The true Israel.
Since one great aim of the apostle in this Epistle is to combat the view of religion which regards the external as of main interest and importance, he finds it necessary to disabuse of their prejudice and error those Israelites who not only prided themselves upon their descent from Abraham, but who relied upon that descent for their acceptance with God. He points out that it is one thing to be "of Israel," i.e. sprung from the patriarchs in the way of natural lineage, and quite another thing to be "Israel," i.e. to possess the ideal character of the true Israelite. Even some of Abraham's posterity were not included in the covenant, but only the offspring of Isaac. This was in itself a limitation; and if God appointed a limitation of an external and racial kind, how far more obviously did it consist with Divine wisdom and justice to confine spiritual blessings to those spiritually prepared and qualified to enjoy them!
I. LIGHT IS HERE CAST UPON THE CHARACTER AND PURPOSES OF GOD.
1. God is faithful to his promises, but not to men's misunderstanding of these promises.
2. God is just, and not partial, in his treatment of the subjects of his kingdom upon earth.
3. God does not look upon men's outward relations and position, but upon the character and heart.
II. LIGHT IS CAST UPON THE MORAL CONDITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEN.
1. Men are blamable and foolish if they rely upon adventitious advantages; as e.g. upon parentage, ancestry, associations, acquired knowledge, religious privileges.
2. Men are wise if they remember, and act upon their remembrance, that it is God's prerogative and method to search the heart.
3. Men should use diligently the opportunities they enjoy, knowing that it is not their advantages, but the use they make of them, that is all-important.
4. Men should look forward to the individual account to be rendered at the last to the supreme Judge of all.
A great reversal
Whether the original reference of the prophet here quoted was to the "ten tribes" or to the Gentile world is, for our purposes, immaterial, since it is unquestionable that the Apostle Paul employs the quotation to illustrate and, in a sense, to prove his contention—that it is the purpose of him, who is Eternal Wisdom and Unchanging Righteousness, to transfer privilege and blessing from those who considered themselves to possess an ancestral claim to them, unto those who had usually been regarded as aliens and reprobate—even the "sinners of the Gentiles." If this phase of Divine action has to some extent lost its interest for us, the principle which it illustrates is ever important.
I. THE HIGHLY FAVOURED AND PRIVILEGED MAY ABUSE THEIR ADVANTAGES, AND MAY LOSE THEM. Consider the case of the Hebrews.
1. Their special prerogatives in the possession of religious knowledge and means of spiritual improvement.
2. Their rebellion and apostasy in yielding in the earlier periods of their history to temptations to idolatry.
3. Their frequent chastisement, especially in the Captivity in the East, and in their subsequent national humiliations.
4. The repetition of their insensibility and disobedience in the rejection of Jesus, the true Messiah.
5. The final catastrophe which overtook the nation, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and in the dispersion of the people throughout the earth.
II. THE LESS FAVOURED MAY BE, IN GOD'S PROVIDENCE, EXALTED TO PRIVILEGE, AND, BY A RIGHT USE OF IT, MAY BECOME PARTAKERS OF PRICELESS SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS. Consider the case of the Gentiles.
1. The publication of the gospel to them by St. Paul upon its rejection by his own fellow-countrymen.
2. The acceptance by many of the glad tidings intended for the enlightenment and salvation of men.
3. The position taken by Gentile converts in the diffusion of Christianity.
4. The consequent conversion of the Roman empire to the faith of Jesus of Nazareth.
5. And the course of the history of Christendom, which may all be traced to the operation of this wonderful principle.
APPLICATION.
1. They act foolishly who rely upon their privileges.
2. They are wise who, grateful for privileges, are concerned so to use them that they may not lose them, so to use them that they may become the vehicles of the highest spiritual blessing to themselves and to those associated with them, over whom their influence may extend.
3. They who are cast down because their circumstances seem unfavourable should not forget that the people who were "not God's people" became "his people," "beloved," "children of the living God."
The rock of offence.
In one point of view it would seem all but incredible that the highest display of Divine wisdom and goodness should be regarded, by those for whose benefit it was provided, with indifference and even hostility. But in order to understand how this should be, it is necessary to bear in mind the distorting influence of sin upon the minds of men. True religion comes into conflict with men's errors, prejudices, and guilty conscience; and is a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence.
I. CHRISTIANITY HAS NO RESPECT FOR NATIONAL PREJUDICES AND PRIDE. Jew and Gentile, civilized and barbarian, stand before God, and his Law and gospel, upon the same footing. All alike are treated as guilty, as needing to repent in order to salvation.
II. CHRISTIANITY HAS NO RESPECT FOR PERSONAL RANK OR FAMILY REPUTATION. In the first age it was especially observed that not many great, or mighty, or noble were chosen. Such as were chosen were accepted upon the same terms as the lowly and the obscure.
III. CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT MAKE SPIRITUAL BLESSING DEPEND UPON EXTERNAL PRIVILEGE. Such advantages were enjoyed in abundance by the Jews; but the preachers of Christianity made no account of them. When Israelites counted themselves unworthy of everlasting life, the heralds of salvation turned to the Gentiles. No wonder that such a reversal of customary methods angered those who prided themselves upon their position of advantage.
IV. CHRISTIANITY DISPARAGES MERE EXTERNAL CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE. Most religions are content with words, gestures, gifts, etc. The new faith repudiated all such observances as in themselves valueless, laying stress upon the thoughts and intents of the heart. This was a paradox which was not unnaturally encountered with resentment.
V. CHRISTIANITY PRESCRIBES HUMILIATION AND REPENTANCE AS THE INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS OF PARDON. And this in every case—a provision which is galling to the self-righteous and self-confident, who have little conscience of sin, and little pining for forgiveness. "The natural man" stumbles at this condition, which may, he thinks, be applicable to others, but has no appropriateness to him.
VI. CHRISTIANITY INCULCATES SPIRITUALITY OF CHARACTER AS ALONE SUFFICIENT AND ACCEPTABLE IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. Christ's own commands and counsels appeal to the heart—the inmost nature of man. A new nature, renewed dispositions, heavenly desires,—nothing less avails in his sight. "It is a hard saying," is the objection; "who can hear it?"
HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN