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God, therefore, has always acted in accordance with His sovereignty,
and in harmony with Old Testament Scriptures (19 -29):
(a)
Man, as a creature, has no right or power to reply to God.
(b)
God has dealt with 'vessels of wrath' and 'vessels of mercy'
according to His sovereign will, yet vessels of wrath were fitted to
destruction, whereas vessels of mercy were prepared by Himself unto
glory.
Fourth Proposition
In the inclusion of Gentiles, and the saving of a remnant of Israel,
God is acting in harmony with Old Testament Scripture.
(a)
Quotation from Hosea.
-- He calls a people 'My people', who were
once 'not My people'.
(b)
Quotation from Isaiah. -- He saved but a remnant at the
captivity of Israel years before.
The outline structure of Romans 9 to 11 places the saved remnant 'mercy on
some' over against all Israel saved, 'mercy on all'. Thus:
Romans 9 to 11
A tentative outline
A
9:1 -5.
Sorrow.
Doxology:
'Over all (panton), God blessed unto the ages' (9:5).
B
9:6 -29.
The Remnant saved.
Mercy on some.
Corrective as to 'all Israel' (9:6)
C
9:30 to 11:10.
The Stumbling Stone.
The Lord of all
Christ the end
that believe.
of the law.
No difference.
B
11:11 -32.
All Israel saved.
Mercy on all.
Corrective as to the Remnant (11:1 -5)
A
11:33 -36.
Song.
Doxology: 'Of Him, and through Him,
and to Him, are all things (ta panta):
to Him be glory unto the ages' (11:36).
By comparing Joel 2:32 with Peter's words on the day of Pentecost we
realize that those who were saved at that time were part of this 'remnant
whom the Lord shall call', and as the feast of Pentecost offered two loaves,
called 'the bread of the firstfruits' (Lev. 23:20) so this remnant was, as
James put it, 'a kind of firstfruits' (Jas. 1:18), pledging the 'all Israel'
harvest of the latter days. Isaiah, however, had more than one son. While
the first pledged that 'the remnant shall return', the second son bore the