Down an Unfamiliar Road

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

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXVI)

Adam Clarke notes that the Apostle Paul, having adopted this metaphor of the root and branches as best he could to express God’s act of justice and mercy by which the Jews were rejected, and the Gentiles elected in their stead, was meant to show that although some Jewish branches were cut off, yet the tree was not uprooted. He informs the Gentile believers that it is customary for a good family tree to list some good children in order to strengthen their genealogy. But in the case of the Gentiles, the opposite happened. They were already part of a wild family tree whose branches were drafted into a good tree. So it was the Gentiles who benefited, not the Jews. The Gentiles got to enjoy the fruitfulness, excellence, and vitality of life that was part of the good tree’s root and stock. This was an act of mercy and goodness on the part of the divine gardener. So they have nothing to brag about what they did on their own.¹

Robert Haldane sums up his commentary on why the Gentiles should be appreciative of how God dealt with the Jews as He arranged their salvation. The Apostle Paul enforces his warning to the Gentile believers by four concluding arguments: First, he calls on them to behold the severity of God’s strict justice in cutting off and casting out the unbelieving Jews. Secondly, to consider His goodness in conferring unmerited favor on the Gentiles who had attained a level of righteousness they were not even looking for. Thirdly, the necessity of continuing in that goodness, by abiding in the faith of the Gospel. And fourthly, to observe the assurance that if they did not continue abiding in the faith they would themselves be cut off.²

Haldane then goes on to point out that people generally form the character of God in their imagination according to their own preferences. But it is the duty of the Christian to take God’s character as it is revealed by Him in His Word. His goodness must not be misconstrued as evidence that He will not punish the guilty, and the most dreadful punishment of the guilty is consistent with the existence of supreme goodness in His Divine character. However, the fact that God did not demand righteousness by always following a straight line, nor did He insist on His judgment be strictly implemented, can be seen in His treatment of Israel, whom He had so long spared after they had sinned against Him.

Let no one imagine, then, that He will spare them if found guilty, just because they have the name of being His people. Rather let them be aware that the punishment will always be equal to the crime. The evidence that we are the true objects of the goodness of God, as Paul mentions here, is that we continue in it by remaining true in faith to the Gospel. Continuing in goodness is not to be understood as simply keeping our dignity and integrity, but maintaining our confidence and trust in God’s kindness. For by continuing in God’s goodness we proceed in our faith in His ability to keep us as His own and that will take care of our dignity and integrity.³

Albert Barnes focuses on the interpretation of the word “severe” (KJV), “strict” in our text above. He notes that the word “severity” sometimes suggests the idea of harshness, or even of cruelty. But nothing of this kind is conveyed in the Greek noun apotomia. It literally means to “cut off, abruptly come to an end.” Thayer in his Lexicon adds that when used figuratively, it suggests “decisiveness.” It is commonly associated with the work of a gardener or vine-dresser in trimming trees or vines, and cutting off the decayed or useless branches. Here it refers to the act of God in cutting off or rejecting the Jews as useless branches. It conveys no idea of injustice, cruelty, or harshness. It was a just and decisive act, and consistent with all the perfections of God. It indicated a purpose to do what was right, though the discipline might seem to be severe, they are often used to avoid extended suffering.⁴

Charles Hodge has an interesting treatment of what Paul says here to the Messianic believers about continuing in the faith so that they would not be cut off like the unbelieving Jews. For Hodge, the foundation of all such statements is the simple truth that anyone who proposes the end results, also offers the means to accomplish it. In other words, they achieve the proper end by using the proper means. When a rational approach is used in selecting the goal, then the means of reaching that goal must also be secured based on rational considerations.

Guesswork has no place in this process. The mind must be clear and determined in order to make the process effective. That’s why there was no covenant made by God with the Gentiles that promised their salvation despite their unbelief. By the same token, there was no such promise by God to protect the Jews from the consequences of their unbelief. Anything freely given by God to the Gentiles or the Jews required that such favors would only continue based on the conduct of each successive generation. Paul, therefore, says to the Gentiles that they must continue in the divine favor, otherwise they also will be cut off.⁵

Charles Spurgeon makes this point about the future of the Jews. He believes that the Jews will never ceased to be a nation, although they have been scattered and delivered over into the hand of their adversaries because of their sins. They may enjoy various rights and privileges in the different countries where they settle for a while, but they cannot be absorbed into the nationalities by which they are surrounded. They must always be a separate and distinct people; and the day will still come when the branches of the olive tree, which have been so long cut off, will be grafted back in again. Then they will, as a nation, again behold the Messiah, the true and only King of the Jews, and their fullness will be the fullness of the Gentiles also.⁶

Frédéric Godet offers his analysis of what Paul says here. The readers of the letter in Rome have contemplated two examples of God’s dealings with the Gentiles and the Jews. One of kindness, the other of strictness. The first, directed toward the Gentiles; the second, toward the Jews. These are two lessons that the Apostle Paul did not want the believers in Rome to forget. In contrast to “kindness,” the Apostle Paul uses the forcible term “strictness.” This suggests an attitude in which there is no compromise or bending of the will. In describing these two modes God used in carrying out His will, Paul begins with kindness and strictness. But then, he switches by pointing out that God’s strictness came in the form of removing some Jewish branches from the Olive Tree of Israel. Then he connects God’s kindness to the grafted Gentile branches with the provision that they continue trusting in Him.

Godet also notes that God’s continuing kindness was made effective by His Grace from the start. It was made available to those with humble faith. Unhappy is the believer for whom Grace is no longer useful after they have served and trusted in God for a month or a year. They don’t appreciate it the same way they did to begin with. Paul warned the Gentiles that when believers begin to feel self-confident in their ability to maintain their salvation by good works and charitable giving and a positive attitude, it paralyzes the function and effectiveness of Grace. There is nothing more for them to expect by staying in this condition than to be cut off from the stem, just as it happened to the Jews. When that happens, both proud Jew and Gentile branches will end up laying side by side waiting to be used as firewood.⁷

F. F. Bruce makes the case that throughout the New Testament the theme of continuance is the test of reality. He sees the perseverance of the saints as a doctrine firmly grounded in New Testament, especially in the writings and teachings of Paul. But its consequence is that it is the saints who persevere. Since you stand fast only through faith it is a healthy exercise to heed Paul’s injunction to the Corinthian Christians: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith.⁸”⁹

John Stott also sees the traces of antisemitism among some of the Gentile believers in Rome, that was mentioned before by Luther and Calvin. Paul’s admonition to the Gentiles not to boast, together with the arguments with which it was supported, was undoubtedly much needed in Rome. For, although the Jews were tolerated and protected by law from Gentile mistreatment, they still suffered a great deal of popular Gentile ill will and sometimes from outbreaks of violence. Resisting assimilation into Gentile culture, and refusing to abandon or modify their own practices, their “exclusiveness” bred the unpopularity out of which antisemitism was born. The Jew was a figure of amusement, contempt or hatred to the Gentiles among whom they lived.¹⁰ Paul was determined that Gentile believers in Rome would have no share in such antisemitic prejudice.¹¹

Jewish scholar David Stern comments about this continuance in the faith as a guard against being cut off. Some people think that if they have given mental assent to the proposition that Yeshua is the Messiah, they have “eternal security” with God, no matter how they live their lives. This parody of genuine trust is rightly called “cheap grace.”¹² The truth of the matter is that “faith” without actions to match is dead.¹³ In other words, salvation is conditional: provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise you too will be cut off! This involves making sure that one’s faith “keeps itself alive through works of love.”¹⁴

German scholar Friedrich Tholuck touches on a thought that can give us some clarity here of what Paul was trying to say. It involves “wholeness” and “holiness.” Let me explain: We know that wholeness is a reference to good health and in this case the believer’s spiritual health. This involves unity and integrity being maintain with the source of one’s salvation. Living the Christian life is not acting. It is reality and relativism. That means being what we are supposed to be in Christ and applying it to our every day life. Holiness is gauged by commitment and discipline. Believers do not live the way they want to live, but the way God wants them to live. It means adopting God’s standards for one’s behavior. Not only in relationship to the world, but in kinship with each other. If the Jews were punished because they failed to live up to God’s expectations for them, then why should Gentiles fool themselves into thinking God will go easier on them?¹⁵

Most people that I know do not recognize the name, David Berlinski. If you happen to know who he is, you certainly are a broad thinker. Dr. Berlinski has a Ph.D., from Princeton University and has taught mathematics and philosophy at universities in the United States and France. He is the bestselling author of such books as A Tour of the Calculus, The Advent of the Algorithm, and Newton’s Gift. A senior fellow at the Discovery Institute in Seattle and a former fellow at the Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France. Dr. Berlinski writes frequently for Commentary, among other journals. He lives in Paris.

But let Dr. Berlinski introduce himself as he wants the reader to know him. He writes: “I am a secular Jew. My religious education did not take. I can barely remember a word of Hebrew. I cannot pray. I have spent more years than I care to remember in studying mathematics and writing about sciences. Yet the book that follows is in some sense a defense of religious thought and sentiment. Biblical verses are the least of it.”

Dr. Berlinski goes on to say, “A defense is needed because none has been forthcoming. The discussion has been ceded to men who regard religious belief with frivolous contempt. Their books have in recent years poured from every press, and although differing widely in their style, they are identical in their message: Because scientific theories are true, religious beliefs must be false. One such writer conveyed the point by entitling an essay, ‘Science Must Destroy Religion.’ His call to jihad cannot be long delayed.”

Berlinski continues: “No scientific theory touches on the mysteries that the religious tradition addresses. A person asking why their days are short and full of suffering is not disposed to turn to algebraic quantum field theory for the answer. The answers that prominent scientific scholars have offered are remarkable in their shallowness. The hypothesis that we are nothing more than cosmic accidents has been widely accepted by the scientific community.” Many such scientists think that in their articles of scientific faith it declares that individuals with such advanced confidence in their scientific theories have been chosen and equipped by nature to face realities the rest of us cannot bear to contemplate. Says Berlinski, there is not the slightest reason to think this is true.

Berlinski then concludes that science has nothing of value to offer on the great and arching questions of life, death, love, and meaning, what the religious traditions of mankind have said forms a more coherent body of thought than anything they have published. The yearnings of the human soul are not in vain. There is a system of belief adequate to handle the complexity of experience. There is recompense for suffering. A principle beyond selfishness is at work in the cosmos. In the end, all will turn out well.

Through his experience in the underbelly of science Berlinski has discovered that a great many men and women have a dull, hurt, angry sense of being oppressed by the sciences. They are frustrated by endless scientific boasting in the absence of evidence for what they claim to be real. These champions of faith suspect that as an institution, the scientific community holds them in contempt. They feel no little distaste for those speaking in its name. They have every right to feel this way. It is for this very reason that Dr. Berlinski wrote his book.

While recalling listening to Dr. Berlinski share his personal testimony about his recognition that science has no right to tell religion it has no place among intelligent human beings. But let’s make a simple comparison. In all the centuries of scientific experimentation and the formation of various theories they still have not come up with any acceptable explanation of how did we got here; why are we here; and where are we headed? When you humbly offer what the Scriptures have to say, they laugh in derision and ask how could you believe such myths and fables? What they don’t realize is that their myths and fables are a lot less believable.

So the next time you meet a die-hard evolutionist, simply ask the same question no matter what explanation they may give you for their theory. And that question is, “Where did that come from?” In other words, if they answer your question of where did the universe and solar system come from, and they say it resulted in an accidental collision of atoms, neutrons, electrons, and protons. Your question should be, “Where did that come from?” If they say that there was some unseen quantum force in deep space that gave birth to these particles, then ask again, “Where did that come from?” So no matter how many such suppositions and conjectures they may come up with, eventually they will say they don’t know. But much to their surprise, the answer to all of these questions was answered by the Bible thousands of years ago. For in the very first verse it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

INSTEAD OF A CASUALTY, A CELEBRITY

With all the debate about abortion in the news and it being a hot topic in politics, especially in confirmation hearings on new Supreme Court nominees, I thought I’d share a story we read in a book by one of the most well-known college and pro quarterbacks in recent years.

More than 30 years ago, a woman named Pam and her husband Bob were serving as missionaries to the Philippines and praying for a fifth child. Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused by a parasite found in contaminated food or drink. She went into a coma and was treated with strong antibiotics before they discovered she was also pregnant.

Doctors urged her to abort the baby for her own safety and told her that the medicines had caused irreversible damage to her baby. She refused the abortion and cited her Christian faith as the reason for her hope that her son would be born without the devastating disabilities physicians predicted. Pam said the doctors thought of what was inside her womb as a mass of fetal tissue, but for her and her husband, it was a human life.

While pregnant, Pam nearly lost their baby four times but refused to consider abortion. She recalled making a pledge to God with her husband: “If you will give us a son, we’ll name him Timothy and we’ll make him a preacher.”

Pam ultimately spent the last two months of her pregnancy in bed and eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy August 14, 1987. Pam’s youngest son is indeed a preacher. He preaches in prisons, makes hospital visits, and serves with his father’s ministry in the Philippines. He also plays football. Pam’s son is Tim Tebow.

The University of Florida’s star quarterback became the first sophomore in history to win college football’s highest award, the Heisman Trophy. He went on to play quarterback for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets. Recently he played major league baseball with the New York Mets. And now he has plans to return to football. Through it all, God has provided him with an incredible platform for Christian witness. This is just another case where faith in God can do miracles that no one else thinks is possible.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXV)

So it became the anthem of the early disciples as they encouraged the followers of Christ to seek His blessings through obedience instead of trying to avoid His discipline because of unbelief. Luke tells us: “Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. When he went to Antioch and saw how God had blessed the believers there, he was very happy. He encouraged them all, saying, ‘Always be faithful to the Lord. Serve Him with all your heart.‘”¹ Later, as Barnabas traveled with the Apostle Paul, they continued this encouragement: “In those cities they helped the followers grow stronger in their faith and encouraged them to continue trusting God.”² It certainly could be that their message of staying true and honest with the Lord was as much based upon God’s goodness as it was on what happened to Ananias and Sapphira for lying to God and the Holy Spirit.³

Later, Paul went to Corinth to establish a church there and then heard later what was going on among some of their members, he wrote them: “Now, brothers and sisters, I want you to remember the Good News I told you. You received that Good News message, and you continue to base your life on it. That Good News, the message you heard from me, is God’s way to save you. But you must continue believing it. If you don’t, you believed for no reason.”⁴ The Greek adverb eikē (“vain” in KJV) that Paul uses here means to learn something without a purpose so as to encourage failure. Just like it would be futile for a person to read and study a map without any intent on using it as a guide to get them to their destination.

That’s why Paul encouraged the Galatians to never give up doing what God had given them to do. He told them: “He who is taught God’s Word should share the good things he has with his teacher. Do not be fooled. You cannot fool God. A man will get back whatever he plants! If a man does things to please his sinful old self, his soul will be lost. If a man does things to please the Holy Spirit, he will have life that lasts forever.”⁵ And when Paul heard about some problems that had developed among the Thessalonians, he wrote them: “I sent Timothy to find out about your faith. I was afraid the devil had tempted you. Then our work with you would be wasted… It is life to us to know that your faith in the Lord remains strong.”⁶

Now, these admonitions to remain faithful and steadfast would have no meaning if there were no consequences for disobedience. That’s why God warned Ezekiel about his mission after He called him to be a watchman over the people of Israel and promised to give Him the message He wanted them to hear. He told him: “If I say to the sinful man, ‘You will die for sure,’ and you do not tell him of the danger, and try to turn him from his sinful way so that he may live, that sinful man will die in his sin. But you will be guilty for his blood.”⁷ Of course, God goes on to say that the opposite is true: “If you tell a sinful man of the danger he is in, and he does not turn from his sins or from his sinful way, then he will die in his sin. But you will have saved yourself.”⁸

Later on, another appeal would be made to the people of Israel not to fool themselves by thinking there was another way to please God in faithfulness. We read: “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ But it is their way that is not right. When the right and good man turns from his good way and sins, he will die for it. But when the sinful man turns from his sin and does what is right and good, he will live because of it.”⁹ All of this was told the Jews, not to condemn them without a purpose, but to shock them into the realization that it was either God’s way or no way, and they had to choose which one they would follow and accept the consequences.

Ambrosiaster continues his explanation of the balance between reception and rejection by God of those Jews who believed and those who did not. He sees Paul’s testimony that God is being good to the Gentiles, even though they worshiped idols and deserved to die, as evidence that He waited for them with great patience in spite of their not seeking after Him, He called them and forgave their sins out of His own good will. But God is stern with the Jews for their own good, but it blinded them with resentment so they rejected the gift of His Son.¹⁰ There are those who disagree with Ambrosiaster on the subject of God blinding the unbelieving Jews so they could not see the truth. Most scholars accept the fact that God sent the Way, the Truth, and the Light to them, but because they did not accept what they saw and heard, they were blinded by their unbelief.

Bishop Theodore believes we need to look at this more closely. He thinks that Paul is trying to tell us that we ought to learn from both the Jews and Gentiles how great God’s love for us is in that we have been counted worthy through faith. We ought to become ever more eager to live a godly life bearing in mind how God rejected the Jews because of their unbelief and do everything in our power not to fall into the same trap.¹¹ In other words, those who did believe and did accept the Light, should not let pride blind them and mislead them into thinking that they are invulnerable to failing and falling.

Martin Luther minces no words on how he feels about those who think they are too good to fail. He says that we can learn from these Scriptures that when we see the fall of the Jews, heretics, and others, we should not concentrate on the fact that they fell from grace, but instead, what God does in response to them, so that we may learn from their example so that we will reverence God and not boast arrogantly in any way.¹² But Luther goes on to say that in spite of such lessons, many continue to exalt themselves in an “amazingly stupid manner,” and call the Jews either dogs or accursed, or they insult them with other abusive words, though they themselves do not know what kind of people they are and what is their standing in God’s sight. They want to convert the Jews by force or insult. May God resist them.

What is amazing to me is that the Church that grew out of Luther’s reformation would one day side with a dictator named Adolf Hitler and persecute the Jews as though they were the scourge of the earth and treat them with biased contempt, blaming them for all the social, financial, and political woes that plagued Germany in the early 20th century. The final insult came when Jews were herded on railway boxcars into concentration camps where they were gassed, hung, shot, and used for scientific experiments to further the cause of the Aryan Race ideology. Apparently, the fact that no one learned a lesson from Paul’s admonition in Luther’s day, was repeated some 380 years later in the same country.

John Calvin, who wrote during the same period of the Reformation as Luther, gives us his view from a French perspective. His full commentary on this verse is too voluminous to record here, but there are some things that are worth noting. By Paul laying his case before the Gentile’s eyes he more clearly and fully confirms the fact that the Gentiles had no reason to be proud of themselves. They saw in the Jews an example of God’s sternness, which ought to have terrified them; while in themselves they had evidence of His grace and goodness, by which they ought to have been motivated to thankfulness. It should have resulted in exalting the Lord and giving Him all the glory.

Paul’s words were meant to convey the fact that if a believer exults over another believer’s calamity, think first what you used to be, and how God’s reaction should have merited you no favors. Then consider what you are now. For God’s offer of salvation will not continue to be valid unless you humbly recognize the mercy of God. If you were to forget what you deserve and arrogantly celebrate the ruin that has come into other people’s lives, remember, the same thing can happened to you. It is indeed not enough for you to have once embraced the favor of God, unless you follow His call through the entire course of your life. Those indeed who have been enlightened by the mercy of the Lord ought always to think of persisting in perseverance through faithfulness. No one will continue to enjoy the goodness of God, who having for a time responded to His call but later begin to grow tired of being part of the kingdom of heaven, and because of their ingratitude justly deserve to be blinded again.¹³

John Taylor sees Paul using two extremes to teach a lesson. He compares the Goodness of God to the believing Gentiles with the Grimness of God toward the unbelieving Jews. It is very obvious that this was God’s reaction to the Gentiles’ acceptance in the face of the Jews’ rejection. So for the Gentiles, it can be seen when they received the Gospel message of salvation that came to them;¹⁴ when they were enriched by being made beneficiaries to the promises of Abraham;¹⁵ when they were grafted from the wild olive tree into the True Olive Tree;¹⁶ when they became the objects of God’s Mercy;¹⁷ and when they were listed among the Called and Chosen.¹⁸ Taylor goes on to mention their being justified freely by the Grace of God by faith and their inclusion in the Kingdom of God, making the case for faithfulness even greater.¹⁹

Puritan Jonathan Edwards preached that when a believer turns their back on their faith by not following Christ’s voice and refusing to follow Him, they will be plucked out of Christ’s hand. When this happens they will face eternal life apart from God. That’s because possession of eternal life is a gift and faithfully holding on to that gift is what keeps it in effect.²⁰ Furthermore, believers must persevere in their faith by abiding in Him as necessary to maintain a continuing union with Christ. This results in His abiding in them to assure their salvation.²¹ Because if that union is not maintained as a grafted branch in the True Vine, then no life can flow between the vine and the branch so that fruit can be produced. Once that connection is broken, then the branch can no longer survive and it will fall off on its own.²²

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

Dr. Robert R. Seyda

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

CHAPTER ELEVEN (Lesson XXIV)

Hodge also adds another thought to be considered by the Gentiles. They had even more reason to fear than the Jews. It was in itself far more probable that God would spare a people so long connected with Him in the most peculiar manner than to spare those who had no such claims on His faithfulness. The idea Paul intended to express by this verse probably is this: that the Jews, from their relationship with God, were more likely to be exempt from punishment than the Gentiles. After all, God is accustomed to being patient with the recipients of His mercy before He will reject them. In the same way that a parent will put up with a son’s contrariness longer than someone else’s son before they send them away.¹

Karl Barth has a very eyeopening exegesis of what Paul is saying here about why the Jews were broken off because of unbelief and why the Gentiles were implanted by faith. For him, it establishes the criterion of election: a standard which should at least put people on their guard. For a person to try and assess their own position in the Kingdom of God is a risky effort. To look at their place in the long history of God’s plan of salvation and then consider themselves equal with others who were called first is exceedingly dangerous. It can be hazardous to their spiritual health if they insist on being treated the same as others in the Kingdom of God. It is not how long one is part of God’s plan but how committed and faithful they are. It is better to leave it all up to God to determine that. For it lies within His competence to decide whether any person is what He was looking for or if they have ceased being of any use to Him as a vessel of the Gospel message and the growth of the Church.²

Barth continues by establishing that the ground of election is belief, and the ground of rejection is unbelief. But who is a believer, and who is an unbeliever? Belief and unbelief are only measured by God’s measuring stick of faith. For to us, such measurements are unobservable, incomprehensible, and uncertain. Only the root is effective. And in regard to the root, what preeminence have the wild branches over the natural branches which have been cut off? So don’t be guilty of being high-minded. Instead, become known for your reverence. Faith in God’s righteousness, unlike self-righteousness, is not a thing which can be vaunted and paraded before God and our fellowman or played one against the other. Faith is not a visible ladder, up which we can climb. Faith is born in reference and awe from the knowledge that God is God. Anything else is not faith.³

Then Barth says that the term, “Assurance of salvation” – is a phrase of doubtful legitimacy. Salvation is not a possession which can be claimed either against or on behalf of the Church. Only complete misunderstanding of what the Reformers taught could lead to such an opinion. The decision is God’s. His approval or disapproval are – because they are His – new every morning. Election stands by grace: we must never forget this. An “assurance of salvation” would require “assurance of damnation.”⁴ In Barth’s mind, such false belief is worse than heathenism.⁵

Verse 22: So you can see that while God is kind, He can also be very strict. On the one hand He was strict with those that were broken off, but, on the other hand, He will be kind to you, provided, that you continue trusting in His kindness. If you don’t, you will be cut off too.

Here is something that many people adhere to, but not all denominations fully endorse: “Once saved, always saved.” It is a doctrine that God’s Word could be interpreted as teaching, but with qualifiers. With respect to something that came as a gift; something we neither deserve nor merit; a blessing which is bestowed upon us through the unselfish act of another, we need to be careful that we do not take unjustified liberties in declaring that we are heirs to the kingdom regardless of how inattentive we are to the stipulations in God’s Will and disobedient to the specific factors placed there by the Giver. True, once one is born-again they cannot be unborn. True, once the blood of Jesus washes away the sins of the past and a person is declared innocent by God’s grace, that act will not be voided nor reversed. But that’s not where it ends – salvation, it is only the beginning – redemption.

But the Scriptures accentuate over and over again that whatever claims or status one may have in the kingdom of heaven, they will one day be judged on their faithfulness and obedience. It will be sad to see so many judged and condemned because they did not acknowledge or accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but it will be even more chilling and disheartening to see those who did accept that invitation and did receive the free gift of salvation which gave them entrance into eternal life, barred from going in because they turned around and threw away the gifts they were given while being disobedient to God’s commands; to the teachings of the Master and the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit. But then again, ask Moses why he did not make it into the Promised Land.

So Paul is trying his best to let the Gentiles know that what happened to the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai could be repeated in keeping disobedient Christians from the Promised Land of heaven. God is too often preached as a loving, caring, forgiving God who not only loves us but is in love with us. As such, He becomes a figure of unlimited grace and, therefore, not to be feared because of His disgust for sin and disciplining of those who deserve it. However, He does it all to try and save, not to destroy.

When Moses saw the disobedience of the children of Israel he prayed to God: “So now, please, let your power, ADONAI, be as great as when you said, ‘Adonai is slow to anger, rich in grace, forgiving offences and crimes; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offences to be experienced by their children and even by the third and fourth generations.’ Please! Forgive the offence of this people according to the greatness of your grace, just as you have borne with this people from Egypt until now.”⁶

Rabbi Saba makes note that in Numbers 14:20 God backed up His words that He had forgiven the people of their obstinance in asking for another leader to take them back to Egypt with the vow: as truly as I am alive, the whole earth will be filled with My glory and no one will doubt My powers. This implied that because He is eternal and has unlimited time at His disposal, He can wait for the right time to carry out any of His plans.⁷ And later on God reiterated this when He told the children of Israel: “See now that I, yes, I, am He; and there is no god beside Me. I put to death, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; no one saves anyone from My hand!”⁸

According to Jewish theology, in Deuteronomy 32:37 God began asking the children of Israel questions about heathen gods in order to prove through their answers that there was no other God like Him: Could any of these idols prove to be as reliable as He? To be as appreciative as He for their sacrifices? To be as protective as He in keeping them safe? This is what made their God different from any other deities. But the final test was what other god could both give life and take life? Which one could bring sickness and healing? In other words, there was, is, and never will be another God like Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.⁹

So it is not surprising that after they entered the Promised Land, Joshua had to remind them: “Every good promise that the Lord your God made to us has come true. But in the same way, the Lord will make His other promises come true: If you do wrong, bad things will happen to you. You will be forced to leave this good land that the Lord your God has given to you. This will happen if you refuse to keep your agreement with the Lord your God. You will lose this land if you go and serve other gods. You must not worship those other gods. If you do, the Lord will become very upset with you. Then you will quickly be forced to leave this good land that He gave you.”¹⁰

That’s why Joshua was forced to give the Israelites this ultimatum: “If it seems bad to you to serve Adonai, then choose today whom you are going to serve! Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the River? or the gods of the Emori (Amorites), in whose land you are living? As for me and my household, we will serve Adonai!”¹¹ And that’s why the same offer was used in Isaiah’s day: “‘Come now, let’s settle this,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.’”¹²

Now, all of the mercy, grace, tenderloving care, kindness, patience and forgiveness that we find in God, can only be seen in its greatness, effectiveness, blessedness, and something to be truly appreciated when it is compared to His severe discipline and punishment. That’s why Jesus told the Jews who believed in Him as the Messiah: “If you continue to accept and obey my teaching, you are really my followers. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”¹³ Our Lord reiterated this same principle to His disciples: “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won’t be able to do anything. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be like a branch that has been thrown away and has dried up. All the dead branches like that are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. Stay joined together with me, and follow my teachings. If you do this, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you.”¹⁴