Allow me, as you are introducing such points, to draw your attention to Rom. 11, where the doctrine taught is overlaid by mistranslation. The subject is the supplanting Israel in the tree of promise by the Gentiles, though Paul will not allow it to be more than some branches broken off. It is not the church, where all is wholly new in connection with a glorified Christ, but promises with Abraham for the root, and Israel for the stem of the olive tree. Some of the branches are broken off and Gentiles " graffed " in their place, which Jews, as such, would not hear of, scarcely the apostles. The apostle admits it, and warns the Gentiles therefrom, lest they should be cut off too, as they will be, and Israel " graffed " again into their own olive tree. Enemies as to the gospel, but beloved for the fathers' sake, God's calling of them was an unchangeable purpose. His inscrutable wisdom was shown in this. They had birthright promises subject to the condition of circumcision only. They had lost all under the old covenant of the law that was conditional on obedience; but what about the promises? These were in. Christ, and they had rejected Him and them; so that they had now to come in under sovereign grace with no promise at all, just like a Gentile. Yet God would accomplish them all. They had forfeited them, but He was faithful to Himself. The passage, then, runs thus:-" As therefore, you once disbelieved God, but now are brought under
mercy through unbelief of these, so they also have disbelieved in your mercy, that they also might be brought under (mere) mercy." That is, having forfeited their title to the promises (for Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to fulfill the promises made to the fathers), they had been thrown on the mere pure mercy of God as a Gentile without promise was. For God has shut up all into unbelief that He might exercise mercy towards all, that is, that all might have the blessing by pure sovereign mercy. And this produces the exclamation, not for wondrous mercy, but for wondrous wisdom in His ways.