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THE KING’S BUSINESS
Indeed, -some teachers suggest leaving out chapters 9-11 in order that the drift of the argument may not be broken. It seems to us, however, that Paul’s dis cussion of the righteousness of God, its need, its ground, and the method of its appropriation, makes these chapters neces sary. In chapters 1-8 the statement has been made that salvation is for the Jew first; that such an application of the gospel to the Jew first was in accord with certain promises which had been made to the chosen people, promises which seemed to give them, if not the monopoly, certainly the precedence. The history of the proc lamation of the gospel, however, showed that the Jews, more than the Gentiles, seemed to be excluded from its blessings. Alienation from the gospel was apparently the lot of the Jew, but how could such alienation be reconciled with the promises of God—promises which surely were not null and void, even though Israel was unworthy, unbelieving, and untrue? We should remember, further, that to the chosen nation of Israel was granted a clearer and deeper revelation concerning the Messiah and His coming than that given to the Gentile nations. In a unique sense “salvation was of the Jews.” It was of and to Israel that Christ came. The ques tion naturally arises, How comes it, then, that Irael, more than the Gentiles, failed to recognize Christ, for whom they were looking? If the Christ whom Paul preached was really the Messiah, would not the Jew, rather than the Gentile, be first to recognize this fact ? Did not the Jew possess the oracles of God? Was he not in a unique and peculiar relation of nearness to God? Was he not, in a favored sense, the recipient of the revelation of the divine will? Was it not natural, then, for the Jew to accept what God would have made clear to him, that the Christ as proclaimed in the gospel of Paul was the true Messiah? How can the rejection of the Messiah by, the Jews be reconciled with these facts?: Chapters 9-11 present the answer to these questions. They set forth
(Hebrews 1:2; 2:7). In Christ, God has given all this to us (cf. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3 :21-23). It is this glorious prospect of future reward in glory that enables the believer to bear manfully and in a Christlike spirit the sufferings of this present time. The believer awaits that grand moment of the revealing of the sons of God. He has within him a pledge of that day, a kind of first fruits. He knows there will be a renovated nature for a regenerate life. He is saved by hope. The indwelling Spirit assures him of facts which he himself may not be able to express. For this reason he knows that all things are working together for good. He can triumphantly exclaim: “What shall we then say to these things ? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that Spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is eyen at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribula tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or na!kedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres ent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (8:31-39). T he Problem of th e Rejection of Israel, cc. 9-11 Some think that chapters 9-11 are not necessary to the main argument of the epistle, that if one began with chapter 12 , following the end of chapter 8 , no break in the argument would be noticeable.
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