The Reminder
Volume No. 37 Issue No. 10
March 1997
Expectations of a Covenant People
By Edward Byrd
 
Romans 9:1-5
 
“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.”
 
 

Much presumption prevails among men, both saved and lost, concerning what they shall be entitled to in the world to come. Ask the average man on the street where he expects to go when he dies. I expect ninety-five percent will say, I have not been such a bad guy, so I should go where the good people go. Of the other five percent, most, if they have lived where the Bible was known and preached, will likely say, “I belong to the big church,” or some similar avoidance of the question.

Intelligent men know they will die. They know they cannot make heaven, as most professing Christians claim, but they are unwilling to admit the Bible’s message, or claim Jesus Christ.

Even professing Christians, including church members, know very little about what is in store. Those who have attended a Baptist Church much of their life say, “I know I am saved, so I will go to heaven when I die.” Few will remember to qualify this by “unless the Lord comes before then.” Fewer still, will say, “I expect to live with Christ in the New Jerusalem.” In the Southland a good many may mention “the home of the soul,” having heard the expression in a Gospel Song.

May we read again our text taken from the book of Romans (Romans 9:1-5). The writer of this passage was a Hebrew, and he was addressing Gentile churches in Rome. He knew the Jews’ feelings regarding the law of Moses, having been a victim of the same traditions himself But he had come to know the Christ who had been promised to Israel and had received a revelation concerning Him which they did not know (Galatians 1:11-18 ; Ephesians 3:2-7).

His burden for the blindness of his “kinsmen according to the flesh,” was so compelling until he felt he must mention his burden and the benefits which they had, but were denying to themselves. This burden transcends most any which we know today, in that he was willing to be cut off from the special position he held for the sake of his Jewish kinsmen.

He admits that as Israelites they were in a position, if they did not disqualify themselves, to receive great benefits, both in this age and in the world to come. His desire was to show that a Jew must be one inwardly, not just outwardly (Romans 2:28-29). If only outwardly, that is, lacking the spirit of God’s people, they could not have the praise of God, though they might claim the praise of men.

On the other hand, a man not a Jew outwardly, that is, in the flesh, if he kept the righteousness of the law, this could be counted for circumcision (Romans 2:26). Circumcision was the outward mark of a Jew, a descendant of Abraham, and of Jacob. But if that Jew broke the law his circumcision became no circumcision. By this logic Paul said that if a Gentile “keep the righteousness of the law,” then his lack of the mark of the covenant would be counted for the mark (Romans 2:26). He explained this by this statement:

“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Romans 2:29).

Most will agree that what one is in his heart is far more important than any outward works or show. God will judge men by the evidences of righteousness in their hearts (Romans 2:15). So it is not the works of the law or the deeds of the outward man, but the heart which determines a man’s position before God. He must have a circumcised heart (Romans 2:29). No conclusion can be reached except that one must have implicit faith in God. Apart from such faith a man will only show the uncleanness of his sin nature, though he may be able to discipline himself to make others see some good. God sees right past our pretenses. The things of the heart will show in one’s life.

So How Can He expect Anything from God?
The passage from Romans 9:1-5 is actually a reflection of Paul’s concern for Jews. But a Jew outwardly is not enough. A Jew could claim the adoption, a word not mentioned in the Old Testament in our version. But the idea is there (Deuteronomy 7:6). So with the other five of these six things which pertained to Israel. The word “pertained” is added in italics, but the sense is “of whom” are these things named in that series. But Israel was coming short of these. In their emphasis upon the outward man they were overlooking the spiritual.

“As concerning the flesh Christ came” (Romans 9:5). All of the benefits were met and surpassed in Him. The promises were to him, that is, the Jew. So what promises are meant? Here lies a vein of truth like gold. In fact the covenants belonged to Abraham and his seed. In these covenants God reveals his promises. In fact, when you see the word promise you should think covenant. God is willing to enter into contract with man. Such is a covenant. In each case it is called “an everlasting covenant.” So strong is God's desire that men hear His promises.

From the days of Noah this word He uses in which to couch the language of promise (Genesis 9:16). Even earlier God made promises, and we may rightly call these covenants, but that men should enter into the contract is not so clear until we come to Noah. It appears that men are afraid to commit themselves to God. This accounts for their failure.

Do you recall the feeling you get when about to enter into a commitment, a covenant, a contract to borrow money, a contract to take a wife or a husband, any commitment which calls for being true to one’s word?

We Are speaking of God’s Words
Are we so undependable that we are unwilling to say “Yes” to His conditions? To conditions which involve others?
It is just here that the promises call forth our confidence. It is God who promises. It was One we love, one who loves us, when marriage is the contract. It may be the bank. In this case it has the law on its side.
I think of a question God asked His chosen people, a party to a contract with Him, when they violated His will:

“What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought a forth wild grapes?” (Isaiah 5:4).

He had carefully separated Israel to Himself, pledged His love to them, calling them His “well-beloved,” showing his great care.

“And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” (Isaiah 5:2).

We speak despairingly of Israel, but are we any better? Do the promises mean anything to us? Or have we falsely assumed that we can claim His promises when we have not truly believed His words, not committed ourselves to Him. If we are to receive the promises we must believe them so strongly that our lives are committed to Him to carry out any conditions.

I am Not Forgetting Grace
We Baptists are great believers in God’s grace. It is all-sufficient. But we dare not assume that there are no conditions for us to meet. It is true that Jesus tasted death for every man, but will every man be saved? No! Why not? Because not every man will meet the simple condition of yielding Himself to God. Even when we have been saved initially by that grace there are still conditions to our growing in grace, having sins forgiven, discerning the Word, and maturing as believers.

But We Are Gentiles
“You said the passage in Romans 9:1-5 was an expression of Paul’s concern for his Jewish brethren.” Yes, but he is addressing churches, i.e., church saints. There were Jews in those churches, but there is another reason more compelling to us today.
A few admit that the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah (31:31-34) has been fulfilled, but more, it seems, are waiting for this covenant until the Millennium and the return of the Lord.

Several passages let us know that with the cutting off of Israel following the crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem, the New Covenant has been activated. Its full extent awaits the restoration of Israel in the age to come, but much of it is for somebody now. Who? Jeremiah had indicated it would be made “with the house of Israel” (Jeremiah 31:33).

The writer to the Hebrews does not overlook this point, for he says “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8). Of course he is speaking there to Jews, but to Jews who had trusted Christ and had become a part of the New Testament (New Covenant) church. This becomes evident as he relates the many “better things” available through Christ than Israel had under the “old” (law) covenant. Paul pointed this out to the Galatian churches (Galatians 3:13-29). These churches doubtless were largely Gentile, but these were being subverted by believing Jews in their midst who could not forget the burdens of the law. A lot of Baptists today are still laboring under this deception.

Paul taught the churches in Rome concerning the breaking off of Jewish branches of the “tame olive” (meaning Jews outwardly) and grafting in “wild olive branches” so they might partake of the root (Abraham) and (fatness) promises of the olive tree (Israel) (Romans 11:1-36). He insisted that God has not cast away His foreknown people. This is the covenant people of Israel. The men of faith among them were the nucleus which Jesus used to begin the church, the holy “firstfruit” being Christ Himself and they making up the “remnant,” the “holy lump” (Romans 11:16).

To these were engrafted the wild olive branches (Gentiles who believed). These must continue to believe, meaning “walk by faith,” else they would be broken off as the original branches had been. (Romans 11:20). It is “high-mindedness” which causes believers to assume they do not have to meet any conditions (Romans 11:20). It will also cause them to be cut off — cut off from the covenant of promises — thus missing the promises which are yet unfulfilled.

Israel A Mystery
It is confusing to many people that Israel is a people of covenant. Consequently they are unable to reckon with the matter of Israel’s law. They do not remember the subject of covenants at all. The tendency, even by preachers, is to think of Israel as entirely different and separate from Gentiles, so that God’s dealings with Israel in no way affect Gentiles today. But this is error. Israel was God’s special people, a “covenant” people. The natural people have been cut off (Romans 11:17-21) because of “unbelief,” that is, their failure to walk by faith and show it through obedience.

More than once God had been ready to cut off Israel and raise up a special people in another (Exodus 32:9,10). He was ready to start over with Moses, but he interceded and God was willing to forbear. The covenant was not broken, for Moses was of Abraham’s seed.
When God broke off the tame olive branches (Romans 11:17) he did not cut down the tree. It was only natural branches who ceased to be a manifest covenant people. Always He has only counted the spiritual people as His seed. These were the remnant seen a number of times in the Old Testament (2 Kings 19:30-31 ; Ezra 9:8, 14 ; 1 Kings 19:8 ; Isaiah 1:9 ; 10:20-22 ; 11:11, 16 ; 37:31 ; Jeremiah 23:3 ; 31:7 ; Ezekiel 6:8 ; Romans 9:6-8, 27 ; 11:4-5, 12).

God took this remnant and to them he added believing Gentiles. This was not all Gentiles who believe in God or trusted Him as Savior, but those who showed the spiritual disposition to obey, that is, to follow the Lord Christ in baptism and become a part of a new covenant people. So the Israel of God today is identified as the churches of the Lord (Galatians 6:19).
Their being a covenant people is not because they trusted Jesus for salvation. Men in both the Old and the New Testaments have trusted God to save them, but did not become a part of a covenant people. A covenant people are such because they have met the condition of the “righteousness of faith” (Romans 4:13), whether in Israel according to the flesh, or the church today. Failure to see this is possibly the most tragic willful ignorance seen among those who claim to believe the Bible today.

Fulfilled Promises

“Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all"). (Romans 4:16)

The first promise we note is that of “the Seed,” Christ (Galatians 3:16). In this connection we are told that the Gospel itself He “had promised before through the prophets in the holy scriptures (Romans 1:2; cf. Isaiah 61:1). Most passages prophesying of the gospel seem to describe the kingdom to come (Isaiah 2:3 ; 29:18 ; 52:7 ; Nahum 1:15 ; see also: Matthew 24:14).
But implications of the gospel are abundant (Isaiah 40:9; 61”1, plus those passages which actually prophecy of the coming of the Christ and His crucifixion).

Next, it is not “Seed” (singular) only but “all the seed” (Romans 4:16), meaning those “of the faith of Abraham,” “the father of us all,” even “many nations” (Romans 4:17). The “faith of Abraham” was such as are “fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform” (Romans 4:21). This is the living faith to which is imputed the righteousness (Romans 4:22; Gen. 15:6).

Then there is the promise of the Spirit (Luke 24:44 ; Acts 1:4 ; 2:33). This is a “New Covenant” promise.

“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34).

The point here is that every man can come to “know the Lord” for himself, because the Spirit is given. In referring to this the writer to the Hebrews (8:10-11), says God will write his laws in their minds and upon their hearts. That way there is far less likelihood that men will “forget.”
“All Israel shall be saved” (Romans 4:26 ; Isaiah 59:20, 21), but only those who believe so that God will turn away their ungodliness and show them mercy. We who are Gentiles become heirs of the promises by virtue of coming for mercy and being grafted into the remnant of faithful Israel. Such are then called “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16), a people who know that walking by the rule of faith, who are in Christ, will suffice. Such do not depend upon the external forms of the law, though frank to admit that the demands of that law are righteous. Thus the wall between Jew and Gentile, which the law became, is broken down and they become “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:14; Ephesians 2:14-18; 3:6; Colossians. 3:11).

The Inheritance Yet Future

“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” (Ephesians 1:11).

We are predestined to an inheritance. When it says “we have obtained” it uses the language to the full advantage of its Punctiliar Aorist Tense. This Latin word is not likely in your English dictionary. Punctiliar comes from a word meaning "point." This is a quality of the Greek tense for which there is no exact corresponding tense in English.
In practice we have been given the Spirit as an earnest of our inheritance “until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Ephesians 1:14). This verse places both the inheritance and the redemption (that is, of the body) in the future. Because of this the word "reward" means the same thing as inheritance (Colossians. 3:24).
Reward, we know, comes as compensation by grace for our faithfulness in labor or obedience. It is not that we earn it, but God gives it out of consideration of the faith which obeys.

The Promises (Romans 9:4)
These, for there are more than one, were to the fathers. This starts with Abraham, continues through Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s sons, the tribes of Israel, and David. All of the promises were to a covenant people.
God has carefully revealed His promises as His people were able to grasp the meaning. As each covenant is given, supplementing the one before it, it is to the same covenant people. His intention to extend His blessings to Gentiles is not an afterthought. Israel was meant to be a missionary people (1 Chronicles 16:23-25).
When Christ came it was not to start a new thing, but to show how God intended His blessings and His mercies to extend to all the world. But the condition of faith was always the same. The almost unbelievable idea of His being such a God has never changed. We Gentiles are able to partake of the promises through the “blindness” of Israel, since they did not make it possible through their showing His salvation in testimony, in godliness, and in praise.

The church, entirely Jewish at first, was given a commission to go into all the world with the witness of God’s love. As Israel the nation, she has reached many, but not as many as could have been reached. In the next age God will extend His grace to cover the earth “as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

“He will destroy...the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations” (Isaiah 25:7)

This does not mean a universal salvation, but it is the one His people have been waiting for (cf. v.9). It will not change the conditional showing of His mercy, but it so magnifies His grace until many shall come to obey Him and any who will not shall be cast into hell.
As rich as His grace is we have not begun to experience the depths of it. He will continue to show us the riches of it through (Greek en ) Christ, ‘Much more,..., we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). Praise His holy name.