LECTURE XXVII.

THE JUSTICE OF GOD IN REJECTING THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

ROMANS ix. 1-18.

1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

3. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

4. Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

5. Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Paul turns now from the Christians whom he had been addressing in the last four chapters, to those of his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, who still persisted in that unbelief and hardness of heart from which he himself had been mercifully delivered. The message had come to them attested by prophecy and miracle, inviting them, "Be ye reconciled to God." They had refused to hear the voice which called them: and therefore" their sin remained." And this he was forced to declare. It was his office to proclaim, that "there was no difference:" the

1 See ch. iii. 22.

1

Jew as well as the Gentile was "concluded under sin," and there was only one name under heaven whereby they might be saved. But to declare it, was pain and grief to him. He had great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart: so deeply affecting him, that he could wish himself to be accursed from Christ for his brethren's sake, if by any means he might

save them.

This is one of the strong expressions by which St. Paul shows his earnestness and sincerity. He could not really desire to bring himself under the curse, that others might be relieved from it, even though they were his brethren. But having feelings like those of David, when Absalom had fallen in battle, he breaks out with similar vehemence; "Would God that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 3

Can, then, the Israelites be cast off, the chosen nation, the peculiar people: adopted by God as his own: favoured by the presence of his glory: united to him by covenant: governed by the law which he had given possessed of the promises, and the services of his temple: the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: nay, from whom Christ took his human nature, who is over all, God blessed for ever? Can such a nation as this be alienated from the love of God?

And yet, if we consider, there is nothing in this contradictory to his word or counsels.

6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

2 árabeμa, excommunicated, or made an outcast from Christ. The ancients all agree in this interpretation.

3 2 Sam. xviii. 33.

7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

8. That is, 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.

9. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

There is no failure of God's promises, if he has rejected some and accepted others. It was so from the beginning. All the children of Israel were not his people Israel. He has always exercised his sovereignty in this respect. He made an election between the sons of Abraham. Abraham had prayed

4

for his son Ishmael; "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" But God had said, " But God had said, "My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee." In Isaac shall thy seed be called. My covenant shall not be according to " the will of the flesh, or the will of man," but according to the word of promise: the promise based upon determinate counsel and foreknowledge.

God, therefore, from the origin of our nation, reserved to himself a right of choosing or rejecting whom he will.

And not only this: but our history gives another instance.

10. And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac ;

11. (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ;)

4 Gen. xvii. 18, 19.

12. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.5

13. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.6

Thus Esau, the eldest, was rejected; Jacob, the youngest, chosen. For no other reason, that we can see, than because such was God's will: that the purpose of God according to election might stand: that he might show his sovereign power. For there had been no desert on the part of either: it could not be said to be of works, as a due, and therefore what might be claimed on the part of Jacob or his descendBoth the sons could not enjoy the privilege: and God determined by which it should be enjoyed, and who should become the father of his adopted people.

ants.

14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.8

18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

"The earth is the Lord's, and all that therein is: the compass of the world, and they that dwell

5 Gen. xxv. 22.

7 Ex. xxxiii. 19.

6 Mal. i. 2, 3.

8 Ex. ix. 16.

therein." Who shall deny to him the power of choosing, as he will, the objects of his especial privileges? He has always claimed to himself this liberty. At the very moment when he was conducting his people to the promised land, he laid down this as the rule of his government. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. So that it was not of man's desire, or man's exertion, that Isaac or Jacob were the fathers of the chosen people, or that their descendants became the chosen people, or Moses their chosen leader. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth

mercy.

And as it was with Israel, who was chosen, so was it also with Pharaoh, who was rejected. He was raised up to greatness, that his fall might be more signal: and that an example might be given to all the earth, "Woe unto the man that striveth with his Maker."9 God might, if he had seen fit, have softened Pharaoh's heart. The repentance which he often professed, might have been turned to a real and enduring repentance. God did soften Paul's heart, who had been "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious" to the cause of Christ. He left Pharaoh's heart in a state of hardness, so that he would "not obey his voice to let Israel go." Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

These examples prove that the Israelites could not complain, or say that there is unrighteousness with God. The principle of his government was the same now, when he dealt with them in anger, as it had 1 Ex. v. 2, &c.

9 Isa. xiv. 9.