Chapter 6

 

In our last chapter we showed from Romans 9 how Paul first dealt with the question of God's sovereign choices. He chose Isaac rather than Ishmael; and He chose Jacob rather than Esau. These choices, Paul says, were not based upon their works, whether good or evil. These men were chosen or rejected even before their birth (9:11). God did not do this on the basis of a mere foreknowledge that Ishmael and Esau would turn out to be ungodly men; God did this “that the purpose of God might stand NOT of [their] works but of Him that calleth.”

It is not our purpose here to indulge in a complete study of the sovereignty of God. We have already dealt with that subject in our book, Creation's Jubilee. So let us move on to Paul's main topic of discussion, which is the relationship between Israel and the world in the divine plan of salvation and prophecy.

Vessels of Wrath and Vessels of Mercy

In Romans 9:22-24, Paul speaks of the “vessels of wrath” and the “vessels of mercy.”

²² What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;

²³ And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had afore prepared unto glory,

²⁴ Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Paul has just shown Esau and Pharaoh to be prime examples of what he calls “the vessels of wrath.” It is commonly thought that these are vessels who receive the wrath of God. But in reality, it is the vessels who are angry or wrathful in their disposition and actions. Hence, they are “fitted to destruction.” Literally, it means made perfect for destruction. In other words, these men were made perfect for destruction.

God was the Potter who made these men to be what they were as examples to us of angry, bitter men who had the desire to tyrannize and enslave other men. Such men are perfect examples of lawless men upon whom the divine law decrees destruction.

The vessels of mercy, on the other hand, are men who have the disposition of mercy and grace. Upon these God decrees mercy and grace, in accordance with the manner in which they treat others. Matthew 7:2 says, “with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

The law of God foreshadows these two types of people in the laws of war found in Deuteronomy 20:19 & 20.

¹⁹ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field [lit.] is man) to employ them in the siege;

²⁰ Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

There are two types of trees in God's eyes: those that bear fruit, and those that do not. Those that do not bear the fruits of the Spirit that can edify men may be chopped down and used as fuel or bulwarks in time of war. The reason is given in verse 19: “for the tree of the field is man.” The KJV reads “man's life,” but in the original Hebrew text, it simply reads “man.”

In other words, trees are symbolic of men. There are two types of men. Paul refers to them as vessels of wrath and vessels of mercy. Of the vessels of wrath, the psalmist asks, “why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1). The passage goes on to tell us that God's anointed (Jesus and His sons) will “break them with a rod of iron” and “dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel” (Psalm 2:9). This potter's vessel is clearly the vessel of wrath in Romans 9:21, 22.

And yet the psalmist goes on to give advice to these wrathful kings of the earth. He tells them to submit to the divine government of the vessels of mercy. This too is a prophecy that all nations will fulfill (Psalm 86:9).

⁹ All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy name.

For further reading on this, see Psalm 67, Revelation 5:13, and Revelation 15:4.

Who are the “Jews”?

Paul continues his discussion in Romans 9 by defining the vessels of mercy primarily as Israel and Judah.

²³ And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory,

²⁴ Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles.

The Greek word translated “Jews” is Ioudeos, which means “Judeans.” This word is used in the Bible in a number of different ways. First, it is often used in a tribal sense as the tribe of Judah (Luke 23:38). It can also refer to Judeans living in the geographical province of Judea, in contrast to Galilee (John 7:1). In this sense, there was a difference between Jews (Judahites) and Galileans (who were actually of the tribe of Benjamin).

The word can also refer to Judeans in a religious sense indicating those who are in a covenant relationship with God (Romans 2:28). In this sense it covered all proselytes, no matter what their racial or national origin. Paul makes the point in Romans 2:28 that the true “Jews” in this manner of speech are the Christian believers.

The question is how Paul uses the term in Romans 9:24. In that he contrasts “Jews” with “Gentiles” (which we will define next), it is plain that he is speaking of national origins. However, because most people do not understand the biblical word “Gentile,” the point of Paul's statement is usually missed. The “Gentiles” here refer to the lost House of Israel, whom Paul says were the other branch of people that God had called to be vessels of mercy.

Who are the “Gentiles”?

The Hebrew word goy is used 558 times in the Old Testament. In the KJV the word is translated “nation” 374 times, “heathen” 143 times, “Gentiles” 30 times, and “people” 11 times. It is unfortunate that so many words are used to translate this single word goy, because it has caused untold confusion in Bible readers today. The best translation is simply “nation.” The word may refer to either the nation of Israel, Judah, or any other nation. The word in itself does NOT mean “non-Jew” as is commonly supposed today. For example, in Genesis 12:2 God called Abraham, telling him,

² And I will make of thee a great NATION [Heb. goy]; and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.

 If the word goy really means “Gentile” or “non-Jew” as so many think, then God was telling Abraham that He was going to make him a great Gentile. Not many would agree with that statement.

In Genesis 17:20 God said He would also make Ishmael's descendants into a great nation. Again, the Hebrew word is goy.

In Exodus 9:4 the pla gue of hail came upon Egypt. It is said there that “there was none like it in all the land of Egypt, since it became a NATION.” Again, the Hebrew word used for the “nation” of Egypt is goy.

Ezekiel 2:3 tells us that the prophet was sent “to the children of Israel, to a rebellious NATION.” Again, the Hebrew word used here is goy, showing that the nation of Israel can hardly be called a “Gentile” nation.

In the New Testament the Greek word often translated “Gentile” is ethnos. It simply refers to an ethnic group, or nation, whether Israel, Judah, or some other nation. Again, the word does NOT necessarily refer to a non-Jew.

For example, Luke 7 tells the story of the Roman centurian who asked Jesus to heal his servant. We read,

⁴ And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom He should do this;

⁵ For he loveth our NATION [Greek: ethnos], and he hath built us a synagogue.

Hence, the nation of Judah is called an ethnos. See also John 11:48-52 for further examples. We see from this that ethnos is the Greek equivalent to the Old Testament Hebrew word goy. Neither word means “non-Jew.” They are best translated “nation” and can refer to any nation including Israel and Judah.

With this in mind, let us go once again to Romans 9.

The Israelite Nations

As we said earlier, Paul speaks of the vessels of mercy as being. . .

²⁴ . . . not of the Judahites only but also of the [Israelite] nations.

²⁵ As He saith also in Osee [Hosea], I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

²⁶ And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.

This is a quote from Hosea 1:10 and 2:23. In that chapter the prophet tells us that God was going to divorce and cast off the House of Israel, for she was like Hosea's wife, Gomer—the prostitute.

The prophet tells us that God's purpose for dispersing the House of Israel was to sow them in the field as seed which would later bring forth a harvest of many children. We do NOT say that God has cast off the House of Israel for ever, for the prophets are quite clear that Israel was to be restored. However, we must keep in mind that Judah was not Israel, nor are the modern Jews Israelites of that dispersion.

We see from Hosea that Israel was called by the name Gomer in the book of Hosea. From history we see that the Assyrians actually called Israel by that name (based upon the name of Omri, Ghomri, or Khumri). These Israelites were deported to Assyria from 745-721 BC in the days of king Hoshea (2 Kings 18:10). King Hoshea and his Gomerites of Israel were foreshadowed years earlier by the life of the prophet Hosea and his unfaithful wife, Gomer.

Nonetheless, history shows us that these same Israelites greatly increased in population as they spread into Europe, where they were known as Beth-Khumri (House of Omri, or Ghomri), Beth-Sak (House of Isaac, or Saxons), and generically as Caucasian for having passed through the Caucasus mountains in their migration north of the land of their captivity.

The fact that Paul backs up his teaching by quoting from Hosea shows us that he was speaking of the Israelite nation (ethnos) along with the Judah nation. These were the vessels of mercy that God had called, and even though they had both rejected God, yet God had a plan for them.

This plan did not exclude the other nations. In fact, God planned from the start that Israel and Judah would reject Him, in order that both nations would be cast off into the world among the nations. Both would be cut off from the first covenant. In regathering His people, then, God planned to gather many others with them, as we read in Isaiah 56:8,

⁸ The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those that are gathered unto him.

This is also established by Jesus' parable in Matthew 13:44. (Please excuse me for repeating this parable, but I want to make this point clear to prevent any possibility of misunderstanding.)

⁴⁴ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field.

In other words, God hid His peculiar treasure (Israel—see Exodus 19:5) in the field, which is the world (Matthew 13:38) when He cast them off in the dispersion. But Jesus then found His lost sheep, or treasure, as was prophesied in Ezekiel 34:16. When He found them, He did not immediately take them to Himself. Rather, he gave His life—“all that He hath''—in order to purchase the field, or the world. His object was to obtain the treasure, but in doing so, He had to purchase the entire world.

In Bible Law it would be theft for a man to take a treasure hidden in someone else's field. The owner of the field would own the treasure, and only a thief would steal it. But Jesus is not a thief. When He found His peculiar treasure, the House of Israel, He gave up all His glory and gave even His life to purchase the field. Once He owned the field, then He also owned the treasure. That is the plan of God. And this is the relationship between Israel and the rest of the world. God's salvation is NOT exclusive. The casting off of Israel was God's way of saving the whole world even as He regathers and reclaims His peculiar treasure, the House of Israel.

Israel and the World

Paul's discussion in these Israel chapters of Romans deals with the contrast and relationship between Israel and the world. Most people have assumed that Paul was discussing the Judean rejection of Jesus, as if all Israel were somehow bound up in the nation of Judea (i.e., Judah, Levi, and Benjamin). This is simply not true, as proven by Paul's Old Testament quotations.

Whenever Paul quotes the Old Testament, he refers to passages that clearly were given to the northern House of Israel—the nation that was captured and deported to the land of Assyria. Hence, Israel is his focus. The purpose of Israel's dispersion in the plan of God is his revelation. The regathering of Israel is his concern. In this discussion, the Judean's rejection of Jesus was only the culmination of a much broader rejection of God that had begun with the House of Israel many centuries earlier.

Paul's definition of Israel is inclusive of both Judah and Israel. He speaks from the position of Biblical prophecy that spoke of the House of Israel and the House of Judah as a reunited nation under Jesus the King. Hosea prophesied of this in Hosea 1:11,

¹¹ Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel [Iesreel].

Jezreel was one of Hosea's sons. His name means God seeds, where the word “seeds” is used as a verb, “to seed” a field. The root of the name “Jezreel” is zera, “a seed.” Since men would seed a field (or sow seed) by scattering it throughout the field, this name was meant to prophesy that God would scatter Israel into the world for the purpose of bringing forth a great harvest of sons.

Paul's view of Israel was inclusive of the entire nation, including Judah. In His view, of course, Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament (Isaiah 54:5). Hence, when the House of Israel rejected Yahweh, they were in fact rejecting Jesus Christ long before Jesus was born on the earth. For this they were deported to Assyria and finally dispersed throughout Europe and other places. Lastly, the Judah nation rejected Jesus Christ and were subsequently dispersed in 70 AD for the same offence.

Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Church in 58 AD, which was about 12 years before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Nonetheless, he was well aware of Judah's rejection of Jesus, as well as Jesus' prophecies about Jerusalem's destruction. So Paul speaks from the standpoint of foreknowledge that both Judah and Israel had been cut off from the Mosaic covenant. Both nations had been given a bill of divorcement and sent out of the house, first Israel in 721 BC (Jeremiah 3:8) and then Judah in 70 AD.

God's intent in all of this was to make a new covenant with Israel and Judah (Jeremiah 31:31) that would be based upon the unconditional Abrahamic covenant, rather than on the conditional Mosaic covenant. This new covenant would have no “if” clauses in it, as did the old covenant. (Compare Jeremiah 31:31-37 with Exodus 19:5 & 6.) Along with regathering Israel and Judah under one Head, the plan also called for purchasing the entire “field” in which Israel and Judah have been sown and hidden.

The “Gentiles” of Israel and Judah

When God divorced Israel and Judah, they were sent out of God's house. They were no longer God's wife, or wives. Legally speaking, they were made like all the other nations—not God's wife (Hosea 2:2), and not God's people (Hosea 1:9). But the prophet also tells us that God would have mercy upon those who were “not My people” (Hosea 2:23), and this is what Paul quotes in Romans 9:25 and 26 in telling us about the “Jews” and “Gentiles” that God has called.

Those who are “not My people” are all those who cannot claim to be in a covenant relationship with God. In Paul's day this included the House of Israel, but it was also the entire world. And within 12 years the Judah remnant was also to be cast out and dispersed, thus completing the group. At that point, it included the entire world including Israel and Judah.

The fullest expression of the prophecy is that the entire world of “not My peoples” will eventually “be called the children of the living God” (Romans 9:26). But this will be a long process of development. Meanwhile, God is working with the remnant, and this is what Paul tells us next in Romans 9:27-33.

The Remnant Shall Return

Paul then quotes from Isaiah 10:21-23. If we turn back to Isaiah's entire prophecy, we see that he was talking about “the remnant shall return” (Isaiah 10:21). The Hebrew phrase used here is shehar-jashub. This was also the name of Isaiah's son (Isaiah 7:3), named prophetically to symbolize the remnant people, or the overcomers.

²² For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption [full end, finish] decreed shall overflow with righteousness.

In quoting this passage, Paul reminds us that the prophecy about Israel being cast off from a covenant relationship applies only corporately to the nation itself. God always has a remnant of grace who do believe and who do continue in His covenant.