Down an Unfamiliar Road

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXXIV)

John Calvin agrees that God always keeps His promises. Even though the Gentile’s chief fault was misbelief, and for the Jews it was unbelief, even so, the Jews were blinded for a time and that made a way for the Gentiles to hear the Gospel, God still did not excluded the Jews forever from receiving His grace. So Paul openly admits that though the Jews were alienated from God during his time, yet God was ever mindful of the covenant which He had made with their forefathers. God made it known that according to His eternal purpose He still loved that nation: and He confirms this with a remarkable declaration, – that the grace of the divine calling cannot be made void¹.²

John Locke does not take what Paul says of the Jews as “enemies of the Gospel,” to suggest that they were trying to destroy the Church and wipe it off the face of the earth. That’s why in his paraphrase he calls them, “strangers to the Gospel.” The reason they were strangers, is because the Gospel was strange to them since they were so alienated from God. That’s why they were not familiar with what their own prophets had to say about the Messiah. So they refused to embrace the Gospel that Paul preached, even though he told them that he had received it directly from God’s Son, the Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth. So as long as they refused to accept Yeshua as their Messiah, their Lord and Savior, they would always be alien to the kingdom of God. How sad for Paul, that those who were originally chosen as the children of God were now no longer able to claim that title. Unfortunately for them, it had been given to the Gentiles whom they hated and despised. Perhaps that was another reason why they rejected the Gospel as having any meaning for them.³

Daniel Whitby sees the picture of a “double election⁴” of the Jews here in verses 28-29. The first election was through Abraham, and passed on to them physically through Isaac and then later through Moses and the Law. The second election will be brought to them spiritually through Abraham and Isaac and then Yeshua and the Gospel. The first was election by obedience through works of the Law, the second will be by obedience through faith to the words of the Gospel. In the first election it was because of their forefather’s sake, in the second it will be because of Yeshua’s sake. The first election was to make them a peculiar people among the nations to share the Law of Moses and it’s form of salvation through works. The second election will be to make them a peculiar priesthood among the nations to share the Gospel and it’s form of salvation through faith. The first took place before Christ came and was to be initiated once He arrived. But they rejected His message and dismissed His claim of being the Messiah. So they will be given a second election just before He returns, and that will be the last.

John Bengel feels that the stubbornness of the Jews should not be thought of as a reason to discount their eventual conversion. Right now they are called “enemies” in an active sense, but “beloved” in a passive sense.⁵ However, Bengel says that the “calling” Paul speaks of here is that of the Gentiles. In other words, even though Israel was God’s people called through Abraham, He does not regret sending the same calling out to the Gentiles. Furthermore, He will not take that calling back. At the same time, the calling of the Gentiles does not cancel out the eventual calling of Israel.

With respect to God’s gifts and calling of Israel being without any expiration date, Adam Clarke feels that the gifts and calling which God bestowed upon the Jews will never be revoked. In reference to this point, there has been no change in God’s of mind. Therefore, the possibility and certainty of their restoration as the people of God, enjoying every spiritual blessing with the fullness of the Gentiles, may both be reasonably and safely inferred. Repentance, when applied to God, signifies a simple change of purpose relative to some declarations made subject to certain conditions. Jeremiah explained this very well by using himself as an illustration⁶.⁷

Robert Haldane now points to the Gospel as revealing that although the Jews rejection of the Messiah led to the Gentiles becoming part of the family of God, still as far as their being His chosen people is concerned they are still beloved by Him. Haldane believes that Paul is attempting here to put to rest any objection that might be brought against the future recall of the Jews. The great body of the nation — all whom the Apostle declared to be judicially blinded – were now the enemies of God with respect to the Gospel. They had rejected God’s message by His Son, and, thereby, became His enemies while they called Him their God.

The Gentiles, then, might object, How can the Jewish nation ever be grafted into the true olive tree again, seeing they continue to refused to listen to God’s message of reconciliation? The Apostle gives his own answer to this. First, Paul admits that the Jews had become hostile to God, and were dealt with as enemies for their contempt and disbelief of the Gospel. In the next place, he says that this was for the sake of the Gentiles. The rejection of the Jews was, in the incomprehensible mind of Yahweh, connected with and overruled for the salvation of the Gentiles. Some understand the words, “for your sake,” as implying that the Jews were enemies to God because of His sending the Gospel to the Gentiles. This no doubt gave the Jews great offense, but it was before this event that they rejected and crucified Christ.⁸

Then Haldane touches on the subject of how the gifts and calling are without repentance and cannot be voided. This is something that many preachers, teachers, and scholars have misinterpreted as being a reference to the gifts of the Spirit and the calling into the ministry. But when seen in the context of these verses, it is clear that Paul is saying that even though the Jews became hostile to God’s plan of salvation that included the hated Gentiles, yet He will never deny that He called them to be His people and the promises He made to them are still valid. Also, since the salvation of the Gentiles was a gift from God, that will He never withdraw or ask to be returned.

Haldane sees Paul’s reasoning here is based on the fact that since God never changes, then His purpose for the ones He called also does not change. In other words, what He has given the Jews He will not withdraw, and His choice of them as His special people will never be altered. “Calling” in this verse equivalent to “election” in the preceding verse. This election or calling as a nation cannot be revoked, and that national election was connected with and subservient to the election to eternal life of multitudes of their descendants, at the period when all Israel shall be saved. For this purpose, it was that in the destruction of Jerusalem the whole Jewish nation was not exterminated. But how much longer can this standoff last. Jesus made one thing clear when He said: “If those days had not already been shortened, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.⁹”

Haldane then goes on to point out that the term “elect” here cannot be applicable to those Jews who had already embraced the Gospel, for the tribulations of those days, even had they not been shortened, would not have caused their destruction, scattered as they were through many countries. It must refer to the elect of God in that future age when all Israel will be offered salvation. It was for their sake, who were to descend from the Jewish people, that the destruction of that people was limited, and for which God was pleased to preserve a part of them, and continues to preserve them to this day. The same reason, then, for this miraculous preservation, had likewise been given by the Prophet Isaiah, “But I will not destroy them all,” says the LORD. “For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away – some of those grapes are good!’), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there.¹⁰”¹¹

When it comes to God’s invitation to all people to come and partake of His goodness, grace, and favor, this He did without any thought of canceling that call. Albert Barnes gives his thoughts on why this calling is without termination: First, he says, all the promises made to the people of God will be fulfilled. Secondly, His people need not be discouraged or despondent during times of persecution and trial. Thirdly, none who become His true friends will be forsaken, or thrown away. God does not bestow the gift of repentance and faith, of pardon and peace, on people, for a temporary purpose; nor does He withdraw them for no reason and leave the soul to perish.

When He renews a soul, it is with reference to His own glory; and to withdraw those favors, and leave such a soul once renewed to go down to hell would be as much a violation of all the principles of His nature as it would be to all the promises of the Scripture. Fourthly, for God to forsake such a soul, and leave it to ruin would imply that He repented of His actions. It would suppose a change of purpose and of feeling. It would be the character of an impulsive individual with no settled plan or principles of action; no confidence could be placed in Him, and His government would be unworthy the affections and trust of His intelligent creation.¹² What Barnes does not say is that if there is any breakdown in the completion of that calling and the awarding of those favors promised, it is on man’s side, not God’s.

Henry Alford offers his opinion on how the Jews can be both “enemies” and “beloved, and how the “gifts” and “calling” should be understood with regard to the Jews and Gentiles. He says that when we look at the Jews from the pages of the Gospel, they are enemies of God’s Good News of salvation by grace not works. But when we look at them from the view of ancestry, they are the beloved because of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob so often referred to by God as a cause for His favorable remembrance of Israel. Then Alford says that for an explanation of how God still regards them even in their state of exclusion because of their rejection of Jesus and the Gospel, the “gifts” (generally) and “calling” (as the most excellent of those gifts) cannot be recalled or repeated. Alford agrees with Bengel that the “gifts” are meant for the Jews, and the “calling” is meant for the Gentiles.¹³

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXXIII)

Stern goes on to say that Paul is not focusing on a part but on the whole of Israel, except for the part that accepted Yeshua, as being affected by this partial stoniness. For, as the next two clauses show, it delays Israel’s national salvation. The stoniness is not total, because there are and always have been Jews who end up trusting Yeshua. It is also wrong to see in the term “partial stoniness” any veiled approval of non-Messianic Judaism as being superior to the “total stoniness” of paganism. That is the opposite of Paul’s point, which is, that rejection of Yeshua by people with so many advantages demonstrates irreversible stoniness.¹ This is no new problem for the Jewish people – in the Tanakh God frequently called them stubborn and stiffnecked. The passage does not say that God caused the stoniness, as He hardened Pharaoh’s heart;² it implies that God knew it would happen. Nevertheless, this does not provide an excuse for anyone to remain stonehearted³.⁴

Verses 28-29: Right now, many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God’s giving His gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of the Patriarch Abraham’s sake, for God’s gifts and His call can never be withdrawn; He will never go back on His promises.

Rather than seeing all this as a negative and bemoaning the fact that Jesus failed to persuade the chief priests and various factions of Judaism to accept Him as the Messiah, Paul looked at it from the positive side. That by becoming enemies of the Gospel, the Jews were doing the Gentiles a favor. In other words, as Jesus indicated, by the Jews considering Him a stumbling block it turned into a steppingstone for the Gentiles.⁵ This was the message that Paul and Barnabas gave to the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia.⁶ When they got to the cities of Iconium and Athens they ran into the identical Jewish opposition with the same Gentile opportunity.⁷ That’s why Paul shared his consternation with the Thessalonians: “It was the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the early preachers. The Jews made it hard for us and made us leave. They do not please God and are working against all men. They tried to keep us from preaching the Good News to the people who are not Jews. The Jews do not want them saved from the punishment of sin.”⁸

But out of this came the glorious realization that the Gentiles were not given the message of salvation by default, but on purpose. It was all part of God’s plan to populated His Kingdom by selection. That’s how Peter referred to them in his greeting: “You were chosen by God the Father long ago. He knew you were to become His children. You were set apart for holy living by the Holy Spirit. May you obey Jesus Christ and be made clean by His blood. May you be full of His loving-favor and peace.”⁹ This inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God because of the action by the Jews was not a secret, it was prophesied all the way back to Jacob. In his dream he heard God say: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. I will give to you and your children after you the land where you are lying. They will be like the dust of the earth. You will spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south. Good will come to all the families of the earth because of you and your children.”¹⁰

Rabbi Avraham Saba has a very interesting commentary on this portion of Jacob’s dream when he saw angels ascending and descending on a ladder. As the messenger from God was speaking to Jacob about this promise of gathering all the families of the earth together. Rabbi Saba notes the words from the prophet Zephaniah where God says that when He decides to assemble all the nations and kingdoms of the earth together, He will change them so that their lips will become pure enough to call on ADONAI by name, and that they will all serve Him of one accord.¹¹ Rabbi Saba emphasizes that these nations will be of such pure speech that they will call on the Lord by His actual name.¹² For the most part, they substitute HaShem (“the name”) for YHWH (Yahweh). This is significant because up to this day the Jews refuse to call God by His name because they do not want to break the third commandment that says they should never use His name in vain. Could it be that the Holy Spirit was already revealing that one day Jews and Gentiles alike would call out to God by His name?¹³

But Paul did not want the Jews to forget the promises of God. That’s why Moses told the children of Israel: “Adonai your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.”¹⁴ Moses reiterated this commitment by God to His children by telling them: “You are a holy nation to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the nations on the earth, to be His own. The Lord did not give you His love and choose you because you were more people than any of the nations. For the number of your people was less than all nations. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the promise He made to your fathers.”¹⁵

But Paul knew this promise came with a qualifier: “Remember the Lord your God. For it is He Who is giving you power to be well-off. By this He may keep His agreement which He promised to your fathers, as it is this day. If you ever forget the Lord your God and go to other gods to worship and work for them, I tell you today that you will be destroyed for sure.”¹⁶ Therefore, says Paul, God does not change His mind when He chooses people and gives them His gifts.

Like the prophet Balaam, Paul wanted the Roman believers to know: “God is not a man, that He should lie. He is not a descendant of man, that He should be sorry for what He has said. Has He ever spoken, and will not do what He said? Has He ever spoken, and will He not keep His Word?”¹⁷ This then gives what God said through Malachi even more validity. God will do everything possible to save His chosen. Here is His promise: “For I, the Lord, do not change. So you, O children of Jacob, are not destroyed.”¹⁸ Bible scholar John Gill tells us that Rabbi Obadiah Sforno in his work, “Liber Cosri” wrote: “The holy blessed God, after, ‘that He hath given a gift, never takes it away from the receiver.’”¹⁹

No doubt, this was based on the story we find in the Talmud concerning a prayer by a poor Rabbi named Hanina, who ask God to supply their needs, which He did by filling a neighbor’s oven with loaves of bread. But the wife questioned how often this would continue to happen. Rabbi Hanina prayed again, and this time he received a vision that taught him that the pious would eat from a table with three gold-covered legs while the less pious would eat from a table with two gold-covered legs. In other words, be satisfied with what you have instead of desiring more just because others have more. So he asked his wife if she would be satisfied to eat whatever they have without desiring more. She agreed. So the Rabbis used this to a maxim: “The latter miracle was greater than the former; for there is a tradition that [even though] a thing may be given but once; it is never taken away again.”²⁰

And, on another occasion the Rabbis spoke about what Rabbi Judah taught in speaking about the trial their forefathers went through at the crossing of the Red Sea. When they entered the Red Sea, the Prince of the Sea was told to cast them out on dry land. But the Prince of the Sea spoke back and asked: “Sovereign of the Universe, is there a slave to whom his master gives a gift and then takes it away from him again?”²¹ According to the legend, God told the Prince of the Sea not to worry, He would replace them one and a half times as many with the Egyptians. So we can see that in the Jewish mind, once God labeled them His people and promised them a place in the world-to-come, even though they may have wandered far from Him, and sometimes even tried to replace Him with idols, nevertheless He would keep His promise. But Paul was trying to tell them the same thing Noah told the people in his day, God wants to save you but you must board the ship in order to be saved.

Early church scholar Ambrosiaster continues to project the theory that when the Jews finally do turn and accept Jesus as their Messiah, they will do so with joy. No matter how seriously they may have sinned by rejecting the gift of God, and however worthy they may be of death, nevertheless, because they are the children of God, whose privileges and many benefits from God they have received, they will be reclaim with joy when they return to the faith, because God’s love for them is stirred up by the memory of their ancestors.²²

Martin Luther makes the point that while the Jews are despised by God and the Apostles, it is not they who are hated but their rejection of the Gospel of the Messiah that is condemned. On the other side are those called the “beloved” because they have accepted and incorporated the Gospel into their faith and living. Therefore, Paul can declare that the calling God issued through Abraham to both Israel and Gentiles will not be invalidated. Luther asserts that God’s plan of election and salvation cannot be altered by a person’s merit or demerit. God never regrets His gifts and calling people to repentance. The Gentiles who were called were most unworthy, and the Jews who were called were called in spite of their proud self-righteous which made them worthy only in their eyes. God does not change His mind. That’s why the elect will surely be converted and come to the truth of faith – salvation without working for it.²³ The reality is, that although God never takes back His promises, refusal to accept those promises through obedience disqualifies a person by their own will and choice.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXXII)

Methodist Bible scholar Adam Clarke also comments on the idea that every Jew alive will be saved. This will only happen after they openly acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. We should not misunderstand the term “saved” as meaning that every Jew alive at the time will be taken up to the kingdom of glory. The term “saved,” as applied to the Israelites in different parts of the Scripture, signifies no more than their being gathered out of the nations of the world, separated to God, and possessed of the high privilege of being His peculiar people. When used in the prophetic sense, it implies that during the Tribulation period, after much persecution the Jews will turn to Jesus who will then protect them from being destroyed during that terrible time.¹

Robert Haldane has this to say about what Paul terms a “mystery.” When we look at the two previous verses (23-24), we see the restoration of the Jews exhibited first as a possibility, and next as a probability, according to the providence of God. Now the Apostle Paul, in this and the following verses down to verse 28, goes on to prove the certainty of the future conversion and restoration of Israel. Here he addresses the Gentiles as his brethren, thus expressing his affection for them, and gets their attention by declaring that he was about to reveal to them a mystery – something that up until then had been hidden by God.

The restoration of the Jews is called a mystery, for although it was declared in the Scriptures, it was not understood. And in this mystery, there were two parts, both of which are here unfolded. First, that blindness happened to Israel only in part. Secondly, that this blindness should continue until the fullness of the Gentiles comes to an end. This mystery was opened to prevent the Gentiles from being wise in their own conceit, that is, from being puffed up on account of the preference they now enjoyed. Ignorance of the Scriptures is the cause of high-mindedness in Christians. They are often arrogant and contemptuous through want of knowledge. In the absence of real knowledge, they often suppose that they have a true understanding of things with which they are still unacquainted. While this may be due to a lack of time, or a lack of teachers, or even a lack of interest, the worst reason for not being better acquainted with God’s Word is out of pride and conceit.

Haldane then goes on to comment on how, in verse 26, the Apostle Paul further unfolds the mystery he does not want his Jewish brethren to be ignorant of. In the previous verse, Paul declared that blindness had fallen upon Israel – the blindness which he spoke of in verses 8-10. This blindness, or being in a daze, would continue until a certain period in God’s plan to redeem the Gentiles was accomplished. Once that is over, Paul declares that at that time all Israel will be offered salvation. Haldane feels that we must understand that God’s rejection of Israel was meant for some but not for all.

Furthermore, it was also intended to cover a certain period of time and would not be unending. Initially, God’s time for sowing the seed of the Gospel among the Gentiles would come to an end and then the harvest would take place. After this harvest of the Gentiles, then God would turn His attention again back to Israel. They now would be evangelized with the Gospel. And when they also accepted Jesus as the Messiah and received Him as their Lord and Savior, then they too will be joined together with the Gentiles in the presence of God.²

Albert Barnes also points out that among the Jews was a maxim that every Israelite would have their portion in the World-to-Come.³ The Apostle Paul applies that same maxim to serve his purpose here, by declaring that in a sense that was true. He does not mean to say that every Jew of every age would be saved; he had proven that a large portion of them would be, in his time, rejected and lost. But the time would come when, as a people, they would be recovered; the nation would turn to God and accept His Son Jesus as the Messiah. That’s when it would be said of them that, as a nation, they were restored to God’s divine favor.

So, it is apparent that Paul does not mean that every individual Jew would be saved, but a large contingent of them. Neither does Paul go into detail and tell the Jews when this would take place. This is one of the things which the Father has kept to Himself.⁴ God has given us the assurance that it will be done to encourage us in our efforts to reach the Jews even during our time. Furthermore, the Father has concealed the time when it will take place so that we should not relax our efforts or feel that no exertion is needed to accomplish what must take place at a fixed time.⁵ Not all Bible scholars accept Barnes’ inference that Jews will be saved through the efforts of the Church. They believe Paul is telling the Gentiles not to count the Jews as lost because God has His own plan on how and when they will be saved. Prophecy scholars believe this will happen during the Tribulation period.

Henry Alford makes a point that should be a caution to all prophecy experts on the meaning of the word “mystery” used here by Paul. First and foremost, it is a prophetic event, unattainable by human knowledge, but revealed from the secrets of God. Alford’s reasoning is that this was meant to keep the Gentiles from becoming wise in their own conceit. In other words, that they would not take credit for some superior, divinely inspired wisdom. Just because they had received Jesus as their Lord and Savior did not give them unattended access to the secrets of God. These He must release under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.⁶ Alford then goes on with a long dissertation on how many of the early church scholars came to their conclusions on this matter. Some of them think it will be all Jews, others that it will be a remnant of Jews living at the time, and others that Paul is speaking of the spiritual Israel to which the Gentiles have already been grafted.

H. A. Ironside also offers his opinion on what Paul is saying here about Israel’s spiritual future. He begins with noting that their term “fullness” is used by Paul a second time.⁷ This is a reference to the completion of God’s offer of grace and salvation to the Gentiles. It all started when the Jews rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. The term “fullness” is used some 17 times throughout the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul. The Apostle used it to describe a period in time, such as when God decided it was time to send His Son to earth as Savior⁸.⁹

From the creation of the heavens and the earth, to the creation of mankind, Noah’s flood, the calling of Abraham, the choice of Jacob as the father of Israel, the freeing of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage through God’s calling of Moses; David, son of Jesse being picked as king of Israel, birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, were all points in eternity that God chose to make them happen. They could not have come a day early or a day late. Therefore, we should not have any doubts that everything that has happened since then is also part of God’s eternal plan. This includes the calling of Paul the Apostle, Christianity being chosen as the religion for the Roman Empire, the Reformation, the Wesleyan Revivals, the resurgence of Pentecost

Charles Hodge also gives us his insights on this discussion. He notes that there have been numerous interpretations by various commentators on verses 25-27. They are not of a great variety, however, they are all modifications of one or the other of the following two general views of the passage. First, many understand that the Apostle is not predicting any remarkable future conversion of the entire Jewish nation. Rather, it was simply declaring that the hardening of so many Jewish hearts toward the Gospel would still not prevent many Jews from entering the Christian church nor would it keep Gentiles from continuing to be accepted. Thus, all those Jews, as well as Gentiles who embraced the Gospel should ultimately be saved. The second general view supposes the Apostle Paul, on the contrary, was predicting that a great and general conversion of the Jewish people would take place once the dispensation of grace was completed for Gentile converts. Then, and only then, would those prophecies be accomplished which speak of the salvation of Israel.¹⁰

Hodge then explains that the first of these views were presented, in different forms, by the great body of the authors who lived about the time of the Reformation. This was due to the extravagances of many prophecy writers and speakers concerning the second coming of Christ. The Reformist wanted to explain away much of the prophetic character found in the verses on the salvation of Israel.¹¹ During the 1800s, German theologian Hermann Olshausen wanted to show the hostile feelings entertained by the Reformers towards the Jews. So he quoted a passage from Luther’s writings which said: “A Jewish heart is so stony-iron-devil-hard, that it cannot be moved by any means. It’s young devils condemned to hell who try to convert these devil’s children, which is impossible, as certain who are delusional invent from the Epistle to the Romans.”

Hodge goes on to explain that most scholars since the Reformation have interpreted Paul’s prophecy with the second view in mind. Namely, it seems obvious that Paul intended here to predict that the time would come when the Jews, as a body, should be converted unto the Lord.¹² The prediction contained in this verse is to be explained by the context. The rejection of the Jews at the time of Christ, did not involve the perdition of every individual of that nation. Thousands, and even myriads, believed and were saved. So the restoration here foretold is not to be understood as including every individual of the Jewish people, but simply that there will be enough to declare it a national restoration.¹³

Jewish theologian David Stern makes mention of the stony heart that Luther was referring to. We see it better in the Jewish Bible translation of verse 25: “It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness.” Stern notes that the literal sense could yield this rendering: “Stoniness has come upon Israel, but stemming only from part of it.” Though close to Paul’s point, grammatical considerations exclude it because in the four other places where the phrase is found in the New Testament, it has descriptive force. Therefore, it should be understood here as modifying “stoniness,” so that translations should read, “Hardness has come upon part of Israel” (the part that rejects Yeshua).

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXXI)

It is clear that the Apostle Paul knew that he might experience a strong push-back from the orthodox Jewish converts in Rome because they had been taught from their youth: “The fire of Gehenna (Hell) has no power over sinners in Israel.”¹ This resulted from the argument that while all mankind passes through the valley of transgression, for the wicked heathen the road leads to Gehenna while for the righteous Jew it leads to Paradise. This same teaching was repeated by Rabbi Resh² Lakish and used the golden altar as an example. He was talking about the altar in the Temple that was covered with gold.³ He stated, “Even though the gold on that altar is only as thick as a dinar,⁴ it will not wear off after years and years of enduring the fire. So, the same is true of the transgressors of Israel who are as full of good deeds and acts of devotion as a pomegranate is full of seeds.”⁵

And in reference to Paul’s choice here of the words in Isaiah⁶ related to Jesus being the Redeemer and Messiah, one Jewish writer observed that the prophet truly did not indicate that the Messiah will turn Jacob’s descendants away from ungodly living, but as a Redeemer will come to Zion and receive those who turn themselves away from their transgressions.⁷ In other words, the idea that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost did not mean that the children of Abraham would then be saved with no decision on their part because they were already righteous. Rather, that they must be willing to turn to Him and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. This should help us understand why the Jewish leaders were so opposed to both John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth’s message of repentance for salvation sake.

When it comes to understanding the mystery concerning God’s estrangement from the Jews and His engagement to the Gentiles that Paul speaks of here, one early church scholar envisions that as the number of Gentiles that God is courting comes to Him through faith in Christ, the rest of the Jewish people will be stirred by jealousy and a desire to follow suit so that by believing in Christ they too will be saved. But in the meantime, the Apostle ranks the Gentiles ahead of the Jews in faith for the reason that even if some of the Jews believed in Christ, they still followed the precepts of the Law of Moses. But afterward, they also followed the example of the Gentiles and began to maintain the Christian faith in its fullness.⁸ While this was Paul’s hope and dream, yet it is said with a look to the future when Israel as a nation will finally declare Jesus Christ is Lord.

As it relates to the Deliverer coming from Zion, early church Bishop Diodore asks: “What does it mean to say that all Israel will be saved?” If it is said, “the whole world will see,” it doesn’t mean that every single person on earth will see, or, “all nations will hear,” doesn’t imply that every individual in the world will be able to hear. What it really means is that no matter where people live on this planet or in what nation they abide, there will be at least one person from their area who will see, or some inhabitant of every nation on earth will hear about those who are turning to the Lord and believing in Yeshua as the Messiah. So when Paul says that all Israel will be saved, he only means that every tribe of Israel will be represented in the number who finally turn to Jesus as the Lord and King.⁹

Early church scholar Pelagius sees it the same way. He notes that some interpreters of Scripture, that he has read, regard all these events as in the future. So this means that this prophecy must still take place, and Christ will still need to come again to set them free.¹⁰ And Bishop Cyril adds that although the Jews have momentarily fallen out of God’s favor, they will one day be brought back into the fold as believers in Christ. Paul confirms this by quoting Isaiah.¹¹ Israel will be saved in its own time and will finally be elected after the calling of the Gentiles comes to an end.¹²

The eventual salvation of Israel is seen as the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. So it does not depend on the Jews to orchestrate this, it is God’s to complete. Ambrosiaster is sure that the covenant God made with Abraham will be valid no matter how long it takes for them to believe. This is God’s promise to keep. It is not for us to determine if and when it will happen, all we must do is be ready for Christ’s return. In the meantime, every day the call goes out to whosoever will may come to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Although God condemns unbelievers as soon as they sin, He still waits before punishing them knowing that one day they might come to the knowledge salvation.¹³

Then Chrysostom tells us that God will stand by His covenant and promises to the end. We cannot postpone it nor expedite it. It will happen in God’s appointed time. But there is one thing of which we can be sure and that is our sins must be forgiven and we must be living with Christ in us as our Lord and Savior. God is faithful in fulfilling His promises. And since we can be sure Christ’s second coming has not yet happened, we can nevertheless be certain that it will one day come to pass.¹⁴

Martin Luther says that while the general consensus is that the Jews will be converted to Christ in the end, it is still too obscure a passage to convince everyone, even with the endorsement of Augustine, Chrysostom, and Theodoret. Luther is certain that the Jews who are still unbelievers will be converted and saved once the fullness of the Gentile elect is completed. They will not remain outside forever, but in their own time they will be converted.¹⁵ We are told that although Luther seemed unsure at first whether all Jews would be saved rather than an elect few, he did finally accept the opinion of early church scholars that just as those among the Gentiles will be the chosen so the same among the Jews.

John Calvin believes that Paul is making a point for the Gentile believers not to become so high-minded that they are blinded to the mystery of God’s plan for Israel. It was necessary for Paul to do so in order to prevent the Jewish believers among them to the despair, thinking all was lost. Calvin sees the same thing as useful for us in our day, so that we may know that the salvation of the remnant, whom the Lord will at length gather to Himself, is signed, and irrevocable, as it were, by the Almighty God’s seal. It has also been hidden away so the enemy cannot break in and steal it.

And whenever there is a long delay and we are tempted to become despondent, let us remember this is still a mystery to us since God has given no one to know the exact time it will take place until He gives His approval for it to happen. And then it will take place in a moment, faster than we can blink an eye. It is also called a mystery because it will be incomprehensible until the time of its revelation. It is, however, made known to us, as it was to the Romans, that our faith may be content with the Word, and support us with hope, until the event itself come to light.¹⁶

John Locke takes the phrase, “shall be saved,” and renders it, “shall be converted.” Locke is aware that among English speaking believers the word, “saved” is a synonym for conversion. So if we are saved, we must be saved from something. In the first stage of our salvation, we are saved from the bondage of sin. But there is another stage, that’s at the end when we are saved from this world to live in the world-to-come with our Lord. So Locke believes that Paul is talking about the first stage here on earth. That’s why Paul cannot talk about the eternal destiny of the Jews unless he shows that they were converted to Christ and made ready for eternal life.¹⁷

Daniel Whitby sees this verse as another part of Paul’s argument for the general conversion of the Jews. This is not to those who were hardened and unresponsive to the Gospel, but to those who had been blinded by doubt and uncertainty about the Gospel and Yeshua the Messiah. So it must not be understood as encompassing all Jews regardless of their unbelief. God plans to take away their blindness by sending a Deliverer out of Zion to procure the pardon for them, and since this pardon can only be given through faith in Christ, this deliverer must Yeshua who wants to save His own people from their sins. So just as such blindness was removed for many Jews when Jesus came the first time, so will the blindness be removed in the last days just before His coming the second time to set up the Kingdom here on earth they were looking for.¹⁸

John Bengel also warns against trying to understand this mystery, that Paul speaks of here, out of curiosity or with limited interest. It must be done with humility. After all, since it is a mystery, then Paul had to treat the Jews with patience for not recognizing quicker. The same should be said of us who are hoping that in time all will recognize it. Although many Jews were converted in Paul’s day, and there are some even in this day that are becoming Christians, the mystery that Paul was talking about would come when the right time arrived for it to occur and the remnant will be chosen and saved.¹⁹

Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards believes that Paul is talking here about what will take place during the Great Tribulation in the end times. He feels that this is what the prophet Jeremiah was referring to.²⁰ This will include not only the literal Jewish nation but the spiritual nation of Israel as well.²¹ Edwards notes that it is so out of the ordinary that the Jewish people have continued in their denial of the Messiah for so many centuries and yet their ultimate salvation is spoken of here with great certainty. The Apostle Paul illustrates this so beautifully in his letter to the Corinthians: “Today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. ‘But,’ says the Torah, ‘whenever someone turns to Adonai, the veil is taken away.’ Now, ‘Adonai’ in this text means the ‘Spirit.’ And where the Spirit of Adonai is there is freedom. So all of us, with faces unveiled, see as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and we are being changed into His very image, from one degree of glory to the next, by Adonai the Spirit.”²²

Several months after graduating from High School and still living at home, I had my eureka moment! I realized who I was, where I was, and why I was there. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it. I had no career path, I couldn’t see any chance of promotion in emptying out railroad boxcars full of grain into a grain elevator out in New Mexico, and breathing in dust all day. Every job I applied for they would ask me what my military draft status was. When I told them 1-A (Available for Military Service), they said it would be a waste of time for them to train me because I could be called into the military any day. So I decided to immediately do something about it. I went down to the recruiting station and joined the US Army. That decision changed the whole course of my life and ended up making me what I am today.

But along the way, I learned a very valuable truth. It was much like what Oklahoma born cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator Will Rogers (1879-1935) once said: “If you want to be successful, it’s just this simple: Know what you’re doing. Love what you’re doing. And believe in what you’re doing.” For me, that same principle developed into my personal motto that went like this: To serve God to the fullest, I must understand what I am doing. Know why I am doing it. And love what I am doing.

There are several things that I kept track of to help me go forward and swim against the tide of what was considered ordinary and common. I had to find a way to stay focused instead of always struggling to keep my mind on what I was doing. I tried to learn from what successful people had done instead of just talking about it. If I didn’t enjoy what I had to do, I tried to find a way to make it more enjoyable. I never let myself begin to think of what I was doing as a way of surviving, but of growing and getting stronger. This, in turn, made me excited about what I was doing. I seldom watched the clock, I was more interested in my progress. I threw away the idea of attempting to be a success. Instead, I begin striving to be significant. Instead of using the phrase “that’s a problem,” I started saying, “that’s a challenge.” And finally, I kept my eye on the big picture and how what I was doing now fit into the future plans God had for my life.

In one of his Proverbs, King Solomon noted that the person who is satisfied with what they already know is being foolish, but the person who is always seeking to know more will be delivered from such dull thinking.¹ And the Apostle Paul told his young convert, Timothy, that when God called him to be his messenger, He didn’t fill him with the fear of not being up to the task, but filled him with confidence to do what he was being sent out to do, to love what he had been called to do, and take control of what he needed to do in order to be faithful to is calling.²

The prophet Isaiah certainly was faced with difficulties in the mission he had received from God. But this is what the Lord told him, “Don’t be afraid, I will always be with you; don’t be reluctant, I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will assist you, and I will help you with My own hand to always do the right thing.”³ One of the greatest compliments I ever received from a fellow minister after a sermon he heard me preach was this: “You really seemed to know what you were talking about, and you were convinced that it was right.” My response to him was that I could never feel that way unless I knew the One who sent me, understood why He sent me, and believed in what He inspired me to say. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

The following article was submitted to newspaper columnist Ann Landers by a lady named Kay from California. It involved Pastor Roger William Thomas. I hope it speaks to you in a special way about what it means when your time here on earth is over.

A lady member of the Pastor’s congregation was diagnosed with a terminal illness and given three months to live. She was placed on hospice care and asked her Pastor to come to her home to discuss her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral, and what scriptures she wanted read, and which outfit she wanted to be buried in.

Then she said, “One more thing… I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

The pastor was surprised.

The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably say to everyone, ‘Keep your fork.’ It was my favorite time of the meal because I knew something good was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie with ice cream – something delicious.”

“So, I want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’ Then, I want you to tell them, ‘ Keep your fork, because the best is yet to come.’ ”

The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears of appreciation as he left the woman’s home. He realized she had a better grasp of heaven than he did, and knew something wonderful was coming. Every time he dropped by for a visit, she reminded him of the “fork.”

Sure enough, at the funeral people kept wondering why she was holding a fork. When he rose to speak, the pastor told them of the conversation he had with the woman before she died. He said he could not stop thinking about the fork either, and knew lady wanted them to have the same question, and she was right. So when he finished his remarks at the church, and again at the interment, he told all those gathered there, “Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.”

The thing that stuck in my mind after reading this story is that having a fork in her hand would have had little meaning had she not been invited to the meals at the church she attended. The dessert only comes after the meal. So it is with our Christian hope for what is to come.

First, we must be called, and then we must be among the chosen. The meals that the Holy Spirit provides for us through the messages we receive are what make us long for the sweet dessert. So if you have that same longing for what’s yet to come it’s probably because you have heartily partaken of what’s already been served. – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXX)

Verses 25-27: Dear Brothers, I want you to understand the secret truth that God kept hidden but has now revealed. This truth will help you understand that you don’t know everything. The truth is, that Israel will continue to be stubborn until the time for reaching non-Jewish people comes to an end; and that is how all Israel will be saved. The Scriptures say: “The Savior will come from Zion; He will take away all evil from the family of Jacob. And I will make this agreement with those people when I take away their sins.”¹

Here we find some of Paul’s doctrine of prophesy with regard to the salvation of his own people, the Jews. He stipulates that only after the time of the Gentiles is finished will this happen. This coincides with Peter’s statement concerning the end of the Gentile dispensation upon which our Lord will return to gather the church.² So it is permissible to believe that in the period immediately following the rapture, which the book of Revelation declares will start the tribulation, the Jews will then turn to Jesus and finally believe in Him as the Messiah.³

Although this may be clouded in mystery for some, Paul wants the believers in Rome to know that God’s rejection of Israel in favor of the Gentiles has a positive purpose. However, he also knew that what the Psalmist said in his day, had every reason to be true in Paul’s day: “When those who live in obedience see this, they will rejoice; while those who live in disobedience will be reduced to silence. So, let those who are wise make note of these things and contemplate the lovingkindness of the Lord.”⁴ And the prophet Hosea echoes these words coming from the LORD: “It is I who answer and take care of you. I am like a green cypress tree. Your fruit comes from Me. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things and know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and those who are right and good will follow them, but sinners will not follow them.”⁵

We might say that Paul was calling for the same thing that Solomon announced: “Trust in Adonai with all your heart; do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him; then He will level your paths. Don’t be conceited about your own wisdom; but fear Adonai, and turn from evil. This will bring health to your body and give strength to your bones.”⁶ But alas, Paul had to confess to the Corinthians that the Jews, from the time of Moses, did not want to see the light that God’s Word brings: “Their minds were not able to understand. Even to this day when the Law is read, there is a covering over their minds. They do not see that Christ is the only One who can take the covering away.”⁷ And, unfortunately, it will remain that way until God is finished with calling and saving the Gentiles who believe.

As a Jew, Paul knew he was not advocating something new when it came to the break in the salvation plan for the Jews and the insertion of the Gentiles for a period of time. This was already hinted by Isaiah’s prophecy: “On that day Adonai will raise His hand again, a second time, to reclaim the remnant of His people who remain… He will hoist a banner for the Goyim [Gentiles], assemble the dispersed of Isra’el, and gather the scattered of Y’hudah from the four corners of the earth. ”⁸ Later on, Isaiah gave the children of Israel the assurance that all was not lost: “‘A wife married in her youth cannot be rejected,’ says your God. ‘Briefly I abandoned you, but with great compassion, I am taking you back.’”⁹

One Jewish writer notes that the Greek word for “blindness” here is porosis, reflecting “hardness” (of their hearts). Also, the term “fullness of the Gentiles,” is a specific Hebrew idiom that goes back to Jacob’s blessing over Joseph’s children. At this event, Jacob deliberately switches what would be their normal order of blessing. He gives the younger son, Ephraim, the “higher” blessing of the older son. In Genesis 48:19, Jacob prophecies that Ephraim’s descendants would be among the nations. The term he uses is m’loh ha goyim, or “fullness of the Gentiles.” It would thus seem that Paul is referring to the return of the exiled ten tribes in the Millennium, when all Israel will “look upon Him who they pierced,”¹⁰ and their blindness will end. This would support what he said here in verse 15 regarding “life from the dead.”¹¹

But to Jeremiah, the Lord made it clear that the reason He left for a brief season was because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. We read: “‘You prostituted yourself to many lovers, yet you want to return to me?’ says Adonai.”¹² So even though they may be estranged, God knows that the Jews want to get back into a close, personal relationship with Him. Later, we find even more compassionate words from the Lord: “‘The days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a New Way of Worship for the Jews and those of the family of Judah. The New Way of Worship will not be like the Old Way of Worship I gave to their early fathers. That was when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. But they did not follow the Old Way of Worship, even when I was a husband to them,’ says the Lord. ‘This is the New Way of Worship that I will give to the Jews. When that day comes,’ says the Lord, ‘I will put My Law into their minds. And I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.’”¹³

It was unfortunate that when the Lord did reach out to them by sending His Son, they rejected Him. But for Paul, the promise of an ultimate reconciliation was still part of God’s eternal plan. That’s because God’s message was intended to show them the truth: “I will raise up one Shepherd to be in charge of them, and He will let them feed – my servant David. He will pasture them and be their shepherd.”¹⁴ And now that Jesus of Nazareth has been identified as that Shepherd, it was incumbent upon Paul to get them the message so that they could not say no one told them.

God goes on to tell Ezekiel His plan to bring Jews back from all over the world so they could be a nation again.¹⁵ And we know that on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was founded again on the same land that was given to Abraham. And as if by God’s plan, the name of the head of the Jewish Agency who proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel was named David, who also became their first Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the new State of Israel.¹⁶ Prophesy experts tell us that the final gathering of the Jews will take place after the Gentile dispensation is over and will occur subsequent to the Rapture of the church.

The prophet Hosea also speaks of this day when the sons of Israel will return and look for the Lord their God and for David their king. And they will come trembling before the Lord in the last days and be received graciously by the Lord.¹⁷ And the prophet Micah had some encouraging words: “Is there any other God like You, one who forgives sin and the wrong-doing of Your chosen people who are left? He does not stay angry forever because He is happy to show loving-kindness. He will again have loving-pity on us. He will crush our sins underfoot. Yes, You will throw all our sins into the deep sea. You will be true to Jacob and show loving-kindness to Abraham, as You promised our fathers in days long ago.”¹⁸ And Zechariah is given this prophecy: “I will give strength to the family of Judah. I will save the family of Joseph, and I will bring them back, because I have loving-pity on them. They will be as if I had not turned away from them. For I am the Lord their God, and I will answer their prayers.”¹⁹

And all of this will happen, says Paul, because Isaiah prophesied that God’s anointed Deliverer will come out of Zion to be their Savior.²⁰ This appears to be the answer to David’s prayer who prayed: “How I wish Isra’el’s salvation would come out of Tziyon! When Adonai restores His people’s fortunes, Ya‘akov will rejoice, Isra’el will be glad!”²¹ When in Zechariah God said he would answer their prayer, we find such a prayer in the Psalms: “Save us, Adonai our God! Gather us from among the nations, so that we can thank your Holy Name and glory in praising you.”²²

No doubt Paul felt heartsick when so many Jews rejected his message of salvation, the message that the angel gave to Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She is to become a mother by the Holy Spirit. A Son will be born to her. You will give Him the name Jesus because He will save His people from the punishment of their sins.”²³ It was the same message that Peter preached in the Temple after the Jews had coerced the Romans to crucify Jesus but God raised Him from the dead: “God has raised up His Son Jesus and has sent Him to you first to give God’s favor to each of you who will turn away from his sinful ways.”²⁴ And to one of his own disciples, Paul passed on this same message: “We are to be looking for the great hope and the coming of our great God and the One who saves, Christ Jesus. He gave Himself for us. He did this by buying us with His blood and making us free from all sin. He gave Himself so His people could be sanctified and eager to do good.”²⁵

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXIX)

H. A. Ironside tells a personal story connected to one critic’s assessment of Paul’s illustration about a wild olive branch being grafted into a cultured olive tree. He talks about reading an article by a well-known “higher critic,” some years ago. In this article, the critic was ridiculing the idea of the Apostle Paul’s inspiration because of his apparent ignorance of one of the first principles of horticulture. The critic seemed amused that Paul was so ignorant of the art of grafting that he actually suggested that one could graft wild branches into a good tree and have them bear fruit. Evidently, Paul was not aware of the fact that it is customary to graft good branches into a wild tree.

Ironside counters by noting that it is clear that the Reverend critic had never carefully read the Apostle’s own words, as given in the next verse, or he would not have been caught in such a trap. Paul clearly indicates that his illustration is one which he knew very well to be opposed to that which was ordinarily done by orchard keepers. Paul is clear that if you were to cut off a branch from a wild olive tree and attempt to graft it into a good olive tree, it wouldn’t work. Paul used this to show how natural it would be for God to have taken natural branches – the Jews, of the good olive tree which had fallen off and graft them back into their own natural olive tree¹.² In other words, the Jews needed to see how God did the impossible by assimilating the Gentiles into the covenant with Abraham. This should show them how earnestly God wanted them to join in by their accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

Charles Hodge put this whole concept into easy terms to understand. For him, according to the Scriptures, there is no difference, so far as their relation to God is concerned, between the different races of mankind since all came from Adam and all have sinned. They, therefore, are all unfit for the kingdom of God and are alike in that they are unable to save themselves. But on the other hand, they are all covered in God’s plan of salvation as presented in the Gospel. It was designed to meet the spiritual needs of all classes of people.

So the words used by Paul was to preserve the figure of a good tree and its branches. He was trying to get the Jews of his day to understand that restoration of the Jews back into fellowship with God was a more probable event than the introduction of the Gentiles into the family of God. Didn’t the Jews realize that God already regarded them as His children? Weren’t they aware that in their relationship with Him they were more favored because they were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Certainly, they knew that just as He loved their forefathers, He loved them the same. Therefore, the restoration of His people to the blessings of the family of God had always been a more possible and plausible event than the seemingly impossible idea of the Gentiles being chosen to take their place.³

So what went wrong? Why did God have to go pick branches off of non-fruit producing wild olive trees and graft them into the family of God tree? It was a miracle that only God had the power to perform. It was not something God secretly decided to do after they rejected His Son, so He deliberately went out of His way to mistreat the Jews so they would turn against Him, thereby, giving Him the opportunity to break the contract with Abraham and start all over with the Gentiles. Just the opposite. He sent His Son, His only Son to them first because He had promised Him to them from the very beginning.

When His Son paid the price for their redemption and calling, God arranged for the reinvigorated spiritual family of Abraham to be the first among those chosen. But what did they do? They rejected and killed His Son, then they went out of their way to persecute and martyr the first members of the Body of Christ which were fellow Jews. So what option did they leave for God to do in order to make sure that the death and resurrection of His Son were not wasted? Therefore, God had to reach out to the wild olive tree of Gentiles and get some branches from them because the natural Jewish branches had fallen off and were deteriorating and decaying on the ground.

Based on all that we’ve read so far, John Stott says that in this we can see a “chain of blessings.” It comes in the form of the allegory of an olive tree, where the rejection of the Jews (cultivated branches) were broken off, and the Gentiles (uncultivated branches) were grafted in. This was to ensure the Jews that if God could take wild branches and make them fruitful, why can He not take the natural branches and graft them back in again. What the allegory does not permit is any suggestion that through Israel’s restoration the Gentiles will be more richly blessed. The warning and the promise are paramount, however. First the warning: since the natural branches were broken off, the wild ones could be too. The Gentiles could be rejected like the Jews. There is no room for complacency. Secondly, the promise: since the wild branches were grafted in, the natural ones could be too. The Jews could be accepted like the Gentiles. So there is no reason for despair.⁴

Jewish scholar David Stern questions how some Christian groups reject what Paul is saying here about the olive tree analogy because it raises a critical theological question, “Who are the real people of God?” If you were to ask any orthodox or reformed Jew the same question, they would answer this way: “The Jews.” But if you offered the same question to any reformed or evangelical Christian, they would not doubt exclaim: “The Church.” But from the example of the olive tree, we learn that there are actually three distinct groups present who are all, in some sense, part of God’s people.

Stern goes on to say that this is something that no proper theology can ignore. First, there are the Messianic Jews (converted Jews who believe in Jesus as the Messiah), who are the natural branches that are part of the cultivated olive tree. Then there are the Gentile Christians, the wild olive branches which have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree. And finally, there are the Non-Messianic Jews (Jews who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah and still practice their religion as it has been for thousands of years). They are the natural branches which have fallen off the cultivated olive tree but can easily be grafted back in again. This is what Stern calls “olive tree theology,” and must be understood as including all three groups and all three kinds of “branches,” in defining and describing the past, present, and future of God’s people.

Stern continues with the examination of some modern interpretations. He notes that theologians, like other people, want a simple life. The most widespread Christian oversimplification is found in some forms of Covenant theology,⁵ which is more correctly called Replacement theology.⁶ This erroneous theology says that the Jews used to be God’s chosen people; but when they spurned Jesus, God spurned them and chose a new people, the Church, to replace them – so that now the Church receives all of God’s promises and blessings, while the Jews get only the curses. Were this thinly disguised antisemitism true, Paul would have to picture a cultivated olive tree with its root, trunk and branches all dead, and the wild olive branches living by themselves, grafted into nothing alive.⁷

In one article written on the question of whether the church has replaced Israel, we are told that if you have ever seen the Broadway show or film, “Fiddler on the Roof,” you might remember a character named Tevye saying to God, “I know, I know. We are the chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?” This line expresses a general frustration that at least some Jews feel regarding the challenges, trials, and tribulations that seem to go along with being God’s chosen people – everything from misunderstandings to dispersions and even persecution. Today, the Jewish people and the role of Israel itself are often misunderstood, even in the evangelical church. While some scholars say the church has replaced Israel, others say that God will continue to have a place for Israel in His program.⁸

And in another article on the subject we are asked if God has a separate purpose and redemptive program for Israel and the church? Or, does the Gospel of Jesus Christ fulfill God’s purpose to gather a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, Jews and Gentiles alike, into one worldwide family? When the Apostle Paul declares in the first chapter of Romans that the Gospel is the “power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile,”⁹ he declares that there is one way of salvation for all who believe in Jesus Christ. Yet he simultaneously affirms that this salvation does not displace or supersede God’s redemptive purpose for the Jews, but, rather, fulfills it. The ongoing debate about Israel and the church needs to maintain the Apostle’s balance, neither separating Israel and the church nor displacing Israel with the church.¹⁰

Also, in a debate on whether the Church has replaced Israel, Dr. Michael Brown, and Gary DeMar share their theories. The topic of their debate is simply a springboard for discussion of the dispute between two general modern positions: one which sees important First Covenant promises as pertaining specifically and only to ethnic Israelites, and another in which those promises are to all believers – the Church.¹¹

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXVIII)

On the subject of the restoration of the Jews, Karl Barth adds that the hope of the Body of Christ should not be extinguished or destroyed. The One who scattered Israel will gather them again.¹ Rejection and election are of God. Both are wonderful, mysterious, and incomprehensible. In fact, there is nothing more wonderful, more mysterious, and more incomprehensible than the election of those who sought God, than the election of those who never sought Him. They indeed have good reason to set their hope on grace alone, to hope with the Body of Christ for it.² In other words, the same hope that believers have that Christ will return to gather them to Himself for eternity, is the same hope that Jews can have that before He returns to set up His kingdom He will restore them to their rightful place.

Jewish scholar David Stern has something to say from his perspective. Wouldn’t it be much easier to bring an understanding of spiritual truth to those who belong to God as His people and with whom He has been dealing with for thousands of years than to those who did not? The analogy does not apply to every single Jew over against every single Gentile – especially today, when some Jews are raised without any Jewish identification, while many Gentiles, particularly those raised in Christian homes, have been exposed to spiritual truth as much as or more than many Jews.

But, putting modern exceptions aside, it ought to be easier for a Jew to believe in Yeshua as the Messiah than for a Gentile – this certainly was true when Paul wrote this letter, since “Messiah” is a concept which is part of Jewish culture, whereas Gentiles had to be introduced to an idea alien to their idolatrous upbringing.³ Furthermore, a Jew, as a member of the Jewish people, has the advantages enumerated in Romans 9:4–5. This is why a current “Jews for Jesus” slogan says, in a lighthearted vein, ”You don’t have to be Jewish to believe in Jesus — but it helps!”⁴

Verse 24: For if it is not natural for wild olive branches to become part of cultivated olive trees, how much more will the natural branches be grafted back into their own tree again?

What Paul is talking about here was a well-known subject among Jewish scholars. For instance, it was taught by Jewish teachers that they were not to graft the branch of a palm tree onto an olive tree because this constitutes introducing one species into a different species and creating a mixed species. However, Rabbi Yudan wondered if this did not conflict with what was taught by Rabbi Levi in his illustration from Psalm 128:3. There it says: “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner parts of your house. Your children around the table will be like shoots from an olive tree.”

In other words, a man takes a wife from another family tree and by marriage, she is grafted into his family tree. Then their children will come forth like branches bearing characteristics from both family trees. So by saying that branches from olive trees should not be grafted into other trees would be the same as not wanting your children to be different from other children if you marry outside the immediate family. In that case, they wouldn’t be unique to you.⁵ So we see that for the Jews to be told that Gentiles like the branch from a palm tree would be grafted into Israel, the olive tree, it would cause them great consternation. But it wasn’t to discourage them only to motivate them. That is why whether the branch comes from the Jewish tree or the Gentile tree, they will all be a new breed of trees called Christians.

This idea of Israel being an olive tree was spoken of many times in Jewish documents. For instance, we read in their Talmud that a voice spoke from heaven one day and said that the name the Lord gave to Israel was that of a healthy olive tree, abundant with good fruit, and just as the olive tree produces its best fruit the longer it lives,⁶ so Israel will flourish at the end of time.⁷ And further on we read where Rabbi Joshua ben Levi asked, “Why is Israel compared to an olive tree?” That’s because just as the olive tree does not lose its leaves either in summer or in winter, so Israel will never be unrecognizable either in this world or in the world to come.⁸ Then Rabbi Johanan asked the same question: “Why is Israel compared to an olive tree?” That’s because just as the olive produces its oil only after pounding, so Israel will return to the right way only after suffering.⁹

Several church scholars weigh in on their understanding of this verse. When speaking about what faith can accomplish, Chrysostom believes that if faith could do what was contrary to nature, how much more will it be able to accomplish that which is according to nature. Therefore, if Gentiles, who were cut off from their natural family tree, and came, contrary to nature, to be grafted into Abraham’s spiritual tree, how much more will God be able to reattach the original branches which fell off!¹⁰

Then Pelagius points out how this grafting was unnatural. The forefathers of the Gentiles had ceased to follow the laws of nature because they stopped learning and teaching these laws to their children. So when their sinful traits became a natural part of the human race, they ceased to be of any value as inhabitants of the earth. In other words, as Adam was the father of a perfect olive tree, once he sinned he passed on the virus of evil to his children who passed it on to their children. In a sense, they became wild olive trees who do not bear any fruit. So they existed for no reason other than to steal the natural nutrients from the ground which perpetuated their useless existence.

So why take a branch from such a wild olive tree and graft it into a cultivated olive tree? Wouldn’t the wild branch alter the effectiveness of the root of the cultivated tree to produce good fruit? No! The root is not inhibited from producing fruit on the grafted branches to conform to its character but conform the branch and its fruit to the character of the root.¹¹ It appears that Pelagius may have had some experience with grafting. What he is really saying here is that there is such a thing as “root grafting,” which in a way changes the root. But the grafting of a different species into a root will not prevent that grafted bud from producing its fruit with traits it did not have before which makes it better in quality.

Reformer Martin Luther recognizes that Paul is aware that you cannot graft a wild olive branch into a cultivated olive tree and get good results, so what is happening here is that the seed that took root and sprouted into the cultivated Jewish olive tree was unable to produce the fruit God was looking for on its current branches. So God took branches from the Gentile wild olive tree and grafted them in. So how did it happen that the fruit then produced was what God was wanting? Because the bad fruit produced by the Jewish Olive tree resulted from the corrupt human factor which infected the original branches, while the good fruit produced by the grafted branches in the same tree resulted from the sanctified spiritual factor involved. Luther concludes that the Gentile wild olive branch became a fruitful branch, not by nature, nor by their natural righteousness, or virtue, but by the divine grace that flowed through them from the root of the Abrahamic olive tree whose spiritual branch is the Promised Son, Jesus.¹²

For Adam Clarke, Paul wants the Romans to concentrate more on the result more than the effort in the grafting of the wild olive branch into the cultivated olive tree. It is contrary to all horticultural custom for a gardener to take a branch from a tree that bears no fruit and graft it into a healthy, fruit-yielding tree. But here we have the Gentiles, a fruitless race, in the sense of God’s righteousness, who were grafted into the ancient patriarchal stock of Abraham. Now, if it was possible to effect such a drastic change in the attitude and disposition of the Gentiles, who were without the Yahweh as their God,¹³ how much more possible would it be, using common human logic, to bring about a similar change in the Jews, who already acknowledge the One and Only True God, and who accepted the Law and the prophets as an accurate revelation of Him and from Him.¹⁴

Albert Barnes shares his understanding of the grafting phenomenon. It begins by acknowledging that the Gentiles had no inclination or tendency toward Yahweh. This does not mean that they were physically depraved, or that their disposition was literally like the wild olive. But it is used, for the sake of illustration, to show that their moral character and habits as enemies of Yahweh were unlike those of the friends of God. This should give light and understanding to Christians today on how it is possible for a sinner who has no relationship with God to be grafted into the Holy Body of Christ and began immediately to display the characteristics of Christ in their words, deeds, and identity. The sinful source that fed their hearts and minds and bodies has been radically changed. Now they are being nurtured by a spiritual source based on God’s Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The meaning of this whole verse may be understood this way: If Yahweh had mercy on the Gentiles, who were outcasts from His favor, would He not much rather have mercy on those who were so long His people? The people to whom had been given the promises, and the covenants, and the Law, whose many ancestors had been His friends, and from whom the Messiah was born? In some respects, it certainly would be easier to talk with the Jews than the Gentiles. They worshiped one God; they admit that His promises are the authority upon which their revelation of Him; they have the Scriptures of the First Covenant; they expected a Messiah; and they have a habit of professed reverence for the will of God. The Gentiles, however, were like nomads living in the desert who were totally unaware that there was such a God. In fact, they had already created all the gods they would ever need.¹⁵

This is what puzzled Paul who himself had been in that state. But when he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus and saw the light of His glory, it changed him drastically. So why can’t his fellow Jews be affected by that same light that was now brought to them in the Gospel of Christ? This is the same dilemma that Christian parents often experience with their children who after leaving home become engrossed in worldly living. If anything, it is to show that such decisions are not based on our human will but on the sovereign will of God.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXVII) – 05/29/18

Verse 23: Now, if the Jews stop doubting, they will be grafted back into the good olive tree because God is able to restore them to their rightful place.

Paul did not want to leave his fellow Jews forsaken without having any hope. After all, if God would be willing to graft in the believing Gentile branches of the wild olive trees, how much more would He be willing to graft back in the believing branches of the Jews. After all, did not God tell Zechariah that when the right time came He would pour out His spirit of grace on those who saw the One who was pierced so they would be overcome with guilt?¹ And this guilt would not cause them to turn away from God but turn toward Him and asking forgiveness. Even though His crucifixion took place a long time ago, in Paul’s mind turning away from Christ after the truth is revealed was the same as crucifying Him all over again in their hearts.²

On this subject, early church scholar Pelagius warns that if any believers go back on their commitment to Christ, they too will experience God’s severity even as the Jews will one day receive kindness.³ Humanly speaking, it is impossible to restore branches that have been cut off and already withered, but with God all things are possible⁴.⁵ It cannot be clearer: believers who become lackadaisical and unproductive are in danger of withering and dropping off the vine. This is substantiated both by what happened to the children of Israel who turned away from a saving God to a gold covered calf and were denied entering the Promised Land, and what Jesus warned of when He spoke of being the true vine and those who believe in Him being branches. He stated clearly: “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me you are able to do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown out like the branch and is dried up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and it is burned.”⁶

John Calvin believes that Paul appreciated the fact that everyone understood that God’s punishment for the unbelief of His people was done so they would not forget His mercy. Many times we see where God brought punishment upon His people before He restored them to His good graces. Now Paul shows how much easier it would be to reverse that process for the Jews in their present state of unbelief in the Messiah. It would be much easier to graft the natural branches back in so they could take their place from which they had been cut off, to draw substance from their own root, than for the wild and the unfruitful branches, from a foreign stock to be grafted in.⁷

In other words, God’s plans for the children of Israel are not finished, they are only on hiatus until the fullness of time comes when they will be permanently restored to their rightful place. Not as Jews or Israelites, but as “Messianic Christians.” Daniel Whitby joins Calvin by saying that God would not have promised such restoration if He did not have the power and will to make it happen.⁸

John Bengel then asks, how will the Jews be converted, who for so many ages have eagerly withdrawn themselves from the faith, distorted the First Covenant revelations from the true Messiah, and caused some of their fellow Jews to recant their faith in Christ Jesus? Bengel believes it will be done as Paul says, when God demonstrates the glory of His power which no Jew can resist.⁹ It will be seen as a miracle, because it will not involve a small number of Jews, but a great number, equal to the time when they as a nation were known as God’s people.¹⁰ All Paul has to do now is offer evidence for what he is proposing.

Adam Clarke expresses hope that God will follow through with His desire to bring the children of Israel back into His loving arms. The way Clarke expressed it, as fallen and as far away from being what God wants them to be, in His time and by His good will and mercy He will restore all their forfeited privileges back to them. And this will surely happen if they no longer live in unbelief. This would imply that God will have furnished them with all the power and means necessary for faith and that they may believe on the Lord Jesus. Even though a veil continues to blind them, it is not a veil which God has placed over their eyes, but a veil brought on by their own voluntary and obstinate unbelief. Once they turn to the Lord Jesus, He will remove that veil for them to see that He is truly their Messiah.¹¹ But this will not be done by force or against someone’s will. It will be offered as a gift in the last days just as it was when Jesus came the first time. It will still require that whosoever believes in Him will be saved.

Robert Haldane comments on Paul’s insistence that if any Jews turn toward the Messiah and accept Him, they too will be grafted back into the true olive tree. That’s why the Apostle has from the beginning of the 17th verse, pressed upon the believing Gentiles the necessity of humility. But now he goes back to the subject of the future conversion of the Jews. In order to furnish a new proof of this great event, he introduces a fourth argument taken from the restoration power of God. According to the figure which the Apostle Paul had employed respecting the casting off and the restoration of that part of the Jewish nation that was blinded, comparing them to branches broken off, there might seem to be no probability that they could be restored.

When branches are pruned from a tree, they wither and cannot be replaced. But through the restoration power of God, what is not done in nature, and cannot be effected by the power of mankind, will be done by God, with whom all things are possible. He is able to make the dry bones live,¹² and to restore the severed branches of the Jewish nation. Some argue that, because the grafting of the Jews into the good olive tree spoken of here is conditional, it is not a declaration. But the Apostle’s design is evidently, even in this verse, to excite hopes by showing its possibility. There is nothing else keeping them away from such a miracle but unbelief. If that sin were to be subdued, they would be received. God is able to graft them back in if they believe, and He is able also to give them faith.¹³

Albert Barnes echoes the same theme. He points out that the only condition that needs to be met on the part of the Jews for this restoration to happen is to stop doubting that Jesus was the Messiah. Once they are willing to take that step of faith then there is nothing preventing God from restoring them to their rightful place. Clarke says that Paul was able to forecast such a miracle because God alone has the power to restore them, to bring them back and reinstitute them to His favor. Also, God has not sworn that He will never accept them because they are forever excluded from His favor. In this way the Apostle reaches his goal which was to show them that God is not through with them as His people. That God has this power, and in the next verse Paul will explain why this is possible and even probable.¹⁴

Henry Alford believes there are two ways to understand what Paul says here about the return of the Jews to the holy olive tree by way of grafting. First, that God’s power to graft them in again has always been the same, but has waited for their change of mind to act. Secondly, that the Apostle uses the term “grafting” with the hidden meaning that it refers to the removal of their unbelief and the awakening of faith. Bengel believes that this second understanding is preferable because Paul is looking at this from God’s point of view in that He would not use His power to restore if their unbelief had not been removed.¹⁵ This certainly gives us something to think about because if God reinstated the Jews into His Kingdom with no change of heart, it would accomplish little in assuring them of their salvation and everlasting life.

Charles Hodge believes that this same concept can be applied both ways. The principle which the Apostle uses is applicable to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Neither one nor the other, simply because Jew or Gentile, is either retained in the church or excluded from it. As the one continues in this relationship with God on condition of belief in Christ, the other is estranged from God because of unbelief in Christ. Nothing but unbelief prevents the Jews from being brought back. That is, not only does God have the power to accomplish this result, but anything that might keep it from happening is not due to Him, but solely to the Jews. There is no impossible promise in the Divine mind, nor any insurmountable obstacle in the circumstances of the case which forbids their restoration. On the contrary, the event is, in itself, considered far more probable than the calling of the Gentiles was.¹⁶ It is noteworthy that Paul does not spend any time guaranteeing the Gentiles that they to would be restored if they fell away in unbelief. Instead, they were encouraged to hold on until the end.

Frédéric Godet sees another principle in what Paul is saying here. God’s being strict with the Jews was also a warning to the Gentiles. At the same time, God’s goodness displayed to the Gentiles as a pledge could also be taken as a sign of mercy to the Jews. However, they must give up persisting in their unbelief. When they observe their persistent doubting contrasted with the non-persistence faith of the Gentiles, they can see that on this one condition the power of God will restore them to their place in His kingdom. It will graft them into Christ, who will become their life-giving stem, as well as to the Gentiles. And this transplantation can be done more effectively and easily in their case than it was in the case of the Gentiles.¹⁷