What Does The Holy Spirit Do?

We saw in the lesson Who or What is the Holy Spirit that The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is a personal being infinitely wise, holy, and tender. He is not a force for us to get a hold of and use. He is a personal being who is to get a hold of us and use us. The Holy Spirit is a person and not a force.

The question then becomes what kind of person is He. What types of things will He do and what type of things will He not do. Can we determine from the Word of God what His character is like?

Understand that God must be consistent with His Character.

God is not like us humans. We can be true to our character most of the time. And then snap. We can do something completely opposite our normal character.

Example

Like that NASA astronaut that was accused of trying to kidnap a romantic rival for a space shuttle pilot’s affections and was charged with attempted first-degree murder. She was a 43-year-old Navy captain and married mother of three. She was a Naval Academy graduate with a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering. She flew to the international space station aboard space shuttle Discovery.

Here you have an achiever, someone who is incredibly smart, has a family. Everything going for them. Someone that many looked up to. Hard working and responsible, and then snap.

Police said she drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted a woman she believed was a competitor for the affections of an unmarried fellow astronaut.

“The intent was there to do serious bodily injury or death, said” Orlando Police Sgt. Barb Jones, referring to a new steel mallet, knife, rubber tubing and large garbage bags that police found in her possession.

She raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers in the car so she wouldn’t have to stop to go to the bathroom, authorities said. Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, she waited for the plane to land and then boarded the same airport shuttle bus to get to her car, police said. She rapped on the window, tried to open the car door and asked for a ride. The lady refused but rolled down the car window a few inches when she started crying, the statement said. She then sprayed a chemical into the car, the affidavit said.

Humans can do something completely opposite our normal character. But God cannot. God will always 100 percent of the time be consistent with His nature with His character.

So if we can determine what His Character is like, then when someone is claiming that the Holy Spirit is doing something, we will be able to know if they are lying. We will know if it is in line with His character. We will know if it is in line with who He is. We can tell them that making people flop around on the floor like a fish out of water and drool at the mouth is against the Holy Spirits nature. It is contrary to who the Holy Spirit is. Therefore it is not the Holy Spirit that is doing it.

And to know Who the Holy Spirit is, we have to go no further than the Bible. You can learn what someone is like by looking at what they have done in the past and what they are doing in the present..

WHAT HAS THE HOLY SPIRIT DONE IN TIMES PAST?

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

The Holy Spirit was active in creation. Creation was done decently and orderly.

2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible There is nothing more orderly than the Bible.

Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The Holy Spirit was part of the Virgin Birth of Jesus

Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The Holy Spirit was also involved in the Resurrection of Jesus

So far we have seen the Holy Spirit having great power. And it has been used for nothing but decency, orderliness, and holiness so far. We do not see the Holy Spirit making people drool and flop on the floor.

But that in the past. Now lets look at what He does later on.

WHAT IS THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BEFORE CONVERSION?

Joh 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus He does not testify of Himself.

Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Joh 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Joh 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

Joh 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

Reproving involves convicting. Of what three things does the Holy Spirit convict unbelievers?

Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

When someone feels conviction during the preaching, that is the Holy Spirit working. When you feel that tug to go forward during invitation time, that is the Holy Spirit working.

Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.

It is the Holy Spirit that quickens us at salvation. It is the Holy Spirit who is the agent of regeneration.

So the Holy Spirit is very involved in our salvation. He testifies of Jesus, brings conviction, and then quickens and regenerates us when we accept Jesus as our saviour.

Still nothing disorderly. Still no fish flopping.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE BELIEVER?

Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer.

And notice that if anyone does not have the Spirit, then they are not Christ’s. You get the Spirit at salvation and if you do not have the Spirit then you are not saved.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Our body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost.

Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

A Christian can Grieve the Holy Spirit.

Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Sins that Grieve. Bitterness, Wrath, Anger, Clamour, Evil speaking, Malice.

Godly attitudes: Kind, Tenderhearted, Forgiving.

1Th 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.

We do not see the Holy Spirit forcing people here. He can easily be grieved and quenched. It is no accident that God choose to use the symbol of a dove for the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is from heaven, He is beautiful, loving, and tender. And a dove will easily take to flight. Now the Holy Spirit will not depart from you, but He will take His hands off and say if that is the way that you want it then go on with your bad self.

But that is not the way that we are supposed to be.

Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

We are commanded to be Filled with the Spirit, which simply means to be lead by the Spirit. We are to die to our selves and let Him do the leading.

This is considering yourself crucified with Christ Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

It is Confessing all known sin 1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is yielding every area of your life to Christ. Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

And it is doing all to the glory of God. 1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

And as you are filled with the Holy Spirit, He will produce the Fruit of the Spirit in your life.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The Holy Spirit produces a lot in us. But notice that there is no passing out, drooling, babbling, or fish flopping.

WHAT IS THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BELIEVERS?

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Every Christian is Sealed with the Holy Spirit.

This is our guarantee of eternal salvation.

Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

The Holy Spirit is our comforter.

Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of] God.

The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.

Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Holy Spirit is our Power to witness and serve God.

Act 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.

Act 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou [art] God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:

Act 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

Act 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,

Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

Act 4:29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

Act 4:30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

Act 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Act 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

The Holy Spirit enables us to Know the things of God’s Word, for He is our Teacher.

The Holy Spirit is not a force but a person and the Holy Spirit is God.

And now you should know something of His Character and Personality. And what His role is in our lives.

We have seen that He is very active in our lives.

He dwells within us. Our body is His Temple. He is our comforter. He makes intercession for us. The Holy Spirit has sealed our salvation.

The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, and temperance in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is our teacher and enables us to know the things of God.

And the Holy Spirit is our power to witness and serve.

That is a lot and by looking at what He does you should see that many of the things that people teach about the Holy Spirit are not in line with the Personality and Character of the Holy Spirit.

We should be overjoyed to learn what great provision God has made for us through the ministry of His Holy Spirit. He is God’s perpetual, indwelling gift to you. He should not be ignored. Instead we should yield to Him.

Text: 1 Corinthians 2:1-16
Title: Who is the Holy Spirit and what does he do?

Let me begin by saying it is not easy being the Holy Spirit!

It is not easy being the Holy Spirit because verse 14 tells us so.

“The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

It is not easy being the Holy Spirit since he has a history of being;

1. Resisted.
“The man without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God”

2. Ridiculed.
“For they are foolishness to him”

3. Misunderstood.
“And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned”

Therefore it is completely understandable that of the three; The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit we are the least knowledgeable about the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

This morning we want to look at who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does?

Lets begin by answering the question “Who is the Holy Spirit?”

The simple answer is that the Holy Spirit is God.

The Proof

If we look at our scripture passage we see that the words God and Spirit are interchangeable or one and the same. For example;

In verse 4 and 5 we see that the Spirit’s power is also called God’s power.

In verse 11 we see that the very thoughts of God are the very thoughts of the Spirit

The second thing we need to see is that the Holy Spirit is not some impersonal force.

He speaks to us

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him- but God has revealed it by his Spirit” (V9-10)

He searches all things

“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God” (V10)

He knows the thoughts of God

“In the same way nobody knows the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God” (V11)

He teaches us what God has freely given us.

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (V13)

What does the Holy Spirit do?

1. He empowers us to share our testimony (V1-5)

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

Unlikely as it may seem the apostle Paul experienced all of the same difficulties we face when it comes to sharing our faith.

In verse 1 he was not eloquent nor did he have superior wisdom.

In verse 3 he confesses he came to them in weakness, fear and with much trembling.

And he begins verse 4 by saying “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words…”

Can we see that Paul could identify with every objection we have for not sharing our faith.

And it’s only because you and I are not qualified that we are given the Spirit’s power to share the gospel with others.

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with

Let Us Honour God’s Holy spirit
by Derek Prince

This is a first in a series of three messages. In this, No. 1, I’ll seek to analyze a problem that has arisen in many sections of the church and in many parts of the world. In the next message I’ll seek to analyze how the problem arose. And in the third message I’ll consider ways to guard against that problem arising again. The title of this first message is Let Us Honor God’s Holy Spirit.
There has been in recent years a worldwide explosion of signs and wonders. Some have been biblical and helpful. Others have been bizarre and unbiblical. Signs and wonders are not new. They are recorded in various passage of the Bible, and in different periods of church history. However, the current explosion extends more widely than any other particular church or denomination, and has attracted worldwide attention in both the religious and the secular media. I want to make it plain that I have no personal prejudice or anxiety concerning unusual manifestations. In actual fact, I have in my own lifetime experienced quite a number of them. They do not frighten me. I’m not negative about them.
As I recorded in my booklet Uproar In The Church, my own personal encounter with Jesus in World War II began in a very unconventional way. In the middle of the night in the barrack room of the British Army, I spent more than an hour on my back on the floor with my body first racked by convulsive sobs, and then filled with a river of laughter which grew continually louder. Next morning I found myself a completely different person. Changed, not by any act of my will, but by yielding to the supernatural power that had flowed through me.
I then looked up various passages in the Bible that speak about laughter. To my surprise I discovered that, for God’s people, laughter is not primarily, as we imagine, a reaction to something comical, but rather an expression of triumph over our enemies. In Psalm 2:4 David actually depicts God, Himself, as laughing.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The LORD shall hold them in derision.

Here God’s laughter is not a reaction to some comedy that is being enacted on earth. Rather it is His response to the ridiculous human midgets who have the effrontery to oppose His purposes. It is His expression of triumph over all the forces of evil. Sometimes God fills us with His own laughter, that we may share in His triumph over those who are both His enemies and ours.
Later I pastored a fellowship in London that met on the top floor of a five-story building. One evening a lame man was miraculously healed and threw away his crutches. We all burst into spontaneous praise. At that moment the building began to tremble and shake with the power of God. The praise and the shaking continued for about 30 minutes. I realized that something similar was recorded of the early church in Acts 4:31.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
At that particular time our fellowship was conducting several evangelistic meetings each week in the streets of London, and we certainly needed more than natural boldness.
But with regard to any kind of manifestation there are two questions that I always want to ask:

Is it a manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God, or is it a manifestation of some other source?
And this is related to it, is the manifestation in question in harmony with scripture?

In 2 Timothy 3:16 Paul says:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God . . .

In other words, the Holy Spirit is the author of all Scripture, and He never says or does anything to contradict Himself. Every genuine manifestation of the Holy Spirit will in some way harmonize with Scripture.
Now I want to begin with some warnings of Jesus, particularly related to the End-time period in which I believe we are living. These are warnings against deception. They are found in Matthew chapter 24, verses 4, 5, 11 and 24. In other words, four times in 21 verses, Jesus specifically warns us against deception in this period of the close of the age. The first thing Jesus said about the events leading up to His return in Matthew 24:4:
“. . . Take heed that no one deceives you. (5) For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ [the Messiah] and will deceive many. (11) Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. (24) For false christs [false Messiahs] and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

So Jesus warns us four times against deception. Anybody who shrugs off that warning or treats it lightly, does so at the risk of his own soul.
The greatest single danger in this End-time is not sickness, nor poverty, nor persecution. It is deception. If anybody says, “It could never happen to me!” it has already happened to that person, because that person is saying something could never happen that Jesus said would happen. That is a sufficient indication that such a person is deceived.
Next I want to say something important about signs and wonders. They do not determine truth. It’s very essential to understand that. Signs and wonders do not determine truth. Truth is already determined and established, and it is the word of God. In John 17:17 Jesus is praying to the Father and He says, “. . . Your word is truth.”
In Psalm 119:89 the Psalmist says,
Forever, O, LORD,
Your word is settled in heaven.

Nothing that happens on earth can ever change the smallest little sign or letter of the word of God. It is forever settled in heaven.
Now the Bible speaks about signs and wonders. It says some things about them that are good and some that are very frightening. I want to turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and read a few verses there, beginning at verse 9—2 Thessalonians 2:9–12.
The coming of the lawless one [that’s the title of the anti-christ] is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

So Paul says here that there are such things as lying signs and wonders. There are true signs and there are lying signs. True signs attest the truth. Lying sign attest lies. Satan is fully capable of supernatural signs and wonders.
Unfortunately, many in the Charismatic movement had the attitude that if something is supernatural it must be from God. There is no scriptural basis for that assumption. Satan is perfectly capable of producing powerful signs and wonders to attest his lies. And the reason such people are deceived is because they did not receive the love of the truth. On such people, God will send strong delusion.
That’s one of the most frightening statements in the Bible. If God sends you strong delusion, you will be deluded. I think that is one of the most severe judgments of God recorded in Scripture, sending these people strong delusion. They will be condemned, these people, because they did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Therefore, signs and wonders are not a guarantee that something is the truth. There is only one sure way to know the truth—it is the word of God. Jesus said in John 8:32:
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

There is no other way to be sure that we can escape deception in these days except that we know and apply the truth of God’s word, the Scripture.
In 1994 for the first time, I was brought into fairly direct contact with one of the groups where these manifestations were occurring. A group of leaders went to some of their meetings, and returned all excited saying that they had experienced something wonderful, and we all needed to experience it. They said, “Now you don’t test it. You don’t try it out. You don’t examine it. You just open up to it and receive it.”
That was the first time that I really began to be suspicious of some of these things. Such a statement is directly contrary to Scripture. In 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Paul says to Christians:
Test all things; hold fast what is good.
So if we do not test things we are disobeying Scripture. Anybody who tells us not to test things is, himself, not in harmony with Scripture. Our hearts cannot be relied upon to give us the truth. Proverbs 28:26 says:
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool . . .
So don’t be a fool. Do not trust your own heart. Do not rely upon what your heart tells you, because it is not reliable.
Again, Jeremiah 17:9 the prophet says:
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?”

The word “deceitful” in the Hebrew is a very interesting word. In 1946 I was attending the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as a guest student, studying the nature or the law of the Hebrew language. I was listening to the head professor in this field at that time, talking about this verse, Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things.” He gave reason which I cannot carry over from Hebrew to show that this form of the word “deceitful” is active, not passive. It doesn’t mean that your heart is deceived—it means that your heart deceives you, so you cannot trust your own heart.
The professor gave a very vivid picture of what it means to find out the truth about your own heart. He said, “It’s like someone peeling an onion. You peel off skin after skin, but you never know when you’ve reached the last skin. And all the time your eyes are watering.” So that has remained with me now for fifty years. Such a vivid scriptural warning against relying on my own heart to tell me the truth. There is only one source of truth and that is the Scripture.
Now, I would like to give briefly my summation of this whole phenomenon, or movement, or whatever you want to call it. Based partly on personal observation and partly on what I believe to be reliable reports.
My summation is very simple, it’s a mixture of spirits—both the Holy Spirit and unholy spirits. They are mixed together. In Leviticus 19:19 God warns us against mixture. He is opposed to mixture. God says this:
“‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.’”
So, God warns against three things—breeding mixed livestock, sowing with mixed seed, and wearing a mixed garment. We could say that sowing with mixed seed represents the message that we bring when it is partly truth and partly error. Wearing a mixed garment would be like a lifestyle that is partly scriptural and partly of this world. Letting livestock breed with livestock of an incompatible kind would be equivalent to a Christian ministry or group aligning itself with a group or ministry that is non-Christian.
It’s an interesting thing about such breeding—its product is always sterile. For instance you can mate a horse with a donkey, and the product is a mule. But a mule is always sterile. It cannot reproduce. I think that’s one reason why there are so many sterile operations in Christendom. They are being bred with the wrong mate.
I’ve observed this carefully and I’ve had grievous experience of this condition of a mixture of spirits. I find that it is something which the Scripture warns us against. For instance, there is a character in the Bible, King Saul, who had a mixture of spirits. At one time he prophesied in the Holy Spirit, at another time he prophesied in a demon. His career is really a warning. He was a king who ruled for forty years. He was a successful military commander. He had a lot of successes, but mixture was his undoing, and his life closed with tragedy. On the last night of his life he went to consult a witch. The next day he committed suicide on the battle field. Surely that offers no encouragement to any of us to cultivate any kind of spiritual mixture in our lives.
I’ve observed that a result of mixture is two things; first of all confusion, and then division. For instance, we have this mixed message; part of which is true, part is which is false. People can respond in two ways:
Some will see the good and focus on it, and therefore accept the bad; some will focus on the bad, and therefore reject the good. In either case it does not accomplish God’s purposes.
Once upon a time I was a pastor, a long time ago, but I remember that the most difficult kind of people to deal with were people who were a mixture. I’ll give you a little imaginary example. We have Sister Jones in our congregation. One Sunday she gives a beautiful prophetic message, and everyone is uplifted and excited. But two Sundays later she stands up and gives a revelation which she had in a dream. The further she goes with this revelation, the more confused and confusing it becomes. Eventually, as pastor, I have to say to her, “Sister Jones, I thank you, but I really don’t believe that is from the Lord.” And she sits down.
But that is not the end.
After the meeting Sister White comes to me and says, “Brother Prince, how could you talk to Sister Jones like that? Don’t you remember that beautiful prophecy she gave two Sundays ago?” And when Sister White is gone Brother Black comes to me and he says, “If that’s the kind of revelation she has, I won’t listen to any more of her prophecies.”
So you see what we have? Confusion. And out of confusion, division. I believe that’s exactly what is happening in the church. Confusion resulting in division. Certainly there is tremendous division. I believe confusion will always produce division.
The Bible gives us no liberty to tolerate the incursion if evil into the church. We are not to be passive, we are not to be neutral. Proverbs 8:13 says:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil . . .

It is sinful to compromise with evil. It is sinful to be neutral toward evil.
In John 10:10 Jesus spoke about the thief, the devil, who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. We always need to remember whether it is an individual life or in a congregation, the devil only comes with three objectives—to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
I can remember many times I’ve been speaking with a person who needed deliverance from an evil spirit. I’ve said to that person, “Remember, the devil has three reasons for being in your life—to steal, to kill, and to destroy. You need to take a stand against him. Not be neutral. You must drive him out.” What is true of an individual is true of a congregation. It is true for the body of Christ worldwide.
Some of these unusual manifestations have been compared with unusual manifestations that accompany the ministry of John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Finney. Undoubtedly there were unusual manifestations in the ministries of those four men, and I’ve studied some of them myself. But I think the differences are greater than the similarities with the present situation.
Let me point out to you three differences. First of all, all those men majored on the strong preaching of God’s word. They hardly did anything until they had preached the word of God, or apart from preaching the word of God. Finney himself commented somewhere about his ministry. “I usually spoke an hour or two.” I don’t know how many contemporary Christians in the West would listen to a two hour sermon. But Finney gave the word in its purity and in its power.
Second difference—all those men made a strong call for repentance. That was their primary demand on the people to whom they ministered. Some people call what we are seeing today a refreshing, but in Acts 3:19 Peter says that refreshing must be preceded by repentance. Any refreshing that bypasses repentance is not scriptural.
The third difference is that in the ministry of those men, there is no record, so far as I know, that any of them laid hands on people. I’m not saying that it is unscriptural to lay hands on people, but there is a difference. There is a situation in which people received directly for themselves from the preached word, and another situation in which the people had hands laid on them by others. If I could take a simple example. It’s like rain. If you’re out in the open and the rain falls upon you, you’ve received your rain direct from heaven. But, on the other hand, if rain is caught and stored in some kind of a cistern, then you are not receiving that rain direct from heaven. You have to take into account the cistern and the pipes through which you receive the rain.
This is very vivid for me, because my first wife, Lydia, and I lived in Kenya for five years in a house where our water came from rain caught on the roof and channeled into concrete cisterns. Although the water came from heaven, we quickly learned by experience that if it stayed for any length of time in the cistern, worms developed in it, and consequently we always had to boil our drinking water. There was nothing wrong with the rain as it came down, but something happened in the channel through which the rain came to us, and it was no longer pure.
I think this can be true of laying on of hands. It is a channel which is not always pure. Recently some ministers have moved from actually laying on hands to some other action of the hands, such as waving or pointing. However, this does not change the fact that something is being transmitted through the hands, otherwise there is no reason to use the hands at all. The important question, therefore, still remains—are those hands pure channels through which only the Holy Spirit can flow?
For instance, Ruth and I were in a meeting fairly recently where ministers deeply involved in the current move were speaking. We were sitting about two rows behind a woman who was having a terrible experience. She was like somebody continually trying to burp or trying to vomit, and she just went on and on and on. Eventually I said to Ruth, “I think we ought to try to help her.” So although, it was not a meeting for which we were responsible, we went over quietly and started to talk to her. We discovered very quickly that she was speaking in a tongue, but for both of us it was evident that it was a false tongue—it was not a Holy Spirit tongue. We challenged her to confess that Jesus is Lord and she was not willing or able to say that. So I conclude that she had a false spirit.
Later on the people who were with her came over and talked to us, and asked us what they should do about it. I asked them, “How did it happen?” They said, “Well, she went to a church that’s involved in this move and somebody laid hands on her, and this is the way she has been since then. But,” they said, “she’s convinced it’s from God. We can’t help her.” That’s just an example of rain that came through a cistern that was not pure.
Also, in the present move there is a great deal of emphasis on love. I agree that love is the greatest thing. But the trouble is that people are not always clear about the nature of love as it is described in the New Testament. First of all, love in us is expressed in obedience to the Lord. Any kind of love that does not result in obedience is unscriptural love. In John 14:15 Jesus said to His disciples:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

Or in a perhaps better text, “. . . you will keep my commandments.” In other words, what is the evidence that you love Him? The evidence is keeping His commandments. Then in verse 21, the first part, Jesus says:
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me . . .”
And in 1 John 5:3 it says:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments . . .”
Therefore, any kind of love that does not result in the obedience to the will of God revealed in His word, it is not scriptural love. It’s a counterfeit, a substitute for the real thing.
Then we need to consider the way that God expresses His love toward us. True, God is our Father and He loves us. But as a Father, if necessary, He is prepared to discipline us. In the messages to the seven churches depicted in Revelation, I would say that Laodicea is probably the one that corresponds most closely to the contemporary church in the West. And to that church the Lord said:
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.”

So God’s love is not sloppy. It’s not sentimental. It is right down to earth. If we are straying from His ways and if we are disobedient, His love is expressed in rebuking us and chastening us, and He commands us to repent. Once again we have the problem of trying to get what God promises, but bypassing the basic condition of repentance which is a deception.
I recently read the following comment by a British Bible teacher. “Some Christians take the text “God is love” and turn it around to mean “Love is God.” In other words, nothing can be wrong if it is rooted in love.
However, any love that comes between us and God is an illegitimate love. Likewise, any love that diverts us from obedience to God’s word is illegitimate.
In all of this that we are speaking about, this worldwide phenomenon, I believe there is one central underlying issue which is often obscured. In fact, very seldom do we really come to grips with this issue. This issue is the identity of the Holy Spirit. How do we recognize the Holy Spirit? How do we know what the Holy Spirit is like? How do we distinguish the Holy Spirit from other spirits?
I read a statement recently by some “New Ager” in which she said about the New Age, “When the Holy Spirit comes, then the New Age will be here.” Of course I’m sure most of you would understand that when she talks about the Holy Spirit, she is not talking about the same Holy Spirit that the Bible speaks about. This is one of various indications that there is a counterfeit Holy Spirit. It’s nothing new for Satan to produce a religious counterfeit. Since the time of Jesus, history records a whole series of counterfeit messiahs who have risen among the Jewish people. All of them had a following. Some like Shabbetai Zvi had a widespread and enduring influence. The latest of them died in 1994.
Another religious counterfeit is the being titled “The Blessed Virgin Mary.” With all the claims that have been made for her and all the titles that have been ascribed to her, she bear no resemblance to the humble Jewish maiden who became the mother of Jesus and later of His brothers and sisters. Yet over the centuries this counterfeit has claimed the devotion of millions of sincere Christians. We need to be on our guard, therefore, that we do not entertain a counterfeit Holy Spirit.
I want to suggest to you three ways to identify the Holy Spirit, to recognize who the Holy Spirit is. The first way I refer to in my little booklet Uproar In The Church, which I wrote about two years. I’ll just quote a few paragraphs.
Another danger that threatens those who minister in the supernatural realm is the temptation to use spiritual gifts to manipulate or exploit or dominate people. At one period in my ministry I found myself casting spirits of witchcraft out of church-going people. Eventually I asked the Lord to show me the true nature of witchcraft. I believe the Lord gave me the following definition: Witchcraft is the attempt to control people and get them to do what you want by the use of any spirit that is not the Holy Spirit.
After I digested this, the Lord added, “And if anyone has a spirit that he can use, it is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God and no one uses God.”
That is very important. The Holy Spirit is God and no one uses God.
Then I went on to say in the booklet:
Today I tremble inwardly when I see or hear of a person who claims that he has spiritual gifts which he is free to use just as he pleases. It is surely no accident that some of those who have made such claims have ended in serious doctrinal error.

It’s important to see that there is a difference between the Holy Spirit Himself as a person, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 11:29 Paul tells us that the gifts of God are irrevocable. In other words, once God has given us a gift He never takes it back. We are free to use it, not to use, or to misuse. But even if we misuse it, God does not take it back. Otherwise it would not be a genuine gift. It would only be a conditional loan.
It is a fact that people do misuse the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul provides a clear example in 1 Corinthians 13:1:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

Obviously the Holy Spirit Himself does not become a clanging cymbal. But the gift of speaking in tongues, when misused, can become an empty, discordant noise. Unfortunately this often happens in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. I believe it is possible to misuse other spiritual gifts, such as a word of knowledge or a gift of healing. This can happen when a person uses a spiritual gift to achieve a result or promote a movement which is not in harmony with the will of God. One obvious misuse would be for personal. In such a situation our safeguard is to be able to recognize the Holy Spirit as a Person and to distinguish between Him and His gifts. This then is the first and most important fact about the Holy Spirit—He is God, and we knew to relate to Him and treat Him always as God.
The second fact about the Holy Spirit is that He is the servant of God the Father and God the Son. This is an exciting revelation because it gives such a high value to servanthood. Many people today despise the idea of being a servant. They feel it is demeaning and undignified to be a servant. But I think it’s wonderful that servanthood did not begin on earth. It began in eternity and it began in God. God the Holy Spirit, is the servant of the Father and the Son. This does not demean Him or make Him less than God, but it is a fact that we have to recognize about Him which directs His activities and the things He does.
In John 16:13–14 Jesus gives us a glimpse of the Holy Spirit’s ministry and activity.
“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, [literally speak from Himself] but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”
So we see the Holy Spirit does not speak from Himself. He has no message of His own. Isn’t that remarkable. He only reports to us what He is hearing from the Father and the Son. Secondly His aim is not to glorify Himself nor to attract attention to Himself, but always He glorifies and focuses attention on Jesus. That is the second important way to identify the Holy Spirit.
Now I want you to listen to this carefully because it is revolutionary. Any spirit that focuses on the Holy Spirit and glorifies the Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit. It is contrary to His whole nature and purpose. Once you’ve grasped that it will open your eyes to many things which are going on in the church that are otherwise difficult to understand. For example, we have a very beautiful chorus that we sing about the Father, the Son and the Spirit. The first verse says to the Father, “Glorify Thy name in all the earth.” The second verse says to Jesus, the Son, “Glorify Thy name in all the earth.” The third verse says to the Spirit, “Glorify Thy name in all the earth.” I love to sing the first two verses, but I decline to sing the third verse because I don’t believe it is scriptural. The Holy Spirit never does glorify His own name. His purpose is to glorify the One who sent Him.
Let me make another statement which may surprise you. I have not found in the Scripture anywhere an example of a prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit. So far as I can understand, no one in the Scripture ever prayed to the Holy Spirit. You probably would do well to check that for yourself. But I have looked carefully and have not found one example. You might ask, “Why not?” And I would give you this answer. It’s a question of heavenly protocol. There’s so little respect now days for protocol on earth that we sometimes don’t realize that there is protocol in heaven. It is protocol relating to a master-servant relationship. In such a relationship when you are dealing with a servant, you do not speak to the servant but to the master. You ask the master to tell his servant what to do. It is wrong to directly address a servant when the master is available for you to speak to. I believe that is heaven’s protocol. When you recognize the relationship of the Holy Spirit to God the Father and God the Son, you understand that we never give orders to the Holy Spirit. When we want the Holy Spirit to do something we address our request to the Father or to the Son.
When I was looking through this I found a passage in Ezekiel 37 which I thought at first was an exception. It’s part of Ezekiel’s well known vision of the valley full of dry bones with no life in them. First of all he prophesied and the bones came together, but they were still lifeless corpses. Then in verses 9 and 10 it says,
Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

So I thought that the breath is really a picture of the wind or the Holy Spirit. And so Ezekiel was praying to the wind. But he was not praying. He was prophesying and it did not come from himself. He merely passed on to the wind a command that he had received from God Himself. Therefore, as far as I have been able to discover, there is not a single example anywhere in the Scripture of praying to the Holy Spirit.
Now I am not seeking to make a big issue out of that. On the other hand, I think it is very important as we try to discern the nature and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You would say to me, “Well, doesn’t God hear our prayer when we pray to the Holy Spirit?” I think He does, but we are not praying in full accord with heaven’s protocol. If we really want to please the Lord and show respect for Him, we will show respect for His protocol.
The third important fact about the Holy Spirit is what is indicated in His name. He is holy. This is His primary title, the Holy Spirit. In Hebrew it is “the Spirit of holiness.” He has many other titles, for instance; the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of power, and so on. But they are all subsidiary. His name and His primary title is the Holy Spirit. Anything that is unholy does not proceed from the Holy Spirit.
The Scripture also speaks of the beauty of holiness. There is a beauty in holiness when it proceeds from the Holy Spirit. It’s not necessarily external. It may be internal beauty. For instance in 1 Peter 3:4, Peter speaks about “the hidden person of the heart,” and he speaks about “the adornment of a meek and quiet spirit,” which in the sight of God is of great price. This is not external beauty. It is internal beauty which comes from the Holy Spirit.
I want to say, however, with the utmost emphasis, anything unholy or ugly does not proceed from the Holy Spirit. I’ll give you a list of twelve adjectives, all of which I believe cannot be applied to the Holy Spirit or to anything that is the product of the Holy Spirit. As I go through the list I suggest you check mentally and see if you agree with me. Here then are the words that would never apply to the Holy Spirit.
Self-Exalting Insensitive
Self-Assertive Stupid
Vulgar Silly
Rude Flippant
Sham Degraded
Indecent Degrading

I’ll repeat that list just once more, and as I repeat the list just see if you agree with me. These are twelve adjectives, or twelve words that would never apply to the Holy Spirit or to anything that proceeds from the Holy Spirit. Here are the words; self-exalting, self-assertive, vulgar, rude, sham, indecent, insensitive, stupid, silly, flippant, degraded, and degrading.
I have in my heart if God wills and I live, to write a book at sometime of which I have already chosen the title. The title is this, Holiness Is Not Optional. Only God knows whether I will ever succeed in writing the book, but I want to say in any case, that the title states the exact truth. In the Christian life holiness is not optional. Many Christians seem to think about holiness as if it is like something added to a car, such as fancy leather upholstery instead of the normal kind of plastic. But that is not true. Holiness is an essential part of salvation. In Hebrews 12:14 the writer says,
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

What salvation do we have that does not bring us to see the Lord? But without holiness, no one will see the Lord.
We have in our contemporary Christianity a very incomplete picture of salvation. If I get saved and born again, and then I want to go on and be holy, I can do it, but it’s an option. I want to tell you that your salvation depends on your being holy, and holiness comes only from the Holy Spirit. There are many features of purported moves of the Holy Spirit that I could pick out and hold up as examples of things that are not holy, but I will only deal with one. That is animal behavior in human beings attributed to the Holy Spirit. There are many such examples. Some I have witnessed and some have been reported.
First of all, there is no passage in Scripture that I know of where the Holy Spirit causes any human being to behave like an animal. There is the example of Balaam, but that is in strong contrast. God caused Balaam’s donkey to speak like a man, but he never caused Balaam to bray like a donkey.
There was one man whom God caused to behave like an animal—King Nebuchadnezzar. It says in Daniel 4:33,
. . . he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

God certainly caused Nebuchadnezzar to behave like an animal. But that was God’s judgment, not His blessing.
Revelation 4:6–8 depicts four living creatures that surround the throne of God. They are there as representatives of what we might call the animal kingdom; a lion, a calf, and an eagle. But none of them make noises that express their animal nature. All of them alike proclaim the holiness of God in pure and beautiful speech. It is important to understand that there is an order in God’s creation. Man was created in the image and likeness of God to exercise authority over the animal kingdom. You can see that in Genesis 1:26. Man is, in fact, the highest order of the creation described in the opening chapters of Genesis. This has a bearing on the way the Holy Spirit blesses us. He uplifts those whom He blesses. He will at times cause an animal to act in some ways like a human being, but He will never degrade a human being by causing him to act like an animal.
I have a certain amount of experience in this area because I’ve encountered animal spirits many times in Africa. I recall one particular deliverance service that I held in Zambia with about seven thousand Africans present. When I had finished the teaching and began to command the evil spirits to manifest themselves and come out of the people, there were all sorts of animal spirits that were let loose. By animal spirits I mean evil demonic spirits that enter human beings and cause them to behave like animals.
The first thing that happened was that a man with a lion spirit tried to charge me, but someone tripped him up and he did not reach me. You need to know that the reason that Africans in this part of Africa have so many animal spirits, is because many of them are hunters of animals. They have this superstition that in order to hunt an animal successfully you have to get the spirit of the animal in you. So a man tends to have the spirit of the animal which he seeks to hunt. For instance the man who is hunting a lion will get a lion spirit. There are many others.
We dealt with spirits of wild boars that caused people to burrow in the earth with their noses like a wild boar rooting for something. Then there were many snake spirits. These were mainly in women, and when they were manifested the women were flat on their bellies, slithering around like snakes. All these I actually witnessed myself. There was one other spirit that I did not witness, but I heard about from the missionary couple who organized the meeting. Later I met the lady concerned. She was a very sweet Christian lady, a school teacher, but her husband was an elephant hunter. When she came to the missionary couple for deliverance, they commanded the elephant spirit to come out. Immediately she dropped on her hands and knees, crawled out through an open door, put her forehead up against a small tree, and began to try to push it down. Wasn’t that remarkable? Perhaps some well meaning Western Christian might have said, “Our sister is pushing a tree down for Jesus.” But that was not the explanation. The elephant spirit in her was causing her to do what elephants regularly do which is push down trees with their foreheads. As soon as she was delivered from that spirit she no longer had any urge to push down trees with her forehead.
In the West we sometimes tend to speak about the people in Africa as unsophisticated and to consider ourselves more sophisticated. However, I think in this realm of animal spirits, it is we in the West who are unsophisticated and the Africans who are sophisticated. They’ve lived for generations with such spirits, but until the gospel came with the power of the name of Jesus and the word of God, they had no way to deal with them. Thank God that many of them now know how to deal with them.
Another example of which various reports have been given, is people behaving like dogs. I am a dog lover, but I think dogs should be kept in their rightful place. I do not believe that the Holy Spirit ever causes anybody to bark or to run around like a dog or to do the other things that dogs do. Where such manifestations of animal spirits have occurred, there are certain steps that we need to take. We cannot tolerate or encourage such manifestations, nor can we merely sweep all this under the carpet and go on as if nothing had happened. In Matthew 12:33 Jesus instructs us,
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.”
Wherever there is bad fruit, it comes from a bad tree. It is not enough to get rid of the bad fruit, we must also cut down the bad tree that produced it. If we fail to do this, the bad tree will go on producing more bad fruit. Undoubtedly the tree that produces animal behavior of this kind is some form of occult of pagan practice. For instance there are frequent manifestations of animal behavior in some parts of Africa and India. To cut down the tree requires that the leaders responsible identify the problem, confess it as sin, and repent of it.
No where in the Bible is there any ground to suppose that God will forgive sins that we are not willing to confess. Somebody has said, “The confession must be as wide as the transgression.” If leaders have tolerated these things in the presence of their people, then in the presence of their people they need to confess it as a sin and cancel it. Otherwise, if the bad tree is not cut down it will go on producing bad fruit.
In closing I want to give a little parable of my own construction which is about my relationship with my wife. In this parable my wife represents the Holy Spirit, and I represent God. Now, please understand, this is a very simple little parable and I’m fully aware that the Holy Spirit is not the wife of God, but with these cautions let me relate the parable.

A friend comes to me and says, “I saw you and your wife together on the platform the other evening and she looked so beautiful, so fresh, so full of the Holy Spirit.” So I say, “Thank you. That’s really how she is.”
Then a little later the same man comes to me and says, “Do you know yesterday I saw your wife in a bar with a man drinking.” And I say, “That was not my wife. My wife is a pure and godly woman. She does not go to bars and she does not drink with strangers. My wife was right here with me all day yesterday. Don’t speak that way about my wife.”
But a little later he comes to me and says, “Do you know I saw your wife yesterday sunbathing topless on the beach.” Then I get really angry. I say to him, “My wife was nowhere near the beach yesterday and she would never expose herself like that. If you want to remain my friend, you’ve got to come to the place where you don’t identify that loose, immoral woman as my wife, because that’s an insult to her and to me. If you want to remain my friend, you’ve got to change the way you speak about my wife.”
The application, of course, is this. If you want to remain a friend of God, you cannot afford to identify the Holy Spirit as something that is loose, or immoral, or ugly, or unholy, because that angers God intensely.
Now we come to one final Scripture which is Matthew 12:31–32. Jesus says,
“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
That is a very solemn and frightening warning. We are warned by Jesus to be very, very careful how we speak about the Holy Spirit, how we represent the Holy Spirit. Jesus uses the word “blasphemy” and I decided to look it up in my big Greek lexicon. The primary meaning of “to blaspheme” is given in the lexicon as this, “to speak lightly or amiss of sacred things.” So when you “speak lightly or amiss” concerning the Holy Spirit or misrepresent the character of the Holy Spirit by definition, you are close to blaspheming. If you have ever done that, or are prone to do it, or been associated with those who do it, I want to offer you some sincere advice. You need to repent. You need to settle that matter once and for all with God, and never again be guilty of misrepresenting God’s Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is holy and He is God.

GOD LOVES YOU

(Isaiah 38:17 NKJV) Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

(Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV) The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

(Luke 6:35-36 NKJV) “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. {36} “Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.

(John 3:16-17 NKJV) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. {17} “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

(John 15:13-14 NKJV) “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. {14} “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

(Romans 5:8 NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(Romans 8:34-35 NKJV) Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

(Romans 8:38-39 NKJV) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, {39} nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV) Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; {5} does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; {6} does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; {7} bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. {8} Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

(1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV) And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

(Ephesians 2:4-5 NKJV) But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, {5} even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

(Ephesians 3:17-20 NKJV) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, {18} may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; {19} to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. {20} Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

(2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV) For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

(1 John 3:1 NKJV) Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

(1 John 4:7-10 NKJV) Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. {8} He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. {9} In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. {10} In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

(1 John 4:15-19 NKJV) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. {16} And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. {17} Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. {18} There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. {19} We love Him because He first loved us.

Question: “What is open theism?”

Answer: “Open theism,” also known as “openness theology” and the “openness of God,” is an attempt to explain the foreknowledge of God in relationship to the free will of man. The argument of open theism is essentially this: human beings are truly free; if God absolutely knew the future, human beings could not truly be free. Therefore, God does not know absolutely everything about the future. Open theism holds that the future is not knowable. Therefore, God knows everything that can be known, but He does not know the future.

Open theism bases these beliefs on Scripture passages which describe God “changing His mind” or “being surprised” or “seeming to gain knowledge” (Genesis 6:6; 22:12; Exodus 32:14; Jonah 3:10). In light of the many other Scriptures that declare God’s knowledge of the future, these Scriptures should be understood as God describing Himself in ways that we can understand. God knows what our actions and decisions will be, but He “changes His mind” in regard to His actions based on our actions. God’s disappointment at the wickedness of humanity does not mean He was not aware it would occur.

In contradiction to open theism, Psalm 139:4, 16 state, “Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD…All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” How could God predict intricate details in the Old Testament about Jesus Christ if He does not know the future? How could God in any manner guarantee our eternal salvation if He does not know what the future holds?

Ultimately, open theism fails in that it attempts to explain the unexplainable—the relationship between God’s foreknowledge and mankind’s free will. Just as extreme forms of Calvinism fail in that they make human beings nothing more than pre-programmed robots, so open theism fails in that it rejects God’s true omniscience and sovereignty. God must be understood through faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6a). Open theism is, therefore, not scriptural. It is simply another way for finite man to try to understand an infinite God. Open theism should be rejected by followers of Christ. While open theism is an explanation for the relationship between God’s foreknowledge and human free will, it is not the biblical explanation.

Question: “What is Liberation Theology?”

Answer: Simply put, Liberation Theology is an attempt to interpret Scripture through the plight of the poor. It is largely a humanistic doctrine. It started in South America in the turbulent 1950s when Marxism was making great gains among the poor because of its emphasis on the redistribution of wealth, allowing poor peasants to share in the wealth of the colonial elite and thus upgrade their economic status in life. As a theology, it has very strong Roman Catholic roots.

Liberation Theology was bolstered in 1968 at the Second Latin American Bishops Conference which met in Medellin, Colombia. The idea was to study the Bible and to fight for social justice in Christian (Catholic) communities. Since the only governmental model for the redistribution of the wealth in a South American country was a Marxist model, the redistribution of wealth to raise the economic standards of the poor in South America took on a definite Marxist flavor. Since those who had money were very reluctant to part with it in any wealth redistribution model, the use of a populist (read poor) revolt was encouraged by those who worked most closely with the poor. As a result, the Liberation Theology model was mired in Marxist dogma and revolutionary causes.

As a result of its Marxist leanings, Liberation Theology as practiced by the bishops and priests of South America was criticized in the 1980s by the Catholic hierarchy, from Pope John Paul on down. The top hierarchy of the Catholic Church accused liberation theologians of supporting violent revolutions and outright Marxist class struggle. This perversion is usually the result of a humanist view of man being codified into Church Doctrine by zealous priests and bishops and explains why the Catholic top hierarchy now wants to separate itself from Marxist doctrine and revolution.

However, Liberation Theology has moved from the poor peasants in South America to the poor blacks in North America. We now have Black Liberation Theology being preached in the black community. It is the same Marxist, revolutionary, humanistic philosophy found in South American Liberation Theology and has no more claim for a scriptural basis than the South American model has. False doctrine is still false, no matter how it is dressed up or what fancy name is attached to it. In the same way that revolutionary fervor was stirred up in South America, Liberation Theology is now trying to stir up revolutionary fervor among blacks in America. If the church in America recognizes the falseness of Black Liberation Theology as the Catholic Church did in the South American model, Black Liberation Theology will suffer the same fate that the South America Liberation Theology did; namely, it will be seen as a false, humanist doctrine dressed up in theological terms.

Question: “What is Arianism?”

Answer: Arianism is named for Arius, a teacher in the early 4th century A.D. One of the earliest and probably the most important item of debate among early Christians was the subject of Christ’s deity. Was Jesus truly God in the flesh or was Jesus a created being? Was Jesus God or just like God? Arius held that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation, that Jesus was the crowning glory of all creation. Arianism, then, is the view that Jesus was a created being with divine attributes, but was not divine in and of Himself.

Arianism misunderstands references to Jesus’ being tired (John 4:6) and not knowing the date of His return (Matthew 24:36). Yes, it is difficult to understand how God could be tired and/or not know something, but relegating Jesus to a created being is not the answer. Jesus was fully God, but He was also fully human. Jesus did not become a human being until the incarnation. Therefore, Jesus’ limitations as a human being have no impact on His divine nature or eternality.

A second major misinterpretation in Arianism is the meaning of “firstborn” (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15-20). Arians understand “firstborn” in these verses to mean that Jesus was “born” or “created” as the first act of creation. This is not the case. Jesus Himself proclaimed His self-existence and eternality (John 8:58; 10:30). John 1:1-2 tells us that Jesus was “in the beginning with God.” In Bible times, the firstborn son of a family was held in great honor (Genesis 49:3; Exodus 11:5; 34:19; Numbers 3:40; Psalm 89:27; Jeremiah 31:9). It is in this sense that Jesus is God’s firstborn. Jesus is the preeminent member of God’s family. Jesus is the anointed one, the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

After nearly a century of debate at various early church councils, the Christian church officially denounced Arianism as a false doctrine. Since that time, Arianism has never been accepted as a viable doctrine of the Christian faith. Arianism has not died, however. Arianism has continued throughout the centuries in varying forms. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons of today hold a very Arian-like position on Christ’s nature. Just as the early church did, we must denounce any and all attacks on the deity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Question: “What is apostasy and how can I recognize it?”

Answer: Apostasy, from the Greek word apostasia, means “a defiance of an established system or authority; a rebellion; an abandonment or breach of faith.” In the first-century world, apostasy was a technical term for political revolt or defection. And just like in the first century, apostasy threatens the Body of Christ today.

The Bible warns about people like Arius (c. A.D. 250 – 336), a Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt, who was trained at Antioch in the early fourth century. About A.D. 318, Arius accused Bishop Alexander of Alexandria of subscribing to Sabellianism, a false teaching which asserted that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were merely roles or modes assumed by God at various times. Arius was determined to emphasize the oneness of God; however, he went too far in his teaching of God’s nature. Arius denied the Trinity and introduced what appeared on the surface to be an inconsequential difference between the Father and Son.

Arius argued that Jesus was not homoousios (of the same essence) as the Father, but was rather homoiousios (of similar essence). Only one Greek letter – the iota (i) – separated the two. Arius described his position in this manner: “The Father existed before the Son. There was a time when the Son did not exist. Therefore, the Son was created by the Father. Therefore, although the Son was the highest of all creatures, he was not of the essence of God.”

Arius was very clever and did his best to get the people on his side, even going so far as to compose little songs that taught his theology, which he tried to teach to everyone who would listen. His winsome nature and revered position as a preacher and one who lived in denial of himself contributed also to his cause.

With respect to apostasy, it is critical that all Christians understand two important things: (1) how to recognize apostasy and apostate teachers; and (2) why apostate teaching is so deadly.

The Forms of Apostasy
To fully identify and combat apostasy, it is important that Christians understand its various forms and the traits that characterize its doctrines and teachers. As to the forms of apostasy, there are two main types: (1) a falling away from key and true doctrines of the Bible into heretical teachings that proclaim to be “the real” Christian doctrine; and (2) a complete renunciation of the Christian faith, which results in a full abandonment of Christ.

Arius represents the first form of apostasy—a denial of key Christian truths (such as the divinity of Christ) that ultimately begins a downhill slide into a full departure from the faith, which is the second form of apostasy. It is important to understand that the second form almost always begins with the first. A heretical belief becomes a heretical teaching that splinters and grows until it pollutes all aspects of a person’s faith and then the full end goal of Satan is accomplished, which is a complete falling away from Christianity.

A recent example of this process is a 2010 study done by prominent atheist Daniel Dennett and Linda LaScola called “Preachers Who Are Not Believers.” Dennett and LaScola’s work chronicles five different preachers who over time were presented with and accepted heretical teachings about Christianity and now have completely fallen away from the faith and are either pantheists or clandestine atheists. One of the most disturbing truths highlighted in the study is that these preachers maintain their position as pastors of Christian churches with their congregations being unaware of their leader’s true spiritual state.

The dangers of apostasy were warned about in the book of Jude, which serves as a handbook for understanding the characteristics of apostates like those chronicled in Dennett and LaScola’s study. Jude’s words are every bit as relevant for us today as they were when he penned them in the first century, so it is important we carefully read and understand them.

The Characteristics of Apostasy and Apostates
Jude was the half-brother of Jesus and a leader in the early church. In his New Testament letter, he outlines how to recognize apostasy and strongly urges those in the body of Christ to contend earnestly for the faith (vs. 3). The Greek word translated “contend earnestly” is a compound verb from where we get the word “agonize.” It is in the present infinitive form, which means that the struggle will be continuous. In other words, Jude is telling us that there will be a constant fight against false teaching and that Christians should take it so seriously that we “agonize” over the fight in which we are engaged. Moreover, Jude makes it clear that every Christian is called to this fight, not just the local body’s leaders, so it is critical that all believers sharpen their discernment skills so that they can recognize and prevent apostasy in their midst.

After urging his readers to contend earnestly for the faith, Jude then highlights the reason: “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (vs. 4). In this one verse, Jude provides Christians with three traits of apostasy and apostate teachers.

First, Jude says that apostasy can be subtle. Jude uses the word “crept” (found in no other book of the Bible) to describe the apostate’s entry into the church. In extra-biblical Greek, the term describes the cunning craftiness of a lawyer who, through clever argumentation, infiltrates the minds of courtroom officials and corrupts their thinking. The word literally means “slip in sideways; come in stealthily; sneak in; hard to detect.” In other words, Jude says it is rare that apostasy begins in an overt and easily detectable manner. Instead, it looks a lot like Arius’ preaching in which, in a seemingly dismissive and nonchalant manner, only a single letter differentiates its doctrine from the real teaching of the Christian faith.

Describing this aspect of apostasy and its underlying danger, A. W. Tozer wrote, “So skilled is error at imitating truth, that the two are constantly being mistaken for each another. It takes a sharp eye these days to know which brother is Cain and which is Abel.” The Apostle Paul also speaks to the outwardly pleasing behavior of apostates and their teaching when he says, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). In other words, do not look for apostates to appear bad on the outside or speak dramatic words of heresy at the outset of their teaching. Rather than denying truth outright, apostates will twist it to fit their own agenda, but as pastor R. C. Lensky has noted, “The worst forms of wickedness consist in perversions of the truth.”

Second, Jude describes the apostates as “ungodly” and as those who use God’s grace as a license to commit unrighteous acts. Beginning with “ungodly,” throughout his letter Jude describes eighteen unflattering traits of apostates so his readers can more easily identify them. Jude says the apostates are ungodly (vs. 4), morally perverted (vs. 4), denying Christ (vs. 4), ones who defile the flesh (vs. 8), rebellious (vs. 8), people who revile angels (vs. 8), who are ignorant about God (vs. 8), those who proclaim false visions (vs. 10), self-destructive (vs. 10), grumblers (vs. 16), fault finders (vs. 16), self-satisfying (vs. 16), people who use arrogant words and false flattery (vs. 16), mockers of God (vs. 18), those who cause divisions (vs. 19), worldly minded (vs. 19), and finally (and not surprisingly), devoid of the Spirit/unsaved (vs. 19).

Third, Jude says apostates “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” How do apostates do this? Paul tells us in his letter to Titus: “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:15-16, emphasis added). Through their unrighteous behavior, the apostates show their true selves. Unlike an apostate, one who is a true believer is someone who has been delivered from sin to righteousness in Christ. With Paul, they ask the apostates who promote licentious behavior, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2)

But the apostates’ false teaching also shows their true nature. Peter says, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves” (2 Peter 2:1). Another aspect of true believers is that they have been delivered out of spiritual darkness into light (Ephesians 5:8) and therefore will not deny core truths of Scripture like Arius did with the divinity of Jesus.

Ultimately, the sign of an apostate is that he eventually falls away and departs from the truth of God’s Word and His righteousness. The Apostle John signifies this is a mark of a false believer: “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).

Ideas Have Consequences
That God takes apostasy and false teaching seriously is evidenced by the fact that every New Testament book except Philemon contains warnings about false teaching. Why is this? Simply because ideas have consequences. Right thinking and its fruit produces goodness, whereas wrong thinking and its accompanying action results in undesired penalties. As an example, the 1970s Cambodian killing fields were the product of the nihilistic worldview of Jean Paul Sartre and his teaching. The Khmer Rouge’s leader Pol Pot lived out Sartre’s philosophy toward the people in a clear and frightening way, which was articulated in this manner: “To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.”

It should be remembered that Satan did not come to the first couple in the Garden with an external armament or supernatural weapon, but instead he came to them with an idea. And it was that idea that condemned them and the rest of humankind, with the only remedy being the sacrificial death of God’s Son.

The great tragedy is, whether knowingly or unknowingly, the apostate teacher dooms his unsuspecting followers. One of the most frightening verses in all of Scripture comes from the lips of Jesus. Speaking to His disciples about the religious leaders of His day, He said, “Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14; emphasis added). This verse is alarming because Jesus affirms that it is not only the false teachers that go to destruction, but their disciples also follow them. Christian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard put it this way: “For it has never yet been known to fail that one fool, when he goes astray, takes several others with him.”

Conclusion
In A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea convened primarily to take up the issue of Arius and his teaching. Much to Arius’s dismay, the end result was his excommunication and a statement made in the Nicene Creed, which affirmed Christ’s divinity: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father.”

Arius may have died centuries ago, but his spiritual children are still with us to this day in the form of cults like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and others who deny Christ’s true essence and person. Sadly, until Christ returns and every last spiritual enemy has been removed, tares such as these will be present among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). In fact, Scripture says apostasy will only get worse as Christ’s return approaches. “At that time [the latter days] many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another” (Matthew 24:10). Paul echoes Jesus in his inspired writings as well. The apostle told the Thessalonians that a great falling away would precede Christ’s second coming (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and that the end times would be characterized by tribulation and hollow religious charlatans: “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be . . . holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:1-2, 5).

This being true, it is critical, now more than ever, that every believer pray for discernment, combat apostasy, and contend earnestly for the faith that has once and for all been delivered to the saints.

Romans 11:25-26 – What Does Paul Mean by “All Israel Will Be Saved”?

by Matt Dabbs

The toughest couple of verses in all of Romans are contained in Romans 11. After Paul’s illustration of the olive tree and how God selects those branches (whether native to the tree (Jews) or wild olive branches (Gentiles) that belong in his tree he makes a statement that is a little perplexing in 11:25-26…

“I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved…”

It is difficult to say which mystery Paul is talking about when he says “this” mystery. He could be talking about the olive tree and God’s “kind and stern” actions toward his people. Or “this” could refer to what he is about to say regarding Israel’s hardening but eventually acceptance. Last night in our men’s class I made the point that the mystery points back to the olive tree example but the more I think about it, I think it mostly points forward to what Paul is about to explain – God’s plan to save Israel. That is, after all, what Paul is trying to explain all through chapters 9-11. Paul says God has planned the salvation of Israel in three steps – 1) hardening of some of the Jews, 2) acceptance of some Gentiles, 3) all Israel will be saved.

At this point we have some issues. When Paul writes that “all Israel will be saved” we either have to define Israel by a certain set of people in order to make that consistent with all Paul has said about the necessity of righteousness to come by faith in Christ or we have to assume all Jews will eventually put their faith in Christ, or that God is going to save them no matter what (which is not consistent with what Paul has written to this point in Romans). Some people have wanted to say Paul is talking about “Spiritual Israel” here but that just doesn’t bear out through the context. Paul is talking about ethnic Jews here. So either they all will eventually put their faith in Christ or Paul is defining Israel in a slightly different way than meaning every single person who is a direct descendent of Abraham. Paul and Jesus agree that not all ethnic Jews are actually children of Abraham (see John 8:39-41 & Romans 4:12).

It has always been the case that God has called his people “Israel” when some Jews were not included in that number. Two places we see this in the OT are the concept of the remnant and also through blessings and curses in Deuteronomy (for more on that see the first paragraph in this post on Galatians 3:10-14). In Deuteronomy blessings and curses are repeatedly laid out before God’s people. The gist of it is, if you follow God and keep his commandments you will do well in the land. But if you double cross God, rebel and go your own way you will be under a curse. This curse was basically considered a removal of the blessings of God and of covenant status with God. That basically would put an ethnic Jew out of “Israel” and into the same status as the Gentiles (who were also thought to be cursed and devoid of God’s blessings). So my contention here when Paul says “all Israel will be saved” is that he is talking about “true Israelites” (as Jesus refered to Nathaniel as in John 1:47)…those who obeyed the law and were led by that law, as it was intended to do, to Jesus Christ. So this does not mean every single Jew who ever lived will be saved and it does not mean that every single Jew will somehow get a second chance to believe in Jesus at the last day (although I can see how some would interpret it that way). It probably means faithful Jews will turn to Christ and be redeemed and that in some way, shape or form, there may be more of that to come than we realize. That is the plan that God had from the beginning. The only difficulty I see in this interpretation is that it is difficult to keep the Israel of verse 25 consistent with the Israel of verse 26. Hank’s suggestion that the ESV translation of this verse may help us a little here – “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved…”

What did Paul mean? – “All Israel Will Be Saved” (Rom 11:26)
Written on March 11, 2012 by Riley in Apologetics, Covenant Theology, Fulfilled eschatology, Israel, Max King, Preterism, Realized Eschatology, Resurrection, Romans, Theology

Paul’s statement in Romans 11 that “all Israel will be saved,” has baffled Christians for centuries. Here is a helpful article giving an Old Testament context and covenantal background of Paul’s statement. Max King is a genius with a way of making his point clear and taking the mystery out of otherwise confusing issues.

And So All Israel Will Be Saved

by Max R. King, July 9, 2005

Many look to Paul’s assertion in Romans 11:26, “And so all Israel will be saved,” and see a prediction of Old Covenant Israel’s national restoration to their former place of temple worship and service in ‘the land,’ which allegedly marks the beginning of an earthly thousand-year reign of Christ that supposedly fulfills promises to Israel that were not, and could not, be fulfilled in the ‘church age.’ Countless predictions and calculations allege that now is the time for it all to happen.

The restoration of national Old Covenant Israel is one of the major tenets of dispensational premillennialism. Dispensationalism stands opposed to amillennialism on the question of Israel’s national restoration. However, there is no general consensus on Romans 11:26 in the amillennial world. Some see it referring to a future mass conversion of Jews to Christ. Others feel that Paul spoke of the sum total of individual Jews who will eventually turn to Christ during an extended Christian age. Then, there are those who are not sure what it means—except they ‘know’ what it doesn’t mean.

Here is the picture. Premillennial theologians say that the amillennial proponents are wrong, and the amillennial scholars say that the premillennial position is wrong. The irony of all this is their united stand on that which causes both camps to miss the significance of this passage: namely, the assumption that Christ’s Second Coming is still future. It is precisely this supposition that leads both groups to miss the context and setting of biblical covenantal eschatology. Romans11:26 is no exception.

Here is the basic problem. The eschatology found in the New Testament emerges from the Old Testament. The setting of its fulfillment is the closing period (the last days) of fleshly (Old Covenant) Israel in the first century. One could rightly say that the New Testament has no eschatology of its own because eschatology pertains to the end of the Old Covenant, not to the end of the New. Naturally, since the apostolic writings were composed during the last days’ time of fulfillment they contained a ‘future’ perspective, but this future never extended beyond the full end or consummation of the Old Covenant age in 70 A.D.

We see in Romans 9-11 that Paul was not looking to some far-distant time for the salvation of “all Israel.” In Romans 11:25, he connects Israel’s salvation with the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles. Paul understood this as the goal of HIS Gentile ministry. Then in verses 26-27, he linked this goal with the coming of the Deliverer (Christ) out of Zion (his Second Appearing) in keeping with God’s covenant to “turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” and to “take away their sins.” The covenant under consideration here is the New Covenant that God had promised to make “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah saying, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:3ff.; Hebrews 8:7-13). With this one New Covenant, God would take away the sins of Israel and Judah.

Here is the problem as commonly presented. If this covenant was the New Covenant, and if the New Covenant was ratified in Christ’s death, how could Israel’s salvation (the taking away her sins) be ‘future’ when Paul wrote Romans years after the cross? And why would this act of God be tied to Christ’s Second Appearing rather than to His death, resurrection, or the beginning of the church on Pentecost?

Atonement Background

The problem is resolved when considering of the role of “atonement” in eschatology and the range of action it involves. Israel’s yearly Day of Atonement typified the once-for-all atonement Christ made. But what did it entail? It consisted of three basic actions on the part of Israel’s high priest—(1) slaying the sacrifice; (2) entering the Holy of Holies with its blood to make atonement in the presence of God; (3) his returning and appearing to Israel at the door of the tent. His return was anxiously awaited by Israel because it signaled God’s acceptance of the atonement.

The atonement, therefore, was not completed when the sacrifice was slain, nor when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place. The ATONEMENT WAS ACCOMPLISHED when the high priest returned the SECOND and final time. Bear in mind that the priest entered TWICE with the blood of the sacrifice: first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the PEOPLE, Hebrews 7:27. The latter was the MAIN focus of his return and of a consummated atonement.

Hebrews 9 ascribes the SAME pattern of action to Christ’s fulfillment of Israel’s atonement. The Book of Hebrews intentionally prefaces comments on this matter in chapter 8 with a discussion about the New Covenant’s ability to take away the sins of Israel and Judah. Christ’s atoning action is under careful consideration in 9:23-28, where we see the three-fold atonement pattern: First, the offering of the sacrifice (Himself). Second, Christ’s entrance into the true Most Holy Place with His own blood to make atonement. Third, his returning or appearing “a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” to those eagerly waiting for Him (v.28).

The Book of Hebrews was written after Christ’s death, but before His “Second Appearing.” Thus, it was composed during the time he was making atonement in the Presence of God (9:24). In Christ’s case, the atonement involved His reigning “till His enemies are made His footstool” (10:11-12)—the last of which was death (1Corinthians 15:25-26). The author of Hebrews believed [and TAUGHT authoritatively] that Christ’s return (Second Appearing), that signaled a consummated and accepted atonement, was IMMINENT. The writer exhorted his readers, “To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (9:28). They could see the Day approaching (10:25). “For ‘soon, very soon’…he who is to come will come and will NOT DELAY” (10: 37, NEB). In this way, the writer encouraged the original audience to have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus” (10:19f).

Significantly, the author of Hebrews affirmed that Christ’s atonement, when consummated at his Second Appearing, would enable the saints to enter the presence of God in the true Holiest of All—the one not made with hands. This was not possible with the atonement made by Israel’s High Priest. The Old Covenant High Priest appeared at the door of the tent to bless the waiting congregation, but he could never receive them into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies. He could not even remain there himself. However, Christ’s atonement and return would be of a different order, as Jesus himself noted in John 14:1-6.

We have, therefore, a biblical atonement setting for Romans 11:26 where Israel’s New Covenant salvation was still future (from Paul’s standpoint) since it was tied to Christ’s Second Appearing, which was near when the Book of Romans was written. “And do this, knowing the time, that NOW it is high TIME to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day IS AT HAND” (Rom.13:11-12).

Paul was not saying that they had received no salvation when they first believed. Rather, in view of the time, it was then nearer than when they first believed. Their salvation was nearer both in time and in fullness, as indicated in Romans 11:12. Here Paul spoke of “how much more” the Gentiles would benefit in the near future from Israel’s soteriological (salvation) “fullness.” The Gentiles received “riches” (reconciliation to God) through Israel’s fall, but the “much more” to be received in Israel’s acceptance would be “life from the dead” (11:15). The “dead” here is Israel, whose acceptance/resurrection would yield the benefit of life for the Gentiles.

Paul did not change from one salvation in 11:26 (for Israel) to another salvation (in 13:11). The salvation in 11:26 was not in the infinite future while the salvation in 13:11 was “nearer” and “at hand.” If he did, for whom is the salvation in 13:11? The Gentiles?

Were they to receive a different salvation than Israel was promised? That cannot be because Paul in chapter 11 states that the Gentiles were grafted into Israel’s olive tree to receive what precisely what Israel was to receive; nothing more, nothing less.

As noted above, the scriptures in Hebrews and Romans tell us that the salvation of all Israel in Romans 11:26 was in the immediate future, that it was tied to the New Covenant and to Christ’s Second Appearing, and that it pertained to consummated atonement. Both premillennial and amillennial theologians have overlooked this historical setting, covenantal connection, and theological background.

New Covenant atonement is eschatological, and it falls into the closing period of the Old Covenant age. The end in view when “all Israel” would be saved is the precise end addressed by Jesus in Matthew 24 which was marked by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. This event ushered in Israel’s promised New Covenant creation (Isaiah 65:17f) wherein righteousness dwells (2 Peter 1:3).

Stepping into the middle of that short eschatological period of time (from the cross to the fall of Jerusalem) and breaking off that imminent future from its past and then-present action being recorded in the New Testament texts and transferring that immediate future to some alleged end of an extended “church age” disregards the context of the first- century historical situation and the Old Covenant theological grounding. Christ’s second appearing is integrally connected to his atonement, his death, and his entering the Most Holy Place. If Christ has NOT yet appeared the second time, then only one of two possibilities must be valid. One, the atonement is not yet completed. Or worse, it was not accepted by God. These are the only possible conclusions for the amillennial and premillennial positions.

The Essence of Israel’s Salvation

Identifying Israel’s salvation sheds light on the time and manner of its fulfillment. There is general agreement that Paul recognized Israel’s salvation as being rooted in God’s promise to Abraham as confirmed in Christ.
Yet the dispensational position argues that that promise includes a restored earthly temple, kingdom, and animal sacrificial system in Canaan. Is this what hardened Old Covenant Israel failed to obtain—the fleshly ordinances (Romans 11:7)? This is precisely what Torah- zealous Israel held on to. This is not what Paul had in mind when he wrote that some branches were broken off from the holy rooted olive tree (Rom. 11:17). Paul would not permit the Gentiles to revert to the Old Covenant system by being grafted into Israel’s olive tree (the Abrahamic promise in Christ). They could not gain that which unbelieving Israel had failed to attain (9:30-33) by going back into the Old Covenant. Paul never affirmed that the Gentiles would attain to restored land, earthly temple, Jerusalem, kingdom, and animal sacrifices

If we can learn what the Gentiles obtained in Israel’s olive tree, then we can know the essence of Israel’s salvation in 11:26. Paul confirmed, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone” (9:30-32).

“Righteousness” is a historically controversial subject among theologians. Suffice it to say that Paul tends to use it interchangeably with “justification.”[1] In Galatians 3:21 it is equated with “life”—the soteriological life and glory of God that humanity came short of (Romans 3:23). It is called “the righteousness of God” because it is God-given. And its only foundation is God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). The difference between the Gentiles’ attaining to God’s righteousness (not having pursued it) and Israel’s not attaining unto it (while having pursued it) is this. Paul said in 10:3, “For they [Israel] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.” What is Paul’s point?

First, he didn’t say that the Gentiles were not ignorant of God’s righteousness, although they were until its revelation in Christ through the gospel (1:16-17). On the other hand, Israel, who was chosen or elected of God to carry the promise forward to Christ (cf. 9:1-5), did not know God’s righteousness in advance of its revelation in Christ. They took matters in their own hands. Rather than waiting for God and the promise by faith, Paul said they set out “to establish their own righteousness” through “a law of righteousness,” which they presumed could be found (and handled) in the Law given through Moses. But they found the opposite of what they were seeking. Paul states the reason. “For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them’” (10:5). Thus in seeking a law of righteousness, Israel found instead “a law of sin and death” (8:2). Paul describes this dilemma more fully in 7:13-25.

The Gentiles, therefore, in attaining to righteousness by faith through being grafted into Israel’s olive tree (11:17f), demonstrated the true meaning and essence of Israel’s salvation in 11:26. They were proof that Israel’s promise in Christ excludes fleshly circumcision and subjugation to the Law of Moses and its ordinances. These were “shadows” of things to come, but Christ is the “substance” or body (Colossians 2:16-17). Hence, Christ was “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).

Yet, if the Gentiles already had attained to righteousness when Paul wrote Romans, does this not prove that the full salvation was not ‘future’ in 11:26? No, it merely confirms whatwe stated above about the past, present, and future range of eschatology in Paul’s time. We find it again in Galatians 5:5: “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” How could Paul and the Galatians be eagerly waiting for this hope if it were fulfilled already? Elsewhere Paul said that “hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees” (Romans 8:24)? This illustrates consummated salvation or “righteousness by faith” cannot be simply collapsed into the time period of the cross or Pentecost. Furthermore, Paul’s “eagerness” shows that he expected the consummation to occur in HIS near future—not our extended future.

The Gentiles’ attaining to righteousness already (from the perspective of when Romans was written) is based on the benefits received in Christ through what he had done and was then presently doing as High Priest. Thus they could look with assurance and eager anticipation to the approaching consummation. It is the same situation seen with respect to the atonement in Hebrews 9 and the eager waiting for Christ’s Second Appearing.

In Romans 11:11-15, Paul spoke of the initial blessings (riches, reconciliation) that the Gentiles received through Israel’s fall, but there would be “much more” to be gained through Israel’s “fullness” and “acceptance.” Paul, therefore, had a definite future in view that would yield benefits for the Gentiles through God’s acceptance of Israel. These complete blessings would surmount those that they had already received. This promise refuted the notion that God had cast away His people whom He foreknew because the blessing to the Gentiles was contingent upon God’s acceptance of Israel.

What was this future and the “much more” that would come through Israel’s acceptance? How is it relevant to the fulfillment of “the hope of righteousness by faith” eagerly awaited through the Spirit”? Before answering this, we must address an overriding question.

Who Comprises the “All Israel” in 11:26?

There has been much discussion about the meaning of “all Israel” in this verse. But the context shows that Paul uses ‘Israel’ here the same way he uses it throughout chapters 9-11, as a reference to Jacob’s physical lineage. Changing here to a ‘spiritual’ usage to include Gentile believers (as some hold) would counter the point Paul makes. Paul was not replacing Israel with the church. He was not attempting to prove the supposed ‘spiritual identities’ of Jew and Gentile in 11:26. Instead, he was establishing for his Gentile audience that God had not cast away Israel and that “all Israel” will be saved.

Our task, then, is to see the connection between the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles and the salvation of not just part of Israel, but of “all Israel.”

Importantly, Paul links the salvation of the Gentiles and the salvation of all Israel. To see this connection, one must observe what Paul says in 11:26-27: “as it is written, The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is my covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” With whom is this covenant made?

To whom does the Deliverer come? Whose sins are taken away? Paul quotes from Isaiah 27:9 and 59:20-21, and this prophetic text is closely linked to the covenant that Jeremiah speaks of the in 31:31-34; i.e., the New Covenant that God would make, not with part of Israel, but with BOTH “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah.” So, how does Paul’s mission to the Gentiles fit in with God’s fulfillment of His covenant with both houses, Israel and Judah?

Historically speaking, Christ came in the flesh to the house of Judah—the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in Judea. But where was the house of Israel? We know the answer to that. The ten tribes of the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 721 BC, never to be restored to their former tribal “people of God” status in Palestine. The few who were left in Samaria intermarried with non-Jews who were imported to occupy the vacated land and cities of Israel. Out of this amalgamation grew the Samaritan people despised by Second Temple Jews. Apparently a few managed to join with Judah either before Judah’s Babylonian captivity or at the time of her return and the restoration of Jerusalem. As for the rest of the captives who were scattered among the nations, nothing is recorded about what became of them.

But this much we do know. God’s casting away of Israel was not His last word concerning the ten tribes. The prophets foretold that in the days of the Messiah, Ephraim/Israel/the ten tribes would be gathered or assembled with Judah and become one nation. God instructed Jeremiah, “Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. ‘For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:2-3). And again, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people … He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock” (Jer. 31:1, 10).

Through Micah, God said, “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many men” (2:12).

The clearest, most graphic prophecy of Israel’s recovery and reunion with Judah is recorded in Ezekiel, chapters 36-37. In chapter 37 Ezekiel saw a valley of dry bones. He was told that these bones were “the whole house of Israel.” They depict Israel’s condition in captivity saying, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” (37:11). Then God spoke to them saying, “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves” (37:12-13).

Next, Ezekiel was instructed to take a stick and write on it, “‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand” (37:15-17). Ezekiel is told that this means that Judah and Ephraim (the ten northern tribes) WILL BECOME ONE in God’s hand. “Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone … and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountain of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again” (37:21-22).

Furthermore, God said, “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd … and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore … indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (37:24-28).

In John 10, Jesus echoed Ezekiel’s prophecy, applying it to himself. He told those of the house of Judah, “I am the good shepherd … and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have (the scattered house of Israel) which are not of this fold (the fold of Judah); them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:11-16).

Indeed, that is salvation, not for just part of Israel, but for all Israel—BOTH HOUSES, Israel and Judah. This is what Paul had in view in 11:26 when Paul spoke of the fulfillment that was occurring in HIS time.

“Not My people” versus “My people”

We are now ready to take up the prophecy of Hosea concerning God’s scattering and re- gathering Israel (the ten northern tribes). We will see its relevance to what Paul affirmed in Romans 11:25-26 concerning the coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles and the salvation of all Israel.

The prostitution or idolatry of Israel (the ten northern tribes) and God’s punishment of them is pictured in Hosea 1. Israel is symbolized by through Gomer (the woman of prostitution whom God instructed Hosea to take for a wife). The children born of this union were Jezreel (meaning “God will disperse”), Lo-Ruhamah (meaning “without mercy”), and Lo-Ammi (meaning “no longer my people”). This was to show that God was going to disperse or scatter Israel without mercy in a place where they would not be his people, and thus “bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel” (1:4).

But Israel would not be cast away forever. Hosea foretold Israel’s restoration in chapters 1 and 2. “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There it shall be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’ Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel!” (1:10-11). In 2:23 the prophet wrote, “And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

Returning to Romans, Paul, in speaking of the vessels of mercy which God “had prepared beforehand for glory,” quotes the prophecy from Hosea applying it both to Jews and Gentiles in Christ (9:23-26). Paul related Hosea to the restoration of the ten tribes scattered among the nations. Why, then, did he apply it also to the Gentiles?

Israel became a “no people of God” when scattered among the nations or Gentiles. But how was Israel to be recovered? Not only did Christ not go to her during His earthly ministry, but he did not permit his disciples whom he sent out in Matthew 10 to “go into the way of the Gentiles,” nor to “enter a city of the Samaritans” (Matt. 10:5). Only after his death and resurrection would it be possible to assemble both Judah and Israel—not in the earthly but in the New (heavenly) Jerusalem of the new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:1ff).

How, then, would Christ gather His sheep, particularly His “other sheep” scattered among the nations? It would be by his ministry through the Holy Spirit imparted to his apostles, and by the preaching of the gospel in all the world for a witness before the final end of Israel’s earthly commonwealth (Matthew 24:13,14; 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). The remarkable ingredient to this commission was Paul’s call to be an apostle to the Gentiles. In going to the Gentiles, Paul had opportunity to preach to Israel scattered among the nations whom God said through Hosea, “You are not My people.”

But how would they become “the people of God”? In precisely the same way the Gentiles who (like scattered Israel) were a “no people of God” became his people. The Gentiles, therefore, served to demonstrate to Israel (and to Judah) the meaning of their adoption or sonship in Christ through His death and resurrection.

From that perspective, Paul (in Romans 9:23-26) drew the Gentiles into Hosea’s prophecy concerning Israel, for they too stood on equal ground as the “no people of God.” It is interesting to note that the place where it was said of Israel, “You are not My people,” (i.e., among the nations) there it would be said, “You are My people.” Peter confirmed the fulfillment when writing to the “Dispersion” in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia saying, “But you are a chosen generation … who once were not a people but are now the people of God” (1 Peter 1: 1; 2:9-10).

They did not have to be transported back to geographical Palestine to be God’s people. The new dwelling was “in Christ.” Christ fulfills the “land promise” for all Israel. The place of worship no longer is in Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim (John 4:20- 24). As God said, “I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore … indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My People” (Ezekiel 37:27; Revelation 21:3).

The Gentiles’ Impact on All Israel’s Salvation

We now are set to see how the “fullness of the Gentiles” connects with the “salvation of all Israel” (11:25-26). While the word “fullness” denotes a filling up or bringing to completion, Paul was not concerned about aggregate numbers per se. He was interested in bringing the Gentiles from birth to full maturity in Christ (Galatians 4:19). He ministered among the Gentile to accomplish this. At the same time, he did not separate from Jewish believers in their midst, nor did he permit Gentile believers to isolate themselves from their Jewish brethren. Together they grew “into a holy temple … for a habitation of God in the Spirit.” Together they would “come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 2:19- 22; 4:11-16).

….[skipped a section for sake of space and time]….

Israel’s Resurrection “Fullness”

We learn from Romans 9-11 and Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles that in every
sense “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). God designed things that way by calling Abraham, giving promises to him, and choosing Israel to carry the promises to consummation in and through Christ. It follows, therefore, that every facet of eschatology pertains to the Comprehensive Grace of God in fulfilling Israel’s comprehensive salvation.

Therefore, all facets of this salvation are included in Israel’s “time of the end.” The resurrection, which is the core of salvation, is no exception. Resurrection was promised to Israel (Isaiah 25:8; 26:19; Ezekiel 37:1-14; Hosea 13:14; Daniel 12), and it constituted “the hope of Israel” (Acts 26:6-9). This hope resided at the heart of the gospel preached to Israel (Acts 2:22-39; 4:1-2; 13:32-39; 23:6; 24:14-15).

So, when Paul in Romans 11:12-15 points out to Gentiles that the “much more” of Israel’s “fullness” and “acceptance” would mean for them “life from the dead,” he referred to the fulfillment of Israel’s promised resurrection. The Gentiles, thus, benefited from Israel’s resurrection just as they profited from every aspect of Israel’s hope, promise, and inheritance of salvation.

It is from this perspective that we can read and understand Paul’s teaching on resurrection in his epistles. In his resurrection texts, he either corrected or gave further instruction to Gentiles relative to the fulfillment of Israel’s resurrection through Christ. He showed the relevance of this fulfillment to the Gentiles’ own soteriological fullness and perfection in Christ. They could not set aside Israel and claim any advantage or perfection in Christ independently of Christ’s making good God’s promises to the fathers of Israel (Romans 15:8-9).

Consequently, Romans 11 is concerned with stemming the tide of a Gentile renunciation of Israel’s place and role in salvation—influenced no doubt by Israel’s lingering hardness and opposition to the gospel. There is evidence of this at Corinth when some contended that “there is no resurrection of the dead.” This was not a denial of resurrection in general, but for a particular class labeled “the dead” who were perceived by some as being without hope of resurrection life in Christ.

“The dead” in 1 Corinthians 15:12 refers to Israel under the Law. Likewise, “the dead” in Romans 11:15 refers to Israel under the Law. Therefore, showing the consequences of the Gentiles’ denial of Israel’s resurrection, Paul follows the same logic in 1Corinthians 15 as he does in Romans 11—you Gentiles do not bear the root, but the root bears you. Christ came to fulfill Israel’s promises, but if there is no resurrection of the dead (Israel), then Christ (Israel’s covenant representative) is not risen, and if Christ is not risen, you (Gentiles) are still in your sins (cf. verses 1Cor. 15:12-17).

In other words, the resurrection of Christ, Israel’s Messiah, was the pledge or guarantee that all Israel would be raised. But if all Israel would not be raised, if Israel had been cast away, then there would be no resurrection life in her “olive tree” for the engrafted Gentiles.

With the olive tree metaphor, Paul links the salvation of all Israel with Israel’s resurrection. Also, he connects it to Israel’s “fullness” and “acceptance” (Rom. 11:12-15), without which there would be no hope of resurrection life and glory for the Gentiles. With this in mind, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 instructed the Gentiles as to the meaning and full benefits of Israel’s resurrection for all were dead “in Adam,” Jew and Gentile without distinction. The blessing through Abraham was to be for “all families of the earth” (Galatians 3:8).

For an extensive exegesis and analysis of 1Corinthians, I invite you to see pages 440-648 in my book, The Cross and the Parousia of Christ. In 1Corinthians 15, Paul defends and explains Israel’s hope, promise, and fulfillment of resurrection. We see it in his concluding statements on death’s defeat and victory through Christ (verses 50-57) where he quotes Israel’s prophets.

First, in 15:54 Paul quotes Isaiah 25:8. “[T]he saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” Isaiah prophesied concerning Israel’s release from the bondage of sin and death in the day that “the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously” (Isa. 24:23).

The second prophecy that Paul quotes in 1Corinthians 15:55 comes from Hosea 13:14. It pertains to Israel’s restoration after being scattered among the nations. God said, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction.” See also Ezekiel 37 in this regard where, by means of resurrection from captivity, Israel and Judah are made one nation, under one King, having one Shepherd, with God’s sanctuary set in their midst. Paul argued in 1Corinthians 15 that Christ was fulfilling every aspect of this prophecy thereby bringing salvation to all Israel.

Paul saw Israel’s restoration as “redemption from sin”—hence a ‘resurrection
restoration.’ “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). Bear in mind that Paul is writing to a primarily Gentile church. Thus, in view of the surety of Israel’s ‘resurrection fullness,’ Paul, in verse 58, exhorted the engrafted Gentiles to be “steadfast, immovable … knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Their labor was not in vain because Israel’s resurrection from death in sin was assured in the death and resurrection of her Messiah. Through Israel’s fall the Gentiles obtained riches, but through Israel’s acceptance/resurrection they would obtain “life from the dead.” Therefore, Paul encouraged them to be steadfast to the end (1 Corinthians 1:7-9) when they would receive the full benefits of Israel’s fullness—the ultimate adoption (Romans 8:23) as “sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36).

Paul reasoned in this manner because the Gentiles were not the producers but rather the partakers of Israel’s spiritual things. Israel’s resurrection is no exception to this rule.

Resurrection and Righteousness By Faith

Since “righteousness by faith” is the essence of Israel’s salvation, a brief word is in order at this point concerning the connection between resurrection and righteousness by faith.[2] Paul said in Galatians 5:5, “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”

What would fulfill this hope? In Philippians 3 Paul connected his obtaining “the righteousness which is from God by faith” to his being conformed to Christ’s death and knowing the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:7-16). The context shows he was speaking of past and present action—”to the degree that we have already attained” (Phil 3:16), in anticipation of consummated attainment—”Not that I have already attained … but I press on…” (Phil 3:12-14).

What Paul wrote here about dying and rising with Christ bears directly on his attaining to the resurrection from the dead (verse 12) and to his being “found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (verse 9).

Firstfruits and Harvest

It will be helpful to see the explicit two stages of resurrection in Scripture— (1) the firstfruits and (2) the harvest. This stems from an Old Testament concept where the firstfruits were the first grain of the harvest to be cut and offered to God. This would be followed shortly thereafter by the ingathering of the entire harvest. In 1Corinthians 15:23, Paul calls Christ the firstfruits of the resurrection, thus indicating that the entire harvest was READY to be gathered in.

Paul referred to the firstfruits stage of the resurrection in Philippians 3. This was the time preceding the end of Israel’s covenantal age when others were becoming joined to Christ as firstfruits for the purpose of being built up in him in conformity to his image (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:13). The “remnant according to the election of grace” in Romans 11:5-7 belongs to this “firstfruits” category. Therefore this remnant was the pledge and promise of the whole harvest, the pending salvation or resurrection of “all Israel” in 11:26.

The “harvest” stage of the resurrection encompasses the Old Testament saints for whom Christ died (Hebrews 9:15), thus not limiting “all Israel” in 11:26 to Jews living at the time of Christ’s Second Appearing. His end-of-the-age coming would gather together “His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31). Both the living (the firstfruits) and the dead (the harvest) were to be caught up and united in him for eternity in Israel’s promised “new heavens and earth” (Isaiah 65:17f, Revelation 21).

We can identify the end goal of “the hope of righteousness by faith” eagerly awaited in apostolic time. In the words of Peter, “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). A cursory reading of Daniel 9 sheds light on Israel’s time of the end “to finish the transgression,

to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” (Dan. 9:24). Truly, God did not cast away his people whom he foreknew.

Conclusion

Romans 9-11 recognizes the process of the Northern Ten Tribes (“My people,” Hosea 1:4) becoming dispersed among the Gentiles (“not My people,” Hosea 1:4) only to be reconciled as the people of God (Hosea 1: 10-11; 2:23) through taking the gospel into all the world (to the Gentiles, Diaspora, etc.) before the end could come (Matthew 24:14).

The process of scattering and gathering allowed God to be faithful to his promise to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah, as well as to all nations (Gentiles) through the forming of a New Creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:1ff.).

Romans 9-11 gives us rich insights to Paul’s understanding of the scope and method of achieving the salvation of all Israel. He recognized that the time was near, that it was tied to God’s promise of a New Covenant with Israel and Judah, and that Christ’s atoning “Second Appearing” fulfills the promised salvation. He appreciated the irrevocability of God’s promise that ultimately “all Israel” would be restored to God as his people.

He wrote that “the righteousness of God by faith in Christ” was the essence of Israel’s salvation, and he realized the impact of his ministry to the Gentiles through Israel’s hardening, thereby provoking “many to salvation.”

Finally, Paul’s eschatology pertained to the closing period of the Old Covenant economy and to the full realization of all things “which the prophets and Moses said would come” (Acts 26:22). This was the gospel that he had been separated unto (Romans 1:1-6) and that he preached as “the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes … For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith’” (1:16-17).

First published in Living Presence Journal (vol. 9, no. 3, May/June 1998), this article has been updated to include fresh research and scholarship. Max’s book on Romans 9-11 is scheduled to be released in June 2006.

[1] I will explore this at length in my forthcoming book on Romans 9-11.

[2] Again, I will expand greatly on this in my book.