Posts tagged ‘apostle paul’
Eschatology in Romans Related to Israel and the Church, Part 3
Notice in Romans 11:12 (above), Paul finishes his thought by asking a question. He asks that if Israel’s “transgression” means spiritual wealth for the world and specifically, that transgression (unbelief) has allowed God to go around Israel and offer salvation directly to Gentiles, then how much more precious and rich will Israel’s “full restoration bring” to the entire world be? Here, Paul is looking forward to the coming Millennial Kingdom where the remaining future promises connected with Israel will unfold and be fulfilled. At that point, Israel will be the center of our world just as it is the center of God’s World now (cf. Ezekiel 5:5; 38:12). During the coming Millennial Kingdom, Israel will be the fountain of blessing for the entire world! It is extremely important to grasp this.
Politics, Christians, and Romans 13, Part 2
Not only does Paul tell us that “no authority except that which God has established” is fact, but he essentially repeats it at the end of verse 1 when he says “The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Oh come on, someone might rebut, does that really mean that President Obama, this politician here or that one over there is there by God’s leave? They are corrupt and anti-God. They are terrible leaders. That may well be but what does that have to do with them being there due to God’s purposes?
You Are a Fragrance to the World
I’m willing to bet that even as Paul set off for Damascus where he chased down Christian after Christian (these were Jews who had converted, not Gentile Christians) in anger (Acts 8:3), God was busy using Paul’s recollections of Stephen’s death and the forgiveness he had evidenced for his murderers to thoroughly soften Paul’s heart. It worked. Though he may have begun in a form of righteous anger immediately after the death of Stephen, God would not let Paul off the hook, so He continued to bring that scene to his mind repeatedly. I imagine Paul’s recollection of that event and his trying to convince himself that Stephen “deserved” it was part of what gave Paul his anger toward Jewish Christians. But God used that for other purposes and God won the day.
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