special guest blogger saint paul the evangelist
Holocaust Memorial Day
What Christians Really Think About The People Of Israel.
Saint Paul writes: Is it possible that God abandoned his people? Out of the question! I too am an Israelite, descended from Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God never abandoned his own people to whom ages ago he gave recognition. Do you not remember what scripture says about Elijah and how he made a complaint to God against Israel: Lord they have put your prophets to the sword, torn down your altars, I am the only one left and now they want to kill me? And what was the prophetic answer answer that was given? I have spared for myself seven thousand men that have not bent the knee to Baal. In the same way then in our own time there is a remnant set aside by grace. And since it is by grace, it cannot now be by good actions, or grace would not be grace at all!
What follows? Israel failed to find what it was seeking. Only those who were chosen found it and the rest had their minds hardened. Just as it says in scripture: God has infused them with a spirit of lethargy; until today they have not eyes to see or ears to hear. David too says: May their own table prove a trap for them, a pitfall, and a snare; let that be their retribution. May their eyes grow so dim they cannot see and their backs be bent forever.
What I am saying is this: Was this stumbling to lead to their final downfall? Out of the question! On the contrary, their failure has brought salvation for the nations, in order to stir them (the Jews themselves) to envy. And if their fall has proved a great gain to the world, and their loss has proved a great gain to all nations, (Saint Paul is suggesting that the refusal by many Jews to accept Jesus as God was the reason that the followers of Jesus went and preached the gospel to the rest of the world) - how much greater a gain will come when all is restored to them. (To the Jews.)
Let me say then to you people of the nations that as far as I am an apostle to the nations, I take pride in this work of service. And I want it to be the means of rousing to envy the people who are my own blood relations, and so of saving some of them. Since their rejection (of Jesus) meant the reconciliation of the world, do you know what their reacceptance will mean? Nothing less than life from the dead!
***
Remember God's severity as well as his goodness: His severity to those who fell, and his goodness to you as long as you persevere in it; if not you too will be cut off. And they, if they do not persevere in their unbelief will be grafted in. For it is within the power of God to graft them back again. After all, if you, cut off from what was by nature a wild olive, could then be grafted unnaturally on to a cultivated olive, how much easier will it be for them, the branches that naturally belong there, to be grafted on to the olive tree which is their own.
I want you to be quite certain, brothers, of this mystery, to save you from congratulating yourselves on your own good sense: Part of Israel had its mind hardened, but only until the nations have wholly come in; and this is how all Israel will be saved. As scripture says:
From Zion will come the Redeemer
he will remove godlessness from Jacob
And this will be my covenant with them
when I take their sins away.
As regards the gospel they are enemies, only for your sake. But as regards those who are God's choice, they are still well loved for the sake of their ancestors. There is no change of mind on God's part about the gifts he has made or of his choice.
Just as you were in the past disobedient to God but now you have been shown mercy through their disobedience, so in the same way they are disobedient now, so that through the mercy shown to you, they too will receive mercy. God has imprisoned all human beings in their disobedience only to show mercy to them all.
***
From Paul's Letter To The Romans, Chapter 11. Words in brackets added by Heelers.
What Christians Really Think About The People Of Israel.
Saint Paul writes: Is it possible that God abandoned his people? Out of the question! I too am an Israelite, descended from Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God never abandoned his own people to whom ages ago he gave recognition. Do you not remember what scripture says about Elijah and how he made a complaint to God against Israel: Lord they have put your prophets to the sword, torn down your altars, I am the only one left and now they want to kill me? And what was the prophetic answer answer that was given? I have spared for myself seven thousand men that have not bent the knee to Baal. In the same way then in our own time there is a remnant set aside by grace. And since it is by grace, it cannot now be by good actions, or grace would not be grace at all!
What follows? Israel failed to find what it was seeking. Only those who were chosen found it and the rest had their minds hardened. Just as it says in scripture: God has infused them with a spirit of lethargy; until today they have not eyes to see or ears to hear. David too says: May their own table prove a trap for them, a pitfall, and a snare; let that be their retribution. May their eyes grow so dim they cannot see and their backs be bent forever.
What I am saying is this: Was this stumbling to lead to their final downfall? Out of the question! On the contrary, their failure has brought salvation for the nations, in order to stir them (the Jews themselves) to envy. And if their fall has proved a great gain to the world, and their loss has proved a great gain to all nations, (Saint Paul is suggesting that the refusal by many Jews to accept Jesus as God was the reason that the followers of Jesus went and preached the gospel to the rest of the world) - how much greater a gain will come when all is restored to them. (To the Jews.)
Let me say then to you people of the nations that as far as I am an apostle to the nations, I take pride in this work of service. And I want it to be the means of rousing to envy the people who are my own blood relations, and so of saving some of them. Since their rejection (of Jesus) meant the reconciliation of the world, do you know what their reacceptance will mean? Nothing less than life from the dead!
***
Remember God's severity as well as his goodness: His severity to those who fell, and his goodness to you as long as you persevere in it; if not you too will be cut off. And they, if they do not persevere in their unbelief will be grafted in. For it is within the power of God to graft them back again. After all, if you, cut off from what was by nature a wild olive, could then be grafted unnaturally on to a cultivated olive, how much easier will it be for them, the branches that naturally belong there, to be grafted on to the olive tree which is their own.
I want you to be quite certain, brothers, of this mystery, to save you from congratulating yourselves on your own good sense: Part of Israel had its mind hardened, but only until the nations have wholly come in; and this is how all Israel will be saved. As scripture says:
From Zion will come the Redeemer
he will remove godlessness from Jacob
And this will be my covenant with them
when I take their sins away.
As regards the gospel they are enemies, only for your sake. But as regards those who are God's choice, they are still well loved for the sake of their ancestors. There is no change of mind on God's part about the gifts he has made or of his choice.
Just as you were in the past disobedient to God but now you have been shown mercy through their disobedience, so in the same way they are disobedient now, so that through the mercy shown to you, they too will receive mercy. God has imprisoned all human beings in their disobedience only to show mercy to them all.
***
From Paul's Letter To The Romans, Chapter 11. Words in brackets added by Heelers.
posted by heelers | 2:40 AM
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