ROMANS 11
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
In their ignorance of the need to seek God's grace, they saw before them only the Law, and sought salvation on the basis of fulfilling its code of works. Being the covenant nation, and receiving the "law on stones" they interpreted God's will as being a mere performance of rituals and commandments.
They sought justification by the works of the Law. In that they misunderstood the divine purpose, and thus failed to obtain the salvation they sought (see ch. 9:31;10:3).
The word "obtained" is epitugchano, which has the idea, to hit or light upon as a goal to be reached. The nation did not "walk" along the pathway of faith, and therefore was not in the proper position to achieve the salvation it needed.
The Christadelphian Expositor
The Danger of Slumbering.
Rom. 11:8 reveals a people in a state of spiritual insensibility, intoxicated by the philosophies of the flesh, blindly following their own feelings and desires. Could a nation be found in a
more disastrous condition than this?
Their state was due to one cause: an unwillingness to receive into their intellect the pure teaching of the Word of God, and to act in accordance therewith.
Those who claim to be Yahweh's servants in this present age cannot afford merely to shake their heads in disbelief, as though finding it difficult to believe that the people of Israel
could ever have descended to such depths of spiritual insensitivity and obtuseness.
Are the people of God in this present evil age exempt from such failings? s it not vital that every individual should carefully examine himself in the light of the Word, to consider
the need for sound guidance of the family, and to care for the spiritual welfare and development of the ecclesia?
This is a great responsibility which rests upon all who claim allegiance to the cause of Christ in these last days of the Gentiles. -J. Ullman.
The Danger of Slumbering.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
Paul compares all mankind to two olive trees of the wild and cultivated species. The twelve tribes of Israel to whose country the olive is indigenous he likens to "a good olive tree," with a "holy root," representing "the fathers" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on whose account the whole nation is beloved.
The rest of mankind he compares to "a wild olive tree," which is smaller and inferior in all its parts. Eliphaz in Job xv. 33, compares a wicked man to an olive tree whose flowers fall before their season, and consequently brings no fruit.
Such is the primary import of these two trees, symbols of Israel and the Gentiles.
But, the Israelitish Olive Tree, and the Gentile Olive Tree, signified something more than this in the symbols before us. There was a specialty to be represented which had been apostolically elicited. This was the adoption of believing Gentiles into the Israelitish Family, that they might be Israelites in every particular, except the accident of birth according to nature.
This adoption, Paul styles "grafting in;" and figuratively represents the process, as a breaking of branches off from the wild Gentile olive, and inserting them into the place of certain sapless branches of the good Israelitish olive, which had also been broken off, and cast away.
This teaches allegorically that while the good olive tree represents the Israelitish peoples generally; there is nevertheless a Gentile element in the nation, equally interested in the promises made to their fathers, which are "the fatness of the tree."
Thus, the good olive tree represents "the Israel of the Deity," constituted of Israelites and Gentiles, who believe "the promises covenanted to the fathers;" and who, since Pentecost, A.D. 34, have believed "the truth as it is in Jesus," and by immersion into him, have been adopted, or grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, as it will be in the times of restitution.
This union of Israelites and Gentiles into One Body, or Holy City, was represented to Zechariah, by connecting the two trees by means of two golden pipes with the one golden bowl of the lightstand; the idea of branch-union being set forth in the connection of the pipes with certain branches of the trees.
Eureka 11.2.1.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Our fear must be a deep awesome reverence for the greatness and majesty of God's holiness - a careful, vigilant caution to ever strive against falling short - a realization of constant danger, constant weakness and constant need.
This aspect of our salvation is apt to receive too little consideration in these democratic days of human exaltation and self-sufficient presumption. If we are not very careful, we are unconsciously and inevitably influenced in our outlook by the atmosphere of the times, especially when it is so pleasing to the flesh. A deep, inner, inherent, subconscious pride of the flesh is our greatest enemy and peril. That is why enlightened humility works in
"fear and trembling."
But fear must NEVER dominate. It must always be subordinate to the great and comforting realization that God is infinitely merciful and compassionate toward the distressing weaknesses of those who truly give Him ALL their heart.
"Perfect love casteth out fear,"
and our lives should be a gradual transition, step by step, ever upward, from the immaturity (though primary necessity) of the one to the full and fearless maturity of the other-"Perfect love casteth out fear." But let us, every step of the way, face with fear and reverence the full reality of the imperfection of our love at its highest and best, and the constant danger of mortal weakness and fleshly deception till the last day's record is made.
Bro Growcott - Grow in Grace
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
The Lord Jesus Christ at his appearing in his kingdom finds Judah inhabiting the land. Not all the Jews, but a goodly number of them. Having gained the victory of Armageddon, he convenes the elders of the people, which as their deliverer he has a right to do. Thus
"they look upon him whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10);
and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? Then he shall answer,
"Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6).
The effect of this information upon the people is to cause a national lamentation. They will then discover that He to whom they owe their deliverance from Gogue is Jesus of Nazareth, whom their fathers crucified. They will therefore
"mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and will be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day, there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo" (Zech. 12:10-14; Rev. 1:7).
Two-thirds of the people will have been cut off by the war against Gogue, and the third which survives will have passed through the fiery ordeal. It will have been a refining process in which they will have been refined like silver, and tried as gold is tried. Thus prepared,
"a spirit of grace and of supplications"
will be poured upon them, and they will
"call on the name of the Lord, and he will hear them" (Zech. 13:9),
and open for them a fountain for sin and for uncleanness (ver. 1). He will say,
"It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord (even Jesus) is my God" (ver. 9). Thus will Judah be grafted again into their own olive, and brought to acknowledge Jesus as King of the Jews, and to confess that "he is Lord to, the glory of God the Father."
The New Covenant being made with the house of Judah, the kingdom is established. Not, however, to its full extent. It is but the kingdom in its small beginning, as when David reigned in Hebron over Judah only. The Lord Jesus, as King of Judah, will have to bring the ten tribes and nations generally to acknowledge him as King of Israel and Lord of the whole earth.
Elpis Israel 3.6.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
The destruction of Jerusalem was the breaking off, not of Israel, but of "some of the branches" of "the Good" Israelitish "Olive Tree," whose stock is rooted in Abraham "the
friend of God;" and these branches, which lie withered on the ground, will, like Aaron's Rod,
become full of sap and bear much fruit, by being again ingrafted on the parent tree;" for God
is able to graft them in again"-Rom, xi.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, 1860 - The Olivet Prophecy.
The apostles have also taught us that the Spirit-Lightstand, or one light-bearing body, is constituted of two classes of mankind, which are fitly represented by Two Olive Trees; the one, "a wild olive tree," and the other, "a good olive tree" (Rom. xi. 17,24).
The former, we are taught in this chapter, represents the non-Israelitish portion of mankind; while the latter is representative of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the Zechariah-group of symbols, these two olive trees are united to the light-bearing body by the two golden pipes extending from a branch of either tree.
This intermediate union of the two trees is allegorical of the union of Israelites and Gentiles in one body through Jesus Christ. In the apostolic allegory, the union of the two classes is represented by grafting branches taken from the wild olive trees among the branches of the good olive tree, whose root and fatness supply wholesome nourishment to the grafts.
In other words, the engrafting is done by "the word of truth," which is therefore styled
"the engrafted word received with meekness, which is able to save the soul" (James i. 21).
This word received with meekness by wild-olive men, makes them intelligent believers of "the things concerning the kingdom of the Deity, and of the name of Jesus Christ;" and, by causing them to be immersed into the Christ-Name, they become members of the one body. By adoption, or engraftment, through Christ Jesus, they become good olive-men; and being "cut out" of the wild olive in all "the times of the Gentiles," during which blindness afflicts Israel, they supply the place of the Jewish branches broken off because of unbelief.
This transfer of branches from the wild to the cultivated olive is the reason of there being two olive trees in the symbolic group. In the first few years of the apostolic era, there had been no breaking off of branches from the good olive tree; and no grafting in of wild olive branches in their place. The engrafted word was preached and received by Israelites alone; for, until Peter was taught to "call no man common or unclean" (Acts x. 28), the gospel was not preached to the Gentiles; so that the one body consisted only of believing and immersed Jews.
But, when it was found experimentally that Israelites were fast becoming deaf and blind to the word, it was propounded to the Gentiles, from among whom a rich fulness has been separated.
As faith decayed in Israel it grew vigorously among the Gentiles. The natural branches of the good olive became sapless; and were broken off with violence, when the Little Horn of the Goat received a host against the daily because of transgression, and cast down the truth, in its Mosaic representation, to the ground (Dan. viii. 9-12, A.D. 70).
Eureka 11.1.2.
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Israel wanders without hope. God has not given them eyes to see that the law was but a shadow of good things to come, that the body (or substance) is of Christ, in whom all the good things typified are and will be realised.
Bro Roberts - Consolation
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
What do we find in connection with Moses? A law is given to the chosen nation. This law condemned to death all who disobeyed it in the meanest particular. Those to whom the law was given were, of course, under the Adamic curse; that is, they inherited Adam's mortal nature, because in him when he sinned.
...none kept the law in all particulars...suppose the Jews had been able to keep it, what would have been the result to them? Now here let special attention be given to the testimony of the Word. Paul says, in the 7th chapter of Rom., 10th verse:
"The commandment (speaking of the law) was ordained to life."
Does that mean eternal life? Yes. This is shewn by what we read at Luke 10:25:
"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said so and so (recapitulating the chief points of the law.) And he (Jesus) said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Now there is the word of the Master himself confirming the statement of Paul, that the law given was unto life, if they kept it.
But then how about the Adamic condemnation in such a case? Well, if there had been a Jew who had kept the law in all things, having done the will of the Father from the very beginning of life to the end of his life, he would have been in the very position of the Lord Jesus himself; it would then have been in his power, by dying, to cleanse himself from the Adamic condemnation, and his righteousness would have caused his resurrection from the dead.
It is by the righteousness of one that resurrection has come (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:21); it is not by the "free life" of one. "Free life" is a myth; an invention of the new heresy. Adamic mortality would not be to our "eternal death," if we were ourselves "without spot" of disobedience. God will keep no man in the grave because of Adam's sin, if he himself be individually righteous. Death purifies him from hereditary condemnation (Rom. 6:7; 1 Pet. 4:1); resurrection comes by righteousness.—(Rom. 5:9.)
How came it, then, that life could not come by the law, as Paul says, in the 3rd chapter of Gal., at the 21st verse:
"Is the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law."
Let me give the Spirit's answer, Rom. 8:3: "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God" has done in the way which we shall consider when we come to that point. Here, then, is the Spirit's teaching that the weakness of the law, in relation to the bestowing of life eternal, lay in the incapability of the flesh to keep it; as Jesus said to his disciples:
"The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
This is the teaching of the World, and the teaching of God's Word is decisive in such matters. You may shake a theory over it, and try to make it of none effect, but there the fact remains.
We next come to the question, Why was the flesh weak? Could not God have made human nature after such a pattern or constitution that it would have been able to keep the law? Doubtless He could. Why did he not? He had His own reason, and our wisdom lies in simply seeing and accepting it. I will give it you in the words of the Spirit: Gal. 3:22:
"The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
But this suggests another question: why was it devised that the promise should come in that way? The Spirit's answer is:
"That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God."—(Rom. 3:19.)
But again, we ask why? The final answer of the Spirit is,
"That He may have mercy on all" (Rom. 11:32); that no flesh should glory in His sight (1 Cor. 1:29); not of works, lest any man should boast.—(Eph. 2:9.
The spirit and essence of the plan of God's redemption by Christ is that the praise and the glory may be to Him, and that no flesh should glory in His presence, in which we see at once the profoundest philosophy when we remember that God only exists inherently; that all things exist by His permission only; and that the highest delight of created beings is the recognition and adoration of the eternal prerogative of the Creator.
The Christadelphian, Oct 1873
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Tim 6:16).
For in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Tim 6:16).
For in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. (Psa 139:6)
All things must be embraced in the power from which they have sprung, and which sustains them in being. We must be in the presence of God. ...
...Well, then, if that is beyond us, how inscrutable is the other point presented to our faith, though its truth is evident as a matter of reason, viz., that there is, in relation to that universal element of power or existence, a personal controlling centre, from which it is but an eternal emanation, and with which it is ONE indissoluble-the First Cause - the Eternal Antecedent of all things - the seat of Ineffable Wisdom and power-the Father, who is above all and through all by his diffusive spirit, and yet personally resident at a point of the universe, variously described in the Scriptures as "light unapproachable," "heaven of heavens," "heaven thy dwelling place." ....
For instance, Jesus says
"Our Father, who art in heaven."-(Matt. 6.) David says, "Unto thee I lift mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens."
(Psalm 123:1.) Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, makes frequent use of the phrase
"Hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling-place, and when Thou hearest, forgive."
These are illustrations of the statements that teach the localization of the Father in central light-the sustaining principle of creation, in, as it were, what you may style focus, or intensity of development. They teach that though that principle is universal, the Personal Intelligence from whom it emanates, dwells in local habitation; yet that He has conscious relation to infinitude, He fills all because He is The Spirit and you cannot divide spirit from spirit. You cannot divide any one part of God from Himself.
The Christadelphian, May 1870 - The Operations of the Deity