Gentiles

A Reformed Baptist Perspective on Public Theology: The Pauline Epistles, Part II – Romans 9-11

/ William F. Leonhart III / 15 Comments

You can read earlier posts in this series by clicking on the links below:

___________________________________________________________________

As we mentioned in our last article, Paul’s desire to preach the gospel to the church at Rome was the impetus for the letter he wrote to the Romans. Scholars have even proposed that Paul’s mention of this desire in Romans 1:15-17 functions as the thesis statement of the letter:

“So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith,’” (Romans 1:15-17; NASB).

In the last article, we considered two themes that arise out of this thesis statement: the gospel preached to the church and the gospel as the power of God unto salvation. These two major themes help us to understand why Paul spends the first eight chapters of Romans explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being that these verses set the framework for all that follows, we are in our present study using them as the lens through which we examine the rest of the book of Romans. In this article, we will focus on principles found in this thesis statement that help us to understand why Paul teaches what he teaches in chapters 9-11.

Salvation to All without Distinction

First, the gospel proclamation began in Jerusalem and spread throughout all the known world (Acts 1:8; Col. 1:3-6). Not only is this true geographically, but Paul’s custom when he went from town to town was to preach the gospel first in the synagogues and, only after he was rejected by the Jews, he would turn and take the gospel the Gentiles (Acts 9:20; Acts 13:5, 13-52; 14:1-7; 17:1-9, 10-14, 16-17; 18:1-7, 19-21; 19:8-10).

Paul was not a Christian Zionist like many of the televangelists we see on TV today. He was not concerned with supporting his kinsmen with money, political power, and military might like so many politicians running for office today. Paul was concerned that his kinsmen according to the flesh be supported by the proclamation of the gospel, the planting of new churches, and the ministry of the Word. To bring the discussion home, a 21st century American Paul would not be so concerned to combat an intangible, unquantifiable notion of American systemic racism against his kinsmen according to the flesh as he would have been to see them saved from their sins and (as we will see in Romans 13) respect those whom God had put in authority over them so that they might lead quiet, peaceful lives..

Paul was so concerned to see his “kinsmen according to the flesh” come to salvation in their Messiah that he might have even wished himself “accursed, separated from Christ” for their sakes (Rom. 9:3; NASB). Paul loved the Jews, because ethnically-speaking he is a Jew. He had no desire, in the flesh, to see them forsaken on account of their disobedience for the eternal benefit of pagan Gentiles. To use modern American language, Paul was born into “covenant privilege,” and he did not feel the need to apologize for it in the least. He desired to see all, Jews and Gentiles, saved. Yet, he was willing to accept that the partial reprobation of Israel was the will of God for the salvation of all of God’s elect (Rom. 11:25-27).

One might expect that Paul’s love for his kinsmen according to the flesh would have derailed him on his mission as the apostle to the Gentiles. It did not. Paul was content with God’s sovereign decree, even if that decree meant that a large portion of the Jews would be broken off from the covenant tree. Afterall, who is he but a man (Rom. 9:19-20)?

This discussion of the Jews and Gentiles did not begin in Romans 9. Rather, Paul interweaves his discussion of this topic throughout his letter to the Romans, from chapter 2 all the way to chapter 11. From chapters 2 to 8, he addresses false notions Jews and Gentiles had of the law and the gospel. However, once he gets to chapter 9, he commits himself to addressing a very specific question regarding the application of the atonement:

In this Way

Second, the gospel spread as a result of a partial hardening of the Jews. If many of the Jews’ hearts were not hardened toward the gospel proclamation, the church might never have been persecuted, and the gospel might not have gone forth to the Gentiles (Acts 8:1-4; 11:19). It is this thread that weaves its way throughout the book of Romans. In addressing the gospel of Christ, Paul also sees fit to address the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, and he does so from several different angles.

It is for the sake of the gospel, not social justice, that racial barriers needed to be broken down between believing Jews and believing Gentiles. Jews were considered the minority culture in ancient Rome. They were looked upon as insurrectionists and trouble-makers. The Jews, on the other hand, saw themselves as religiously privileged, the people of promise. From a religious standpoint, the Jews looked down upon the Gentiles. From a cultural standpoint, the Gentiles looked down upon the Jews.

The first century gospel preacher had to forget all of these social stigmas. The Gentile-born Christian could not rightly look down upon the Jews, even if they were of the hardened segment of the Jews, the broken off branches. Likewise, the Hebrew-born Christians had no right to look down upon the Gentiles. As Christians, they had to accept that they were now engrafted into one new tree. They were brothers in Christ, regardless of the earthly families, tribes, or ethnicities into which they were born.

It simply would not do for Jewish Christians to emphasize their Jewishness in relation to their Gentile brothers. Nor would the church function properly if the Gentile Christians had emphasized their pagan cultures over that of their Jewish brothers. They had to come to see themselves as something altogether new, and new wine is not fit for old wineskins (Mk. 2:21-22). Compare Paul’s teaching on the newness of the Christian identity with another notion prevalent in our culture today:

“Malcolm X was the prophet of black rage primarily because of his great love for black people. His love was neither abstract nor ephemeral. Rather, it was a concrete connection with a degraded and devalued people in need of a psychic conversion. This is why Malcolm X’s articulation of black rage was not directed first and foremost at white America. Rather, Malcolm believed that if black people felt the love that motivated that rage the love would produce a psychic conversion in black people; they would affirm themselves as human beings, no longer viewing their bodies, minds, and souls through white lenses, and believing themselves of taking control of their own destinies,” (Cornel West, Race Matters. Beacon Press, Boston, 1993, pp. 95-96).

Earlier in his book, West describes a Nihilism that is present in much of black culture. Anyone who is familiar with 20th century philosophical structures will recognize that, in promoting this view of Malcolm X, West has just promoted a form of ethnic Existentialism as the philosophical answer to ethnic Nihilism. If one’s view of ethnic strife leads one to have a bleak view of ethnic strife, the answer for West seems to be to adopt a carpe diem approach to ethnic strife. One must become the captain of one’s own destiny.

The Bible does not promote this “Take charge!” approach to ethnic strife. It does not present us as the masters of our own destinies. Rather, we are called to see our brothers and sisters in Christ as just that: brothers and sisters. This approach takes much more courage than West’s ethnic Existentialism. In this approach, God is the Master of our destinies. Our job is merely to trust and obey.

It was as a result of, and for the sake of, the gospel that many hard-hearted Jews (not all Jews, mind you) were broken off from God’s one covenant tree and Gentiles were grafted in (Rom. 11:11-24). This was not an easy pill for Paul to swallow. It was not easy for Paul to see Gentiles as being grafted into the one covenant tree of Israel at the expense of his kinsmen according to the flesh. In his weaker moments, perhaps he might have been tempted to succumb to a form of ethnic Existentialism rather than humbly receiving his “brothers from another mother.” This was not the way, though, that all Israel would be saved. The gospel of Jesus Christ broke down ethnic barriers between Jews and Gentiles so that they were no longer two but one new tree in Christ! So it is that, in this way, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25-27).

In our next installment, we will focus on principles found in Paul’s thesis statement that help us to understand why Paul teaches what he teaches in chapters 12, 14-16.

Ephesians 2:11-22, Introduction

/ William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

The Apostle Paul suffered from many things in his lifetime. One thing from which he never suffered was a shortage of provocative ways to speak of the gospel or of his ministry, in which the gospel was central. This is certainly the case in Romans 11 where Paul proclaims, “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.” (Rom 11:13-14; ESV)[1] He demonstrated his zeal for reaching the Gentiles not only in his speech toward the Gentiles, but also in his speech toward the Jews. In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas tell a crowd of Jews, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.” This declaration was no small matter to the first century Jews who believed themselves to be sole heirs to the promises given to Abraham (Matt. 3:7-10). At the same time, Gentile converts to Christianity were not blind to the hostility that existed between them and some Jewish converts. It was not uncommon for some Jewish Christians to attempt to impose Jewish customs on their Gentile brothers (Gal 5:1-15). In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul continues his ministry to the Gentiles by assuring them that they have unity with all believers in Christ Jesus who has torn down the dividing wall between the Gentiles and God establishing a new temple through the apostles, of which He is the cornerstone.

Introduction

Authorship

The Pauline authorship of Ephesians has been contested by liberal scholars of late. Writing in the 1930s, E.J. Goodspeed said that Ephesians is “like a commentary on the Pauline letters.”[2] Just a page prior in the same work, he also refers to it as “a mosaic of Pauline materials.”[3] This assumption is largely a result of the fact that Paul explores many of the same topics in Ephesians that he explores in his other letters. Perhaps, no scholar is better equipped to answer Goodspeed in his assertion than F.F. Bruce, and he certainly answers him properly: “A mosaic made up of fragments of an author’s writings is not best calculated to provide a commentary on them. But, if not a commentary, it is indeed an exposition of the Pauline mission.”[4] Bruce, then, would contend that the mosaic aspect of the letter to the Ephesians points to Paul as its author rather than away from him.

Without a doubt, the similarities between Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and his letters to the other churches are striking. Consistent in Paul’s letters to the churches is the theme of unity “in Christ” (Rom 6:11, 23; 8:1, 10, 39; 12:5; 1Cor 1:2, 4, 30; 4:15, 17; 2Cor 1:21; Gal 1:22; 2:4; 3:14, 26-29; 5:6; Phil 1:1; 4:7, 19, 21; Col 1:2, 27-28; 2:6; 1Thes 1:1, 3; 2:14). Paul was certainly concerned that the church would understand that she is built on the foundation of Christ and that true fellowship and unity are found in Him. This theme Paul reiterates in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph 1:1, 3, 5, 9, 12; 2:5-7, 10, 13; 3:6; 4:15, 32).

Likewise, Paul returns to his message of the inclusion of the Gentiles into spiritual Israel. In Romans 9-11, Paul speaks of this concept in terms of God grafting the Gentiles like a branch into the tree of Israel with the purpose of causing jealousy and, Paul had hoped, the return of ethnic Israel to their Lord. In Galatians 3, Paul speaks of this mystery in terms of the mode of salvation. He demonstrates how Abraham was saved by faith in the Lord, considered righteous, and promised a Seed. He then goes on to demonstrate how that Seed is the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom Christians place their faith and are counted righteous, just as Abraham was counted righteous. It is in this context that he proclaims, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28) Paul returns to this theme in his letter to the Ephesians (Eph 2:11-3:13) for the purpose of continuing his argument for unity “in Christ” and showing how this unity extends even to Gentile believers.

Location

The Ephesians were largely made up of Gentiles. They were located near the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor and were within a few short miles of the Phrygian townships of Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis. According to William Hendriksen, it is proper to view the three townships “in relation to the entire region and particularly to Ephesus which was Paul’s center of missionary activity for this part of the third missionary journey during which the three churches, and probably others, must have been established (Acts 19:10; Rev 1:11).”[5] It is for this reason that Paul is seen sending circular letters to the churches of Colossae and Laodicea (Col 4:16), though the letter to the Laodiceans has not survived to this day. In fact, it is not clear whether Paul ever visited Colossae. The contention of most scholars is that Colossae was evangelized and the church was started by Epaphras (Col 1:6-8; 4:12), a Gentile convert of Paul’s from his time in Ephesus.[6] [7]

Audience

Some question has been raised as to whether Paul knows his audience at Ephesus. According to D.A. Carson, “The tone of the letter is impersonal, and some parts of it seem to indicate that the writer did not know the readers. . .”[8] As evidence for this claim, Carson cites Ephesians 1:15; 3:2; and 4:21. These verses can be quite striking when first discovered. However, as churches evolve it is expected that new members would join and old members would move on, especially in Asia Minor where new churches were being planted in nearby cities by this church in Ephesus. Thus, it is likely that Paul was assuming that he did not know all of his audience, though there may be some familiar faces among the crowd. This sentiment is shared by Carson as he continues, “But Paul had evangelized the Ephesians and had spent quite a long time among them (Acts 19:8, 10; 20:31).”[9] Therefore, though Paul may not have known each individual, he at least knew the founding members as well as the shared customs and concerns of the people in Ephesus.

Date

The dating of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is rarely contested by scholars who actually affirm its Pauline authorship. According to the ESV Study Bible, “Because Paul mentions his imprisonment (3:1; 4:1; 6:20), this letter should be dated to c. a.d. 62 when Paul was held in Rome (Acts 28). Critics who date Ephesians later in the first century do so from doubts about Paul’s authorship rather than from strong evidence against the earlier date.”[10] With no “strong evidence” given for a later dating, one must venture beyond sound reason to assert that the date of Ephesians would be decades later than c. AD 60.

Occasion

There is no specific occasion given for the writing of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Given the tone and message of the letter, one may logically conclude that Paul was merely writing to encourage and exhort the brethren at his highly missions-minded church plant. Considering the fact that the Ephesians were predominantly Gentile (Eph 2:11; 3:1), Paul spoke much on the Gentile inclusion and the glory that was to be given to Christ for their redemption. This was likely due to some misunderstandings that he had encountered at other churches into which he did not want to see his beloved Ephesians fall prey. Given his love for the church at Ephesus and the mighty things that he had seen the Lord do through them, it is likely that he wanted to prevent them from going the route of the Galatian churches and, like the Galatians, provoke his rebuke.

Message

Though Paul takes six chapters to unfold the message of Ephesians, it is nonetheless quite simple. The first three chapters of Ephesians deal with the unity of the church body in Christ. He focuses mainly on what this unity means for the Gentiles who are in Christ, specifically drawing attention to the breaking down of the dividing wall which allows for the salvation of both Jew and Gentile in the economy of Christ’s salvation. In the second half of Ephesians, Paul puts his theology to practical use explaining what Christians ought to do as a result of the mystery that has been revealed by God through Paul’s ministry.

[1]All Scripture references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[2]E.J Goodspeed, The Meaning of Ephesians (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1933), 9.

[3]Ibid., 8

[4]F.F Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians (New International Commentary on the New Testament) (New York: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1984), 230.

[5]William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary: Colossians (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1964), 6.

[6]Ibid., 15

[7]J.B Lightfoot, The Crossway Classic Commentaries: Colossians and Philemon (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1973), 27-28.

[8]D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, Introduction to the New Testament, 2nd ed (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 488.

[9]Ibid.

[10]Baugh, S.M, The ESV Study Bible, ed. Lane T. Dennis, J.I. Packer, and Wayne Grudem (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2257.