Christ has Absolute Authority in all Areas of Knowledge

I. Who Christ is depends upon Christ’s self-identification.

A. Christ’s testimony concerning His mission and His message was never divorced from claim to be the only begotten Son of God (Jn. 5:18; 10:33-36).

B. He continually punctuated His discourses with the authoritative claim that He was from heaven – and that His message and arrival were not as a result of His own initiative (See John 3:13; 5:30. If Christ is who He says He is, then all speculation is excluded, for God can only swear by Himself (Heb. 6:13).

C. God’s Word declares that faith in the self-attesting Christ of the

Scriptures is the beginning, not the conclusion, of wisdom. Paul

ineffably declares in Colossians 2:3-8 that “All the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ.”[i][1]

D. To reverence the Lord and fear Him is the beginning of knowledge

(Prov. 1:7; 9:10). Christ is the starting point of every academic

pursuit. He is the way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6).

To begin an academic endeavor without acknowledging Christ in the

world of thought is to be misled, untruthful and spiritually dead

(Eph. 2:1-3).[ii][2]

II. The believer is obligated to presuppose the word of Christ in

every area of knowledge; the alternative is delusion.

A. In Colossians 2:8, Paul says, “Beware lest any man rob you by

means of philosophy and vain deceit.” To be “robbed” is to suffer

loss as a result of embracing “vain philosophy.” It is to

lose Christ in whom alone are deposited, “all the treasures of [God’s]

wisdom and knowledge.”[iii][3]

1. “Vain philosophy” is any world view that does not find its starting

point and direction in Christ. Paul warns against the kind of

philosophy accepted by the world’s intellectuals – its origin is the

traditions of men. This kind of thinking does not begin with the

truth of God and the teachings of Christ.

2. Vain philosophy refuses to bow to the Lordship of Christ over

every area of life, including scholarship and the world of thought.

3. Greg Bahnsen observes, “Every man, whether an antagonist or an

apologist for the Gospel, will distinguish himself and his thinking

either by contrast to the world or by contrast to God’s Word. The

contrast, the antithesis, the choice is clear: either be set apart by

God’s truthful word or be alienated from the life of God.”[iv][4]

B. The true believer directs his trust toward Christ, not his own self-

sufficient sight and intellect. When a person receives Christ by

faith, he turns away from the wisdom of men (the perspective of

secular thought with its presuppositions).

1. When a person turns to Christ by the illumination of the Holy

Spirit, he gains the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:12-16).

2. Therefore, to become a Christian is to submit oneself to the

Lordship of Christ. It is to renounce autonomy and come under

the authority of God’s Son. What the Holy Spirit causes all

believers to say is “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:3).

3. The Word of God is the starting point for all wisdom and

knowledge. It is the Word of God alone that gives certainty of

knowledge. The unbeliever can never have this certainty while he

is in rebellion against Christ.

C. The Biblical starting point for all knowledge affirms that God created

every fact and that Christ interprets every fact. God knows

exhaustively every fact in relation to every other fact.[v][5]

1. Argument by presupposition asks, “Which method, which starting

point, which conclusion is alone tenable?” Starting point, method

and conclusion are always involved in one another. To argue for a

truly biblical method of apologetics is to argue for a truly biblical

starting point.[vi][6]

2. One starts with the God of Scripture, thus one’s method always

presupposes the God of Scripture.

3. The Biblical starting point for all knowledge:

a.) What the Bible says about God and His relation to the universe

is unquestionably true on its own authority.

b.) God exists apart from and above the world and controls

whatever takes place in the world.

c.) Everything in the creation displays the fact that it is controlled by God.

d.) The objective evidence of God’s existence and control is clear and inescapable in the universe.

e.) If a man is self-conscious at all he is also God conscious.

f.) Men are always face to face with their Maker.

g.) God has clearly revealed Himself both in nature and in the Scriptures.

h.) Man has no excuse for not accepting this clear revelation.

III. Numerous inconsistencies mark the unbeliever’s starting point.

A. Glaring inconsistencies are inherent in the sinner’s commitment to

use autonomous reason as the starting point in the pursuit of

certain knowledge. Some of those inconsistencies are as follows:

 

1. One cannot argue ultimate truth independently of the

preconditions inherent in it. In other words, where would one

find a neutral vantage point from which he could discover and

embrace an ultimate starting point? An attempt to do so would

be like saying that Newton was not under the influence of gravity

until he actually discovered its laws.

2. Theism is the only starting point for intelligibility and meaning.

The unbeliever’s moral and epistemological problem is that he

has the wrong authoritative starting point. The unbeliever

 alleges that his autonomous reason is self-evidencing. As such,

he deifies his own reasoning processes. By so doing, he views his

 mind as ultimate, able to provide the standard to judge all truth

claims, including those of Almighty God!

3. The natural man does not distinguish between God’s thoughts

and his own thoughts. He makes God a correlative of himself.

(In other words, he envisions a god who is merely as large version

of himself – he does not revere the God of Scripture who is self-

existent, totally other, Almighty and Upholder of all existence

every moment.) He erroneously conceives of his thoughts and

God’s thoughts as pieces of the same pie. Thus, he puts himself

on the same level as God. This view makes God only one of many

“interpreters.” It destroys any distinction between knowledge that

is absolute (God’s) and knowledge that is derivative (that of

redeemed men).[vii][7]

4. The natural man assumes that his thinking processes are normal. Yet at the same time, he embraces a naturalistic scheme of reality that precludes the interpretive, authoritative function of the Word of God. Though he poses as disinterested and objective, he fights against the claims of God upon him. He dreams of land where the 10 commandments are not in force and where he is not accountable to the holy God of the universe. (Escape from reason cannot be the foundation of reason. “The sinner’s god is always enveloped within a reality that is greater than his god and himself” Van Til.)

B. Closely associated with the unbeliever’s erroneous starting point is

his faulty philosophy of facts. The unbeliever’s philosophy of facts:

1. The unbeliever denies that every fact has meaning by virtue of its

place in the plan of God. The natural man denies that Almighty

God is ineffably carrying out His plan as revealed in the Holy

Scriptures.

2. The unbeliever envisions a “chance” universe. Within

that chance universe, any fact can be tossed into the category of

pure possibility. (Under that contingency view, even the infallible

proofs of Scripture – those anchored in history and documented

by eyewitnesses – can be dismissed as occurrences within the

realm of possibility that have a naturalistic explanation. The

unbeliever’s commitment to a naturalistic world view prevents

him from seeing Christianity in the facts.)

3. The sinner uses a “chance” view of the universe to comfort

himself that there is no absolute, comprehensive, final judgment

of God. By espousing such a world view, the unbeliever

condemns himself to a contradictory view of reality.[viii][8]

4. His contradictions are evident – he holds that reality is non-

structural in nature, yet also structural in nature (i.e., he

assumes both the uniformity of nature and the ultimacy of

chance).

5. He sees reality as non-structured and on the other hand he

himself has virtually structured all of it! As a consequence, all

his predication is self-contradictory (predication – to provide a

basis for, to establish a concept, statement or action). This is

nothing less than man arrogating to himself the omniscience of

God. It is man projecting a pseudo-reality from his own mind.

IV. In the final analysis, all intellectual argument rests upon one of

two presuppositions: a.) man is the final or ultimate reference

point in human predication. OR b.) God speaking through Christ

by His Spirit is the final or ultimate reference point in human

predication.

A. No predication is truly possible if the natural world is all there is.

 

1. When chance is the governing principle, it destroys all predication

and certainty (the ultimacy of chance and contingency obliterates

the laws of logic and uniformity in nature and science). If chance

is ultimate, then chaos is foundational. Thus it would then be

impossible to assert uniformity in nature.

2. The natural man’s philosophy of facts is highly atomistic and

piecemeal. (By “atomistic” is meant that facts are treated like so

many trillions of atoms rolling around without meaningful

relation to one another.)[ix][9]

3. Atomism demands that each proposition be thought of as able to

stand by itself and as intelligible by itself. But, to assert that facts

be known apart from a system is highly irrational. (Without a

concrete universal, the connection between various judgments of

discursive thought could only be intuition. Intuition is not a

foundation for certainty and predication.)

 

B. Biblical theism demands that man’s knowledge be an analogical

replica of the system of knowledge which belongs to God. (Man as the

image of God functions truthfully when he uses God’s revelation to

interpret his world.)

1. Man’s knowledge serves as an analog of God’s knowledge – God’s

knowledge is original, absolute and unchanging)

2. Thus, all things are what they are in relation to God’s plan. (The

highest man can attain intellectually is to “think God’s thoughts

after Him.” Newton, Kepler, Boyle and numerous other believing

founders of modern science regarded their discoveries to be

thinking God’s thoughts after Him.)

3. The Christian does not talk about facts without talking about the

God who made them, constructed reality, gave testimony, rules

over the present order, sustains the creature and controls the flow

of history.

4. The Biblical philosophy of facts can be summarized as follows:

a.) God is the sovereign determiner of possibility and impossibility.

b.) A proper reception and understanding of the facts requires

submission to the Lordship of Christ.

c.)Thus the facts will be significant to the unbeliever only if he has a

presuppositional change of mind from darkness to light.

d.) Scripture has authority to declare what has happened in history

and to interpret it correctly.

e.) God knows every fact in the universe and gives them their meanings.

C. Christ’s absolute authority in all areas of knowledge refutes the

sinner’s three point premise. The unbeliever’s three point premise

addresses the areas of knowledge, authority and the nature of reality:

 

1. Man and his intellect are autonomous.

2. Reality is based upon chance and contingency.

3. The mind is the ultimate reference point and by logic, the limits of possibility in the universe may be determined.

D. God asserts that the reality He has created displays a plan. Without

the knowledge of God, each man is in his own world by himself.

1. The natural man’s epistemological isolation is based upon his

suppression of the truth of God.

2. The sinner does not wish to keep God in remembrance – this is the

posture of a covenant-breaker; he assumes self-consciousness is

intelligible without God-consciousness.

3. The natural man’s “reality” is greater than God. The natural

man’s effective tool of suppression is to embrace the sphere of his

own “reality” in which God is finite. (A finite god is not a

comprehensive judge, he permits man to retain his autonomy.)

4. The unbeliever treats his manufactured “reality” as authoritative.

Therefore, when he dialogues with a believer, he assumes that his

interpreting of a fact independently of God is identical in value (even

in content!) with the believer’s interpretation which depends upon

God.

V. The matter of knowledge is an ethical issue.

A. In order to give man true knowledge about God, it was necessary for

Christ to die for mankind; thus making the matter of knowledge

an ethical issue (not merely intellectual).

1. When an unbeliever rejects Christ, he also rejects Christ as

Interpreter of the world. John 19:7 says, “The Jews answered

him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He

made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

Knowing God in Scripture is knowing and loving God – this is the

true knowledge of God (Jn. 14:15).

2. Faith is not merely an informed judgment, nor is it assent to

propositions. Faith is right adjustment to, and surrender to, the

righteousness of God.

3. Faith has a moral basis – it issues from a heart that is set right

toward the moral authority and rule of the Creator.

4. True repentance begins with the mind’s acknowledgment that

thinking is dependent upon God. The repentance process puts a

halt to man’s judging of God. In repentance, the intellect is

brought under the mind of God (as revealed in the Bible). The

repenting man begins consistently thinking God’s thoughts after

Him.

5. The Word of God shows the unbeliever that his world view self

destructs. Repentance involves desisting from one’s cherished

independence and autonomy. The Lord of the universe demands

intellectual repentance (the surrender in repentance involves a

radical admission that the absolute source of knowledge and

certainty belong to God alone, man is utterly dependent).

6. Faith is not merely an informed choice, it is a decision joined to

repentance (repentance is a radical turning from sin and self to

God). Faith is filled with self-renunciation BECAUSE, it looks

away from self as the source of knowledge and deliverance.

B. A battle front exists between the self-contained God of Scripture and

the self-contained mind of the natural man.

 

1. As a hater of God, he does not want to hear about God. The

claims of God upon man in His image are too disturbing to

seriously entertain (Note God’s testimony concerning man –

creaturehood, law-breaker, universal guilt, eternal ill-desert).

2. Man has a vested interest in silencing the Biblical testimony

concerning his own guilt, depravity and undone state. The natural

man’s antipathy to the truth of God goes far beyond suppression –

it harbors a secret desire to destroy God’s revelation.

3. By suppressing the truth, man opposes himself and his eternal

welfare. Contrary to the lie in Eden believed by our first parents,

there is no reality apart from God and His truth. (Modern man’s

love of the lie finds its expression in pluralism. In pluralism, there

is no certainty, only a plethora of morally equivalent opinions.)

4. When sin is seen in view of the inescapable character of God, it is

indeed terrifying. For the cycle of suppression will not function

once the impenitent man faces his Judge. The he will acknowledge

what he has known all along – that God’s claims in every area are

real.

5. Hell begins after the impenitent dies – that is when a lifetime of

suppression is confronted with the truth that cannot be

suppressed. The individual who dies without faith and repentance,

perishes in a state of being an enemy of God in the mind (Heb.

9:27; Eph. 4:17).

C. God’s compassion in salvation deals with the darkened mind of man.

1. God’s mercy is evidenced in His giving of Christ to the world. God’s

plan to save man by His sovereign grace has to be revealed; man

cannot learn it from nature (nature, red in tooth and claw, does not

provide the message of redemption through Christ – only the

Scriptures reveal God’s sovereign mercy).

2. Only by regeneration through Christ’s Spirit is the suppression

cycle broken. God’s remedial work in Christ pierces the darkness of

man’s heart.[x][10]

3. Christ’s victory in the life of the individual cancels a man’s alliance

with Satan (Col. 1:13). Redemption is not solely the realm of the

supernatural and the metaphysical.

4. Redemption deals with reality. The believer’s universal, eternal,

ultimate is not an abstract principle, but an ABSOLUTE PERSON!

The Person of Christ authoritatively answers every ultimate

question (a sampling of ultimate questions: What is man? Where

did he come from? Why is there evil? What is man’s purpose and

destiny? Does God exist? Is there an after life?).[xi][11]

5. God’s testimony concerning the nature of reality runs contrary to

every manmade theory of reality. The Christian affirms that his

eternal God who is prior to the universe made all things out of

nothing (Only the Christian is in touch with reality).

6. Blaise Pascal summarizes the comprehensive nature of Christ’s

epistemic authority:

“Not only do we only know God through Jesus Christ, but we only

know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death

through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know

the meaning of our life or our death, of God or ourselves. Thus

without Scripture, whose only object is Christ, we know nothing,

and can see nothing but obscurity and confusion in the nature of

God and in nature itself.”

D. In Christ, man finds the true wisdom and true knowledge he lost in

the fall (1 Cor 1:30; Col 2:17). In Christ, man realizes that he is a

creature of God and that he must not seek for comprehensive

knowledge.

1. In Christ, man finds reconciliation in that Christ was offered up as

a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice. Christ’s work as priest cannot

be separated from His work as prophet. (Christ fulfills His

prophetic office in the work of restoring the believer to the

knowledge of God and His truth.)

2. As King, Christ subdues the believer to Himself. In connection

with His work as Priest and Prophet, Christ died to subdue man

and give him wisdom.[xii][12]

 

3. God has placed in Christ all the treasures of wisdom and

knowledge (Col 2:3).

a.) It is the Christian alone who has “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor

2:16). As such, he is able to appraise all things, and he is able

to think God’s thoughts after Him (1 Cor 2:15).

b.) The Christian’s mind is renewed by Scripture. Therefore he

steers clear of every philosophy that has its origin in the world

(Col 2:8). Christ alone is the saved man’s epistemology ( Ps

36:9; Jn 8:12).

c.) Though the Christian’s knowledge is finite, through Christ his

epistemology is that of ultimate rationalism.

4. Christ is Creator, Lawgiver, Sustainer, Redeemer and Judge. He

entered human history to declare God to man (Jn 1:18). Christ is

the eternal “utterance” of God. Through Christ, God has spoken

authoritatively and finally (Heb 1:3).

E. Abraham is the foundational believer in the Old Testament.

His faith typifies the kind of faith that saves a person. He is the

divinely designated example of the true believer – all who savingly

believe subsequent to him emulate his faith (Rom. 4:17).

 

1. Abraham did not walk by intellectual self-sufficiency.

Autonomous, empirical “sight” is not the source of reliance of true

faith.

2. Belief begins with a presuppositional conviction about the veracity

of God’s Word. Abraham submits to the a priori dependability of

God’s Word, thus his faith is a paradigm for all who follow.[xiii][13]

3. The life of Abraham is consistent with the fact that God’s truth is

anchored in historical events.

a..) God “mediated” the giving of His inscripturated truth through

human history – that is He revealed Himself and gave His

oracles in the context of redemptive history.

b.) Biblical theological truth is not speculation, nor is it “upper

story” metaphysics, it is reality. The revelation of God’s truth is

grounded in real events in history such as the fall, the flood,

the exodus, the giving of the law, and the birth, death, and

resurrection of Christ.

Endnotes:

[i][1] Edmund P. Clowney, “Preaching the Word of the Lord: Cornelius Van Til” Westminster Theological Journal, (1984) 46:240.

[ii][2] Greg L. Bahnsen, Evangelism and Apologetics,(http://lonestar.texas.net/~rhanks/siteGallery/BahnsenEvangelism%20and%20

Apologetics.htm), p. 86.

[iii][3] Greg L. Bahnsen, Always Ready, (Atlanta: American Vision, 1996), p. 21.

[iv][4] Ibid., p. 8.

[v][5] Scott Oliphant, “The Consistency of Van Til’s Methodology” Westminster Theological Journal, (1990) 52:34.

[vi][6] Ibid., p. 44.

[vii][7] James F. Stitzinger, Apologetics and Evangelism, (The Master’s Seminary, 1999).

[viii][8] Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1955), pp. 126, 127.

[ix][9] Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetics, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1998), pp. 306, 357, 382.

[x][10] James F. Stitzinger, Apologetics and Evangelism, p. 70.

[xi][11] Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, p. 29.

[xii][12] James F. Stitzinger, Apologetics and Evangelism, pp. 35, 36.

[xiii][13] Greg L. Bahnsen, Always Ready, p. 92.

 

 

Israel's Past, Present, and Future in the Plan of God

The God of the universe has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures. Man is utterly dependent upon God’s self-revelation. Unlike the movie, 2010, A Space Odyssey, mankind will not discover God and His abode by space travel.

Our Creator is not a finite or local deity. God is omnipresent. He is omnipotent. He is transcendentfrom His creation (He upholds creation at every point – He is not a part of it.) 

God’s ultimate revelation of Himself to mankind is the incarnation and work of Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son (Heb 1). (Jesus Christ was tangible to human senses – 1 John 1:1-4.)

The majority of the O.T. consists of God’s revelation of Himself through the medium of redemptive history. God chose to give the knowledge of Himself through the nation He chose, the nation of Israel.

Israel’s history is didactic. God’s commentary upon the history of the Jews is for our instruction. There are numerous biblical passages that give a condensed version of Jewish history (Ps 44; 60; 66:8-12; 78; 79-81; 99; 105; 106; 107; 114; Neh 9:6-38; Acts 7).

In Romans 9-11, the Scriptures give us a most unique assessment of Israel’s past (ch. 9), present (ch. 10) and future (ch. 11). These chapters in the book of Romans tackle the most vexing questions concerning Israel’s failure, Israel’s rejection, and Israel’s future.

Rather than a simple forecast or prediction of the future, the Romans 11 concludes the section with the unfolding of God’s historic purpose for the redemption of Jew and Gentile. (As is the pattern throughout Scripture, God’s commentary on history and His work in history are mightyrevealers of His Person, His ways and His will for mankind.)

God’s dealings with Israel are always a revealer of the nature and character of the Almighty. Israel’s future is bound up in the character and promises of God. In order to understand Israel’s future, it is incumbent to understand something of God’s nature and His covenant promises.

Just as an earthly father’s dealings with his child reveal the man’s character (i.e. his integrity; values; consistency; affections; justice etc.), so also God’s character is put on display in His dealings with Israel.

History is a showcase of God’s power, sovereignty, wisdom, righteousness, loving kindness, wrath, justice, mercy and omniscience.

Israel’s future is bound up in God’s purposes for the consummation of human history. Therefore, it is important to know something of the covenants that God made with Israel (for the future of Israel will prove to demonstrate God’s fidelity to the covenants He has made):

 

Out of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 12) came four other covenants that God made with Israel. (Each of these covenants was unilateral, except for the Mosaic Covenant.)

1.) The Mosaic Covenant (Ex 20ff.) – Personal blessing.

2.) The Palestinic Covenant (Deut 28-30) – Territorial blessing.

3.) The Davidic Covenant (2 Sam 7) – National blessing.

4.) The New Covenant (Jer 31) – Universal blessing. (The New Covenant replaced the Mosaic Covenant. The vast majority of Jews have yet to enter the New Covenant.)

There are three main purposes for God giving these covenants:

a.) To reveal God’s kingdom intentions in the earth.

b.) To reveal God’s method of redeeming and blessing.

c.) To provide men a basis for a faith relationship with God.

The wonder of God’s wisdom will be made evident at the consummation of human history. History will prove to be “HIS STORY.” At the end of the age it will be made evident that He dealt with every individual according to His own perfect holiness. In addition, He will prove to have shown fidelity to His covenants. And, as Romans 9-11 brings out, He will bring to a conclusion His plan for both Jew and Gentile.

Those who interpret history through the distorted lens of chance and pure contingency will be ashamed that they have dishonored the God of history. There neglect and despising of God’s Word is without excuse.

So much of Scripture (esp. the O.T.) is the revelation God’s authoritative perspective and vantage point concerning history. The climax of history will prove to be the outshining of God’s excellence.

Romans 9-11 are pivotal chapters because they use history and the future of Israel to turn the spotlight where it belongs – back upon the glory of God.

Here are several titles that describe the content of Romans 9-11:

  • The vindication of the righteousness of God.
  • God demonstrates His righteousness in Jew and Gentile.
  • God’s righteousness vindicated and the problem of Israel’s rejection.

Romans 9 God’s righteousness established in history (This chapter deals with the Israel’s past, the justice of God in her rejection, and the rights and purposes of God in divine election.)

9:1-5 Paul’s sorrow

Paul’s love for his fellow Jews was so great, that Paul was willing to trade places with them. (The Apostle knew that was impossible. His willingness to be accursed for their sakes was an expression of the depth of his love for his countrymen.)

In vv. 4, 5, Paul addresses Israel’s privileged role as a “witness nation.” God’s sovereign selection of the Jewish people was accompanied by the covenants He established with her and by the sacrificial/ceremonial system of worship. The holy of holies (in the temple and the tabernacle) served as the very “throne room” of Yahweh.

The “promises” probably refer to the Messiah who would come out of Israel bringing eternal life and an eternal kingdom (Acts 3:29; 13:32-34).

9:6-29 God’s sovereignty (This section deals with God’s justice in Israel’s rejection.)

 

In vv. 6-13, “Word of God” (v. 6) refers especially to the privileges and promises revealed to Israel. “Not all Israel who are of Israel…” indicates that not all the physical descendants of Abraham are true heirs of the promise (see also 2:28, 29).

Paul illustrates this truth by demonstrating that only the descendants of Isaac, (not all of Abraham’s offspring), were the spiritual people of God who enjoyed the promises made to Abraham (4:6, 11).

In vv. 10-13, God’s gracious choice of Jacob unto spiritual life was made apart from any personal merit or demerit.

“Hated” in this context does not refer to emotional hatred. The Apostle has in mind the passage in Malachi 1:2, 3. In those verses, the prophet Malachi looks back over 1500 years of history. He brings to the reader’s attention the fact that the two nations that came from Jacob and Esau (Israel and Edom) had widely divergent histories -- Israel was chosen by God for divine protection and blessing. Edom was left to divine judgment.

In vv. 14-18, Paul anticipates his readers’ objection to the theology of divine sovereignty in salvation. “How can God be fair if He chooses some for salvation and passes by others?” Would that not make God arbitrary? Paul’s answer is taken from two passages in Exodus (33:19; 9:16). When God revealed His essential glory to Moses, He uttered a remarkable statement. God indicated to Moses that He reserves the right to select His objects of mercy. He determines who receives mercy. Salvation is not merited by human effort.

The example of Pharaoh is gripping. When God left the Egyptian ruler to his own wishes, Pharaoh’s evil heart pursued its wicked ends without the “interference” of divine restraint. As a consequence, his heart was hardened.

In vv. 19-26, Paul continues to anticipate the reader’s objections. Here the Apostle delves into the way that people attempt to reason concerning the doctrine of sovereignty. “How can God blame people for their sin and unbelief if God sovereignly determines that they shall be left in that state?”

Paul’s answer is not a rebuke to those with honest questions. His answer is meant to correct those who would use God’s sovereignty as an excuse for their own sin and unbelief.

In vv. 22-26, Paul does NOT attempt to answer why God has allowed the origin of evil. What Paul does is provide three reasons why God permits evil’s limited duration: 1.) to demonstrate His wrath; 2.) to make His power known; 3.) to put the riches of His glorious mercy on display.

No one is treated unfairly – some receive the justice they earn and deserve. Others graciously receive mercy.

God does not make men sinful. He leaves them in the sin they have chosen. He patiently endures their rebellion (for a season). He restrains the expression of His wrath until judgment day. (If He so desired, He could justly judge sin immediately with eternal punishment.)

Paul finishes his argument that Israel’s unbelief is not inconsistent with God’s plan of redemption. The Apostle then uses the O.T. to show that Israel’s unbelief is consistent with what the prophets recorded. Israel’s future restoration implies her present alienation from God.

In vv. 27-33, Paul makes the point that the scattering of Israel (Judah, the southern kingdom) by the Babylonians (586 B.C.) was only a preview of Israel’s rejection of the Messiah and her subsequent destruction and scattering. (Israel was destroyed by the Romans in 72 A.D. Their temple was leveled and the survivors fled the land of Palestine.)

Only a remnant of Israel will survive God’s coming wrath, solely because of His mercy.

Paul closes this section with the reminder that those who experience God’s wrath do so, NOT because of something God has done to them, but because of their own unwillingness to believe the gospel. (Sinners are rejected because of their personal sin. The supreme transgression being the rejection of God and Christ – Jn 8:21-24.) 

Romans 10 Israel’s present: the rejection of God. (This chapter addresses the cause of Israel’s rejection, unbelief. God’s righteousness can only be received by faith.)

10:1-13 Israel needs the gospel

In vv. 1-5, Paul speaks from personal experience concerning the Jews religious zeal (When Paul was Saul the Rabbi, his zeal exceeded that of his peers). The Apostle states that the religious zeal of the Jews was wrong-headed and wrong-hearted (Phil 3:4-6). Their misguided zeal was based upon ignorance of God’s righteousness.

Paul contrasts moral trust in God’s divinely established righteousness with the futile effort to establish one’s own righteousness.

Faith in Christ ends the sinner’s futile attempt to establish his own righteousness (see Gal 3:24, 25). To hope for a righteousness based on obedience to the law requires perfect conformity in every detail (James 2:10; Gal 3:10)—an utter impossibility.

In vv. 6-13, Deuteronomy exhibits God’s salvation as achieved not by humanity’s strenuous efforts, but by divine grace bringing it near (see especially Deut 30:1-6, a post-exilic context).

Paul sees the fulfillment of God’s salvation brought near by grace in the New Covenant in Christ (Jer 31:31-34; 2 Cor 3:7-18). Thus Christ was the end (goal) of the Mosaic law.

To seek a self-established righteousness now is the equivalent of attempting to do what God alone could do and has done. The cost of salvation by grace (that cost being Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection) could only be accomplished by the triune God. God has “brought near” the “word of salvation” and with it, salvation by faith through grace.

Paul’s use of “believe, confess. . . confess, believe” indicates that heart-belief and mouth-confession belong together for justification and salvation. (Justification is right-standing before God.)

God’s universal kindness to both Jew and Gentile is attested to in both testaments (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21).

14-21, Israel rejects the gospel.

Paul launches into this section by indicating that God’s mercy necessitates messengers. Paul quotes Isaiah 52:7 indicating that the privilege of preaching of Christ is one of great honor.

The good news (gospel) is not only a gracious offer, but a command to believe and repent.

The “report” Isaiah (Is 53) described was the substitutionary death of Christ – the good news of the gospel.

In v. 18, Paul quotes from Psalm 19:4 to show that even King David (1000 B.C.) understood that God’s revelation of Himself has reached the entire earth (see Rom 1:18-20).

The Psalm Paul quotes from (Ps 19) joins together God’s works and God’s Word. The Apostle’s argument is as follows: If those without the Bible have “heard” the message of God’s glory in creation, how much more have those who have received His special revelation! (The Jewish nation was entrusted with the oracles of God – the Holy Scriptures – see Romans 3:2).

In vv. 19-21, the failure of the Jews cannot be excused because they did not hear the message, or because they could not understand it. Moses and Isaiah contrast God’s own people with those who lack understanding (Deut 32:21), and with those who were not God-seekers but were brought to know Him (Is 65:1). (The Jews regarded the Gentiles to be spiritually unenlightened.

If Gentiles understood the message, the Jews could have.)

The responsibility of Israel’s rejection rested with Israel herself. Israel’s disobedient and obstinate behavior showed that she was contradicting (speaking against) God’s Word. This kind of disobedience was a pattern in her history. This time it was the truth of the gospel that she was contradicting (see Matt 21:33-41; Luke 14:21-24).

Romans 11 Israel’s future: the restoration by God.

 

11:1-10 Israel’s past and present rejection is not total; there has always been a saved Jewish remnant. In vv. 1-5, the Apostle proves that there has always been a faithful remnant among the Jewish people. (Israel’s disobedience does not nullify God’s predetermined love relationship with her.)

Though Israel had rejected Jesus, thousands of individual Jews had come to faith in Him (see Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:1).

God did not choose the remnant because of foreseen faith, good works, spiritual worthiness, or racial descent, but solely because of His grace (Deut 7;7, 8; Eph 2:8, 9).

In vv. 6-10, Paul brings out the fact that what Israel sought earnestly, right standing with God,eluded the greater part of the nation. (The elect refer to the faithful remnant among the Jews.)

“Hardened” refers to the Jews being made impervious to spiritual truth (see Is 6:10). They were hardened because they refused the way of faith. The hardening was a judicial judgment of God upon them. In vv. 8-10, the Apostle shows that his teaching is not in violation of or inconsistent with the O.T.

11:11-16 Because the Jews stumble, the heathen are offered salvation. Israel’s rejection is not final. In vv. 11-12, Paul confirms that Israel’s blindness, hardening, and apostasy are not irreversible. “Their fall” refers to their rejection of Jesus Christ.

God intends to use the offer of salvation to the Gentiles to bring Israel back to Him. (Gentile salvation was something the O.T. had long prophesied – Gen 12:3; Is 49:6).

The Jewish rejection of the gospel caused the Apostles to turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46-48; 18:6). The Jewish failure to acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and be God’s witness nation resulted in the Gentile church being given that privilege.

In vv. 13-16, Paul establishes that Israel’s transgression and loss has led to Gentile salvation. When Israel’s hardening is ultimately removed, her spiritual rebirth will result in even more “riches” for the Gentiles and the world. The use of “root” in v. 16 refers to the patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Not all Jews are righteous (saved), but God will be true to His promises concerning them (3:3, 4).

 

11:17-24 In this context, saved Gentiles are referred to as “ingrafted branches.”

In vv. 17-21 Paul tells us that some, but not all, of the branches of Israel were broken off; God always preserves a believing remnant. (Note the agricultural practice of grafting in younger productive olive branches into a mature tree trunk. Grafts from a wild olive are generally unfruitful.)

If Israel was not spared despite being God’s covenant nation, why should Gentiles, strangers to God’s covenants, expect to be spared if they sin against the truth of the gospel? (Paul’s warning against Gentile pride and arrogance is stern.)

In vv. 22-24, “God is able to graft them in again,” refers to the hope Paul holds for the future of the Israelite nation. In the future, Israel will repent of unbelief and embrace the Messiah (Zech 12:10).

11:25-32 Israel’s present spiritual insensibility is temporary.

In vv. 25-26, Paul teaches that God has an awesome plan to sum up all things in Christ. Both saved Jews and Gentiles will make up His coming kingdom.

The present spiritual hardening of the Jews is a partial hardening. The Gentiles must keep this in mind in order to maintain a humble posture before God. Israel’s present spiritual hardening began at the rejection of Jesus Christ. It will continue until the full number (quota) of Gentiles comes into salvation. The “Deliverer” refers to Christ Jesus. “Zion” is used in conjunction with Christ’s future reign on earth.

In vv. 27-32, “God’s choice” refers to His eternal choice of Israel to be His covenant people. (“For the sake of the fathers,” refers to the patriarchs).

God’s gifts are irrevocable because they are rooted in His immutable nature and are expressed in the unilateral, eternal Abrahamic covenant. (Gift refers to the gift of God’s grace. His sovereignly bestowed grace is seen in the election of Israel and in the election of individual believers.)

God will extend His grace to unbelieving Israel, just as He did to unbelieving Gentiles. Salvation, whether to Jew of Gentile, flows from God’s mercy.

God allowed men to pursue a sinful course so that He could receive glory by demonstrating His grace and mercy to disobedient sinners (Eph 2:2; 5:5).

11:33-36 The infinite wisdom of God is manifested in the execution of His plan for Jew and Gentile. In these verses, the majesty and grandeur of God’s plan is revealed. God’s purposes or decrees are beyond human understanding. God is the source, sustainer, and rightful end of everything that exists.

Sources consulted: The MacArthur Study Bible, The NIV Study Bible, and the New Geneva Study Bible.