Commentaries and Podcasts

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 15, 07-18-2014: Jacob, Esau and the Nations, continued

Comparing the Israelites of Judaea with the Edomites of Judaea from the beginning of Romans chapter 9, towards the later part of that chapter Paul went on to explain that the calling of Yahweh in Christ is for the both Israelites of Judaea and the Israelites of the ancient dispersions, those who were taken into the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities and who never returned to Palestine. Paul quoted pertinent passages from Hosea and Isaiah in order to illustrate his assertions. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah tells us that these people would be found in Europe, and that is where the apostles went after them. These are indeed the Nations sprung from the seed of Abraham which Paul describes in Romans chapter 4.

Then in Romans chapter 10 Paul contrasted the Israelites of the ancient dispersions, who were no longer called by the name of Israel, to the Israelites of Judaea to whom Paul continued to apply the name Israel. Keeping the law and the writings, keeping the Sabbaths and the rituals and the circumcision, ostensibly they deserved to keep the title. The Israelites of the dispersions included the Romans themselves, and although Paul does not explain as much the Romans were from a body which departed from Israel many centuries earlier, and were not of the Assyrian captivity. Yet Paul considers them to be “lost” Israelites from the very beginning of the epistle, in the language which he uses in reference to them that in the Old Testament was only used in reference to Israel.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 14, 07-11-2014:

The last two segments of this presentation were spent in a lengthy discussion of Romans chapter 9, which Paul began with an ardent plea for his “brethren”, whom he defined as his “kinsmen according to the flesh”. Here it is evident, that Paul did not use the terms brother and kinsman the way today's denominational sects claim that they should be used. Rather, Paul's brethren and kinsmen were “according to the flesh”, and those whom he was concerned for he was praying for because they did not yet accept the Gospel.

Paul went on to explain that his brethren and kinsmen “according to the flesh” were Israelites, and to the Israelites belonged the adoption, covenants, law, service and promises of Yahweh God. That leaves nothing for non-Israelites. We see that Paul reckoned Israel “according to the flesh”, and not according to what any of them as individuals may have believed. Rather, he was concerned that he still had brethren “according to the flesh” in Judaea who did not believe. This is a clear refutation of the so-called “spiritual Israel” doctrine of the denominational sects. Israel is “according to the flesh”, and Israel was reckoned by tribes in Matthew chapter 19 and Luke chapter 22, Acts chapter 26, James chapter 1 and Revelation chapters 7 and 21. Tribes can only be natural, genetic Israelites.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 13, 07-04-2014: Jacob and Esau, continued

Before continuing with the second part of our presentation of Paul's discussion of Jacob and Esau in Romans chapter 9, there are a few prophecies which we already presented concerning Esau, or the Edomites, which we should further consider. In our first part of this presentation on Romans 9 we cited parts of Ezekiel chapters 34 and 35 [I had erred, only attributing chapter 34 while quoting from both chapters] in order to understand how it was that the Edomites had come to be fellow-citizens of the Israelites in first century Judaea, both politically and in their religion. In that presentation we also presented much historical evidence from the works of Flavius Josephus which corroborates these prophecies. Now we shall address an even greater prophetic aspect of this prophecy, and that of Malachi chapter 1 which Paul cites in the last verse we had read, Romans 9:13.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 12, 06-27-2014

In the last segment of our presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, we completed Romans chapter 8, which, as we explained, summarized many of Paul's statements in the chapters which precede it. Paul ended Romans 8 by stating that nothing could separate the love of Christ away from the creation of Adamic man, which in its entirety and without exception awaits liberation from the bondage of decay. Tonight we shall present Romans chapter 9, where after explaining these things Paul turns his attention to his kinsmen Israelites in Judaea.

One cannot truly understand Romans chapter 9 without understanding the demographic makeup of the Roman province of Judaea during the time of Christ. This is because an understanding of Paul's statements in this chapter, and the chapters beyond where he continues the same topic he presents here, hinges on two statements which are made by Paul in the opening verses. These are in verse 3 where he expresses a deep concern “for the brethren, my kinsmen in regards to the flesh”, and then he goes on to say that “not all those who are from Israel are those of Israel”. Seeing this, there are a few things which are clearly obvious, the first being that Paul is a racist concerned only with Israelites in regards to the flesh, whether or not they have accepted the Gospel, and secondly that not everyone in Israel at Paul's time is of that flesh, since not everyone in Israel is an Israelite!

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 11, 06-20-2014

There is no disparity between the Word of God and the Creation of God. If you are an Adamic man, you have an eternal spirit from God and for that reason you should seek to do the works of your father. If you are not an Adamic man, you have not one chance in hell of ever getting into heaven, as we saw in our last presentation of Romans that resurrection is through the spirit, and as Paul explained in his epistles to the Corinthians, that spirit is transmitted through the natural body, being sown in that same seed. In this next segment of our presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, we shall see that the Adamic man is a unique creation, and when the apostle used terms such as “the whole creation”, he was referring only to the creation of the Adamic man. Corruptions of Yahweh's creation have corrupt spirits, and the apostles considered them to be clouds without water which are twice dead, not having the spirit. That is why both the apostles Peter and Jude considered the infiltrators among the children of Israel in their own time to be spots and blemishes in their feasts of charity, feasting themselves without fear among the Israelite Christians with designs upon fornication and adultery. So it was in the first century, and it has not changed today except that White Israelite Christians refuse to recognize the problem, where by helping the devils they imagine themselves to be helping God.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 10: The Gift of the Spirit is Genetic, 06-13-2014

In Romans chapter 5 Paul described how not only the children of Israel but even the entire Adamic race has a sure promise of eternal life in Christ. In chapter 6 Paul explained that obedience to the law remains necessary in spite of the fact that men would not be judged by the law. In chapter 7 Paul explained how Israel was freed from the law in Christ, and also explained how the law should encourage men not to sin, how by it men should learn the nature and consequences of sin, and how it should help men to understand their own sinful nature whether they succeed or fail on any given occasion, as opposed to their spiritual nature by which they can overcome sin and the weaknesses of the flesh. The law being spiritual, those with the Spirit of Yahweh can indeed conform themselves to the law, and agree with it even though there may be times when they fail, being in the flesh. These things are necessary to recall, since Romans chapter 8 in its entirety is a long conclusion to the several chapters which precede it. Romans chapter 8 both concludes and also confirms many of the things which Paul had said in the previous chapters.

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 9, 05-30-2014: The Two Natures of Adamic Man

In Romans chapter 1 Paul explained that the sinful state of man was due to a departure from Yahweh their God and the corruption of society which that departure had summoned. In Romans chapter 2 Paul credited the Romans with building a society founded on the rule of law, and contrasted those who had the law of God but did not keep it with those who did not have it and yet maintained the morality found in the precepts which the law represented. Yet Paul explained in Romans chapter 3 that all men sinned, and therefore the righteousness of Yahweh was mercy towards men even in their state of sin. So while men were not judged by God according to the law, it was nevertheless necessary for men to uphold the law.

Paul explained in Romans chapter 4 that the promises of the faith in Christ represented the ongoing fulfillment of the promises which Yahweh had made to Abraham. Paul also explained that the Romans, being descended from Abraham, were a part of that fulfillment. In that chapter Paul further explained that those promises made to Abraham transcended the Levitical law, that they were apart from and were not reliant upon the law. In Romans chapter 5 Paul asserted that eternal life was the promise of the entire Adamic race, which was also apart from the law. With this he explained that sin existed outside of the law, but that sin was not imputed because the law had not been given.