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ABRAHAM
10
The following list will give some idea as to the prominent position which the Jew occupied before Acts 28, as
compared with the epistles written afterwards:
Word
Before Acts 28
After Acts 28
Number of
Number of
Occurrences
Occurrences
Jew
25
1
`Neither Greek nor Jew'
(Col. 3:11).
Israel
14
2
(Eph. 2:12; Phil. 3:5).
Israelite
3
-
Abraham
19
-
-
-
Total
61
3
-
-
When it is observed that the three occurrences after Acts 28 are all negative statements, referring back to the
past, the contrast will be more clearly seen than ever.
To the Jew first (Rom. 1:16; 2:10)
The use of this expression in Chapter 2:10 shows that it is not merely stating the historical order of preaching,
but shows us the place of precedence assigned to the Jew. This is characteristic of the Millennial Kingdom, as a
reference to Isaiah 60 and 61; Zechariah 8:23; 14:12-21, etc. will show.
As long as Israel were a people and Jerusalem their city, so long as they retained the covenant position, and
saved Gentiles came up to Jerusalem to worship; the Gentiles were linked with the believing Remnant by baptism,
as the channel of their blessing.
Romans 3:1 anticipates an objection arising out of the very fact of this Jewish pre-eminence, that might be
expressed thus: `If what you say is true, where is the hitherto recognized pre-eminence and profit of the Jew and
circumcision?' The answer is, `Much every way'. But in verse 9, when the Jew would make his dispensational
privilege a ground of merit, when he asks, `Are we better than they?' the answer is, `No, in no wise'.
Dispensational privilege did not alter the Jew personally, and when we come to consider Romans 11 we shall see
that to be deprived of it does not alter one's standing in Christ.
`Is He the God of the Jews only?' (Rom. 3:29) goes to show the strong Jewish element even in the Church at
Rome.
Romans 9 to 11 deal more particularly with the dispensation obtaining from Acts 2 to 28. The Jewish objection
of 3:3 recurs again in 9:6. The objection of 3:29 is again met in 9:24. Chapter 10:21 shows the attitude of the Lord
during the `Acts' period, which culminated in their rejection and the destruction of the city.
We now arrive at Romans 11. This chapter has been very sadly misunderstood; and to understand it is, in large
measure, to understand the peculiar dispensation that covered the period of The Acts. Expositors, who have been
clear about the subject of the `Mystery', have felt a difficulty with regard to this chapter because they assumed that
the dispensational position of Romans (which was before Acts 28) was the same as that of Ephesians (which came
after Acts 28).
The figure of the olive tree, and the Gentiles as wild olive branches, is certainly not the same as the `One Body'.
To avoid apparent contradiction, the passage has been interpreted of the Gentile as such, whereas it but states the
same truth as Galatians 3, namely, that believing Gentiles up to Acts 28 were blessed with faithful Abraham - the
father of many nations.