Isaiah | Confident.Faith

Readings* Isaiah 51:1–6 * Psalm 138 * Romans 11:33—12:8 * Matthew 16:13–20

Readings* Isaiah 56:1, 6–8 * Psalm 67 * Romans 11:1–2a, 13–15, 28–32 * Matthew 15:21–28 Homily TranscriptI suppose it is about time we deal with Romans 11 — not in the sort of fragmentary way of today’s reading, but in its totality. In fact, as none of you is watching or listening to this live, I highly recommend you pause here and go read Romans 11, or even Romans 9 through 11. I will leave a pause here to make that easier.

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Now that you have read part of Romans, we will turn to Galatians. Galatians 4, starting with verse 21:

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;

break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.«

Why do we need Galatians to read Romans? In truth, we do not, for Romans is clear on its own to the Christian reader, but this passage from Galatians certainly makes some of the explanation of Romans easier. Also, lest we forget our maxims: Scriptura Scripturam interpretatur — Scripture interprets Scripture. Now, back to Romans.

We will, today, we treating three key verses and three key concepts or terms. The verses are Romans 9:6, 11:20, and 11:26. The concepts are ‘Israel’, ‘nation’, and Election (with, perhaps, a little digression into jealously). We will take these in turn.

PassagesRomans 9:6Really, Romans 9:6b. Frequently, false interpretations, false doctrines, even entire false theologies are built upon pulling individual verses out of their context and then contorting them to fit some preconceived idea. Among the Judaizers, this often happens with this verse:

For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.

They try to contort this verse to fit into their schema in which all ‘Jews’ are saved, despite the extremely clear Scriptural evidence to the contrary. Worse, the very next verses give the necessary interpretive context:

… and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

Romans 9:6b is not even a complete thought from Paul, because the thought runs through the end of verse 8, and even the sentence itself (once punctuation is added) runs through the end of verse 7. There are two Israels in our verse, and verse 8 explicitly gives us the two categories Paul had in mind when he dictated verse 6: “children of the flesh” and “children of God”. Before we go deeper into this, let us abstract the logic of the verse:

$\neg \forall x, (I_1(x) \to I_2(x))$

‘Not all individuals ($x$) who are part of Israel 1 ($I_1$) are necessarily part of Israel 2 ($I_2$).’

or

$\exists x, (I_1(x) \land \neg I_2(x))$

‘There exists (at least in theory) an individual ($x$) who is not part of both Israel 1 ($I_1$) and Israel 2 ($I_2$).’

This is the actual logic of what Paul is saying. A simple application of the law of noncontradiction tells us that an individual cannot both be a thing and not be the same thing simultaneously, so we cannot have an Israelite who does not belong to Israel if being an Israelite is defined as belonging to Israel, for that would be to declare that our individual ($x$) is both $I$ and $¬I$ simultaneously. (We could arrive at the same conclusion using the law of the excluded middle, of course.) That being said, the two Israels are ethnic Israel (“all who are descended from Israel [i.e., Jacob]”) and true Israel (i.e., the Church, the Elect). There are (or at least there were) some ethnic Israelites who were also elect, but not all of them are elect. The passage is actually quite easily understood when read in context. Incidentally, Paul’s words apply to every race, not just to the Israelites: There exists a Germany, comprised of those descended from Ashkenaz, and some portion of that Germany is Israel (i.e, Elect members of Christ’s Church).

Romans 11:20Really, Romans 11:20b. This verse is the key to the whole of Romans:

They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.

Set aside, for the moment, all the figures of speech — the allegory, the simile, the metaphor — what does Paul actually say here? Faith is what matters. Faith is what distinguishes the elect members of every nation from the unbelieving members; faith is what makes one a part of the only Israel that matters: the Israel of God, the Church. Did physical descent from Abraham or Jacob save the Israelites? No. And neither will descent from Japheth or Ashkenaz save you. To be a member of the true Israel, you must have faith, for it is faith alone that saves you, declares you righteous for the sake of Christ, and will preserve you from the fiery end of this Creation. If you understand this one verse, you will understand the Book of Romans, a great many passages in the Old Testament, and many core doctrines of the faith — more, you will be preserved from many errors, but we will get to Election soon. You stand in the faith, as did our righteous ancestors, or you depart from the faith and fall, as did the wicked Jews. It is that simple.

Romans 11:26Really, Romans 11:26a. The Dispensationalists and other Judaizers love this verse. Well, they think they do. If they could read or if they had the Holy Spirit, then they might reconsider. At any rate, what does our verse actually say?

And in this way all Israel will be saved.

Does this mean, as the heretics claim, that all ‘Jews’ will be saved? Well, it certainly cannot mean so in the sense of all Israelites; read the Old Testament: Most of them were damned. What of all of them going forward in time? Certainly not. Look at Paul’s anguish in the introductory verses of this very chapter:

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Paul knows full well that most of his brothers were damned. And look at their state today: They still reject the Christ and they are still damned. What then does it mean that “all Israel will be saved”? Well, which Israel is in view here? You all know the answer without my saying it. The only Israel comprised exclusively of the saved (i.e., the Elect) is the Israel of God — the Church. And the immediately prior verse confirms this:

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the nations has come in.

There are Elect from every tribe and nation and language, as Revelation clearly teaches. God has used the stubbornness of the Jews to ensure the Gospel spreads to all nations and He inflamed the jealousy and the envy of the Jews to ensure that they were not all damned. He has ensured that all of His Elect will be brought to saving faith by the means (and Means) that He knew would be effective. With Paul, we should most certainly exclaim:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Terms/ConceptsIsraelNow, our three terms or concepts. First, Israel. We have already covered much of this one, and so we can be relatively brief here. There are four ‘Israels’ in Scripture:

the man (Jacob renamed)
the Old Testament nation descended from the man
the elect subset of those descended from the man
the Church (i.e, all the Elect).

(There is also a fifth sense in that the Christ Himself is the true — or even truest — Israel, but we will leave that for another time). The third category can generally be ignored, but the other three must be carefully distinguished. Thankfully, they are easily distinguished. For the first category, seldom will it be difficult to distinguish an individual man from a nation or a conceptual grouping. The second and fourth categories are where problems typically arise, and yet Scripture provides us an easy answer: As already examined, it is faith that defines the Israel of God, the true Israel, so those without faith cannot be found in the fourth category; more, we know that all the promises of God are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Christ. Well, who are those who are in Christ? Only those in the fourth category, so the promises of God pertain only to the Elect.

NationSecond, nation. More accurately, εθνος, for we are dealing with Greek when we are dealing with Scripture. The Greek does not map perfectly onto English nation or race, but that is so only in one specific way (that is relevant for us here): The Koine Greek speaker or reader could use εθνος of bees or similar (as Homer did in Classical Greek in the Iliad); we would not, in English, employ such a phrase as “a nation of bees”, except, perhaps, in some very niche circumstances, and even then more as poetry than as prose. In all other cases, the Greek εθνος and the English nation or race essentially agree (n.b., the modern tendency in sloppy use of the English language to conflate nation and country is incorrect, misleading, and worthy of condemnation). The word ‘εθνος’ appears nearly a thousand times in Scripture; it is not a minor or an unimportant concept. Paul employs the word twenty-nine times in Romans alone. If you are using a Bible that employs the abominable word “Gentiles”, you need to know the actual word there is εθνος, which should generally be translated into English as nation or race.

So, Paul actually speaks of himself as being the Apostle to the nations and of the fullness of the nations being brought in. Some of you are undoubtedly thinking of 1 Peter 2:9:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Indeed, Israel (the true one) is an εθνος in the sense previously discussed (with the bees), but this is more commonly portrayed as οχλος — a multitude — or even a συμμιγης οχλος — a mixed multitude. Think of the mixed multitude that went up with Israel in the Exodus and the mixed multitude that is Israel in Revelation. The Israel of God is, indeed, an εθνος and also a συμμιγης οχλος — both a figurative holy nation and a literal mixed multitude.

And yet we must not ignore the core sense of εθνος: To the Koine Greek speaker, εθνος meant nation and race. When Paul spoke to the Galatians, he used εθνος ten times, and they heard and understood nation and race; they knew that they were of the Celtic Galatian εθνος. The Romans knew they were of the Roman εθνος (Koine Greek being the common language of the empire). The Hebrews knew that they were of the Hebrew εθνος. The men to whom Paul wrote would not have been confused by the terms he employed; he used their language (and one of his) because so God ordained and thus they could understand. The educated among Paul’s audience would have been familiar with works such as those of Herodotus in which εθνος is defined as a matter of common blood, common language, common sanctuaries and sacrifices, and similar customs. Paul himself reinforces this understanding in many places in his letters, not least of all the much abused Galatians 3:28:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

If there is neither Jew nor Greek in Christ, then both Jew and Greek must be real categories, or else the verse would be gibberish. Salvation is neither bounded nor scoped (although it is certainly modulated) by race: The free gift of salvation is open to all men and God desires that none should perish. Even the Canaanite woman is praised for her faith.

Soteriology does not destroy ontology. You are who and what God made you. I was raised Christian and so I cannot employ myself as an example here, but if you were converted as an adult, you did not cease to be what you were before you were converted. If you were male and French before you were converted, then you are still male and French, you are simply also Christian now. You did not cease to be anything you were and are essentially. I am male and I am American (of German and Scottish descent) — I will remain those things my entire life and for all eternity, because I am those things essentially. The Church neither ‘overrides’ nor destroys essential realities like biological sex and race; you are saved regardless of such things, but you will remain them forever. To deny the reality of such essentials is to deny the Creator Who made them. You are not a genderless, sexless, raceless amorphous blob; you are either male or female, you are a specific racial composition, and so you will and must remain. Those who think they know better than God and would deny such truths would do well to read Revelation 7:9 a few dozen times:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

ElectionThird, Election. Many have gone off the rails when it comes to Election. This is not cause for avoiding the doctrine, for it appears frequently in Scripture and is a key part of God’s plan of salvation; rather, it is warrant for deliberate and careful teaching in this area. Election is addressed in an article of the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord; if you are a teacher, to include fathers, then you should read and understand that article. But before you do so, read and re-read God’s short teaching on the matter contained in Romans 8:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Election is not Law. I will say that again: Election is not Law. If you read or conceive of Election as cause for worry or despair then you have read it wrongly or understood it incorrectly. Election is Gospel. Again, I will repeat myself: Election is Gospel. Election is not God’s foreknowledge, for His foreknowledge covers all things — good and bad — and all men — believers and unbelievers. Election applies only to believers and pertains to how God has both ordered and ensured our salvation. You are not elect because of your merit; you are not elect because of your good works; you are not elect because of your righteousness. Your election depend entirely and solely upon the merit of Christ and the gracious will of the Father. This is Gospel precisely because it does not rely upon you. As Luther put it:

I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

ConclusionWhat is the purpose of Scripture? It seems like such a simple question, and yet far too many far too often lose sight of the truth of 2 Timothy 3:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

And, again, this time from Romans 15:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Scripture, correctly read, is never irrelevant; Scripture, correctly understood, will never cause despair. Scripture is God’s revelation — explicit revelation — of Himself and His plans to and for His Elect. God is our loving Father, and His promises pertain to us, to His beloved children. Never let anyone convince you that Scripture belongs to anyone other than the Church (i.e., the sheep who hear the Master’s voice). Never let anyone convince you that the promises of God belong to anyone other than His children (i.e., those who are in Christ). Never let anyone convince you that there is any way to the Father except the Son. The Book of Romans was written for us, just like all Scripture.

The world is full of false teachers who would steal everything from you if only you would let them. They would steal from you your identity by convincing you that gender, sex, race, and other such things are not real. They would steal from you your patrimony by convincing you that borders are not real and your neighbor is every man on Earth. They would steal from you the Word and promises of God by convincing you that they were meant for other men. But false shepherds have no power over the true sheep who hear and heed only the Master’s voice. Wicked TV programming can be turned off; wicked books can be put down (or burned); and false shepherds can be simply ignored. Pray that God will give us faithful magistrates to punish such wicked men, but, personally and for your part, simply do not listen to them.

There is only one Israel that matters, and that is the true Israel, the Israel of God, the Church, and she is comprised of believers from every language, tribe, and nation, which is to say race, and she is not bounded by time, for Adam belongs to her the same as you and I, and she is not bounded by corporate form or human governance, for there is but one Good Shepherd and the sheep are those who heed His voice, and she is both Militant, comprised of us who struggle here in time, and Triumphant, comprised of those who brightly shine in eternity. The men who would advance or advocate for any other ‘Israel’ most certainly have another god, and we would do well to rebuke and shun them, at least until God gives us faithful leaders to make such men a foot or so shorter. May the Lord God arise and scatter His enemies and may those who trouble His sheep flee from before Him.

Amen.

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