Israel and the Gentiles

The relationship between Israel and the Gentiles is one of the great themes of Scripture, and the classic Reformed and Puritan authors treated it with deep pastoral concern. They saw in Romans and related passages a double truth: Israel had real privileges from God, yet those privileges never saved anyone apart from faith. At the same time, Gentiles who had long been strangers to the covenants of promise were now being brought near through the gospel. This doctrine matters because it humbles every form of ethnic or religious pride, exalts the free grace of God, and shows that justification and adoption are offered to all who believe, whether Jew or Gentile.

Israel's real but insufficient privileges

Matthew Henry is especially careful to honor the privileges God gave to Israel while denying that those privileges could justify anyone. He notes that the Jews had great advantages over the Gentiles, especially because God entrusted them with the Scriptures (Romans 3:2). The Old Testament was committed to the Jews as trustees to preserve it faithfully and pass it down to future generations. Henry adds that the Jews had the means of salvation but not exclusive possession of it, and that enjoying God's word and ordinances is the chief happiness of a people.

Henry also lists Israel's privileges in Romans 9:4. The adoption Israel enjoyed was external and typical, entitling them to the land of Canaan, not the saving adoption that brings eternal happiness. The glory was the ark with the mercy-seat and the other symbols of God's special presence and guidance among Israel. The covenants made with Abraham and renewed with his descendants at Sinai, Moab, Shechem, and afterward belonged to Israel as a great privilege. Having God's law given to them in writing, including the moral, ceremonial, and judicial law, was a great privilege for Israel. Israel was honored by having the divinely appointed worship of the true God, including the temple, priests, sacrifices, and feasts, while other nations served idols. The promises, especially those relating to the Messiah and the gospel state, accompanied the law and the service of God, and their comfort is enjoyed through obedience and attendance on that service. The greatest privilege of the Jews was that Christ, as to his human nature, came from them, being of the seed of Abraham (Romans 9:5).

Charles Spurgeon agrees that having the oracles of God committed to Israel was a great privilege, even though outward rites and birth privileges cannot bestow grace (Romans 3:1–2). The Jews' chief advantage was that God entrusted them with the oracles of God, making them guardians of the holy Scriptures (Romans 3:2). Yet Spurgeon also insists that many who appear to be God's people, including some religious teachers, have not truly believed in Christ (Romans 3:3). Some who have not believed have belonged to the religious and teaching class, as the scribes and priests rejected Christ despite their familiarity with Scripture and the temple.

The guilt of both Jews and Gentiles

The authors are united in teaching that Jews and Gentiles alike stand guilty before God. Spurgeon says both Jews and Gentiles are proven guilty before God and under sin (Romans 3:9–10). He argues that the Old Testament passages Paul quotes apply to Jews, and together with his earlier proof about Gentiles, show that both Jews and Gentiles are guilty (Romans 3:19). The Law's descriptions of human sinfulness apply especially to the Jews, who were under the Law (Romans 3:14–19).

Henry makes the same point from a slightly different angle. Jews and Gentiles are not better by nature; before grace made the difference, all alike were corrupted and under sin (Romans 3:9). The law's condemnation applies particularly to the Jews who boasted in being under the law, for the law itself convicts and condemns them (Romans 3:19). God will judge Jews and Gentiles by the same standard of justice, not with the partiality the Jews expected (Romans 2:1–16). God shows no partiality based on outward relation or condition; Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level before him (Romans 2:11).

Henry also explains the Gentile situation before the gospel. The Gentiles had some knowledge of God's existence and nature made known to them, though much about God remains beyond human comprehension (Romans 1:19). The light of nature served the Gentiles as an equivalent to the moral law, though not to the ceremonial law (Romans 2:14–15). By the light of nature the Gentiles apprehended the difference between good and evil and were directed in moral duties such as justice, pity, and obedience (Romans 2:14). Jonathan Edwards clarifies that the law written on Gentile hearts is the moral law, since those without divine revelation do not have the ceremonial law (Romans 2:14–15).

Yet this natural knowledge did not lead the Gentiles to God. Henry observes that the Gentiles fell into gross idolatry despite having natural knowledge of God, just as even the Jews with Scripture light were prone to idolatry (Romans 1:21–23). The Gentile world, lying under so much guilt and corruption, could not be justified before God by any works of their own (Romans 1:19–32).

The failure of works-righteousness in Israel

Edwards gives sustained attention to the Jewish error of seeking righteousness by works. He argues that in Romans 2, Paul condemns the Jews for boasting in the moral law, since the breaches he mentions are of the moral law (Romans 2:22–23). The Jews of Paul's day were notorious for boasting in their moral righteousness, not only in circumcision (Luke 18:11). Israel failed to attain righteousness because they pursued it by works of the law rather than by faith (Romans 9:31–32). Israel failed to attain righteousness because they pursued it by works of the law rather than by faith, stumbling over Christ (Romans 9:31–32).

Edwards also insists that Paul could not mean only ceremonial law works when denying justification by works of the law, because the denial applies to Old Testament saints as well as New Testament saints (Romans 3:28). The law spoken of in Romans 10 is the same law mentioned at the end of Romans 9, where the Jews sought righteousness by works of the law rather than by faith (Romans 9:31–32; Romans 10:5–6).

Henry agrees that the Jewish opinion that all Jews, however badly they lived, would have a place in the world to come is false; the law was a great privilege but not a saving privilege unless lived up to (Romans 2:13). The Jews rested in the bare possession of the law as if that alone could bring them to heaven, without living according to it (Romans 2:17). The Jews proudly considered themselves guides and teachers to the Gentiles because they possessed God's oracles (Romans 2:19). Circumcision was profitable for Jews if they kept the law, since it gave them a clearer rule of obedience than the Gentiles had (Romans 2:25). But if a Jew did not keep the law, his circumcision became uncircumcision, leaving him no more justified than Gentiles and more condemned for sinning against greater light (Romans 2:25).

Henry adds a sobering warning for professing believers in every age. The sins of professing believers dishonor God and his law by giving outsiders occasion to blaspheme religion (Romans 2:23–24). External privileges, if they do not do us good, do us hurt by hardening people in sin (Romans 2:27).

One way of justification for Jew and Gentile

The central positive doctrine in these authors is that justification is by faith alone, apart from works of the law, and that this one way is open to Jews and Gentiles alike. Spurgeon states it plainly: justification by faith without works of the law applies equally to Jews and Gentiles, since there is one God who justifies both through faith (Romans 3:28–30). A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, and God justifies both Jews and Gentiles through faith (Romans 3:27–31). God justifies both Jews and Gentiles by the same principle of faith, since He is the one God of all (Romans 3:29–30).

Henry agrees that this righteousness is offered to all without distinction, but actually put upon all who believe, whether Jews or Gentiles (Romans 3:22). Justification by faith is not only for Jews but also for Gentiles, since God is the God of both (Romans 3:29). God justifies both circumcised Jews and uncircumcised Gentiles in one and the same way, through faith (Romans 3:30).

Spurgeon explains why salvation had to be by faith rather than law. Salvation by faith rather than law was necessary so that Gentiles, who were never under the Law of Moses, could be included in the promise to Abraham's seed (Romans 4:16). Faith is the channel of salvation so that it may be entirely by grace, making the promise certain to all Abraham's spiritual descendants, both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 4:16). Abraham is the father of all believers, whether circumcised or not, and the promises made to him belong to them also (Romans 4:16).

Henry develops the same point from Abraham's own history. Abraham's justification in uncircumcision shows that the blessedness of justification belongs to uncircumcised Gentiles as well as to circumcised Jews, humbling Jewish pride (Romans 4:9). Abraham is the father of believing Gentiles, so uncircumcision is no barrier to being justified by faith (Romans 4:11). Abraham is the father of believing Jews only if they follow his example of faith, not merely because they are circumcised or physically descended from him (Romans 4:12). The promise was made through faith so that it might extend to all the seed, both Jews and Gentiles, not limited to those who had the law (Romans 4:16). Abraham is the father of all believers, both before and since Christ's coming, who take him as their pattern of faith (Romans 4:17).

Henry also sees the inclusion of the Gentiles as a display of God's life-giving power. The God who quickens the dead can also bring spiritually dead Gentiles to divine and spiritual life (Romans 4:17). The justification and salvation of sinners, and the calling of the Gentiles who had not been a people, are a gracious calling of things which are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). Abraham became the father of many nations before God, in the eye and account of God, or like God as a common Father (Romans 4:17). The promise of imputed righteousness applies to all believers, including Gentiles and those far short of Abraham in privileges and performances (Romans 4:23–24).

The gospel's movement from Israel to the nations

The authors trace the historical movement of the gospel from Israel to the Gentiles. Henry says the gospel was first offered to the Jews, but after their refusal it went to the Gentiles, and now both stand on equal terms before God (Romans 1:16). Paul received his apostleship in order to bring people, especially the Gentiles, to the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5). The gospel salvation is a common salvation in which all nations, including the Romans, stand on the same level in Christ (Romans 1:6). Paul was obligated to bring the gospel to all kinds of people, both the cultured Greeks and the uncultured barbarians (Romans 1:14). Paul adapted his preaching to the capacity of his hearers while remaining a debtor to all (Romans 1:14).

Edwards adds a judicial note. Rejecting the gospel makes a person judicially unworthy of everlasting life, as when the Jews rejected Paul's message and he turned to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46).

Henry explains the divine purpose in this movement. God did not reject the Jews merely for their destruction, but so that the gospel would be preached to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). The Jews' rejection of the gospel was the occasion for the offer of salvation being made to the Gentiles (Romans 11:11). God will have a church in the world, and if one people refuses the gospel, another will receive it (Romans 11:11). God brings good out of evil, using the Jews' fall to bring the riches of the gospel to the Gentile world (Romans 11:12). God's casting away of the Jews made way for his reconciling favour toward the Gentile world (Romans 11:15). God no longer shows favour only to one nation, but accepts those who fear him and work righteousness in every nation (Romans 11:15).

Henry also notes that God intended his favour to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy and emulation, stirring them to embrace the gospel (Romans 11:11, Romans 11:14). The Jews had the first offer of the gospel, but seeing the Gentiles accept it and benefit from it provoked them to jealousy and envy (Romans 10:19). The Gentiles, though formerly not God's people and foolish in spiritual things, were made the people of God and found Christ to be the wisdom of God (Romans 10:19).

The remnant of Israel and the hope of restoration

None of these authors teaches that God has finally cast away Israel. Henry is emphatic: God has not totally or finally rejected the Jewish people, but has shown mercy alongside severity (Romans 11:1). There is a chosen remnant of believing Jews who obtained righteousness and life by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 11:1–7). Paul himself was one of the chosen remnant, being an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, which shows that not all Jews were rejected (Romans 11:1). Just as in Elijah's time there was a remnant, so at the present time there is a remnant of believing Jews according to the election of grace (Romans 11:5). The body of Israel did not obtain justification and acceptance with God, but the election obtained it, and in them God's promise and ancient kindness to that people is accomplished (Romans 11:7).

Spurgeon shares this hope. God did not fail to keep His promise to Israel even though many Israelites died in unbelief, for He brought the nation into the Promised Land and continues to keep His covenant with them (Romans 3:3). God has not cast away His people Israel nor broken His covenant with Abraham, and a day is coming when the remnant of Israel will be gathered in (Romans 3:3–4). The unbelief of some Jews could not nullify God's faithfulness or turn him from his purpose to bless his chosen people (Romans 3:3).

Henry also looks forward to a future restoration. The rejection of the Jews is not final; they will be brought back into the church in God's appointed time (Romans 11:11–12). The conversion of the Jews is called their fullness, meaning their addition to the church will enrich the world with light, strength, and beauty (Romans 11:12). The conversion of the Jews is described as their being received into God's favor, the church, and the love of Christ, and it will bring great joy to the church (Romans 11:15). The conversion of the Jews will be as life from the dead, bringing great joy to the church (Romans 11:15). The conversion of the Jews is described as their being grafted back into the church, from which they had been broken off, receiving life and grace from Christ (Romans 11:23).

At the same time, Henry warns Gentile believers not to boast over the fallen Jews. Gentiles should not insult the fallen Jews but rather pity them and desire their conversion, because their restoration would bring great blessing to the church (Romans 11:12, Romans 11:15). Gentile believers must take heed to themselves so that they do not stumble and fall as the Jews did (Romans 11:17–22). Being grafted into the good olive tree means partaking of its root and fatness, which here refers to visible church membership and its privileges, not only to saving union with Christ (Romans 11:17). The olive tree represents the visible church, and Abraham is its root of administration, being the first with whom the covenant was solemnly made (Romans 11:17). Believing Gentiles share in the same covenant privileges as the Jews, including special protection, the oracles of God, means of salvation, a standing ministry, instituted ordinances, and visible church membership for their infant seed (Romans 11:17).

The same Lord for all who call on him

The authors close with the universal call of the gospel. Henry says Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level before God for acceptance, with no ethnic difference in Christ (Romans 10:12). God is the same Lord to all people, not kinder to Jews than to Gentiles, and is rich in goodness toward all who call on him (Romans 10:12). The promise of salvation is extended without exception to whoever calls on the name of the Lord, whether Jew or Gentile (Romans 10:13). The Gentiles have heard the gospel, and the apostles fulfilled their commission to carry its words to the ends of the world (Romans 10:18). The Jews also heard the gospel and could have known from Moses and Isaiah that the Gentiles were to be called in, leaving them inexcusable (Romans 10:19–21).

Henry also notes the adoption language of the New Testament. The use of both the Syriac 'Abba' and Greek 'Father' shows that adoption is common to Jews and Gentiles alike (Romans 8:15). The vessels of mercy are those whom God has effectually called, and these are not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles, since the partition wall has been taken down (Romans 9:24). The question is no longer whether one is of the seed of Abraham, but whether one is called according to God's purpose (Romans 9:24).

Spurgeon summarizes the breadth of Christ's redeeming work. Christ's redemption extends to a vast multitude of people from every nation, rank, and condition (Romans 3:24). Christ gave himself as a ransom for all sorts of people, from every kingdom, nation, tongue, rank, and color (Romans 3:24).

This apostleship was received for obedience to the faith, that is, to bring people to that obedience; as Christ, so his ministers, received that they might give. Paul's was for this obedience among all nations, for he was the apostle of the Gentiles, ch. xi. 13 Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

That is to say, the Jew, receiving the seal of circumcision and coming under the ceremonial Law, eating its Passover and presenting its sacrifices, might possibly have been reached by a legal method. But we who are Gentiles would have been altogether shut out Charles Spurgeon, sermon “How Is Salvation Received?”

God has not cast away His people whom He did foreknow, nor has He broken His Covenant made with Abraham, nor will He while the world stands, even though many believe not on

Him Charles Spurgeon, sermon “God Justified, Though Man Believes Not”

Whether Jews or Gentiles, there was no salvation for them by the works of the Law. The only way in which the circumcised or the uncircumcised could be justified was by faith Charles Spurgeon, sermon “God Justified, Though Man Believes Not”

He saved Abraham by faith, and he saves us by faith. The same saving principle is applicable to all parts of the human race Charles Spurgeon, sermon “There Is No Difference”

Is he the God of the Jews only? He argues from the absurdity of such a supposition. Can it be imagined that a God of infinite love and mercy should limit and confine his favours to that little perverse people of the Jews, leaving all the rest of the children of men in a condition eternally desperate Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

It also denotes that the adoption is common both to Jews and Gentiles: the Jews call him Abba in their language, the Greeks may call him pater in their language; for in Christ Jesus there is neither Greek nor Jew Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

And would you know who these vessels of mercy are? Those whom he hath called (v. 24); for whom he did predestinate those he also called with an effectual call: and these not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles; for, the partition-wall being taken down, the world was laid in common Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

That the promise is the same to all (v. 13): Whoever shall call—one as well as another, without exception. This extent, this undifferencing extent, of the promise both to Jews and Gentiles he thinks should not be surprising, for it was foretold by the prophet, Joel ii. 32 Matthew Henry, “Exposition of the Old and New Testaments”

Christ hath bought for himself, some out of every kingdom, and nation, and tongue, under heaven; he hath redeemed from among men some of every rank, from the highest to the lowest; some of every colour—black and white; some of every standing in society, the best and the worst Charles Spurgeon, sermon “Justification by Grace”