Owing to the length of this epistle we have made our remarks briefer and more condensed than usual. It will therefore be more than ever necessary to refer to the Scripture itself as you read this article.
CHAPTER 9 opens another section of the Epistle, a very clearly defined one. In chapter 1—8 the apostle had unfolded his Gospel, in which all distinction between Jew and Gentile is seen to be nonexistent. He knew however that many might regard his teaching as indicating that he had no love for his nation and no regard for God’s pledged word relating to them. Consequently we now have three dispensational chapters in which the mystery of God’s ways concerning Israel are explained to us.
In the first three verses of chapter 9 Paul declares his deep love for his people. His affection for them was akin to that of Moses, who prayed, “Blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book” (Ex. 32:3232Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32)). Then in verse 4 and 5 he recounts the great privileges which had been accorded to them. Last of these, but not least, there sprang out of them the Christ, whose Deity he plainly states.
How then came it that Israel was in so sorry a plight? Had the Word of God failed? Not for one moment; and the first great fact brought forward to explain the situation is that of the sovereignty of God.
Now Israel were the last people in the world who could afford to quarrel with the divine sovereignty, for again and again it had been exercised in their favor. This point comes very clearly before us up to verse 16. God made a sovereign choice in regard to the sons of both Abraham and Isaac. He chose Isaac and Jacob, and set aside Ishmael and Esau. If any wished to object to God making a choice, they would have to obliterate all distinction between themselves and both Ishmaelites and Edomites. This they would not contemplate for one moment. Well then, God was only continuing to do as. He had already done, and hence not all who were of Israel by natural descent were the true Israel of God.
Moreover when Israel made the golden calf in the wilderness they would have been blotted out in judgment had the law had its way. Instead God fell back upon His sovereign mercy, according to words from Exodus 33:19,19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19) quoted here in verse 15. This is a third case of God exercising His sovereignty in their favor, even as verse 17 supplies us with an example of God exercising His sovereignty against Pharaoh.
The plain facts are these: — (1) God has a will. (2) He exercises it as He pleases. (3) No one can successfully resist it. (4)
If challenged, the rightness of His will can always be demonstrated when the end is reached. God is like the potter and man is like the clay.
How often God’s will is challenged! How much reasoning has taken place on the facts stated in our chapter! How slow we are to admit that God has a right to do as He likes, that in fact He is the only one that has the right, inasmuch as He alone is perfect in foreknowledge, wisdom, righteousness and love. Things may often appear inexplicable to us, but then that is because we are imperfect.
Verse 13 has given rise to difficulty. But that statement is quoted from the book of Malachi; words written long after both men had fully shown what was in them; whereas verse 13 records what was said before their birth. Others have objected to God’s words to Pharaoh as quoted in verse 17. The answer to such objections lies in our chapter, verse 21 to 23. Men pit themselves against God, hardening their hearts against Him, and in result God makes a signal example of them. He has a right so to do; while others become vessels of mercy, whom beforehand He prepares for glory.
Consequently if any object to what God is doing today, in calling out by the Gospel an elect people both from Jews and Gentiles, the answer simply is, that God is only doing again in our days what He has done in the past. Moreover the prophets had anticipated that He would act thus. Both Moses and Isaiah had foretold that only a remnant of Israel should be saved, and that a people formerly not beloved would be called into favor. This is stated in verse 25 to 29.
The matter is briefly summed up for us in the closing verses. Israel stumbled at that stumbling-stone, which was Christ. Further they misused the law, treating it as a ladder by which they might climb into righteousness, instead of a plumb-line by which all their supposed righteousness might be tested. Israel had missed righteousness by law, and Gentiles had reached righteousness by faith.
This leads the Apostle, in the early part of chapter 10. to contrast the righteousness of the law with that of faith, and once more he expresses his fervent love and dire towards his people. His prayer for them was for their salvation. Very clear proof this that they were not saved. Religion they had, zeal they had, the law they had, but they were not saved. Wrongly assuming that they were to establish their own righteousness by law-keeping they went about to do it, and miserably failed. And the very zeal with which they went about it blinded them to the fact that Christ was the end of the law, and that God’s righteousness was available for them in Him.
How much better it is to have God’s righteousness than our own, for ours at the best would be only human. Every one that believes has Christ for righteousness, as verse 4 tells us. And Christ is “the end of the law.” The word end is used here, we believe, just as it is in 2 Corinthians 3:13,13And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: (2 Corinthians 3:13) signifying the object in view. The law was really given in view of Christ. It paved the way for Him. If only Israel had been able to steadfastly look to the end of the law they would have seen Christ. It is quite true of course that Christ being come, all thought of righteousness being reached by law came to a conclusion. But that is not the primary meaning of verse 4.
Next, we have a striking contrast drawn between the righteousness of law and the righteousness of faith. The former demands the works that are in keeping with its requirements and prohibitions. Words will not do, works must be produced. By those works, if produced, men shall live. Failing to produce them, and to go on producing them, men shall die.
In contrast there to the righteousness of faith does not demand works at all. It does not demand that we ascend into heaven to bring Christ down, for down He is come. Nor does it demand that we descend, as though to bring Him up from the dead, since from the dead He is risen. In penning these words the Apostle evidently had in his mind the words of Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy 30:11-1411For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11‑14). Read that passage and see. You will notice that verse 8 of our chapter, as to the form of it, is suggested by verse 14. The word of the Gospel is sent by God to us. Received by us in faith, it becomes the word of faith to us, entering our hearts and coming out of our mouths.
Of old God brought His commandment very near to Israel that they might do it. He has brought His word even nearer to us in Christ. It is now not a word of what we ought to do, but of what Christ has done, and of what He Himself has done in raising Christ from the dead. On our part the word only demands that we believe with the heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and that we confess Him as Lord with our mouths. When heart and mouth thus go together there is of course reality. Real subjection to Jesus as Lord carries with it salvation.
Notice the distinction that is drawn in verse 10 between righteousness and salvation. The faith of the heart in Christ puts a man into right relations with God—the faith of the heart, be it noted, as distinguished from the faith of the head, or mere intellectual apprehension. Real conviction of sin produces a heartfelt sense of need, and consequently heartfelt trust in Christ. That heartfelt faith God sees, and He reckons the man as right with Himself. Now the man goes a step further and confesses Christ publicly, or at least openly, as his Lord. This at once puts Him outside the world system in which the Lord is refused. His links with the world thus being cut, he steps into the blessedness of salvation.
Salvation is a word of very large meaning, as we have before seen. If we confine it in our thoughts to deliverance from the hell that our sins deserve, we miss a good deal of its significance. The moment we believe we are righteous before God, but until we definitely range ourselves under the Lordship of Christ by confessing Him personally as Lord, we do not get free of enslavement to the world, nor can we expect to experience the might of His authority and power on our behalf. How much do we know—each one of us—of a life of happy freedom in subjection to the Lord, and in occupation with His interests?
It is not supposed for one instant, of course, that we are going to believe in Jesus and not confess Him as Lord with our mouths. That would be impossible if our faith be the faith of the heart, since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. verse 11. of our chapter makes this point very clear. The believer is not ashamed. This is quoted from Isaiah 18:16. The same verse is quoted in the last verse of the previous chapter, chapter, and it is also quoted in 1 Peter 2:66Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter 2:6). The, “make haste,” of Isaiah becomes, “ashamed,” in Romans, and “confounded,” in Peter. A good illustration this of how New Testament quotations enlarge the sense of Old Testament predictions. The one who believed Isaiah’s word would never have to flee in panic-stricken haste before the avenging judgment. Neither shall we. But we have also One introduced as Lord, who fills us with confidence and in whom we glory. Who, really knowing Him, would be ashamed to confess Him?
Our salvation, then, lies in calling on the name of the Lord, as is stated so plainly in verse 12 and 13. There is richness of supply and of power in Him, and all is at the disposal of the one who calls upon Him, without any distinction. Here we have the “no difference” of grace, just as in chapter 3 we had the “no difference” of guilt. Jesus is “Lord over all” whether they call upon Him or whether they do not. But the richness of His saving power is only at the disposal of those that call upon Him.
Do we call upon Him? Without a doubt we called upon Him at the hour of our conversion, and salvation we received. But is it the habit of our hearts to call upon Him in every emergency? A daily salvation we need, and a daily salvation is for us as we call upon Him―a salvation from every spiritual danger. The Lord does not always deliver His saints from physical dangers, threatened by the world without: sometimes He permits them to suffer grievous things, as in the case of Stephen, for instance. But then see how mighty was the spiritual salvation that Stephen enjoyed, even while his persecutors were breaking his bones. He furnishes us with the finest possible illustration of spiritual salvation flowing from the Lord, who is over all.
How important then is the Gospel, in which He is presented as Lord for the submission of faith. Verses 14 and 15 emphasize this. If men are to be saved they must hear the Gospel and God must send it. With Him it all begins. God sends the preacher. The preacher delivers the message. Men hear of Christ and they believe in Him. Then they call upon the Lord and are saved.
But all begins with God. Every true preacher is sent forth by Him, and beautiful are their feet as they go. Paul quotes from Isaiah 52, where the prophet speaks of the coming days, when at last the tidings of deliverance comes to Zion by the advent of the Lord in His glory. Equally beautiful however are the feet of those who carry the tidings of His advent in grace and humiliation, and of all that was accomplished by it for our salvation.
The trouble is that all have not obeyed the Gospel, as Isaiah also indicated. Obedience is by faith. The word, “report,” really occurs thrice in this passage; for verse 17 more literally rendered is, “So faith then is by a report, but the report by. God’s word.” When the report reaches our ears, backed by the authority of God’s word, we believe it. Then it is that we can say like the Queen of Sheba, “It was a true report that I heard.”
The report then has gone forth. It had gone forth even in the early days when Paul wrote this epistle. The blessing however was conditioned upon the obedience of faith. Now as a nation Israel had remained unbelieving, and the warning words of the prophets were in process of being fulfilled. In the first verse of the chapter the Apostle had expressed his fervent desire and prayer, which was for their salvation. In the closing verses he sets forth the sad facts of the situation. They were a disobedient and gainsaying people. The word, “gainsaying” means, “contradicting.” They continually said, “No” to all that God proposed, and denied all that He asserted.
Yet God had borne with them in long patience, stretching out His hands in entreaty, as it were. Now the moment had come for a change in His ways. Israel had stumbled over Christ as a stumbling-stone, and were for the time being set aside.
F. B. Hole.