The book of Romans has a very specific order. It deals with the
same issues in the same order that we need to when sharing
God’s word with someone new. Here are the first 4 issues.
1
. God’s coming judgment on sin and man’s totally guilty condition.
Chapters 1 to 3:20
2.
God’s eternal justification of anyone who depends solely on Christ’s
complete payment for their sin. Chapters 3:21 to 5:21
3
. God’s provision for a justified person to live without constant
sin (Chapter 6), without the law (Chapter 7) and to
rejoice in Christ even while suffering (Chapter 8).
4
. NEXT chapters 9,10 and 11 show how God deals with Israel in
different time periods. Romans 9 shows God’s election of
the nation Israel in the past to accomplish His purpose.
(Genesis to Acts 7 are the books of the Bible that cover
that.)
Romans 10
shows that individual Jews have an opportunity to be saved now in the
present time. (Paul’s letters, Romans to Philemon,
cover the present time period.)
Romans 11
shows the glorious future of the nation Israel after our time
period is finished. (Hebrews to Revelations will apply in
the future.)
Romans 9:1-5
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for
ever. Amen.
(Vs 1-3)
Paul was a Jew (Phil 3:4-7; Acts 22:3) and
loved his nation with a passion like that of Moses in Ex 32:30-32. Paul was also
a Gentile Roman citizen, (Acts 22:25-28) and so he
is the ideal pattern (I Tim 1:16) for the body of
Christ which is made of both Jews and Gentiles. (I Cor
12:13; Eph 2:16)
(Vs 4-5)
In time past, God promised the blessings listed here exclusively
to Israel. "At that time ye (Gentiles) were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world:(Eph 2:12-15) But now" Paul’s
gospel (Rom 16:25) tells us that the spiritual
blessings that Israel will yet get by promise, we now have by
grace, even though they were never promised to us. Let’s look at each
item in Israel’s list compared to what we today have.
1
. The adoption. The children of Israel
are to be God’s sons and heirs (Hosea 1:10; 2:23),
a holy nation of priests (Is 61:6; I Peter 2:9,10),
to rule the earth. (Is 60:10-14; Rev 5:10)
In contrast, we have the Spirit of adoption right
now, and we will experience "the adoption...the redemption of the body" (Rom
8:23) at our resurrection (I Thes 4:13-17; I Cor 15:49-52)
2
. The glory. God’s glory will rise upon
Israel and will shine to all the earth. (Is 60:1-5)
In contrast, God’s glory in us will become evident at our resurrection in
the heavens. (II Cor 5:1; Col 3:1-4)
3
. The covenants. God made covenants with
Israel through Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 15:18), Moses
(the law, Ex - Deut), David
(Ps 89:20-37), and the prophets (Jer 31:31-34; Is
59:20,21). Except for the law, these agreements do not depend on Israel’s
performance. So God must fulfill them to keep His word.
(Ps 138:2; Mt 5:17,18) In contrast, we did not
have any covenant with God that He is honor-bound to keep. Yet He freely
gives us all the spiritual blessings of the new covenant. (Eph 1:3,13; II
Cor 3:6)
4
. The law. God’s law was only
given to Israel (Ex 20:2..) and was the major
difference between them and the Gentiles. (Deut 4:5-8; Eph
2:15) In the future, God will enable Israel to keep His law perfectly.
(Jer 31:33,34; Ez 36:26,27)
Today, by choosing to think with the Spirit of God, we can fulfill God’s law
(Rom 8:4-6; 13:8-10) without ever being under it. (Rom 6:14)
5.
The service of God. The only religion
ever given by God was given to Israel. Their law showed in detail how to worship
and serve God. As God’s royal priesthood, Israel will teach the whole earth how
to serve God. (Is 2:2-3; Mt 28:18-20)
But right now, we are God’s ambassadors in a world
which is still hostile to God. (II Cor 5:18-21; 4:3,4)
6.
The promises. God promised to intervene
in circumstances to give Israel signs and wonders
(Ex 34:10) and physical blessings for keeping His law.
(Deut 7:12-15) When God enables them to keep
the law, (Jer 31:33) they will never be sick,
they will be incredibly wealthy and will lead all other nations on
the earth. (Ex 15:26; Deut 28:1-13)
We today were promised nothing, but by grace, we
now have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
and will get a glorious resurrection. (Eph 1:3; I Cor 15:42-44)
7
. The fathers of Israel are Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. (Jacob was renamed Israel,
meaning prince, Gen 32:28) God chose the nation of Israel, and will never
permanently cast them off, because of His love for their fathers, and His
promises to them. (Deut 4:37; 7:6-8; 10:15 Jer 31:35-37)
In contrast, believers today are spiritually
children of Abraham, but not of Israel. (Rom 4:9-12; Gal 3:28,29)
8.
Christ was a Jew
(Mt 1:1-17), "made under the law" (Gal 4:4),
and came to "save His people (Israel) from their sins."
(Mt 1:21; 15:24; Rom 15:8)
Only later through Paul, did He reveal that Gentiles and Jews on equal basis can
now be saved in the body of Christ. (Gal 1:11,12; 3:26-28)
Has God fulfilled this list of promises to Israel?
Why not? Go back in your thinking to how it was before prophecy
was interrupted by Paul’s message. Israel alone had all these glorious
promises and had the only access to God. The only hope for the world depended on
Israel receiving God’s blessing and passing it down to the Gentiles.
(Mt 15:24-27; Zech 8:20-23; Gen 12:2,3) In Acts 1
to 7, the fulfillment of all these promises was not just "at hand"as in Mt 4:17,
it was offered to Israel by God the Spirit through Peter.
(Acts 2:4; 3:19-21) The fulfillment of 2000
years of prophesy was that close! (Acts 2:16-20;
3:24) But Israel refused to believe it. (Acts
7:51-53; 13:46) Can you understand Paul’s sorrow and
disappointment for Israel?
Notice the similarity to Numbers 13,14. Israel came out of
Egypt right up to the promised land, and then refused to believe that God
would give it to them. That generation lost their chance. Likewise Paul’s
generation of Jews lost their chance. However, God in His mercy offered them
a different hope through Paul - to be a part with us of the body of Christ.
Will God yet fulfill His promises to Israel?
YES, but not until our time period ends with I Thes 4:13-17. Then Israel’s
prophecy program will resume where it left off in Acts 7. The tribulation period
will happen (Mt 24:21; Jer 30:7; Zech 13:8,9), then
Christ will return (Rev 19:11-16) and set up His
kingdom in Israel as promised. (Dan 2:44; Mt 25:31-34;
Zech 14:1-11)
M. Dent
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