 |  |
THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION
48
and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation ... the times of this ignorance
God winked at (looked over); BUT NOW commandeth all men everywhere to repent' (Acts 17:24-30).
The words `but now' are only possible because the reconciliation has been brought in. Peter tells of Christ
exalted to give repentance unto Israel. After the conversion of Paul, the circumcision learn with astonishment that
God had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. `All men everywhere' are words foreign to the spirit of Acts 1
to 9. In Romans 1:18 to 2:1, the apostle describes the condition of the Gentile world from the confusion of Babel
until the reconciliation.
*
The paredoken of the nations (Rom. 1:18 to 2:1).
A 1:18-20.
a The wrath of God.
b Those who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
c Without excuse.
B 1:21-25.
The nations gave up God.
Result: `change glory'; `change truth'.
B 1:26-31.
God gave up the nations.
Result: `change nature'; `reprobate mind'.
A 1:32 to 2:1.
a The judgment of God.
b Those who have pleasure in sin.
c Inexcusable.
In spite of the testimony of conscience and nature, the Gentiles became idolaters, `becoming vain in their
imaginations, their foolish heart was darkened'. Ephesians 4 dwells upon this `far off' condition of the Gentiles:
`... Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated (antithetical to
reconciliation) from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness (hardness) of
their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over (paredokan, same as Rom. 1) unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness' (Eph. 4:17-19).
Under what circumstances were the nations reconciled? Romans 11 supplies the answer. Just as the giving up
of the Gentiles was connected with special favour to the one nation Israel, so the withdrawal of that position of
favour and privilege to Israel made the reconciliation possible. This is the testimony of Romans 11. For a fuller
treatment of Romans 9 to 11 the reader is referred to chapter 14, which deals with the epistle; we must here
concentrate our attention on the one point.
While Israel's national privileges were gradually passing, a faithful remnant still remained, retaining continuance
of the root and fatness of the olive tree, and those Gentiles who had been saved had been grafted in:
`Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how
much more their fulness? ... For if the casting away of them be the RECONCILING OF THE WORLD, what shall the
receiving of them be, but life from the dead?' (Rom. 11:12-15).
Here the apostle, by using identical terms, explains the ministry of the reconciliation as introduced in
2 Corinthians 5. The Gentile world has been reconciled, and this synchronizes with the estrangement of Israel.
There has been a reversal, thus:
A The estrangement of the Gentiles (Gen. 10,11).
B The favour shown to Israel (Gen. 12; Acts 9).
A The estrangement of Israel (Rom. 11).
B The reconciliation of the Gentiles (Rom. 11; 2 Cor. 5).
*
`To give up' (verses 24,26,28).