God is spirit,
and those who are worshiping Him must be
worshiping in spirit and truth.
What Paul
would very much like to have, and this he petitions God for, is salvation
for his fellow-Israelites into worshipping Him in spirit and truth.
Rom.9:1-3 The truth am I telling in Christ, I
am not lying,
my conscience testifying together with me in
holy spirit,
2 that my sorrow is great, and unintermittent
pain is in my heart--
3 for I myself wished to be anathema from
Christ--for my brethren,
my relatives according
to the flesh,
1Cor.9:20 And I became to the
Jews as a Jew, that I should be gaining Jews;
to those under law as under law (not being
myself under law),
that I should be gaining those under law;
02. For I am testifying to them that they
have a zeal of God,
but not in accord with recognition.
He could, from
his own experience while in Judaism, vouch for their tremendous zeal. This
zeal, however, was misdirected as the people of Israel were unable to recognize
the course they were to take. Instead, they worked feverishly and fervently
under the law, expecting that such an undertaking would bring on their
salvation.
Gal.1:14 And I progressed in Judaism
above many contemporaries in my race,
being inherently exceedingly more zealous for the traditions of my
fathers.
1Tim.1:13 I, who formerly was a calumniator
and a persecutor and an outrager:
but I was shown mercy, seeing that I do it being ignorant, in unbelief.
2Cor.4:3,4
…if
our evangel is covered, also,
it is covered in those who are perishing,
4 in whom the god of this eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving
so that the illumination of the evangel of the
glory of Christ,
Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate them.
03. For they, being ignorant of the
righteousness of God,
and seeking to establish their own
righteousness,
were not subjected to the righteousness of
God.
The nations, not having a
perception of God, were unable to even conceive in their minds of
righteousness apart from that which their wisdom conjectured. Their gods
were nothing more than deified humans with human traits and failings. At
best, their understanding of righteousness is represented by humanism.
Eph.4:17-19 … walking according as those of the
nations also are walking,
in the
vanity of their mind,
18 their
comprehension being darkened,
being estranged
from the life of God because of the
ignorance that is in them,
because of
the callousness of their hearts,
19 who, being past feeling,
in greed give themselves up with wantonness to
all uncleanness as a vocation.
Psa.147:19,20 He is telling His words
to Jacob,
His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
20 He
has not done so for any other nation,
And His ordinances, they do not know them at all.
Gal.4:8 But then, indeed, having no perception of God,
you were slaves of
those who, by nature, are not
gods.
The people of Israel, on
the other hand, did have an acquaintance with the standard of righteousness
written in the law. But as a whole, ignorant of the righteousness of God
and of the designed function of that law, they worked so very diligently
and single-mindedly at trying to establish their own righteousness through the meticulous keeping of the
law and, thus, operated outside the umbrella of the righteousness of God.
Dan.9:6-10 We do not hearken
to Thy servants the prophets, who speak in Thy
name
to our kings, our chiefs, our forefathers and to
all the people of the land.
7 To Thee, my
Lord, is righteousness,
yet to us is shamefacedness as at this day:
To each man of Judah, to the dwellers of
Jerusalem,
to all the people of Israel, the near and the
far, in all the lands
where Thou
hast expelled them for their offense with which they offend Thee.
8 To Thee,
Yahweh, is righteousness,
yet to us is shamefacedness:
To our kings, to our chiefs, to our forefathers,
who sin against Thee.
9 "Of Yahweh our Elohim are compassions and
pardons;
for we revolt against Him.
10 We do not hearken to the voice of Yahweh
our Elohim,
to go in His laws which He sets before us …
Isa.64:6 And we are becoming as
unclean, all of us,
and as an ornamented garment is all our righteousness.
And we are
decaying as a leaf, all of us,
and our
depravities, as the wind, are carrying us away.
Rom.3:20 …by works of law, no flesh at all shall be justified
in His sight,
for
through law is the recognition of sin.
Rom.5:13 … sin is not being taken into account when there is no law;
Gal.3:19 What, then, is the law?
On behalf of transgressions was
it added,…
Rom.4:15 for the law is producing
indignation.
Now where no law is, neither is there transgression.
This slant in thinking
concerning righteousness is not the reserve of the Jews. Even some of those
who profess to be believers today
are susceptible to its appeal to the ego. Though averse to claiming that
salvation is earned by good works, they do those good works for insurance
in the fear that not enduring in those works will cause a loss of their
salvation.
The evangel, however,
reveals the righteousness of God
because of which those designated beforehand to be believers are given
the righteousness that issues out of the exemplary obedience in faith, even
to the death on the cross, of Jesus
Christ. This discounts the ego and personal merit from the operation.
But, unless one is given God’s ‘approach-present’ of faith, this
declaration of God’s righteousness is impossible to believe.
Rom.1:17 For in it God's righteousness is being
revealed, out of faith for faith,
according as it is written: "Now the just
one by faith shall be living."
Rom.3:22,23 yet a righteousness of
God through Jesus Christ's faith,
for all, and on
all who are believing,
for there is no distinction, 23 for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of
God.
Rom.3:26 toward the display of His righteousness in the current
era,
for Him to
be just and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.
Rom.9:31-33 Yet Israel, pursuing a law of
righteousness,
into a law of righteousness does not
outstrip.
32 Wherefore? Seeing that it is not out of faith, but as out of law
works,
they stumble on the stumbling stone,
33 according as it is written:
Lo! I am
laying in Zion a Stumbling Stone
and a Snare Rock,…
2Cor.5:21 For the One not knowing sin, He
makes to be a sin for our sakes
that we
may be becoming God's righteousness in Him.
Phil.3:9 and may be found in Him, not having
my righteousness, which is of law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is from God for faith:
04. For Christ is the
consummation of law for righteousness
to everyone who is believing.
For those who believe, the
law for righteousness points to CHRIST – for only in Him is it fulfilled.
Heb.4:14,15 … Jesus, the Son of God, …
15 …One Who has been tried in all
respects like us, apart from sin.
Heb.7:26 …benign, innocent, undefiled,
separated from sinners,
and coming to be higher than those of the heavens,
1Pet.2:22 Who does no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth;
1Jn.3:5 And you are aware that He was
manifested
that He should be taking away our sins, and
in Him is no sin.
Isa.53:9 …For He does no wrong,
and no deceit is in His mouth,
2Cor.5:21 For the One not
knowing sin, He makes to be sin for our sakes
that we may be becoming God's
righteousness in Him.
Isa.53:10 yet Yahweh desires
to crush Him,
and He causes Him to be wounded….
Prior to the introduction of
the evangel of faith, through Paul, the Jews who were to become believers in it had been under ‘protective custody’,
'garrisoned' under the law, locked up together in preparation for
this faith that was about to be revealed. To these Jews, therefore, that
law served only as an escort to Christ, guarding them until they could be justified
by faith. But, once the evangel of faith did come, and they had become
believers, that escort was no longer needed - it had served its purpose, it
had pointed them to Christ and put them on the threshold of faith.
Gal.3:24,25 So that the law has become our escort to Christ,
that we may be justified by faith.
25 Now, at the coming of faith, we are no longer under an escort,
And now these believing Jews,
(such as Paul and Timothy) too, could partake of the blessings of the
evangel of faith - for now everyone,
Jew or Gentile (for in THIS evangel there is NO distinction) who believes has his righteousness in
Christ's. The sad part for Paul was that so few of the Jews were coming to believe.
Gal.5:6 For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision is availing anything, nor
uncircumcision,
but faith,
operating through love.
Gal.6:15 For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is
anything,
but a new
creation.
1Cor.7:19 Circumcision is
nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,
but the
keeping of the precepts of God.
It is not the design and
function of the law to produce righteousness in its adherents. Instead, it
is to define what sin is. In doing this it increases the culpability of
those under it for, now, they are aware that the wrong they do is
against God’s standard. What was sin is now escalated into transgression.
So, in effect, the law demonstrates how inherently unrighteous
men are. The righteousness God recognizes is beyond man’s capability.
The evangel declares God’s righteousness in graciously
granting that which man cannot ever attain on his own - man is utterly
incapable of achieving it. This gifted righteousness from God stems out
of Jesus Christ’s faith. Though this gift begins with those who are being
called now, it is for all mankind – for all need it whether
or not they realize they have this need now.
Rom.3:21-23 Yet now, apart from law, a
righteousness of God is manifest
(being attested by the law and the
prophets),
22 yet a righteousness of God through
Jesus Christ's faith,
for all, and on all who are believing,
for there is no distinction,
23 for all sinned and are wanting of the
glory of God.
Those of the body of Christ who had been Jews before,
find their completion in Christ Jesus, their Head, through Whom ‘the just
requirements of the law’ is fulfilled in them.
Rom.8:3,4
For what was impossible
to the law, in which it was infirm through
the flesh,
did God, sending His own Son in the likeness of
sin's flesh and concerning sin,
He condemns sin in the flesh,
4 that the just requirement of the law may
be fulfilled in us,
who are not walking in accord with flesh, but in
accord with spirit.
Mt.5:17,18 You should not infer that I came to
demolish the law or the prophets.
I came not to demolish, but to fulfill.
18 For verily, I am saying to you,
Till heaven and earth should
be passing by, one iota or one serif
may by no means be passing by from the law till
all should be occurring.
Heb.10:8-10 … "Sacrifice and approach
present and ascent approaches
and those concerning sin Thou dost not will,
neither dost Thou delight in them" (which
are being offered according to law),
9 then He has declared, "Lo! I am arriving to
do Thy will, O God!"…
Gal.4:4,5 Now when the full time came,
God delegates His Son, come of a woman, come
under law,
5 that He should be reclaiming those
under law,
that we may be getting the place of a son.
The fact is that all who belong to the body of
Christ, without exception, find their righteousness in that of Christ. The
body enjoys the blessings that the Head has earned through His attaining,
through perfect obedience, God’s standard of righteousness.
Mt.3:14,15 Yet John prohibited Him, saying,
"I have need to be baptized by Thee, and
Thou art coming to me!"
15 Yet, answering, Jesus said to him,
"by your leave, at present,
for thus
it is becoming for us to fulfill all righteousness."…
Col.2:10-15 And you are complete in Him,
Who is the Head of every sovereignty and
authority,
11 in Whom you were circumcised also with a
circumcision not made by hands,
in the stripping off of the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ.
12 Being entombed together with Him in baptism,
in Whom you were
roused together also through faith in the operation of God,
13 Who rouses Him from among the dead,
you also
being dead to the offenses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He vivifies us together jointly with Him, dealing graciously with all our
offenses,
14 erasing the handwriting
of the decrees against us, which was hostile to us,
and has taken it away out of the midst, nailing
it to the cross,
15 stripping off the sovereignties and
authorities,
with boldness He makes a show of them,
triumphing over them in it.
These ‘sovereignties and authorities’, these powerful
and cunning beings who are part of the spiritual forces of darkness among
the celestials, are arrayed against us, of the body of Christ, now. But,
the triumph in righteousness of Christ has exposed their
unrighteousness (for they are just as unrighteous as men are) and has rung
the death-knell of their supremacy. And in the righteousness of God they,
too, will be reconciled to Him Who brought them into being through Christ.
God will be All in all.
Jn.1:3 All came into being through
it, and
apart from it not even one thing came
into being which has come into being.
Col.1:15-17 Who is the Image of the
invisible God, Firstborn of every creature,
16 for in Him is all created,
that in the heavens and that on the earth, the visible and the
invisible,
whether thrones, or lordships, or
sovereignties, or authorities,
all is created through Him and for
Him,
17 and He is before all, and all has its
cohesion in Him.
Eph.6:12 for it is not ours to
wrestle with blood and flesh,
but with the sovereignties, with the
authorities,
with the world-mights of this darkness,
with the spiritual forces of wickedness
among the celestials.
Col.1:20 and through Him to reconcile all to
Him
(making peace through the blood of His cross),
through Him, whether those on the earth or
those in the heavens.
1Cor.15:28 Now, whenever all may be subjected
to Him,
then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to
Him Who subjects all to Him,
that God may be All in all.
05. For Moses is writing of the
righteousness which is of law,
that a man who does the same shall be
living in it.
Moses asserts, in
Leviticus, that one who accepts and follows after a righteousness which is
of law, should be immersed in that environment - an environment of
intricate details concerning statutes and judgments. It was not a part-time
occupation but one that demanded constant and consistent meticulous
observance.
Lev.18:5 You will observe My statutes and My judgments,
for the human who does them will also live by them: I am Yahweh.
Ezek.20:11 And I give to them My statutes,
And my judgments I caused them to know,
Which the man who does--lives by them.
Ezek.20:13 And--rebel against me do the
house of Israel in the wilderness,
In My statutes they have not walked, And My
judgments they have despised,
Which the man who does--lives by them….
Gal.3:12 Now the law is not of faith, but
who does them "shall be living
in them."
And it was a rigorous and
harsh system, for the law is taken as a WHOLE, as one single unit, and the
breaking of even one of these
laws is tantamount to the breaking of all. It was a heavy and
wearisome yoke placed on the necks of the people of Israel. But, coming
under the covenant of Sinai, they were bound to observe that
law.
Jas.2:10 For anyone who should
be keeping the whole law,
yet should be tripping in one thing, has
become liable for all
Act.15:10 Why, then, are you now
trying God,
by placing a yoke on the neck of the
disciples
which neither our fathers nor we are
strong enough to bear?
06. Yet the righteousness of faith is
saying thus:
You may not be saying in your heart, Who
will be ascending into heaven?
--that is, to be leading Christ down--
The
law demanded obedience first and promised life to those only who continued
to keep it. But even in the law there was provision for faith. It taught that
Jehovah Himself, He was their life (Deut.30:20). In the day when He gathers
them out of the peoples and brings them back into the land He will bring
the word of faith very near to them (Deut.30:1-14). In place of their own
efforts He will put the humiliation and resurrection of Christ before them.
Salvation will depend on the avowal of His lordship and resurrection.
Concordant Commentary
07. or Who will be descending into the
submerged chaos?
--that is, to be leading Christ up from among the dead.
God has not arranged it so
that men have to do ‘impossible things’ to be declared righteous. Like the
Pharisees, each would end up comparing achievements and claiming themselves
more righteous than his neighbour – and this would be unrighteous.
Lk.18:11,12 The
Pharisee, standing, prayed this to himself:
`God, I am thanking you that I am not even as
the rest of men,
rapacious, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
tribute collector.
12 I am fasting twice of a sabbath.
I am taking tithes from all whatever I am
acquiring.'
It is declared that ‘the
law is not of faith, but who does them "shall be living in them."’ The righteousness of faith,
however, is a gracious and gratuitous gift from God and does not
require works by the recipient as a qualification. It is a completed
operation where all the ‘qualifying work’ has already been done by
God in the suffering and death, burial and resurrection, and ascension of
Jesus Christ. This is the good news from God. We cannot add to this
– or, are we saying that God’s work is insufficient and incomplete unless we
contribute something to it? Or, that God can only achieve His purpose
through human willingness to cooperate? Or, that the deciding factor is not
God and His determination and omniscience but man’s ‘choice’ engendered by
his unenlightened and disqualified mind?
08.
But what is it saying?
Near
you is the declaration, in your mouth and in your heart--
that is, the
declaration of faith which we are heralding
The evangel, which we have been
graced to believe in, speaks of the righteousness that comes through our
God-given faith apart from works of law. These works are stipulated
in God’s law given to Israel. The works that we could do, outside of these,
no matter how great or admirable, do not come into consideration at all in
the matter of coming to be saved and of righteousness.
The example of the faith
Abraham displayed is brought to mind. He was declared righteous through the
presence of faith long before the law was given at Sinai.
Rom.3:28 … For
we are reckoning a man to be justified by
faith apart from works of law.
Rom.4:3 For what is the
scripture saying?
Now "Abraham believes God,
and it is reckoned to him for righteousness."
09. that, if ever you should be avowing with
your mouth
the declaration that Jesus is Lord,
and should be believing in your heart
that God rouses Him from among the dead,
you shall be saved.
We find this expression
that ‘Jesus is Lord’ elsewhere in Scripture, too. And these tell us some
important facts. Only when we do have God’s gift of holy spirit can
we truly acknowledge Christ as our Lord and that, there will come
the day when every tongue will confess and every knee will
bow to Jesus as Lord.
1Cor.12:3 Wherefore I am making known
to you
that no one, speaking by God's spirit, is
saying, "Anathema is Jesus."
And no one is able to say "Lord is Jesus" except by
holy spirit.
Phil.2:10,11 that in the name of Jesus
every knee should be bowing,
celestial and terrestrial and subterranean,
11 and every tongue should
be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is
Lord,
for the glory of God, the Father.
The
profession ‘that Jesus is Lord’ is, in the Greek, ‘hoti Kurion Iêsoun’
– and this structure, where the ‘verb to be’ is not in the text,
demands a literal understanding of the fact that Jesus IS Lord
to the one professing the statement. It discounts mere lip service -
Jesus is not just like a lord to us at our convenience, only when we
need something from Him. He has bought us for Himself and God
through His suffering and death (the transaction confirmed by His
resurrection) – we are His slaves as much as He is our Lord, our
Master. This declaration that we are enabled to make entails that we obey
His instructions and directives.
1Cor.6:20 For you are bought with a price.
By all means glorify God in your body.
1Cor.7:22,23 … he who is being called, being
free, is a slave of Christ.
23 With a price are you bought….
Rom.4:24,25 … who are believing on Him Who
rouses Jesus our Lord from among the dead.
25 Who was given up because of our
offenses,
and was roused because of our justifying…
10. For with the heart it is believed
for righteousness,
yet with
the mouth it is avowed for
salvation.
It is not some sort of
mantra or a password to paradise. It has to be heartfelt - a conviction
of the fact and a practical obedience to it. Jesus spoke on this
principle.
Mt.7:21-23 "Not everyone saying
to Me `Lord! Lord!'
will be entering into the kingdom of the
heavens,
but he who is doing the will of My Father
Who is in the heavens.
22 Many will be declaring to Me in that
day, `Lord! Lord!
Was it not in Your name that we prophesy,
and in Your name cast out demons,
and in Your name do many powerful
deeds?'
23 And then shall I be avowing to them that
`I never knew you! Depart from Me, workers
of lawlessness!'
Our evangel speaks of our
graciously given belief in God’s declaration concerning the fact
that He has made Jesus Lord over us, as well as of an avowal of our
subjection to that Lordship.
Rom.1:1-6 Paul, a slave of Christ
Jesus, a called apostle,
severed for the evangel of God…
3 concerning His Son…
5 Jesus Christ, our Lord,
through Whom we obtained grace and apostleship
for faith-obedience among all the nations, for His name's
sake,
6 among whom are you also, the called of
Jesus Christ:…
Rom.4:3-5 For what is the
scripture saying?
Now "Abraham believes God, and it is
reckoned to him for righteousness."
4 Now to the worker, the wage is not reckoned
as a favor, but as a debt.
5 Yet to him who is not working,
yet is believing on Him Who is justifying
the irreverent,
his faith is reckoned for righteousness.
11. For the scripture is saying:
Everyone who is believing on Him shall not be disgraced.
This is not an
‘offer’ of salvation to any and all who would find it advantageous and
attractive enough to accept. Neither is it a veiled threat to those who do
not want it. One can only believe if and when God calls – and this
is reserved only for those who have been designated beforehand for the
grace to believe Him and be reckoned righteous. The responsibility for this
is entirely God’s.
Rom.9:19-24 You will be protesting to me, then,
"Why, then, is He still blaming? for who
has withstood His intention?"
20 O man! who are you, to be sure, who are
answering again to God?
That which is molded will not protest to the
molder, "Why do you make me thus?"
21 Or has not the potter the right over
the clay, out of the same kneading
to make one vessel, indeed, for honor, yet one
for dishonor?
22 Now if God, wanting to display His
indignation
and to make His powerful doings known,
carries, with much patience, the vessels of
indignation, adapted for destruction,
23 it is that He should also be making
known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy,
which He makes ready before for
glory--
24 us, whom He calls also, not only out
of the Jews, but out of the nations also.
Rom.8:29,30 …whom He foreknew,
He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed
to the image of His Son,
for Him to be Firstborn among many
brethren.
30 Now whom He designates beforehand, these
He calls also,
and whom He calls, these He justifies
also;
now whom He justifies, these He
glorifies also.
12. For there is no distinction between
Jew and Greek,
for the same One is Lord of
all,
being rich for all who are invoking
Him.
This determination of God concerning who will (and who
will not) become members of ‘the ecclesia which is the body of Christ’ does
not recognize distinctions of race and heredity, or of intelligence and
culture. All members are equally slaves of the same Lord, paid for and
owned by Him.
Col.3:11 wherein there is no Greek and
Jew, Circumcision and Uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeman, but all and
in all is Christ.
2Cor.5:17 So that, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
the primitive passed by. Lo! there has come new!
Gal.5:6 For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision is availing anything, nor
uncircumcision,
but faith,
operating through love.
Gal.6:15 For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is
anything,
but a new
creation.
1Cor.7:22,23 For, in the Lord,
he who is being called a slave, is the Lord's
freedman.
Likewise, he who is being called, being free, is a slave of
Christ.
23 With a price are you bought….
13.
For everyone, whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
There
is here an allusion to the ancient custom, still in vogue in eastern lands,
of the right of sanctuary. One who is in danger of death by the hands of
the blood avenger, if he cannot reach a safe place in time, may invoke the
name of some great and powerful person, and thus find salvation through his
name. If the avengers of blood refuse to listen to his appeal, and take his
life, it devolves upon the person on whose name he has called to take swift
and summary vengeance. He gathers together all his friends and allies to
assist him in punishing the outrage and in defending the honor of his name.
For three and one third days he executes vengeance on all who were
concerned in killing the one who had invoked his name. "Whoever should
be invoking the name of the Lord shall be saved." When vengeance
visits the earth, the only shelter will be the name of Jehovah. Therefore
it will require not only heart belief, but the avowal of the mouth. Thus it
is that Israel will be saved and all others who, in that day, will seek refuge
in His name.
Concordant Commentary
Faith in the declarations
of God, and the righteousness which comes with it, is not complicated in
one having to understand such intricacies as outlined in the comment above.
It does not even need to know all the mechanics of salvation. It just
inspires to a heartfelt avowal that Jesus
is one’s Lord, based on the declaration that God roused Him from among the dead. That
one has this belief confirms
righteousness; and its confession confirms salvation.
This opens the door to all,
no matter whether Jew or Greek; for no one who so believes
will ever be put to shame. Jesus IS Lord of all for all have
been bought - and everyone, when enabled to invoke the name
of the Lord, will be saved!
14. How, then, should they be invoking One in Whom they do not believe?
Yet how should they be believing One of Whom they do not hear?
Yet how should they be hearing apart from one heralding?
The
refugee does not need to know his protector personally, yet would hardly
call on one in whom he had no faith. He could not invoke one of whom he had
not even heard. Hence it will be necessary to proclaim Christ, and even
before that God will need to commission His heralds. Concordant Commentary
Nobody can invoke Jesus if they
do not believe in Him – and why would they? They cannot believe in that
Someone of Whom they have never even heard anything about. And they are not
about to hear anything if there is nobody to preach the evangel concerning
Him!
Tit.1:3 yet manifests His word in its
own eras by heralding,
with which I was entrusted, according to the
injunction of God, our Saviour,
15. Yet how should they be heralding
if ever they should not be
commissioned? According as it is written:
How beautiful are the feet of those
bringing an evangel of good!
The sharing of this saving message concerning God
and His Christ is an important function of the body of Christ, a function
that must be undertaken with the awe and respect it deserves. We,
members of the body of Christ,
find our commission in the evangel where we read:
2Cor.5:18-21 Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself
through Christ,
and is giving us the dispensation of the
conciliation,
19 how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself,
not reckoning their offenses to them,
and placing
in us the word of the conciliation.
20 For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us.
We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!"
21 For the One not knowing sin, He makes to
be sin for our sakes
that we may be becoming God's righteousness in
Him.
2Tim.4:2 Herald the word. Stand
by it, opportunely, inopportunely,
expose, rebuke, entreat, with all patience and
teaching.
2Tim.1,2 …be invigorated by the grace
which is in Christ Jesus.
2 And what things you hear from me
through many witnesses,
these commit to faithful men, who shall
be competent to teach others also.
16. But not all obey the evangel,
for Isaiah is saying, "Lord, who believes
our tidings?"
Of course, according to the
counsel of God, not EVERY one will
obey when they hear - in fact,
MOST will not!
Isa.53:1 Who believes our report?
And the arm of Yahweh--to whom is it revealed?
Scripture reveals that all have been under the
dominion and influence of Satan. And, except for those who are being called
by God to be believers in Christ, there they will remain until their
time comes.
Eph.2:2-3 …once you
walked, in accord with the eon of this world,
in accord with the chief of the
jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating in the sons of
stubbornness
3 (among whom we also all
behaved ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh,
doing the will of the flesh and of the comprehension,
and were, in our nature, children of
indignation, even as the rest),
During this administration, only those who are being called to be members of the body of Christ will
be enabled to believe this saving
evangel. Only these will be called and only these will believe.
Eph.2:4-7 yet God,
being rich in mercy,
because of His vast love with which He
loves us
(we also being dead to the offenses and the
lusts),
5 vivifies us together in
Christ (in grace are you saved!)
6 and rouses us together
and seats us together among the
celestials, in Christ Jesus,
7 that, in the oncoming eons,
He should be displaying the transcendent riches
of His grace
in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
17. Consequently, faith is out of tidings,
yet the tidings through a declaration of Christ.
For
Israel in that day the declarations of Christ, the great Protector, will be
presented to them for their belief. Thus their salvation will be a simple
matter of faith in His great name. Concordant
Commentary
Man puts his trust on the
declarations that come forth from acknowledged sages and holy men. These
‘revelations’ appeal to him for they spring out of the wisdom of the world
with which he has an inherent affinity.
But placing a trust in such
conjectures, and being sincerely devoted to them, does not confer any value
to these. A falsehood is still a falsehood even if the whole world
believes in it. The truth will remain the truth even if nobody believes it.
The fact remains that our
faith is dependent on what Christ
declares to us - and He only declares what God authorizes Him
to.
Jn.8:28 … and from Myself I am doing nothing,
but, according as My Father teaches Me, these
things I am speaking.
Jn.12:49 … I speak not from Myself, but the
Father Who sends Me,
He has given Me the precept,
what I may be saying and what I should be
speaking.
Jn.14:10 … The declarations which I am speaking to you
I am not speaking from Myself.
Now the Father, remaining in Me, He is
doing His works.
Jn.14:24 …And the word which you are
hearing is not Mine,
but the Father's Who sends Me.
Jn.17:17 Hallow them by Thy
truth. Thy word is truth.
Jn.8:31,32 …"If ever you should be
remaining in My word,
you are truly My disciples,
32 and you will know the truth,
and the truth will be making you
free."
Where we, of the nations,
are concerned, Christ transmits God’s message to us through Paul.
Rom.15:15,16 … because of the grace being given
to me from God,
16 for me to be the minister of
Christ Jesus for the nations,
acting as a priest of the evangel of God,
that the approach present of the nations may be
becoming well received,
having been hallowed by holy spirit.
Rom.11:13 Now to you am I saying,
to the nations,
in as much as, indeed, then, I am the
apostle of the nations,…
2Tim.1:10,11 … our Saviour, Christ Jesus, Who,
indeed, abolishes death,
yet illuminates life and incorruption through
the evangel
11 of which I was appointed a herald and an
apostle and a teacher of the nations.
Act.26:15-18 … Now the Lord said, `I am Jesus,
Whom you are persecuting.
16 But rise and stand on your feet, for I
was seen by you for this,
to fix upon you before for a
deputy and a witness
both of what you have perceived and that in
which I will be seen by you,
17 extricating you from the people
and
from the nations, to whom I am
commissioning you,
18 to open their eyes, to turn them
about from darkness to light
and from the authority of Satan to God,
for them to get a pardon of sins
and an allotment among those who have been hallowed by faith that
is in Me.'
1Cor.1:17,18 For Christ does not commission me
to be baptizing,
but to be
bringing the evangel, not in wisdom of word,
lest the cross of Christ may be made
void.
18 For the word of the cross is stupidity,
indeed, to those who are perishing,
yet to us who are being saved it is the power of
God.
Eph.3:1-12 On this behalf I, Paul,
the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you, the nations--
2 since you surely hear of the administration of
the grace of God
that is given to me for you,
3 for by revelation the secret is made known to
me (according as I write before, in brief,
4 by which you who are reading are able to
apprehend my understanding in the secret of the Christ,
5 which, in other generations, is not
made known to the sons of humanity
as it was now
revealed to His holy apostles and prophets):
in spirit 6 the nations are to be joint enjoyers of an allotment,
and a joint
body, and joint partakers of
the promise in Christ Jesus,
through the evangel
7 of which I became the dispenser,
in accord with the gratuity of the grace of God,
which is granted to me in accord with His
powerful operation.
8 To me,
less than the least of all saints, was granted this grace:
to bring the evangel of the untraceable riches
of Christ to the nations,
9 and to enlighten all as to what is the
administration of the secret,
which has been concealed from the eons in God,
Who creates all,
10 that now
may be made known
to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials,
through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of
God,
11 in accord with the purpose of the eons,
which He makes in Christ Jesus, our Lord;
12 in Whom we have boldness and access with
confidence, through His faith.--
Eph.1:8-12 … in all wisdom and prudence
9 making known to us the secret of His will
(in accord with His delight, which He purposed
in Him)
10 to have an administration of the complement of the eras,
to head up
all in the Christ--both that in
the heavens and that on the earth--
11 in Him in Whom our lot was cast also, being designated beforehand
according to the purpose of the One
Who is operating all in accord with the counsel
of His will,
12 that we
should be for the laud of His glory, who are pre-expectant in the
Christ.
2Tim.1:13 Have a pattern of sound
words, which you hear from me,
in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
2Tim.2:15 Endeavor
to present yourself to God qualified,
an unashamed worker, correctly cutting the word of truth.
1Thes.2:13 And therefore we also are thanking
God unintermittingly that,
in accepting the word heard from us, from God
you receive,
not the word of men, but, according as it truly
is, the word of God,
which is
operating also in you who are
believing.
Our faith is placed on God’s message to us
- and not on one that is directed to others, or some other spurious, or
distorted, or counterfeit ‘gospel’. Through this evangel we recognize the
one and only God, the Father, Who is the God and Father of our Lord,
Jesus Christ - and we acknowledge Him as God, the One Who
operates all in accord with the counsel of His will.
Eph.1:13,14 In Whom you also—
on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your salvation—
in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of
promise
14 (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment,
to the deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of
His glory!
1Cor.8:5,6 For even if so be that there are those being
termed gods,
whether in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods and many
lords,
6 nevertheless for us
there is one God, the Father, out of Whom
all is, and we for Him,
and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom all
is, and we through Him
Jn.17:3 … that they may know Thee, the
only true God,
and Him Whom Thou dost commission, Jesus Christ.
Eph.1:11 …according to the purpose of
the One Who is operating all in
accord with the counsel of His will,
Rom.15:6 that, with one accord, with one mouth,
you may be glorifying the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Cor.1:3 Blessed is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…
2Cor.11:31 The God and Father of
the Lord Jesus, Who is blessed for the eons
Eph.1:3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who blesses us with every spiritual blessing
among the celestials, in Christ,
Eph.1:17,18 that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may be giving you a spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the realization of Him,
18 the eyes of your heart having been
enlightened,
for you to perceive what is the
expectation of His calling, and
what the riches of the glory of the enjoyment of
His allotment among the saints,
18. But, I am saying, Do they not hear at all? To be sure!
"Into the entire earth came out their
utterance,
And into the ends of the inhabited earth their
declarations."
The
proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, beginning in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria, spread to the limits of the land (Ac.1:8), and reached
beyond it to the Dispersion. Israel was not disobedient through lack of
tidings. Concordant Commentary
Somehow, and for some reason or other, the Jews could
be found throughout the regions of the world. And, wherever they went,
carrying with them their sacred scriptures, they kept and nurtured their
distinctive religious environment through strict observance of the law.
Psa.19:4 Yet into the entire earth
their voice goes forth,
And into the ends of the habitance their
declarations.
19. But, I am saying, Did not Israel know at all? First Moses is saying,
I shall be provoking you to jealousy over those not a nation;
Over an unintelligent nation shall I be vexing
you.
The point is that
these sacred scriptures, referred to as the Law and the Writings and the
Prophets (and which we refer to as the ‘Old Testament’), contain
information on Jesus Christ. This treasury of revelation is in their
possession, within their grasp. They read it privately and in their
synagogue services. And, in spite of some serious persecutions and
devastating pogroms they have held on to it with exemplary tenacity.
Lk.24:25-27 And He said to them,
"O foolish and tardy of heart to be
believing on all which the prophets speak!
26 Must not the Christ be suffering these
things, and be entering into His glory?"
27 And, beginning from Moses and from
all the prophets,
He interprets to them, in all the
scriptures, that which concerns Himself.
Lk.24:44-47 Now He said to them,
"These are My words, which I speak to you,
still being with you,
for all must be fulfilled
that is written in the law of Moses and
the prophets and psalms concerning Me."
45 Then He opens up their mind to
understand the scriptures,
46 and said to them that "Thus
it is written, and
thus must the Christ be suffering and rise
from among the dead the third day,
47 and there is to be heralded in His name
repentance for the pardon of sins,
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Isa.52:14 …so ruined more than man is His
appearance,
and His shape than the sons of Adam.
Isa.53:1-12 Who
believes our report?
And the arm of Yahweh--to whom is it revealed?
2 And He is coming up as a layer-plant before Him,
and as a root sprout from earth that is arid.
No shape has He nor honor when we shall see Him,
and no appearance nor loveliness that we will covet
Him.
3 Despised is He, and shunned by men, a man of pains and knowing
illness.
And, as One concealing His face from us,
despised is He, and we judge Him of no account.
4 Surely our illnesses has He borne, and our pains--He
was burdened with them.
Yet we account Him touched, smitten by the Elohim and
humbled.
5 Yet He was wounded because of our transgressions,
and crushed because of our depravities.
The discipline for our welfare was on Him,
and by His welts there is healing for us.
6 All of us, as a flockling, have strayed; each man to his own
way, we face,
yet Yahweh, in Him, intercedes because of all our depravity.
8 …For He was severed from the land of the
living;
because of the transgression of My people was He touched by
death.
9 And He is given His tomb with the
wicked, a cave from the rich, in His death.
For He does no wrong, and no deceit is in His
mouth,
10 yet Yahweh
desires to crush Him, and He causes Him to be wounded. …
11 From the toil of His soul shall He see
light.
And He shall be satisfied by His knowledge.
My righteous Servant shall justify many,
and with their depravities shall He be burdened.
12 … insomuch that He gives up His soul
unto death,
and with transgressors was counted;
and He bore the sin of many, and for
transgressors is making intercession.
Act.10:43 To this One are all the prophets
testifying:
Everyone who is believing in Him
is to obtain the pardon of sins through
His name.
Zech.12:10 Yet I pour out on the house of
David,
and on the dwellers of Jerusalem, a spirit of
grace and supplications;
and they look to Him Whom they stabbed,
and they will wail over Him as the
wailing over the only son,
and they will be embittered over Him as
the embittering over the firstborn.
Isa.52:14 …so ruined more than man is His
appearance,
and His shape than the sons of Adam.
Thus it was that the Jews everywhere had heard the
evangel concerning their Messiah, Jesus. But now we know that they
were not given the necessary spiritual discernment to really know
what was being revealed. And, this will continue to be so until a scheduled
time for ‘a turning back to the Lord’.
Jn.5:46,47 For if you believed
Moses, you would believe Me,
for he writes concerning Me.
47 Now if you are not believing his
writings,
how shall you be believing My
declarations?"
2Cor.3:14-16 But their apprehensions were
calloused, for until this very day
the same covering is remaining at the
reading of the old covenant,
not being uncovered,
15 for only in Christ is it
being nullified.
But till today, if ever the reading of
Moses should be reached,
a covering is lying on their heart.
16 Yet if ever it should
reach a turning back to the Lord,
the covering is taken from about it.
The Concordant Commentary
on verse 1 of this chapter asserts that:
‘Intense zeal, religious fervor, coupled with self-righteousness,
does not lead to salvation. God demands subjection to His righteousness
in Christ. The law should establish their unrighteousness
and thus reveal God's righteousness, which is manifested in Christ.’
With the advent of Jesus Christ the conditions for
salvation for the people of Israel were adjusted to accord with a new
administration. From then on, with the declaration of God that Jesus is His
Son, the faithful observance of the law, in itself, was no longer the
criterion for salvation. Faith in what God says through Jesus Christ became
the essential.
Deut.18:18,19 A Prophet shall I raise
up to them from among their brothers,
like you, and I will put My words in His
mouth,
and He will speak to them all that I shall instruct
Him.
19 Yet it will come to be that the man who
should not hearken to My words
that the Prophet shall speak in My name,
I Myself shall require his blood from
him.
Act.3:22,23 "Moses, indeed, said
that: A Prophet will the Lord your God,
be raising up to you from among your brethren,
as me. Him you shall hear,
according to all, whatsoever He should be speaking to you.
23 Yet it shall be that every soul
whatsoever which should not hear that Prophet shall be utterly
exterminated from among the people.
Before the Greek Scriptures (which we refer to as the
‘New Testament’) were compiled, the only written revelation available to
believers who lived from the time of Christ’s ministry on earth was this
Old Testament. And, when Paul preached, especially to those of Jewish
descent, he cited passages from these Hebrew Scriptures.
2Tim.3:15 … from a babe you are acquainted
with the sacred scriptures
which are able to make you wise
for salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus.
Act.26:22,23 Happening, then, on
assistance from God,
until this day I stand attesting both to small
and to great,
saying nothing outside of what both the
prophets and Moses speak
of impending occurrences--if it be the
suffering Christ--
23 if He, the first out of a
resurrection of the dead,
is about to be announcing light both to the
people and to the nations.
Act.17:2,3 Now, as was Paul's
custom, he entered to them,
and on three sabbaths he argues with them from
the scriptures,
3 opening up and placing before them
that the Christ must suffer and rise from
among the dead,
and that "This One is the Christ--the Jesus Whom I am
announcing to you."
From what we have now been
given to understand, this change is to reinforce the teaching that
salvation is not based on the observance of the law but on believing in
God’s declarations made through Christ for that time-frame – and that this
belief is God-given. Those who obstinately held on to the ‘works of the law
alone’ doctrine were no more deemed to be part of the true Israel of God.
Faith in Christ is the imperative.
20. Yet Isaiah is very daring and is
saying,
I was found by those who are
not seeking Me;
I became disclosed to those who are not
inquiring for Me.
Israel has become
smug in her own righteousness. It was now the time to shake her out of her
reverie of self-confidence and make her reconsider her situation.
Deut.32:21 As for them, they make Me jealous with a non-el.
They provoke Me to vexation with their idols of
vanity.
As for Me, I shall make them
jealous with a non-people;
with a decadent nation shall I cause them
vexation.
God is using this evangel
of faith, which includes even those of the nations for blessings in a
special relationship to God, to provoke Israel to jealousy. Here, the
nations, who were quite unaware of Him and were, therefore, NOT seeking
Him, find Him; He reveals Himself to those who have not even sought such a
revelation. HE it is Who does it; they who come to believe are merely
recipients or beneficiaries of His grace. Israel, as a nation, however, is
still stubborn and calloused where this evangel is concerned.
Isa.65:1 I am inquired of by
those who had not asked for Me.
I am found by those who did not seek Me.
I say, `Behold Me!' to a nation not
calling My name.
Rom.9:30-32 What, then, shall we be declaring?
That the nations who are not pursuing
righteousness overtook righteousness,
yet a righteousness which is out of faith.
31 Yet Israel, pursuing a law of
righteousness,
into a law of righteousness does not outstrip.
32 Wherefore? Seeing that it is not out
of faith, but as out of law works,
they stumble on the stumbling stone,
21. Now to Israel He is saying,
The whole day I spread out My hands
to a stubborn and contradicting people!
Israel has been very stubborn and proud in thinking
that she has been the ‘Chosen’ of God for her own worthiness. But, the
record of Scripture demonstrates how erroneous such a conclusion is for, in
spite of knowing God’s law, she has gone her own way and transgressed those
very laws.
Isa.65:2 I spread out My hands all the day
to a stubborn and contentious people,
those going the way which is not good, after
their own devices,
Rom.2:17-24 Lo! you are being denominated a
Jew,
and are resting on law, and are boasting in
God, 18 and know the will,
and are testing what things are of consequence,
being instructed out of the law.
19 Besides, you have confidence in yourself
to be a guide of the blind,
a light of those in darkness, 20 a discipliner of the imprudent,
a teacher of minors, having the form of
knowledge and the truth in the law.
21 You, then, who are teaching another, you
are not teaching yourself!
who are heralding not to be stealing, you are
stealing!
22 who are saying not to be committing
adultery, you are committing adultery!
who are abominating idols, you are despoiling
the sanctuary!
23 who are boasting in a law,
through the transgression of the law you are
dishonoring God!
24 For because of you the name of God is
being blasphemed among the nations,
according as it is written.
In many of the parables,
that Christ used to speak to His people during His ministry on earth, we
find strong rebuke and dire warnings against their unrighteousness and hypocrisy.
Yet, we now know that these people had no key to these parables and were,
thus, unable to correctly decipher and to learn the lessons therein.
Mt.13:34,35 All these things Jesus speaks in
parables to the throngs,
and apart from a parable He spoke nothing
to them,
35 so that fulfilled may be that which is
declared through the prophet saying,
I shall be opening My mouth in
parables,
I shall be emitting what is hid from the
disruption.
Mt.13:10-17 And, approaching, the disciples say
to Him,
"Wherefore art Thou speaking in
parables to them?"
11 Now, answering, He said to them that
"To you has it been given to know the
secrets of the kingdom of the heavens,
yet to those it has not been
given.
12 For anyone who has, to him shall be
given, and he shall have a superfluity.
Yet anyone who has not, that also which he has
shall be taken away from him.
13 Therefore in parables am I speaking to
them, seeing that,
observing, they are not observing, and
hearing, they are not hearing,
neither are they understanding.
14 And filled up in them is the prophecy of
Isaiah, that is saying,
`"In hearing, you will be hearing, and may
by no means be understanding,
And observing, you will be observing, and may by
no means be perceiving."
15 For stoutened is the heart of this
people,
And with their ears heavily they hear, And with their eyes they
squint,
Lest at some
time
they may be perceiving with their eyes, And with their ears should be
hearing,
And with their heart may be understanding, And should be turning about,
And I shall be healing them.'
16 "Yet happy are your eyes, for they
are observing,
and your ears, for they are hearing.
17 For verily I am saying to you that many
prophets and just men
yearn to perceive what you are observing, and
perceive not,
and to hear what you are hearing, and hear
not.
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Index of Articles - Romans
Oct 2008
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