Commentaries and Podcasts

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 17, 08-15-2014: The Living Sacrifice

In the last segment of our presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, we discussed Romans chapter 11 and the broken and grafted branches of Paul's famous analogy depicting wild and cultivated olive trees. We asserted that the Romans, being wild olives, must have therefore been Israelites who, as a society, grew up and developed without the law and the prophets. Yet there are many who would assert that simply anyone who believes in Jesus is somehow grafted onto the olive tree. There is nothing more important to proper Biblical interpretation than context. Yet again, there is nothing more divisive when properly interpreting Scripture than context. Christ came not to bring peace, but a sword, and Paul said in Hebrews chapter 4 “12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The keeping of the Word of God certainly has real-life consequences for those who abide by it.

Paul said in Romans chapter 8 “29 Because those whom He has known beforehand, He has also appointed beforehand, conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be first born among many brethren. 30 Moreover, those whom He has appointed beforehand, these He also calls; and those whom He calls, these He also deems worthy; while those whom He deems worthy, these He also honors.” In Romans chapter 9 Paul had said that “the purpose of Yahweh concerning the chosen endures, not from rituals, but from the calling”. Paul said at Romans 11:29 that “Indeed the favor and the calling of Yahweh are not to be repented of.”

The Epistles of Paul - Romans Part 16, 08-08-2014: Branches Broken and Grafted

As we have described over the last four segments of this presentation of Paul's epistle to the Romans, from Romans chapter 9 Paul has been discussing and contrasting three different groups: The Israelites of Judaea who remained under the law, the Edomites of Judaea whom Yahweh hates, and the Israelites of the Nations, those of the ancient dispersions who were being reconciled to Yahweh through Christ.

The first two groups were contrasted in Romans 9:1-13 where Paul stated that he had concern for his “kinsmen according to the flesh”, and explained that not all of those in Israel were of Israel, going on to compare Jacob and Esau and illustrating for us that in Jacob were vessels of mercy, while in Esau were vessels of destruction. With this we supported our interpretation of Paul's message with explanations from both the prophets and from history which clearly demonstrate that the Edomites had moved into the ancient lands of Israel and were eventually converted to Judaism, well over 100 years before Christ.

The third group is revealed in Paul's words from Romans 9:24-26, where Paul cites prophecies from Hosea and Isaiah proving that the Nations to whom he brought the gospel were the nations descended from those cast-off “lost sheep” Israelites of the Old Testament. From Romans chapter 1 much of Paul's language in reference to the Romans demonstrates his confident persuasion that the Romans themselves were a portion of these long-dispersed Israelites.

Of these three groups, Paul only accounts two of them worthy of salvation: the Israelites of Judaea and the Israelites of the dispersion among the Nations. The Edomites are accounted as “vessels of wrath fitted for destruction”, as Paul explains in Romans 9:22. The message of the prophets concerning these Edomites, today's Jews, is the same as Paul's message: a promise of destruction.

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.