Link to part 1: http://www.christianforums.com/t7723632/
Link to part 2: http://www.christianforums.com/t7723807/
Part 3:
[FONT="][FONT="]In Romans 9, Paul further makes the case for the “Israel of God”. He opens stating his love for Israel. Paul is a Jew, and he himself had persecuted the church until Jesus “knocked him off his horse” and called him as an apostle. Now, as it has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, the apostle knows the Jews are blind to Jesus, and it breaks his heart!
Romans 9:1-5:
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
It is clear that Paul is speaking of the nation Israel. He makes that distinction by saying “according to the flesh”. He is distinguishing Israel (the ethnic Jew), in doing that.
In the OT, God had entered into two covenants with the Jews:
1. The Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 15, which was sealed by the sign of circumcision in Genesis 17, and from that point all Jews were circumcised because of this covenant.
2. The Sinaitic Covenant of Exodus 24. Israel agreed to this covenant, and Moses sealed that covenant sprinkling the people with blood in Exodus 24:3-8. They were given the Law and the tabernacle along with God’s conditional promises. We see those in Deuteronomy 28, as God is again rehearsing the Law to Israel through Moses before they enter the promised land.
Those are the promises that Paul referred to. The promises are in each of the covenants. Israel broke the Sinaitic Covenant. In short, God gave them the land under Joshua, and afterward Israel began their decline from obedience repeatedly, Finally God sent Israel and Judah into captivity. God restored them to the land as prophesied and Christ came as Messiah!
Naturally he acknowledges the fact that Christ came through the genealogy of Israel.[/FONT][/FONT]
Romans 9:6-8 The apostle makes the case for the Israel of God as he makes known the “spiritual Israel”:
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.”
8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
God’s word has not failed because there is a spiritual Israel!!! This is where we begin to understand the “Israel of God” (some will say “true Israel). It is a “spiritual reality” that the apostle is making known in saying that “they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel”. The Abrahamic Covenant is in view here! “All who are of the faith of Abraham are descendants”. The apostle made that clear in Romans 4. Paul also says “nor are they children because they are Abraham’s descendants”, and in saying that, it should be obvious that this is a “spiritual truth” that Paul is making. To help us know this is a spiritual truth, Paul says “it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants”. From this comes the apostle’s claim of Romans 4:13:
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The "Israel of God" is in view here. The apostle is saying this is a spiritual reality with God. Believers (Gentile and Jew), make up “Israel of God”.
The “promise” he refers to is God’s promise to Abraham that “in him all nations of the earth would be blessed” and that He would give the promised land to his descendants. The promise land became part of the Sanaitic Covenant but in this…even the “promised land” is a “type” of heaven. In the land Israel was given, had they been obedient to God, they would have enjoyed the best of everything! God had told them in Deut 27 to stand on Mt Gerazim and on Mt Ebal and pronounce his blessings and curses of the Sanaitic Covenent, which are in Deut 28.
Paul has made the case back in Romans 4 that it is “all who will have the faith of Abraham”, that God honors this promise to. They become Abraham’s descendants (Gentiles and Jews). Abraham was faithful in his covenant and that covenant (Abrahamic Covenant), is still in effect today to every believer because we come to belief in God by faith, just as Abraham did!
The apostle now seeks to make this clear. He follows up with Abraham’s descendants, starting with Isaac. Isaac, (who was born to Sarah), and Isaac’s children (Jacob and Esau), are the start:
Romans 9:9-13:
9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;
11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
In Jacob and Esau we see a clear example of God’s sovereign choice! The apostle is quotes Genesis 25:23 (vs 13), and then he turns to the prophecy of Malachi 1:1-5! This prophecy is tremendous! It is one place (of many), where God is making known the “Israel of God”:
Malachi 1:1-5:
The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob;
3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”
4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.”
5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”
It was God’s choice to call Jacob over Esau! Jacob had faith in God just as Abraham did. Esau is Edom in this prophecy! Also there is God’s plan to expand Israel spiritually. This is the point of the saying “The Lord Be magnified beyond the border of Israel”. It happens through the Lord Jesus! Paul is enlightening us of God’s inclusion of the Gentiles that would happen through the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Covenant…this is Israel magnified spiritually! Malachi 1 goes on to prophesy God’s rejection of Israel, and His making His name great among the nations (Gentiles)…this is stated in Malachi 1:11:
11 For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.
We know the story…Jacob had 12 sons and before returning to his land from his Uncle Laban. God promised Jacob in Genesis 46:3, that he would make him a “great nation” (singular), which is Israel. Jesus wrestles with Jacob all night and changes his name to Israel. Obviously the “nation of Israel” comes from Jacob and his sons.
Part 4 to come...
Link to part 2: http://www.christianforums.com/t7723807/
Part 3:
[FONT="][FONT="]In Romans 9, Paul further makes the case for the “Israel of God”. He opens stating his love for Israel. Paul is a Jew, and he himself had persecuted the church until Jesus “knocked him off his horse” and called him as an apostle. Now, as it has been revealed by the Holy Spirit, the apostle knows the Jews are blind to Jesus, and it breaks his heart!
Romans 9:1-5:
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
It is clear that Paul is speaking of the nation Israel. He makes that distinction by saying “according to the flesh”. He is distinguishing Israel (the ethnic Jew), in doing that.
In the OT, God had entered into two covenants with the Jews:
1. The Abrahamic Covenant of Genesis 15, which was sealed by the sign of circumcision in Genesis 17, and from that point all Jews were circumcised because of this covenant.
2. The Sinaitic Covenant of Exodus 24. Israel agreed to this covenant, and Moses sealed that covenant sprinkling the people with blood in Exodus 24:3-8. They were given the Law and the tabernacle along with God’s conditional promises. We see those in Deuteronomy 28, as God is again rehearsing the Law to Israel through Moses before they enter the promised land.
Those are the promises that Paul referred to. The promises are in each of the covenants. Israel broke the Sinaitic Covenant. In short, God gave them the land under Joshua, and afterward Israel began their decline from obedience repeatedly, Finally God sent Israel and Judah into captivity. God restored them to the land as prophesied and Christ came as Messiah!
Naturally he acknowledges the fact that Christ came through the genealogy of Israel.[/FONT][/FONT]
Romans 9:6-8 The apostle makes the case for the Israel of God as he makes known the “spiritual Israel”:
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.”
8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
God’s word has not failed because there is a spiritual Israel!!! This is where we begin to understand the “Israel of God” (some will say “true Israel). It is a “spiritual reality” that the apostle is making known in saying that “they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel”. The Abrahamic Covenant is in view here! “All who are of the faith of Abraham are descendants”. The apostle made that clear in Romans 4. Paul also says “nor are they children because they are Abraham’s descendants”, and in saying that, it should be obvious that this is a “spiritual truth” that Paul is making. To help us know this is a spiritual truth, Paul says “it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants”. From this comes the apostle’s claim of Romans 4:13:
13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The "Israel of God" is in view here. The apostle is saying this is a spiritual reality with God. Believers (Gentile and Jew), make up “Israel of God”.
The “promise” he refers to is God’s promise to Abraham that “in him all nations of the earth would be blessed” and that He would give the promised land to his descendants. The promise land became part of the Sanaitic Covenant but in this…even the “promised land” is a “type” of heaven. In the land Israel was given, had they been obedient to God, they would have enjoyed the best of everything! God had told them in Deut 27 to stand on Mt Gerazim and on Mt Ebal and pronounce his blessings and curses of the Sanaitic Covenent, which are in Deut 28.
Paul has made the case back in Romans 4 that it is “all who will have the faith of Abraham”, that God honors this promise to. They become Abraham’s descendants (Gentiles and Jews). Abraham was faithful in his covenant and that covenant (Abrahamic Covenant), is still in effect today to every believer because we come to belief in God by faith, just as Abraham did!
The apostle now seeks to make this clear. He follows up with Abraham’s descendants, starting with Isaac. Isaac, (who was born to Sarah), and Isaac’s children (Jacob and Esau), are the start:
Romans 9:9-13:
9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;
11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”
13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
In Jacob and Esau we see a clear example of God’s sovereign choice! The apostle is quotes Genesis 25:23 (vs 13), and then he turns to the prophecy of Malachi 1:1-5! This prophecy is tremendous! It is one place (of many), where God is making known the “Israel of God”:
Malachi 1:1-5:
The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob;
3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”
4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.”
5 Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”
It was God’s choice to call Jacob over Esau! Jacob had faith in God just as Abraham did. Esau is Edom in this prophecy! Also there is God’s plan to expand Israel spiritually. This is the point of the saying “The Lord Be magnified beyond the border of Israel”. It happens through the Lord Jesus! Paul is enlightening us of God’s inclusion of the Gentiles that would happen through the Lord Jesus Christ and the New Covenant…this is Israel magnified spiritually! Malachi 1 goes on to prophesy God’s rejection of Israel, and His making His name great among the nations (Gentiles)…this is stated in Malachi 1:11:
11 For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.
We know the story…Jacob had 12 sons and before returning to his land from his Uncle Laban. God promised Jacob in Genesis 46:3, that he would make him a “great nation” (singular), which is Israel. Jesus wrestles with Jacob all night and changes his name to Israel. Obviously the “nation of Israel” comes from Jacob and his sons.
Part 4 to come...
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