Levend Water
The Apostle of the Reconciliation - Charles H. Welch
Index - Page 135 of 159
RECONCILIATION AND PRACTICAL TEACHING135
d 19.
Peace.
c 20-.  For meat, destroy not the work of God.
b -20.  All things pure - but evil if eat with offence.
a 21.
Do nothing to cause a brother to stumble.
The exhortation to unity in view of the reconciliation leads the apostle on to the question of his peculiar ministry.
First he makes a definite statement as to the exclusively Jewish character of the Lord's ministry on earth:
`Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises
made unto the fathers' (15:8).
This is an important utterance. The ministry of Jesus Christ was to the circumcision. We have no need to go
over the ground already traversed to prove this. The Lord's own words are enough:
`I am NOT SENT but unto the lost sheep of the house of ISRAEL' (Matt. 15:24).
This ministry was not with the object of accomplishing anything new. It was in order to confirm. That which
was confirmed was entirely Jewish in its original scope, `the promises made unto the fathers'. Now while the
ministry of Christ was entirely linked with Israel, the apostle would have the conflicting parties at Rome remember
that it had, nevertheless, the reconciliation in view, for he immediately proceeds to say, `and that the Gentiles might
glorify God for His mercy'. This is the echo of the closing injunction, `with one mind and one mouth glorify God'.
The apostle had found no necessity to quote even one Scripture to substantiate his statement as to the exclusively
Jewish character of the Lord's personal ministry, but he finds it necessary to give four quotations to defend its
extension to the Gentiles:
1.
`... For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name' (15:9).
2.
`And again He saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles with His people' (15:10).
3.
`And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye people' (15:11).
4.
`And again ... There shall come a root out of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in Him
shall the Gentiles hope' (15:12 Author's translation).
By giving the true rendering of this last word of the quotation `hope', the connection intended by the apostle with
the verse following is clearly seen:
` ... Gentiles
HOPE.
Now the God of
fill you with all joy and peace in believing' (15:12,13 Author's
THE HOPE
translation).
The God of Israel was now also the God of the Gentiles. The same hope now was in front of both; that the faith
in such a blessed purpose may fill their united hearts with joy and peace is now the apostle's prayer. While the
apostle, with true courtesy and excellent tact, admitted the graces of the church at Rome, he, nevertheless, felt it
necessary to make absolutely certain that the special ministry which he held should be understood, bearing as it did
upon the position of the Gentiles:
`I have written therefore the more boldly unto you in parts of this epistle (this we understand to be the meaning
of apo merous), as putting you in mind, because of the grace which is given to me of God. That I should be a
public servant of Christ Jesus (Codex Vaticanus MS., Christ Jesus has special reference to His exalted position in
resurrection) to the Gentiles (Codex Vaticanus MS., Omits "to the Gentiles") ministering as a priest the gospel of
God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be ACCEPTABLE, having been sanctified by holy spirit' (i.e., the gifts
of the Spirit, as upon the remnant at Pentecost) (15:15,16 Author's translation).
Here, it will be observed, the apostle reverts to the theme of 12:1,2. Not only could the circumcision present
their bodies as living sacrifices, holy, well-pleasing to God, which was their reasonable priestly service, but, as these
interesting arguments have shown, so can the Gentiles. The apostle Paul stood, as it were, a Priest for the Gentiles
much in the same way that the nation of Israel will stand to the Gentiles `in that day'. The apostle concludes by
speaking of the extent of his labours: