Romans 9.4c-The Israelites Received The Privileges Of The Law, The Tabernacle Service And The Promises
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday February 24, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:4c-The Israelites Received The Privileges Of The Law, The Tabernacle Service And The Promises
Lesson # 296
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
Last Thursday we began a study of Romans 9:4-5 where Paul lists eight privileges that were given to the nation of Israel by God and in this passage, he ascribes deity to Jesus Christ.
As we noted we will study this passage in five classes due to the amount of content that appears in it.
Last Thursday we noted that in Romans 9:4a Paul identifies himself and his fellow Jewish countrymen as Israelites.
Sunday, we studied the first of three privileges given to the Israelites that appear in Romans 9:4b.
This evening we will note Romans 9:4c, which presents the four, fifth and sixth privileges given to Israel by God.
Tuesday we will study Romans 9:5 where Paul presents the final two privileges and then lastly Wednesday we will complete this verse by noting that Paul ascribes deity to Jesus Christ.
Let’s read the first paragraph in the chapter and then concentrate on verse 4-5 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:1-5, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
Let’s now concentrate on verses 4 and 5.
Romans 9:4-5, “Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
“The giving of the Law” is the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun nomothesia (nomoqesiva) (nom-oth-es-ee-ah), which is a compound word composed of the noun nomos, “law” and a derivative of the verb tithemi, “to put, place, give,” thus the word literally means, “the giving of the Law.”
Though part of it was mediated by angels, God is the origin and source of the Mosaic Law, which stems from the eternal and holy character of God, which is true even of the natural law written in the heart or conscience of man (Exodus 31:1b; Acts 7:53; Romans 2:14-16; Heb. 2:1-2).
It is common to divide the Mosaic Law into three parts, but though this is helpful for analysis and the study of the Mosaic Law and the way it functions, such a division is never stated as such in Scripture but rather it is seen as a unit.
Part 1: The Moral Law or the Ten Commandments. This part of the Law governed the moral life giving guidance to Israel in principles of right and wrong in relation to God and man (Exodus 20:1-17).
Part 2: The Ordinances or the Ceremonial Law. This was the spiritual portion of Law, which guided and provided for Israel in her worship and spiritual relationship and fellowship with God. It included the priesthood, tabernacle and sacrifices (Exodus 25-31: Leviticus).
Part 3: The Judgments, or the Social Law. This part of the Law governed Israel in her secular, social, political, and economic life (Exodus 21:1–23:13).
The Law was never designed to be a permanent rule of life but rather was simply a tutor or guardian to guide Israel and reveal her need for the Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:7, 11; Galatians 3:23-24; Romans 10:4).
The Mosaic Law is weak because it is dependent on sinful man’s ability and is especially weak when adopted as a system of merit (Romans 8:3).
The Mosaic Law was an indivisible unit, and is that which was terminated by the Lord Jesus.
Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
In 2 Corinthians 3:6-13 Paul declares three times that the Mosaic system is done away or abolished (vss. 7, 11, 13).
The Mosaic Law stands in contrast to the grace of God as now manifested in the coming of Christ (Romans 6:14; 7:6; 8:3; Galatians 3:12).
In the study of the Bible, there are three specific purposes that surface in the proper use of the Mosaic Law.
First of all, in a general sense, the Mosaic Law was given to provide a standard of righteousness (Deuteronomy 4:8; Psalm 19:7-9) and in the process, it revealed the righteousness, holiness, and goodness of God (Deut. 4:8; Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7; Rom. 7:12-14).
The Law given at Mount Sinai to Israel was to reveal a holy God and to demonstrate the reality of an infinite gulf that separated man from Him.
Secondly, the Law was given to identify sin and reveal man’s sin and bankrupt condition as guilty before God (Rom. 3:19f; 7:7-8; 5:20; Gal. 3:19).
God’s holy Law reveals to man just who and what he is, namely, sinful and separated from God by an infinite gulf that he is unable to bridge in his own human strength.
Lastly, the Law was given to shut man up to faith, i.e., to exclude the works of the Law (or any system of works) as a system of merit for either salvation or sanctification and thereby lead him to Christ as the only means of righteousness (Galatians 3:19-20, 20-24; 1 Timothy 1:8-9; Romans 3:21-24).
The Mosaic Law was given only to Israel (Exodus 19:3; Leviticus 26:46; Romans 3:19; 9:4) and was not given to the Gentiles of the Old Testament or the Church (Acts 15:5; 15:24; Romans 8:14; Galatians 2:19).
The Mosaic Law cannot justify an individual before God (Romans 3:20-28; Galatians 2:16) and could not provide eternal salvation for men (Galatians 3:21-26).
The Mosaic Law could not provide the Holy Spirit and could not solve the problems of the old sin nature (Romans 8:2-3) and it could not make perfect, or permanently deal with sin (Hebrews 7:19) nor could it sanctify (Galatians 3:21; 5:5; Romans 8:3).
Romans 9:4-5, “Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
“The temple service” is the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun latreia (latreiva) (lat-ri-ah), which refers to the service connected with the tabernacle and temple worship.
In Romans 9:4, the translation “temple service” is incorrect since the word “temple” does not convey the idea of the noun latreia, which simply means, “service.”
The translators added it since worship in the temple service connected to the worship of God was of major importance to the nation of Israel as expressed in the Mishnah, “By three things is the world sustained: by the Law, by the [Temple] service, and by deeds of loving-kindness” (m. `Abot 1:2).
However, it is more likely that when he uses the noun latreia in Romans 9:4, Paul is referring to the service in the tabernacle since it preceded the building of the temple by Solomon, which was designed by David.
The Tabernacle was the place where Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Christ met with Moses and the children of Israel during the Theocentric dispensation called the Age of Israel.
The Old Testament mentions 3 tabernacles: (1) Provisional: Established after the sin of the golden calf. (2) Sinaitic: Erected in accordance with directions given to Moses by Yahweh. (3) Davidic: Erected by David in Jerusalem for the reception of the Ark.
The Tabernacle itself and its furniture portray the different aspects of Christology and Soteriology.
All the tabernacles were patterned after the heavenly tabernacle, which is located in the third heaven and was created before the foundation of the world.
Romans 9:4-5, “Who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
“The promises” is the articular nominative feminine plural form of the noun epangelia (e)paggeliva) (ep-ang-el-ee-ah), which refers to the promises contained in the five covenants that God established with the nation of Israel.
These promises include Messianic promises.
These promises also include promises of the millennial reign of Christ in bodily form ruling in Jerusalem with Israel as head of the nations.
Genesis 12:1-3, 6-9; 13:14-18; 15:1-6, 18-21; 17:1-8; 22:15-18; 26:4; 28:13-15; 35:9-13 reveal that Abraham received the following promises: (1) The promise of an heir from Abraham’s own body (Genesis 15:4, 13-14; 18:10, 14), (2) Innumerable (biological and spiritual) descendants (Genesis 13:16; 15:5; 17:2; 22:17; 28:14; 35:11), (3) The land of Canaan plus an extensive portion of land on the earth whose boundaries are on the Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, the Euphrates River and the Nile River, which would include what is now known today as Turkey, most of East Africa, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman and Red Sea, Syria, Iraq and Jordan (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-18; 15:7, 18-21; 17:8; 28:13; 35:12), (4) The nation of Israel (Genesis 12:2; 28:14; 35:11; 46:3), (5) Arab nations (Genesis 17:3-5; 35:11; ), (6) Nations composed of Gentile believers (Genesis 17:3-5; 35:11), (7) Arab and Israelite kings (Genesis 17:6, 16; 35:11), (8) Regenerate Gentile kings (Genesis 17:6, 16; 35:11), (9) Dominion (Genesis 22:17; 28:14), (10) Abraham would be the medium of blessing to all the nations through the Messiah who would descend from him (Genesis 12:3; 22:18; 28:14).
Since these promises contained in the Abrahamic covenant make clear that God purposed through Abraham and his offspring, the Lord Jesus Christ to work out the destiny of the entire world, it was implicit in the promises to Abraham that he and his spiritual descendants and the Lord Jesus Christ would inherit the earth.
The full realization of this awaits the consummation of the millennial kingdom at Christ’s Second Advent.