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not only speaks of the inclusion of the Gentile, as we saw in our last article, but also
associates the believing Gentile with the hope of Israel.
"And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign
over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy
Ghost" (Rom. 15: 12, 13).
There can be no question here as to whether the Gentiles referred to are in the Church,
for the presence of such words as, "all joy and peace in believing" and "the power of the
Holy Ghost" is conclusive. We are dealing here with the hope of the believer, and
therefore with the hope of the Church at that time.
We must first draw the reader's attention to the fact that the word "trust" here is elpizo
in the original, and that the word "hope" is elpis. The noun and the verb are from the
same root, and both demand the same English word. Also, before the word "hope" in
verse 13 we have the definite article, and the two words should therefore be translated
"that hope". Putting in these corrections, we have:
"In Him shall the Gentiles hope. Now the God of that hope fill you with all joy and
peace in believing."
This hope of the believing Gentile is found in the prophet Isaiah, and a reference to
Isa. 11: will reveal that it is millennial. We might have anticipated this by observing the
clause "rise to reign over the Gentiles", a statement consistent with the hope of Israel and
the Kingdom, but impossible of application to the Church of the Mystery. The hope here
in Romans is, therefore, millennial, and, if Romans was written after I Thess. 4:, then it
is impossible that the hope of I Thess. 4: should be other than this same hope.
In dealing with I Thess. 4:, it is of the utmost importance to remember that there
arose a misunderstanding in the Church as to the Apostle's teaching concerning the hope,
and that he consequently wrote a second letter with the express purpose of correcting
these errors. It is patent, we trust, to all our readers, whatever may be their views
concerning the Coming of the Lord, that any interpretation of I Thessalonians that
ignores the inspired corrective, II Thessalonians, must necessarily fail.
The Thessalonians had been led astray with regard to the Second Coming of Christ,
both by teachers speaking under the influence of an evil spirit, and by a spurious epistle,
and had come to believe that the Day of the Lord was at hand (II Thess. 2: 2). Instead of
telling these anxious believers that their hope had nothing whatever to do with the Day of
the Lord--which would have been the simplest solution, had it been true--the Apostle
occupies the bulk of this second epistle with a detailed account of that awful day, and
also reminds them, when dealing with the great antichristian blasphemy of Rev. 13:,
that he had told them these things when he was with them (II Thess. 2: 5).
In I Thess. 4: he comforts the believer by referring to the descent of the Lord from
heaven; and in II Thess. 1: 7 he comforts him with the prospect of "rest" at the