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More On Romans 11: 25-26 and Dispensationalism
Posted : 24 Feb, 2012 06:34 AM
More On Romans 11: 25-26 and Dispensationalism
Romans Chapter eleven is written in part as a parable, the parable of
the good olive tree. "For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree
which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a
good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural
branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?" Romans 11: 24.
Those who are under the influence of dispensationalism often have a
hard time in understanding the use of metaphor in scripture, in part
because dispensationalism says all scripture is to be seen as literal,
not metaphoric.
"And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as
our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him
hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them
of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing
ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with
the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness." II Peter
3: 15-17
Lets try to figure out what the good olive tree represents, because
this is important for interpreting Paul in Romans 1; 25-26, when he
says "All Israel shall be saved.."
The good olive tree cannot be the "church," because Paul says those
who are the natural branches can be grafted into their own olive tree.
The good olive tree is Israel in some form. The dispensationalists
might try to claim its "All Israel," which at the time of Christ would
include the religion of the Pharisees, or Talmudic Judaism. But Paul
is talking in Romans 11 about salvation, and the elect. When he says
in Romans 11: 17 that non-Jews can be grafted into the good olive
tree, he is talking about their being saved in Christ. There is no
salvation in the religion of the Pharisees, or in Talmudic Judaism.
Since the good olive tree is the source of salvation for Jews who
believe in Christ and also for non-Jews who believe it has to be Jesus
Christ..
"I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15: 24
John 10: 16 says "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:
them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall
be one fold, and one shepherd."
Putting Matthew 15: 24 and John 10: 16 together, we can say that
Christ has only one group he calls his own; and there is no "church"
different from the house of Israel. Dispensationalism postulates that
Christ has two different folds, the Jews and the "church."
The "church" is not mentioned in Romans 11.
Christ can be said to have come to the house of Israel to transform it
from the fleshly or physical into the spiritual. In John 3: 1-7
Nicodemus, a Pharisee, talks to Christ who says to this Pharisee
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This
is a part of the transformation of physical Israel into a spiritual
house, that the Jews must be born again in Jesus Christ in order to be
in the spiritual kingdom of God which is within us.
Christ as the physical seed of Abraham in a sense becomes Israel when
he is born in human flesh on earth.
Hosea 11: 1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called
my son out of Egypt."
Matthew 2: 15: "And was there until the death of Herod: that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out
of Egypt have I called my son."
Isaiah 49: 1-7 says "Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people,
from far; The
LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath
he made mention of my name. 2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp
sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a
polished shaft; in his quiver
hath he hid me; 3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in
whom I will
be glorified. 4. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and
my work with my God. 5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from
the womb to be his
servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be
my strength. 6. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that
thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. 7. Thus saith
the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to
him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant
of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship,
because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
he shall choose thee."
Exodus 4: 21-23 says "And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to
return into Egypt,
see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in
thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the
people go. 22. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is
my son, even my firstborn: 23. And I say unto thee, Let my son go,
that he may serve me: and if
thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy
firstborn."
Though Christ is God, he is called Israel in Exodus 4: 22. And Isaiah
49: 3 refers back to verse 1, "The Lord hath called me from the womb,"
which is Christ. Hosea 11: 1 also refers to Christ as Israel.
Paul explains in Romans 11: 6 that "For if the firstfruit be holy,
the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches."
Christ is the firstfruit (I Corinthians 15: 23), who is the root of
the good olive tree.
Even though the good olive tree of Romans 11 has to be Christ because
those grafted into it are saved, yet the good olive tree is also some
form of the house of Israel that Christ was sent to transform and
save.
We might say, following Romans 11: 5 where Paul refers to those Jews
who accepted Christ as the remnant, that the good olive tree is also
the Remnant of Israel.
The good olive tree can be seen as the house of Israel reborn in
Christ Jesus as John 3: 1-7 shows.
Paul tells us in Romans 11; 17 that non-Jews are grafted into the good
olive tree, which is Christ as its the root. He does not say that the
"church" is grafted into the good olive tree.
Christ was sent only to the house of Israel. The "church" from the
Greek ekklesia, is only a meeting, assembly or congregation of the
house of Israel reborn in Christ. There is only one fold, or one
group, in Jesus Christ, which is the house of Israel reborn in him.
So, when Paul says in Romans 11: 26 that "All Israel shall be saved"
he is referring to the house of Israel reborn in him, not that those
Jews who reject Christ will someday all be saved. As individuals
Jews, like anyone else, can be saved, but not as a group, for "Behold,
your house is left unto you desolate." Matthew 23: 38.
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