April 2014

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 4, 04-25-2014

Discussing Romans chapter 2 we saw that the prophets of Yahweh announced the failure of the law of God on the part of the children of Israel because they refused to keep it. With that, Yahweh God Himself also announced that the ritual sacrifices, feasts and other works of the law conducted by the children of Israel would no longer be acceptable to Him. Establishing these things, we cited lengthy passages from 1 John chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1, Hosea chapter 8 and Jeremiah chapter 6. All of these prophets were found to be in agreement with Habakkuk, whom Paul had quoted in Romans chapter 1, where that prophet said that the law had failed because Israel did not keep it, and for that reason “the just shall live by faith”, as Paul had quoted. We must always bear in mind that none of this is about the failure of God, but rather it is about the education of His people.

With such an understanding, we may then perceive why Paul told the Romans “for as many as have done wrong without law, without law then are they cleansed; and as many as have done wrong in the law, by the law they will be judged”, at Romans 2:12. The prophets had also clearly foretold that the dispersed children of Israel, who no longer had the Levitical law, would be cleansed of their sins by Yahweh apart from the law. So apart from Yahshua Christ there is no propitiation for sin, and those many Judaeans of the first century who rejected Christ would be judged by the law. For that same reason Christ told them that they would die in their sins.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 3, 04-18-2014

Before continuing with our presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, it is necessary to be reminded of the scope of the epistle, which includes an understanding of who it was written to, for whom Paul's words were intended. We cannot imagine that we may pick up and read a letter written to one particular party, and that we can then substitute any other party in its references unless the letter itself makes such an explicit allowance in its own expressions.

Paul's epistle was addressed to Romans, and these Romans were pagans, and not merely Judaean (meaning Jewish in this instance) inhabitants of Rome. This is apparent as Paul states that they had “reverenced and served the creation rather than the Creator” because they had fashioned idols out of living creatures, and such things could not be said of Judaeans. However it is also quite evident that the Romans themselves were of the ancient dispersions of Israel, since Paul tells them “that which is to be known of Yahweh is visible among them, since Yahweh has made it known to them”, and those things may only be said of ancient Israel. Paul also told them that “knowing Yahweh, they thought of Him not as God, nor were they thankful” and that “they changed the estimation of the incorruptible Yahweh into a resemblance of an image of corruptible man, and birds, and four-legged animals, and reptiles”, things which could only be said of ancient Israelites who at some point turned to paganism, which is indeed explained of ancient Israel in the books of the Old Testament. So Paul was writing to Romans, and the Romans were descended from Abraham through Jacob-Israel, and his own writing in his epistle is proof enough of the truth of that statement. There is much more in the chapters to come, and these things can also be demonstrated from an examination of the Old Testament and ancient history.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 2, 04-04-2014

Presenting the first half of Romans chapter 1 last week, we left off with verse 17 and Paul's citation of Habakkuk 2:4 where he says that “the just shall live by faith”. In commenting upon that citation, we established that in the context of the original remark as it is found in Habakkuk, the statement intends to describe the righteous of those of the children of Israel who were going to be taken into Babylonian captivity. Because the Law had failed when the rulers and priests of Israel began to deal unjustly, the people were fated to be oppressed and forced to live under the laws of Babylon, a situation which was to endure for an appointed time. In Ezekiel chapter 21 we have corroboration for this interpretation, where Yahweh said He will cut off from the land of Israel both the righteous and the wicked. From Habakkuk chapter 2: “3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” In the epistle to the Romans, Paul was teaching the fulfillment of these words in Habakkuk, which is assured where the prophet wrote “in the end it shall speak”, meaning that the fulfillment would indeed become evident. Paul is showing us that fulfillment is in the turning of the dispersed children of Israel to Christ. This is why, in the next several chapters of this epistle, Paul demonstrates that those of Israel who are just in the eyes of God are not manifest in a keeping of the rituals of the Law, but instead they are manifest by a turning to the faith of Christ along with an exhibition of the law which Yahweh promised would be written in their hearts. The next few verses of this first chapter of Romans fully demonstrate that the children of Israel, and no others, certainly remain the focus of the Gospel message.