Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 132 of 159
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the brier. This simile of the apostle has provoked not a little scorn from those who set up as critics of the Word. We
have it, however, upon the word of one of the greatest of living authorities on olive culture, that the practice is still
followed in some parts of Palestine. A modern application of the same principle has just come to the writer's notice.
The pear known as the Doyen du Comice is often what is termed a shy bearer. It has been discovered that by
inserting a slip of the variety known as Glou Morceau into the tree, it has the effect of making the whole tree
fruitful. This was precisely the reason why the wild olive was grafted into the failing olive tree; this was why the
Gentiles were saved during the tentative period of the Acts - `to provoke Israel to emulation'. Israel, however, only
grew harder in their opposition, until the day came when the husbandman said of the barren tree `Cut it down, why
cumbereth it the ground?' That took place at Acts 28. God, however, is able to graft the natural branches back into
their own olive tree:
`... blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved' (11:25,26).
No wonder the apostle who opened this section with sorrow, closes it with song:
`O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and
His ways past finding out ... For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things. To Him be the glory unto
the ages. Amen' (11:33-36 Author's translation).
SECTION 4
Reconciliation and practical teaching.
Yet one more avenue is to be traversed that leads to this central theme of the reconciliation, and that is the
practical one. This section occupies chapters 12 to 15. The subject matter is distributed as follows:
A 12:1,2.
Acceptable to God. Your bodies a living sacrifice. Ministry.
B 12:3-8.
The measure of faith.
C 12:9-21.
To fellow-labourers and outside world.
C 13:1-14.
To the civil powers and our neighbours.
B 14:1 to 15:7. The weak and the strong in the faith.
A 15:8-33.
Offering up of Gentiles acceptable contribution. May it be accepted. Ministry.
It is not our intention to enter minutely into all the details of this section. We will allude to the first, `A 12:1,2',
when dealing with the last, `A 15:8-33'. The second,`B 12:3-8', deals with the gifts, and uses the simile of the
human body much as does 1 Corinthians 12. As we have already dealt with this when treating with 1 Corinthians
we pass on. As 1 Corinthians 12 is followed by 1 Corinthians 13, so the references to gifts here lead on to graces,
`C 12:9-21'.
We observe in 1 Corinthians a tendency to go to the extreme regarding the liberty with which a believer is
endowed, and, while the same extreme is not observable in the church of the Romans, the apostle includes in the
practical section their relation to the powers that be `C 13:1-7', and to the fulfilling of the real spirit of the law, even
though liberated from its works as a means of salvation. The structure of these two chapters we give, so that the
reader may be helped in his private study.