The life and work of St. Paul

498 THE LIFE AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
But Paul would not thus merely smite down the timid questioning of
sinners by the arbitrary irresponsibility of Infinite Power. He gives a gleam
of hope ; he sheds over the ultimate Divine purposes a flash of insight. He
asks a question which implies a large and glorious answer, and the very form
of the question shows how little he desires to dwell on the unpractical in-
soluble mysteries of Divine reprobation. 1
What if God, willing to display His wrath, and to make known His power (he
will not
"
say, created vessels of wrath," or " prepared them for destruction," but,
swerving from a conclusion too terrible for the "
wisest) endured in much longsuffering
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction . . . ? And what if He did this
that He might also make known the riches of His glory towards the vessels of
mercy which He before prepared for . . . glory ?" What if even those
decrees which seemed the harshest were but steps towards an ultimate good ? . .
By that blessed purpose we profit, whom God called both out of the Jews and out of
the Gentiles. This calling is illustrated by the language of two passages of Hosea, 2
in which the prophet calls his son and daughter Lo-ammi and Lo-ruhamah (Not-
my-people and Not-pitied) because of the rejection of Israel, but at the same time
prophesies the day when they shall again be His people, and H their God : and
by two passages of Isaiah s in which he at once prophesies the rejection of the masa
of Israel and the preservation of a remnant.*
Having thus established the fact on Scriptural authority, what is the conclusion P
Must it not be that so entirely is election a matter of God's free grace the
Gentiles, though they did not pursue righteousness, yet laid hold of justification by
faith; and that the Jews, though they did pursue a legal righteousness, have not
attained to justification ? How can such a strange anomaly be explained ? Whatever
may be the working of Divine election, humanly speaking, their rejection
is the fault of the Jews. They chose to aim at an impossible justification by works,
and rejected the
justification by faith. Again St. Paul refers to Isaiah in support
of his views.* They stumbled at Christ. To them, as to all believers, He might
have been a firm rock of foundation ; they made Him a stone of offence. 6 The
desire of his heart, his prayer to God, is for their salvation. But their religious
zeal has taken an ignorant direction. They are aiming at justification by works,
and therefore will not accept God's method, which is justification by faith.'
In the path of works they cannot succeed, for the Law finds its sole end, and
aim, and fulfilment in Christ, 8 and through Him alone is justification possible.
Even these truths the Apostle finds in Scripture, or illustrates by Scriptural quotations.
He contrasts the statement of Moses, that he who obeyed the ordinances of
1 When we read such passages as Rom. viii. 22 24 ; 2 Cor. v. 18 ; Acts iii. 19, 21,
we think that St. Paul would have seen a phase of truth in the lines
" Safe in the hands of one disposing power,
Or in the natal or the mortal hour ;
All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee ;
All Chance, Direction which thou canst not see ;
All Discord, Harmony not understood ;
All partial evil, universal good."
* Hos. i. 9, 10 ii. 23. Isa. ; x. 22 ; i. 9.
4
ix. 22 30. Ver. 28 is an exegetical translation which St. Paul adopts from the
LXX. As the form of quotation has only an indirect bearing on the argument, the reader
must refer to special commentaries for its elucidation.
* Isa. viii. 14 ; xxviii. 16.
6 In ix. 33, the " be ashamed " of the LXX., followed by St. Paul, is an exgetioal
translation of "make haste" or "flee hastily. "
7 ix. 30 x. 4.
8 x. 4, T'X.OS i.e., the righteousness at which the Law aims is accomplished in Christ,
and the Law leads to Him ; He is its fulfilment and its termination. Its glory is done
away, but He remains, because His eternal brightness is the rcAoc roi) Karopyovpevov (Gal).