29 Jan 2024
The Apostle Paul, originally called Saul, was a persecutor of the church of Christ. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, in regard to the law, a Pharisee under the teaching of Gamiliel; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. Yet when Saul met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was converted and became a champion of the gospel of Christ – he realised that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Lord – and his understanding of the salvation promised by God changed drastically. Paul’s understanding of salvation – election by God, the place of the law, repentance and faith, and the centrality of the Gospel – all these were seen in a new light, and they are also very relevant to us today.
We will focus on two Scriptural passages:
Romans 9:1-29 and Galatians 3:7-9, 26-29).
Firstly Romans 9:
Paul began Romans 9 with expressing great sorrow and unceasing anguish (v2) as he thinks about Israel’s obstinate resistance to the gospel. Does this represent a failure of God’s faithfulness to keep his promises to save Israel or a failure of his word (v6)? No. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we noted how God fulfilled His covenant to Abraham and his descendants, and His prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and the kingdom of God. It is interesting to see that Simeon and Anna recognised the baby Jesus as the Messiah in the temple, whereas the Pharisees, teachers of the law, rejected Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. God’s intention is always to save a remnant of Israel. Even among Abraham’s children he chose Isaac, not Ishmael; and Jacob, not Esau (v7-13 of Romans 9).
Does the election mean that God is unjust (v14)? No – it is not a justice issue – all people deserve condemnation. God is sovereign in the exercise of his mercy, and in the exercise of whom he hardens, such as Pharaoh (v15-18). If that is the case, why does God still hold us responsible if human unbelief is a result of God’s hardening of the human heart (v 19)? Such an argument is the equivalent of clay complaining to the potter about the use to which it is put.
Why does God act like that? Why does he not elect everyone? He did this to glorify himself (v22-24): the unbeliever, by his stubborn resistance, elevates God’s patience; the believer, by his undeserved acceptance, elevates God’s mercy.
We make no contribution to our own salvation; salvation is based solely on the electing mercy of God, and that is undeserved. Here is the antidote to every vestige of self-righteousness: there is nothing here for us to feel superior about for God chose us despite ourselves, not because of anything we have done.
Here is the great motivation for prayer and evangelism: God has an elect people, but we do not know who they are (Acts 18:10). We must take the gospel out in the assurance that God knows who they are, and he will call them to faith when they hear the gospel. As God’s saved people, we are given the task and responsibility to share the gospel.
The doctrine of election is often rejected because it is said that it renders the believer paralysed at the point of evangelism. In fact, it is not so – the doctrine provides the greatest motivation for evangelism – we are not to be put off by people’s resistance: our confidence in evangelism does not rest on our ability to explain or people’s ability to understand, but rests on God’s mercy. That is why prayer must accompany the clear, widespread presentation of the gospel, so that the sovereign God will do his work of calling out his people as the gospel is explained.
In Galatians 3, Paul wrote:
“Understand then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham. All nations will be blessed through you. So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (vv7-9).
We need to note that of the authors of the four gospels, Luke is the only Gentile. And Luke was the only one who wrote on the parable of the good Samaritan (the Samaritans were hated by the Jews at that time). Even in Simeon’s praise of God in Luke 2 when he held the baby Jesus, the Holy Spirit guided him to say, “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel. So in the gospel and in the epistles, we can see that God’s plan of salvation extends to all (Jews and Gentiles alike), to all who respond to God in faith and repentance.
In Romans 11, Paul likened the Gentiles being saved to ‘wild branches having been grafted into the olive tree’ and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root; so Gentiles should not consider themselves to be superior to the other branches, for it is the root that supports them. Branches were broken off so that the wild branches can be grafted in: the former were broken off because of unbelief but the grafted branches stand by faith. The warning: if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare the grafted branches as well because of unbelief. We see how faith in God features prominently in the response to the gospel and God’s salvation plan (Rom.11: 17-21).
God is both kind and stern, and if he grafts a wild branch, like the Gentiles, into the tree then he is more than able to regraft the natural branches (Israel) when they believe in Christ (vv22-24). God is at work through hardening and softening, to bring the full number of Gentiles into his kingdom, so that “all Israel” (that is, all the elect Jews and Gentiles) will be saved. Therefore, the hardening of ethnic Israel is both temporary and purposeful.
God is the source of all good: that in fallen people there is neither merit nor ability; that salvation consequently is all of grace, as are sanctification, pardon. election and glory. For from him and through him and to him are all things – and so to him be glory forever and ever!!