Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 5 Study # 5
June 2, 2019
Humble, Texas
(Download Audio)
(131)
Thesis: God will
not act as the "certain king" of
Matthew 18:23-35 when it comes to "gifts" and "calling".
Introduction: In our considerations of Paul's warnings to the "boastful, high-minded, conceited" Gentiles that they stood in danger of being broken off from the fruitful tree of "God's People", I appealed to Jesus' story in
Matthew 18:23-35 wherein He illustrated a divine "revocation" of "forgiveness" by reason of the failure on the part of the "forgiven" to become "compassionate" because he/she had been given "compassion". There is a very serious truth involved in that record, and it leaves the question open as to whether a person can have confidence that God will not "revoke" his/her "forgiveness".
But, because Paul is pressing his case in the direction of "sustaining the faith of the Gentiles", he makes a strong claim regarding God's refusal to "rescind" two particular things: His "gifts" and His "calling".
It is to this strong claim that we now turn for a more particular understanding.
- I. Paul's First Word in Romans 11:29 (a review of our last study).
- A. The Authorized Version translates it as "without repentance".
- B. The NASB translates it as "irrevocable".
- C. The particular word Paul chose means that there is so firm a commitment on God's part that He will not let any other commitments to "issues" cause Him to "revoke" the things to which He stands committed.
- 1. The primary illustrative texts for this meaning are the records of the Gospels regarding the sowing of the seed upon soil that is full of "thorns" that "choke" the seed so that there is no fruit.
- 2. At issue in this soil is the fact that life is full of "pressing concerns" that if not handled as Peter instructed (1 Peter 5:7), the "word" will have no impact in the life of the "hearer".
- 3. Paul's "point" is that God, like men, has multiple "pressing concerns" so that He must make decisions about which of those concerns He will address and which He will let slide away as He addresses the ones to which He is most committed.
- a. There are mutually exclusive "concerns"; even for God.
- b. Everyone, who finds him/her self in the place where mutually exclusive concerns are present, must decide which will be "sustained" and which will be allowed to "fail".
- II. When God is Faced With This Setting of the Mutually Exclusive, He Always "Sustains" Two Identified Factors.
- A. The contextually identified "setting" Paul had in mind.
- 1. The overall "commitment" is focused upon "Grace" in contrast to "Law".
- a. The current Jewish hatefulness toward the Gentiles which "summoned" God to address it in light of the covenant He had made with "the fathers".
- b. The incipiently developing Gentile turn from "Grace" as a reaction to the Jewish hatefulness which "summoned" God to address it in light of His "pursuit" of the development of the "mystery" that He had kept hidden from the beginning.
- 3. The reality of "the standard of election" as the determining factor in God's response to the "summonses".
- a. Paul had said that "the standard of election" (kata with the accusative) was "of Grace" in 11:5 in contrast to "works" in 11:6.
- b. That "standard" was set in place with the clear understanding that there would be a gradual, or cataclysmic, disintegration of "faith" among the larger group involved in the "inalterable commitments" as Paul already declared in 9:27 ("Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved").
- c. That "standard" was set in place with another clear understanding: for the "elect" there will always be a "compensating strengthening" of the "faith" so that it will not fail (as illustrated by Jesus with Simon in Luke 22:31-32 and declared by Paul in Romans 8:26 and 34, and by the author of Hebrews in 7:25).
- 4. Thus, the larger group of Israel was allowed to be swallowed up by hatefulness while an "elect" group was "strengthened", and the larger group of Gentiles was allowed to be swallowed up by boastfulness, high-mindedness, and conceit while an "elect" group was "strengthened".
- B. His "gifts".
- 1. In Paul's references to "gifts" in this letter, the "Large Gift" is "Eternal Life" (6:23).
- a. In this regard, 5:16 declares that this "Large Gift" is rooted in "Justification".
- 1) Justification, itself, is a "gift", but it is presented as an "unto" of "The Gift" (i.e., the contrasting "outcome" of Adam's "sin unto condemnation", which then led to the "Death" of 6:23).
- 2) Thus, we conclude that "The Gift" stands upon God's decision to "justify" so that no sin of any kind can be included in the divine considerations regarding outcomes.
- 3) This means that "The Gift", if ever "given", can not be rescinded for any cause.
- 4) But this also means that "The Gift" is not "immediately given" when a person "believes" the truth that leads to "justification": Paul's cautions are of no value if there is no "interim" wherein that "faith" is subjected to a process of "jelling" so that it "fails not".
- b. Thus, "The Gift", once given, is underwritten by absolute commitment on God's part without exception.
- 2. Also in Paul's references to "gifts" in this letter, the automatic result of the giving of the "Large Gift" is a simultaneous set of "lesser gifts" that are given so that the heirs of Eternal Life have a capacity, or capacities, to be instruments of "edification" on behalf of each other.
- a. In 1:11 Paul refers to this fact as an "establishment" fact.
- b. In 12:6 Paul picks up on this fact and expands it to include every capacity of "an heir" that is helpful to the "other heirs" in respect to the development of "character" in the expanding experience of "Eternal Life".
- c. Thus, we conclude that such "lesser gifts" are "in play" at all times, to some degree, which is, itself, co-dependent upon the "gifts" of the "others".
- d. And we conclude that though there are negative consequences to everyone when those "gifts" are stymied in their development by the absence of the Love/Faith issues of all relationships, the "gifts" themselves are never "rescinded".
- C. His "calling".
