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The fourteen references group themselves as follows:
Faith without effect?
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Unrighteous who taketh vengeance?
}
The dealings of God.
Void by faith?
/
Continue in sin?
\
Shall we sin?
\
The saint's relation
Is the law sin?
/
to sin and law.
Was good made death?
/
Unrighteousness because hate?
\
Cast away His people?
}
The dealings of God.
Stumbled that they fall?
/
Members of an harlot?
\
Christ the minister of sin?
\
The saint's relation
Law against promises?
/
to sin in the flesh,
Cross and the world?
/
the world, and law.
#5.
His Fervid Patriotism.
pp. 179 - 181
"Here we see . . . . . that fervid patriotism which makes him `wish that he were himself
accursed from Christ for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, who are
Israelites." (Conybeare and Howson).
It was Nurse Cavell, whose patriotism was sealed with her life's blood, who was
responsible for the famous words: "Patriotism is not enough." If it is untempered and
unguided, patriotism may lead to injustice, blindness, narrowness, and many other
excesses. For the Christian to-day who confesses himself a pilgrim and a stranger,
patriotism needs purging before it can be used with a good conscience. In Paul's case,
however, no scruples concerning other-worldliness and the common relationship of all
men would arise. Israel were a chosen people, and their law a chosen law. Their city
was destined to be the hub of the earth, and their priestly kingdom was designed for the
blessing of all nations. On the other hand, it was true that the Jews as a whole had
allowed their patriotism to degenerate. They hugged to themselves their descent from
Abraham as though it were an exclusive privilege, and forgot the connected fact that they
were thus chosen so that all families of the earth through them should be blessed. Not so,
however, the Apostle to the Gentiles. In the very heart of his epistle to the Romans and
with the blessing of the Gentiles in view, he says that his heart's desire for Israel was
"that they might be saved".
In our exposition of Rom. 9: (Volume XXVII, page 157) we have discussed the
Apostle's intention when he used the words: "I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ" (Rom. 9: 3). Whatever his meaning may have been--whether he really
meant that in the spirit of Christ's great sacrifice he would even be willing to suffer