A Discussion of Romans 9-11
by
Philip du Nard
Romans chapters. 9-11 are key chapters regarding God's dealings with Israel. Ch. 11:2 refutes the teaching that God has cast Israel away. But there are are several places in these chapters that I believe are poorly understood. One is the phrase in 9:6, "For they are not all Israel which are of Israel." Another is in 9:8, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
Another misunderstood part is 9:24-26, "Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God." And, perhaps to this list should be added ch.11:25 where we learn "that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."
That's a lot to tackle but I'll try and do it justice because I think this is critically important.
1-For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel--
In the preceding verses, Paul starts a discussion of Israel, lamenting their spiritual state but affirming Israel's place in God's plan. The above phrase under discussion is offered as the explanation for why seemingly God's plan has failed and one might be tempted to think that the word has had no effect. Typically, this will be interpreted that he is distinguishing between "literal Israel" and a "spiritual Israel" which consists of all believers and the existence of a spiritual Israel fulfills what God had in mind when He envisioned great things for Israel.
But in the next few verses, Paul recounts how God first excluded Ishmael and then Esau (not from personal salvation but from being the chosen people) and so this expression must be understood in the same sense, that of excluding or disqualifying part of Israel rather than adding someone else to Israel.
2- "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." - Some will again say that this is distinguishing between a spiritual seed of Abraham and a literal one, that the children of the flesh refers to literal, fleshly, Israel and that the children of the promise refers to the born again believer. But if Paul is trying to ultimately make an analogy, this is not the conclusion but the preparation for the conclusion (see #1 above). The context shows that the children of God, or the children of the promise are the descendants of Isaac and the children of the flesh are Abraham's other children and their descendants by his other wives. Yes, the body of Christ is composed of believers of all nations and races but the body of Christ is not what is being discussed here but Israel.
3. "Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God."--
Here Paul quotes two passages from Hosea and and runs them together and what he is talking about is absolutely impossible to understand properly unless one first interprets at least the first quote in its original context in Hosea. The meaning of the word Gentiles also adds to the confusion. What theologians have done is interpret this passage by itself or in connection with what they think Paul is teaching and by so doing give it a different meaning than what it clearly means in Hosea. It is true that the second quote almost seems inherently contradictory and requires the New Scriptures in order to make sense but the first quote is clear enough in its original context without the need to give it a meaning different from what Hosea is talking about.
Paul says, "I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not beloved." The passage in Hosea 2:23 KJV reads, "And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God." Theologians will say this is one of the places foretelling the salvation of non-Israel people but not so!
If we dig a little deeper, we will see that what is said in Hosea 2:23 is something that relates back to Hos. ch. 1. Reading that chapter in its entirety reveals that the people who had not obtained mercy and who were declared to not be God's people were the house of Israel whom God said He would utterly take away in His displeasure for their national disobedience. Thus, the passage in ch.2:23 is not a reference to non-Israel people becoming the people of God but the restoration of Israel to divine favor. That is undoubtedly how Paul intended it but because he applied this passage to "Gentiles" and people have certain hard to shake preconceptions about what that word means, they find it necessary to change the meaning of the quote from Hosea. Any Bible lexicon such as Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible will show that both the Hebrew and Greek words translated as "Gentiles" throughout the Scriptures are also the words translated as nations, heathen , people elsewhere in Scripture and it does not automatically follow that the word has reference to a non-Israel people. For example, when God promised to make of Abraham a great nation, the word translated as such, Goy, is the same word that is sometimes translated as Gentiles.
Thus, to remain consistent with Hosea, when Paul writes, "Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" he is not distinguishing Israel from non-Israel but that small portion of Israel that came to be known as Jews ( and it was a relatively small portion) from that greater part of Israel of the Gentiles or that part of Israel that became lost among the Gentiles in fulfillment of what Hosea wrote.
People who have an intense interest in the subject of Israel seemingly pay little attention to the book of Hosea which is so detailed in what was to happen to Israel over the centuries, perhaps because the prophecy it contains has been made of none effect by some of the theological traditions mentioned above.
This brings us to the second quotation from Hosea which St. Paul alludes to and we must again consider the background. We already mentioned the first chapter which happens to be where the second quotation is found. Things could not have been darker. The house of Israel, the immediate object of God's judgment as opposed to the house of Judah, had fallen into apostasy inviting divine wrath. Things were so bad that God said he would remove them from the land and no longer call them His people. But there is a glorious ray of hope in verse 10 ff."Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered,and it shall come to pass,, that in the place where it was said unto them , Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God." Theologians feel they have to spiritualize this and say this is a reference to the church. But let us realize that God is saying of Israel that in their cast off state. they would multiply to such an extent that they could not be measured nor numbered. Furthermore, while they would not be generally known as God's people, that is, we would say they would become "Gentilized" as a part of God's judgment upon them, they would become known as "sons of the living God." This is the part that sounds contradictory: not God's people yet sons of the living God.
We turn to John 1:12 where we read, "But as many as received him (Christ), them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name;" We turn to I John 3:1 where John writing to believers says, "Behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us , that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." So we see that Christians are called "sons of God" though not in the same sense as Christ.
So the fate of the house of Israel is that they would be cast out of their land, not be known as God's people, multiply exceedingly ( the Jews have not done this) and become Christianized in their Gentilized state (this has not been fulfilled in the Jews either.).
But Hosea does not stop there with telling us what would befall Israel. In ch.2:6 it is written, "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths." The tribes of the northern house of Israel would try to go in a certain direction, probably back to their homeland, but God would take an active part in preventing this and would guide them where He intended to take them. Futhermore, in verse 11, God declares that He will "cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." As "Gentiles," they would lose this part of their heritage. By contrast, the Jews, as part of the southern kingdom of Judah, have continued to celebrate their various feast days and sabbaths, etc.
But there is more. God gives us an idea as to what type of environment He would lead these tribes. In verse 14, it is written, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth." God would lead the multitudes of Israel into a great wilderness,another God blessed land, where He would give them vineyards, etc. symbolising the blessings of the land. People are sometimes willing to interpret the book of the Revelation literally, why not this? Jeremiah agrees with this when he says in Jeremiah 31:2 , "Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel when I went to cause him to rest." Do you not see this that the grace of God would manifest itself upon Israel in what was once a wilderness land? And besides the goodness of God demonstrated by material blessings what greater way can a people find grace than by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ and becoming a Christian people? This was to be the lot of the tribes of Israel, This is something that would take place over centuries and not in a matter of seven years. God also declares in Ezekiel, " And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt...And I will purge out from among you the rebels."
So when Paul talks about the covenants and the service of God pertaining to Israel and he has to explain why it seems that the promises have failed, he is, in effect saying in Rom. 9, don't just look at the Jews.
4. "that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."-- One interpretation of this is that the Jews will be blind to who Christ is until all the Gentiles have been converted that are going to be. But it is better to compare scripture with scripture. There is only one other instance where a similar phrase is used whereby we might get a clue as to what is meant here and it is in Genesis 48:19 on the occasion of Jacob blessing the sons of Joseph. Not all the tribes of Israel were to have the same characteristics or degree of blessing and according to Gen. 49:1 the blessings here pronounced upon the descendants of the various tribes were to be realized, not in the millenium, but in the last days which is the time period between the first and second coming of Christ. Ephraim was to become a "multitude of nations." The Hebrew word translated as multitude can according to Strong's, be translated as "fulness," the same word Paul used. And we have already seen that the word Gentiles is used where the word, nations would suffice. So Paul makes reference to a fulness of nations so he may very well be saying that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the prophecy pertaining to Ephraim is fulfilled. Now what the nature of that blindness might be is something else altogether.
It has been suggested that Satan counterfeits everything God does and I believe there is a counterfeit Israel that people have followed after as well as a result of not paying attention to scriptures like these and the debate in Christendom will be which is the counterfeit until God makes it plain. But simple discerning of spirits goes a long way.