The letter written by the apostle Paul to those believers living in the city of Rome is recognized by scholars and theologians as Luther, Calvin, and others as the “key” to understanding the core elements of the “gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16, 17). This study is the “larger” picture of God’s “purpose of the ages” (Eph. 3:11).
Douglas J. Moo affirms the centrality of the gospel ‘giving substantial attention to salvation, justification, the law, and the relationship of Jews and Gentiles within God’s people. His commentary also interacts critically with the New Perspective on Paul.’ The goal of any study from the Scriptures is that of understanding the intent of the inspired author, and what those to whom it was written to originally would have understood the text to mean. This principle is sometime referred to as audience relevance.
The letter of Romans explains the solidarity of relationship between two distinct groups of people–Jews and Gentiles (those people of the “nations”). Since Paul was called to be “an apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13; I Tim. 2:7; II Tim. 1:11), he provides a balanced perspective as to the goal of redemptive history is bringing both Jew/Gentile together into the “one body” (Eph. 4:4). This “one body” is descriptive of “being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22), together seen as the “whole building, being fitted together, [that] grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21).
A QUESTION OF ‘IDENTITY’
While there are a growing number of people who defend the concept that this “one body” is simply the regathering of the twelve tribes that were once divided and later “scattered among the nations” (Joel 3:1,2; Isa. 11:12; Jer. 3:18; Hos. 1:11). The Old Testament prophecy of Ezekiel is clear about the “two sticks” coming together under the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) and reign of Messiah:
“Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. “And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ‘
And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.
“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
The nations also will know that I, Yahweh, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ‘ ” (Ezek. 37:15-28).
This prediction of “all Israel” (Rom. 11:26, 27) being regathered and once again united in service and devotion to God is pictured in the language of “resurrection” of “dry bones” earlier in the prophecy of Ezekiel:
“Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’
Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Jehovah: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.’” (Ezek. 37:11-14).
This aspect of the regathering of the “house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31) was revealed throughout the Old Testament and therefore when the apostle Paul speaks about “the mystery…which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (Eph. 3:3, 5), he sets about to reveal these “nations” under consideration to be a separate work of God in the accomplishment of God’s “purpose of the ages” (Eph. 3:11 greek text).
THE GREATER “PURPOSE OF GOD” AS INCLUSIVE
In order to properly understand the relationship between Israel and these “nations” under consideration, it is essential to return to the time in which God separated Himself from the “nations” and chose Abraham and his “seed” to carry redemptive history forward. This picture of redemptive “division” is expressed this way:
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye” (Deut. 32:7-10).
This occurred in the account of the “Table of the Nations” (Gen. 10:1-32) and in those events associated with the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-9) where the passage reads, “And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth [land]” (Gen. 11:9). Concerning this, Michael Heiser, in his book The Unseen Realm writes:
“Deuteronomy 32:8, 9 describes how Yahweh’s dispersal of the nations at Babel resulted in his disinheriting those nations as his people. This is the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 1:18-25, a familiar passage wherein “God gave [humankind] over” to their persistent rebellion…Yahweh in effect decided that the people of the world’s nations were no longer going to be in relationship to him. He would begin anew. He would enter into covenant relationship with a new people that did not yet exist: Israel” [1]
The act of disinheriting of the “nations” is a key element in understanding much of what is contained throughout the Old Testament. It is Genesis 12:1-3 where God is seen appearing to Abram and choosing Israel to become “…the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob [Israel] his allotted heritage” (Deut. 32:9). Heiser continues:
“Humanity had shunned Yahweh and his plan to restore Eden through them, so he would shun them and start again. While the decision was harsh, the other nations are not completely forsaken” [2]
The promise made to Abram was inclusive of these very “nations” that had been set aside temporarily: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2, 3). Israel was to become the means through which “all the families of the earth [land] shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The alienation of the “nations” was never intended to be everlasting in duration.
This very inclusion was the mission and ministry of the apostle Paul and the “mystery” that was being revealed in the first century. The letter of Romans was written for the purpose of achieving redemptive solidarity between Israel and the “nations”–referred to in most translations at the Gentiles. This work of God was greater than the reunification of the “house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31), it was designed to restore all that had been lost from the time of the Garden of Eden onward. The apostle Paul writes:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH” (Rom. 1:16, 17). Jew/Gentile solidarity is the primary theme of the letter of Romans revealing how God accomplished redemption “for everyone who believes”– from whatever “nation, tribe, people, and tongue” (Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 14:6).
In Part II of this series of studies, an overview and outline of Romans will be discussed. — LARRY SIEGLE
END NOTES
[1] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015 first edition), 113
[2]. Ibid., 115.