The life and work of St. Paul

PREDESTINATION AND FRKK WILL. 499
the Law should live by them, 1 with those other words which he puts into the mouth
of Justification personified, " Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven,
or who shall descend into the abyss, but the word is very nigh thee in thy mouth
and in thy heart," which (being used originally of the Law) he explains of the nearness
and accessibility of the Gospel which was now being preached, and which was
summed up in the confession and belief in Him as a risen Saviour. This is again
supported by two quotations in almost the same words one from Isaiah (xxviii. 16),
"
Every one that believeth on Him shall not be ashamed ;" and one from Joel
(ii. 32), " Every one that calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved" and the
"
every one " of course includes the Gentile no less than the Jew. z
But had the Jews enjoyed a real opportunity of hearing the Gospel ? In a
series of questions, subordinated to each other by great rhetorical beauty, St. Paul
shows that each necessary step has been fulfilled the hearing, the preachers, the
mission of those whose feet were beautiful upon the mountains, and who preach the
glad tidings of peace ; but, aks ! the faith had been wanting, and, therefore, also the
calling upon God. For all had not hearkened to the Gospel. It was not for want
of hearing, for in accordance with prophecy (Ps. xix. 4) the words of the preachers
had gone out to all the world but it was for want of ; faith, and this, too, had been
prophesied, since Isaiah said, " Who believed our preaching ?" Nor, again, was it
for want of warning. Moses (Deut. xxxii. 21) had told them ages ago that God
would stir up their jealousy and kindle their anger by means of those Gentiles
whom in their exclusive arrogance they despised as "no nation;" and Isaiah
(Ixv. 1, 2) says with daring energy, " I was found by such as sought me not,
I became manifest to such as inquired not after me," whereas to Israel he saith,
" The whole day long I outspread my hands to a disobedient and antagonistic
people." *
Thus, with quotation after quotation tnere are nine in tnis cnapter alone,
drawn chiefly from Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and the Psalms does St. Paul state
his conviction as to the present rejection of the Gospel by his own nation ;
while he tries to soften the bitter rage which it was calculated to arouse both
it in words which would
against himself and against his doctrine, by stating
add tenfold authority to the dialectical arguments into which they are
enwoven. But having thus established two very painful, and at first sight
opposing truths namely, that the Jews were being deprived of all exclusive
privileges by the decree of God (ix.), and that this forfeiture was due to their
own culpable disbelief (x.) he now enters on the gladder and nobler task of
explaining how these sad truths are robbed of their worst sting, when we
recognise that they are but the partial and transient phenomena incidental
to the evolution of a blessed, universal, and eternal scheme.
"I ask, then, did God reject His people ? Away with the ! thought for at worst
the rejection is but partial." Of this he offers himself as a proof, being as he is
" an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin;" and he then
quotes the analogy of the 7,000 whom God "reserved for Himself," who in the
days of Elijah had not bowed the knee to Baal. On this he pauses to remark that
the very phrase, " I reserved for myself," implies that this remnant was saved by
faith, and not by works. But how came it that the majority had missed the end
for which they sought? Because, he answers, they were hardened; God (as
'
X, A, B, ev aurjj.
3 x. 412. It is remarkable that in verse 11 the important word irSe is found neither
In the Hebrew nor in the T,XX. Of. be. 33.
* x. 14 21.