Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Fifteen
THE GLORY OF CHRIST AMONG THE GENTILES
Scripture Reading: verses 8-13
NOW I SAY THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS A MINISTER OF THE CIRCUMCISION FOR THE TRUTH OF GOD, TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES MADE UNTO THE FATHERS: AND THAT THE GENTILES MIGHT GLORIFY GOD FOR HIS MERCY; AS IT IS WRITTEN, FOR THIS CAUSE I WILL CONFESS TO THEE AMONG THE GENTILES, AND SING UNTO THY NAME. AND AGAIN HE SAITH, REJOICE, YE GENTILES, WITH HIS PEOPLE. AND AGAIN, PRAISE THE LORD, ALL YE GENTILES; AND LAUD HIM, ALL YE PEOPLE. AND AGAIN, ESAIAS SAITH, THERE SHALL BE A ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE THAT SHALL RISE TO REIGN OVER THE GENTILES; IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES TRUST. NOW THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING, THAT YE MAY ABOUND IN HOPE, THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST.
We cannot read a passage like this without reverting to the fact that the entire Roman Epistle is devoted to the proper legal status of Jew and Gentile before God. It is a declaration of the sovereign right of our God to show mercy to the Jew, who is a transgressor, and to the Gentile, who is a sinner. In this passage we are reaching the conclusion of Paul’s letter, as he reasserts the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Gentiles as well as among the people of Israel. In order to substantiate this he goes back to the fathers; to whom the promises were made.
God’s promise to Abraham was that in him all nations would be blessed. The promises were not to Israel only, although they were the central national figure in the scheme of earthly blessing. As we travel through these chapters, it is difficult to avoid the remembrance of Joseph. He is preeminently a type of the Lord Jesus, as the one in whom the promises come to fruition in the day of famine. Joseph was sold into Egypt. In figure, he was put in the pit of rejection by his brethren, he went into the dungeon of suffering, and came out of it to be ruler over all the land of Egypt. He is a type of the Lord Jesus exalted among the nations of the earth. There is a day coming when the Lord shall shine in all His glory, when no man shall say to his neighbor, “Know the Lord,” for all from the least to the greatest shall know Him. When He returns as promised, every knee shall bown and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
That is precisely what the apostle is asserting in these verses:
Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again, Rejoice ye Gentiles, with His people.
Keep in mind that Joseph was the son of his father’s love. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his sons, and he arrayed him in a coat of many colors, a gift that demonstrated his fatherly affection for his son, as well as authority. But Joseph’s brethren tore that coat of many colors from his back, dipped it in blood, and brought it to their heartbroken father as a token of the death of the one he loved so dearly. So it was with the Lord Jesus. Instead of receiving Him as their Messiah with acclamation, His brethren after the flesh figuratively took from Him the gorgeous robe of moral beauty, in which His Father in heaven had decked Him in order that He might be the Lord of glory here on the earth. “Had the princes of this world known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” Israel, in the black night of their unbelief, personified in the Jews when the Lord Jesus was here on earth, joined hands with the unbelieving Gentiles and figuratively dipped that gorgeous coat in the blood of Calvary. By cruel hands they took Jesus and crucified Him. In other words, they flaunted the gorgeous robe of Jesus the Son of God in the very face of heaven, so that the sun refused to shine and the universe was plunged in black night at noonday.
But just as there came a day when Joseph stood forth arrayed in all the beauty and glory of his exalted place in the land of Egypt, so there will come a day when the Lord Jesus, the crucified, risen, and glorified Savior, will shine forth. The Scripture says He is coming “to be admired in all them that believe.” One day the eyes of every intelligent being in the universe will be fixed on the Lord Jesus, and David’s exclamation will be brought to fulfillment, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”
This is the subject of the passage now before us. According to the promises made unto the fathers, the Lord Jesus is actually the minister of the circumcision for the truth of God. This means the Jews; and the confirmation of “the promises made [or given] unto the fathers” refers to God at last sending the Messiah, the true “seed” promised to Abraham. Thus, again, the long discussion of the relationship of Jews and Gentiles to God in earlier chapters of Romans came vividly to Paul’s mind, suggesting that the problem relating to scruples was related to the long conflict between Jews and Gentiles; and therefore, as a further reinforcement of his commandments here, he returned to the fact of God’s purpose of containing both Jews and Gentiles in one body in Christ.
This thought appears also in this comment by Barrett: “The coming of Christ may be viewed in two ways. On the one hand, he came to vindicate God’s promises which had been made within Judaism. On the other hand, he came that the Gentiles might, be included with Israel among the people of God. As the Jews glorify God for his faithfulness, so the Gentiles will glorify him for his mercy.”1 The Old Testament quotation Paul used here is found twice, in 2 Samuel 22:50 and Psalm 18:49, and shows that the Gentiles were included in God’s ultimate purpose of redemption, “that he might create in himself of the two one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:15).
In other words, if Israel is going to come into blessing, whether in Palestine geographically or in any other way, that blessing can only be secured in the person of their Messiah whom they rejected, and whom they will yet have to receive, just as Joseph’s brethren came to recognize in him their lord as well as the lord of Egypt, so our Savior’s brethren after the flesh will look on Him whom they have pierced, and they will wail because of Him, and recognize in Him their Messiah.
But, in this passage, the apostle’s attitude is that the Lord Jesus is now in that position, and there is no need to wait until His coming. Now both Jews and Gentiles recognize in Him their Lord and Master. “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people.” These three quotations from Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:10, all make mention of the Gentiles, further strengthening Paul’s Biblical evidence presented for the purpose of showing that God’s purpose always had envisioned the redemption of Gentiles as well as Jews. Behold here the manner of Christianity's greatest preacher in the use of Scripture. Paul did not hesitate to pile verse on top of verse and to marshal Scripture after Scripture in support of his thesis. His greatest writings were liberally salted with verses from the Word of God; and the deduction would appear to be justified that God’s preachers today should base their sermons on the sacred Word and reinforce their every thought by repeated appeals to a “thus saith the Lord.” Failing to do this does not elevate men above the supreme preacher Paul, but, on the other hand, exhibits their weakness and ineffectiveness.
That is the subject of Ephesians 2, the middle wall of partition broken down and Jew and Gentile found in peace together, builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, and giving glory to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in verse 12 of this treatise, “Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust.” This is “great David’s greater Son,” the Lord Jesus. He is Lord of Israel, but He is Lord over the nations. In other words, He is not only Son of David; He is Son of Abraham as well. This is the entire subject of Matthew’s Gospel. So in these verses God’s legal right to show mercy to Gentiles as well as to Jews, is established beyond the shadow of a doubt. And it is not based on any new ruling of the court; it is traced back to the promises given to the fathers. In other words, it is in harmony with the purpose of God as outlined to the patriarchs. Thus the lawyer for the defense again makes a master stroke of evidence, securing our place, whether Jew or Gentile, under the unquestioned favor of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” The Christian era was ushered in with the double promise of peace and joy, the peace being prophesied by Zacharias: “The Dayspring from on high shall visit us ... to guide our feet unto the way of peace” (Luke 1:78,79); and the joy having been announced by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds: “Behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10).
Such a glorious peace and joy are available from no other source than the life of faith in Jesus Christ. These priceless endowments of the soul are the Christian’s badge of eternal inheritance, his true credentials of heavenly citizenship, and his impregnable defense against all the tribulations and temptations of life. Having peace with God and the joy of the Spirit in his soul, the Christian is indeed redeemed.
This joy can come only through believing, by never drifting away from the child-like faith in what God has said. It is easy to obtain a temporary joy and peace through experience, but how will we do when things take a troublous turn? Those who live by feelings change with the weather. If we put aside our faith to drink from the cup of our own inward sensations, we will find ourselves bitterly disappointed. Our honey will turn to gall, our sunshine into blackness; for all things which come to man are fickle and deceptive. The God of hope fills us with joy and peace; but only through believing. With contrite hearts we must stand as poor sinners at the foot of the cross, trusting our precious Savior for complete atonement. We will never have peace and joy unless we do. If we begin to say, “I am a saint; there is something good in me,” then joy will evaporate and peace depart.
It is not by believing “alone” that people shall receive the blessing. No, one must have a contrite heart, stand at the foot of the cross, etc., and this is only another way of saying that one must accept and obey God’s terms of justification, entering the body of Christ; for it is “in Christ” that all spiritual blessings are bestowed (Eph. 1:3); and let none think to receive them by any other means than that of being found “in Him.” Tragically, this expression (occuring no less than 169 times in Paul’s writings) seems to have gone through many minds today without making much of an impression.
“In the power of the Holy Ghost [Spirit]” This is Paul’s reminder that only God’s children, the baptized true believers “in Christ” – those who have received the Spirit as a consequence of their sonship – shall possess this joy and peace. People may forget to tell how they are received, but the apostle did not fail to declare it.
