Dispensationalism and the Doctrine of Election
Refutation of Calvinism, Arminianism, and Covenant Theology
Chapter Nineteen How a National Israelite Becomes a Spiritual Israelite
“1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for {National} Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them {National Israel} record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they {National Israel} being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down
from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it {“it;” the righteousness that comes “by grace through faith”}? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach {as follows};
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Romans 10:1-11).
There are two kinds of righteousness. There is man-kind or Law-kind righteousness and there is God-kind righteousness. Man-kind righteousness is achieved. This was the “righteousness which is of the Law” (v. 5; Mosaic Covenant). The “righteousness which is of the Law” could not save anyone. Law-kind righteousness had to do with practical sanctification before God. Law-kind righteousness was never intended to be salvational. God-kind righteousness is essential for salvation. God-kind righteousness cannot be achieved. God-kind righteousness must be imputed or imparted. Imparted God-kind righteousness is necessary to enter God’s presence. The issue of imputed and imparted righteousness cannot be understood apart from understanding dispensational transitions; i.e., the changes that took place from the Mosaic Covenant times in the unfolding of the Abrahamic Covenant in the first phase of the beginning of the New Covenant (referring to the already, not yet position of Dispensationalism regarding the New Covenant) on the Day of Pentecost 50 days after the Passover and Crucifixion of Jesus.
As is the case with much of Covenant (Replacement) Theology and Reformed Theology, they continued to propagate the heresy of salvation through practical sanctification and the cleansing of sin through sacerdotalism (conference of God’s grace through the hands of ordained clergymen or priests) and sacramentalism (the ritual observances through which the clergymen/priests conferred the grace of God to penitent participants) within professing Christianity. (Of course, this was/is not true of all Covenant and Reformed groups.) It was through this system of theology that this perversion of satanic corruption continued regarding the “righteousness which is of the Law” and the distortion of salvation “by grace through faith.” In this system, God’s grace came through the hands of ordained clergymen (in this form of Apostolic successionism) to those trusting in what the sacrament would do for them as they participated.
Within Roman Catholicism and most Reformation Churches, the Sacrament of Ordination was a form of Apostolic Successionism based upon the idea that when the Apostles laid hands on those that were ordained into the ministry as Pastors, there was a transference of God’s grace from them to those that were ordained. Those ordained could then transfer God’s grace to others after them in the Sacrament of Holy Orders (Ordination). Those ordained could also transfer God’s grace to those participating in various sacraments offered in the Church. Of course, this was one of first great perversions of the doctrine of grace. The doctrine of grace is actually the supernatural enabling of all yielded believers in and through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. When the Word of God speaks of the “grace of God that is in us,” this refers to the indwelling Holy Spirit. In II Timothy 1:6 the word “gift” is actually the Greek word charisma, which is the word for gift of grace.
The Roman Catholic web site called New Advent states the following regarding this false teaching:
“Christ founded His Church as a supernatural society, the Kingdom of God. In this society there must be the power of ruling; and also the principles by which the members are to attain their supernatural end, viz., supernatural truth, which is held by faith, and supernatural grace by which man is formally elevated to the supernatural order. Thus, besides the power of jurisdiction, the Church has the power of teaching (magisterium) and the power of conferring grace (power of order). This power of order was committed by our Lord to His Apostles, who were to continue His work and to be His earthly representatives. The Apostles received their power from Christ: ‘as the Father hath sent me, I also send you’ (John 20:21). Christ possessed fullness of power in virtue of His priesthood--of His office as Redeemer and Mediator. He merited the grace which freed man from the bondage of sin, which grace is applied to man mediately by the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and immediately by the sacraments. He gave His Apostles the power to offer the Sacrifice (Luke 22:19), and dispense the sacraments (Matthew 28:18; John 20:22, 23); thus making them priests.” 1
This same web site goes on to add under the heading of Sacrament of order:
“From Scripture we learn that the Apostles appointed others by an external rite (imposition of hands), conferring inward grace. The fact that grace is ascribed immediately to the external rite, shows that Christ must have thus ordained. The fact that cheirontonein, cheirotonia, which meant electing by show of hands, had acquired the technical meaning of ordination by imposition of hands before the middle of the third century, shows that appointment to the various orders was made by that external rite. We read of the deacons, how the Apostles ‘praying, imposed hands upon them’ (Acts 6:6). In II Tim., i, 6 St. Paul reminds Timothy that he was made a bishop by the imposition of St. Paul’s hands (cf. 1 Timothy 4:4), and Timothy is exhorted to appoint presbyters by the same rite (1 Timothy 5:22; cf. Acts 13:3; 14:22). . . Grace was attached to this external sign and conferred by it. ‘I admonish thee, that thou stir up the grace of God which is in thee, through (dia) the imposition of my hands’ (2 Timothy 1:6). The context clearly shows that there is question here of a grace which enables Timothy to rightly discharge the office imposed upon him, for St. Paul continues ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety.’ This grace is something permanent, as appears from the words ‘that thou stir up the grace which is in thee’; we reach the same conclusion from I Tim., iv, 14, where St. Paul says, ‘Neglect not the grace that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with (meta) imposition of hands of the priesthood.’ This text shows that when St. Paul ordained Timothy, the presbyters also laid their hands upon him, even as now the presbyters who assist at ordination lay their hands on the candidate. ”2
Adding these aspects of understanding to what much of modern day professing Christianity believes regarding very similar problems of Soteriology that Paul addresses National Israel about, helps us understand why much of Christianity has the same failure as National Israel and why Romans chapter 10 is equally applicable to these individuals as it was/is to the Jews.
Because of the failure of the Priesthood of National Israel as the depository of Truth, the Gospel in the Law (Mosaic Covenant) had been completely perverted and distorted. There was not one single aspect of the Mosaic Covenant that was intended to provide salvation to those who kept the conditions of the Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was a covenant with National Israel and was a blessing and a curse covenant. I do not believe we can truly understand what Paul is saying to National Israel in Romans chapter 10 until we understand the details of God’s intent in giving the Mosaic Covenant within the Abrahamic Covenant to them as a nation. The Mosaic Covenant is detailed in its fullest sense in Deuteronomy chapter 11. (Notice that the text does not once mention salvation; i.e., these are not conditions for salvation.) The Mosaic Covenant was given as a stewardship/dispensation of Truth to be administrated over the Nation of Israel by the Priesthood of Israel as a Theocracy in Sacerdotalism; God ruling over Israel through Truth in chosen/elected (by God) Representatives of the people.
“1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and {as an expression of loving the LORD} keep {observe, preserve, and/or reserve} his charge {custody with the idea of preservation}, and his statutes {ordinance or legal, governing, decree of Law}, and his judgments {various judicially decreed sentences for breaking God’s individual ordinances}, and his commandments {used collectively of the Law as a whole}, always {from one sunset to the next; i.e., continuously} 2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, 3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: 7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did {only the males over the age of twenty years living at the time of the failure in faith at Kadesh-Barnea were cursed to die in the Wilderness. “No males under twenty years of age, no females, and none of the tribe of Levi, were objects of the denunciation.”3} 8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12 A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13 And it shall come to pass, if {conditioned upon doing what verse 1 says} ye {National Israel} shall hearken diligently unto my commandments {the whole Law corporately} which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 That I will give you {the blessing of} the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the LORD’S wrath {the curse} be kindled against you {National Israel}, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. 18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words {the blessing and curse instructions regarding the Mosaic Covenant} in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23 Then {conditional blessing} will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. 26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh? 31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day” (Deuteronomy 11:1-32).
Clearly we can see that the “righteousness which is of the law” (Rom. 10:5) referred to the national righteousness of National Israel as they fulfilled the conditions of the Mosaic Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant (the Law) was never intended to be an avenue for individual or salvific righteousness. The righteousness of salvific justification could never be achieved by any means. Nor was Law keeping ever intended to be a means for justification; i.e. the imputation or impartation (depending upon the point in history before or after the Day of Pentecost) of God-kind righteousness to the believing sinner. If individuals within the Nation of Israel broke the Law, the leaders of National Israel were required to administrate justice according to the “judgments” for various failures as detailed within the Law. If the leadership of Israel failed to administrate justice, God’s “curse” would also come against the Nation of Israel instead of just upon the individual. If the leadership of Israel faithfully administrated the “judgments” of the Law, God’s blessings would remain upon the Nation of Israel. This is the context of God’s promise to Solomon in II Chronicles 7:14 after the prayer of dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem.
“12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (II Chronicles 7:12-14).
Clearly, individual salvation of every Jew in the Nation of Israel was not part of God’s blessing promise should the leadership of Israel administrate justice as defined by the Mosaic Covenant (the Law). That was never God’s intent in given the Law to National Israel. Nevertheless, this is what the vast majority of Israel’s leadership had come to believe and had been teaching the Jewish people for centuries. Therefore, the vast majority of the Jews had “2b a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom 10:2b-3). This is the context that we begin with in Romans chapter 10.
There is little doubt that Romans chapter 10 is directed to Jews within National Israel who had been misled by the Mosaic Covenant Priesthood into misplacing their faith in keeping the Mosaic Covenant (Moralism and Ritualism) to be saved. Because the objective facts of their faith was misplaced, the actions of their faith and the purpose for those actions were wrong and heretical. Although they had both “zeal for God” and faith in God, both their zeal and their faith were based on their ignorance of God’s righteousness. Therefore, they were lost.
It was not enough to merely believe in God. They needed to believe the correct things about God, about themselves, and they needed to understand what God had done to deliver them from the condemnation of Sin before they could respond to the Gospel according to God’s directions. We can find a straight-line pathway in Romans 10:1-13 to God’s expectations (responses) to an understanding of the details of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. Understanding their ignorance of God’s righteousness (God-kind righteousness) and understanding they could never attain or achieve that kind of righteousness through Moralism or Ritualism, they needed to repent of their “dead works” (Heb. 6:1) and the sin of self-righteousness (Romans 10:1-7).
2. They needed to understand that salvation could not come through any form of human accomplishment, but only “by grace through faith” in the sinless life, the finished substitutionary Cross-work of death of Jesus Christ, His burial, and His resurrection/glorification (Romans 10:8).
3. They needed to act upon those understood and believed details of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by:
A. Confessing Jesus to be Jehovah (Romans 10:9-10)
B. Believing with their hearts every detail of the Gospel and resting their eternal souls in the Person of Jesus and His preserving care (Romans 10:9-10)
C. Believing the Gospel and confessing Jesus to be Jehovah, the sinner is then directed to call on the Name of Jesus to save him (Romans 10:13)
Obviously, Romans 10:1-13 is dealing with salvation, defining and detailing a Biblical response to the Gospel of Jesus Christ (“believe”) and a biblical response to the Person of Jesus Christ (“confess . . .as LORD”). Yet, there is still a fundamental perpetuation of ignorance today within most of professing Christianity regarding the difference between the righteousness that comes by man’s doing and the righteousness that comes “by grace through faith” in God’s doing (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ).
[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11279a.htm
[2] Ibid
[3] Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary, SwordSearcher Software 4.8
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