Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 5 Study # 5
June 2, 2019
Humble, Texas
(132)
1769 Translation:
29 For the gifts and calling of God [
are] without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
1901 ASV Translation:
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of.
30 For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,
31 even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy.
32 For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
- I. Paul's First Word in 11:29 (see the study notes (129)).
- II. The "Cares" That Will Never Be Allowed to Fail (the word "repentance" is not the typical term for the concept; rather, it has to do with allowing something to fail to come to pass because of "other" cares).
- A. The setting of "other cares" that might, in other circumstances, be allowed to block something God had declared (like the destruction of Nineveh by the Word of the Lord through Jonah): the current Jewish hatefulness toward the Gentiles will not, by God, be allowed to unseat the "covenant" which God made with the fathers.
- 1. "The standard of election" took the gradual disintegration of "faith" among the larger group ("though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved"; Romans 9:27) into account with "compensation" in the form of the strengthening of "faith" in the elect through special divine activities that include, among other things, the intercessory prayers of both "The Spirit" (Romans 8:26) and "Christ" (8:34), the "forever-priest" after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 7:25) which, in turn, result in God's strengthening of the threatened "faith" of the elect.
- 2. "The standard of election" also took into account the "mystery" of Gentile inclusion in the fruitful tree of God's people along with its side-bar "problem" of an incipient growth of boastfulness, high-mindedness, and self-conceit among the larger group of "gentiles" out of which certain "elect" are sustained by God.
- B. The "inalterables".
- 1. The Gifts of The God.
- a. "Gifts" are, by definition, "freely bestowed benefits".
- 1) They are "free" in that they cost the recipient nothing.
- 2) This does not mean that there is no cost to the Giver.
- 3) And, there is a specific distinction between the nature of the "Grace" given to those who "believe" and those who do not: "rain" is a "grace-gift" and it requires no "faith" in the recipient (rain falls upon the just and the unjust); but "grace-gifts" that are specifically for "relationships between persons" do require "faith" in those who receive them simply because "relationships" do not prosper in the presence of distrust.
- 4) In other words, "grace-gifts" that are specifically for a beneficial relationship between a person and his impersonal environment ("rain" for the growing of crops for the food of the person) require no "faith", but "grace-gifts" that are specifically for a beneficial relationship between a person and another person do require "faith" because personal relationships do not begin, or are not able to continue, when there is an absence of "faith" between the persons.
- b. The word is plural because there are multiple "gifts", the chiefest of which is identified in Romans 6:23 as "Eternal Life". This is the "chiefest" in that it is an umbrella under which other "gifts" are extended to "recipients".
- 1) This chief "gift" is "chief" because it is between a created person and God, Who made him/her. It is also "chief" because it is the root of all good lesser "relationships". James said it this way: "Every good gift and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (Jas. 1:17). This is essentially the same thesis: God will not alter His commitments to those to whom He has given "gifts" and "calling".
- 2) The other "grace-gifts" mentioned by Paul in this letter (1:11 and 12:6) are gifts given by God, the Author of Eternal Life, for the benefit of those around the one who has been given a "grace-gift". The "gift" is not for the one who receives it (though this recipient
- does benefit the most from its use); it is for the ones who receive "personal benefit"
- because they receive "good" from the one with the "gift". This is Paul's point in both 1:11 and 12:6.
- 3) Under the umbrella of Eternal Life are all of the issues of "Life" in its details. In the event that a person is deficient in his/her experience of the "umbrella" (a small and limited experience of "Life"), another person's "grace-gift" can be used to "edify" ("build up whatever is lacking so the deficiency diminishes") so that the experience is enhanced.
- c. These "gifts" are "irrevocable": God does not take them back even if they are seriously abused and especially if they are seriously developed for the sake of others. There are consequences for the abuse of a "grace-gift", but having it taken back isn't one of them.
- 2. The Calling of The God.