Dispensationalism and the Doctrine of Election
Refutation of Calvinism, Arminianism, and Covenant Theology
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Synergism with The Lord of Hosts and the Soteriological Responsibilities of His Redeemed
“14 How then shall they {whosoever} call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they {whosoever} believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they {whosoever} hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Romans 10:14-15)!
As we move into Romans 10:14-15, we see another truth that is radically contrary to Reformed Theology’s distortion of the doctrine of grace. Most Reformed Theologians believe in a doctrine of grace they call Monergism. Monergism is Augustinianism’s and Calvinism’s logical argument that comes from an extreme definition of Total Depravity and their false view of Predestination in their false teaching regarding election. Their argument is that an unregenerate sinner is so totally depraved that he cannot in any way cooperate with the Holy Spirit as the Holy Spirit seeks to bring the sinner to saving knowledge of Christ. Therefore, logically, God must regenerate the sinner before the sinner can believe. Of course this goes deeper into the pit of error when we understand that God is only going to do this in the lives of those He has elected/chosen to salvation. In this view, the rest of the lost are pretemporally (before time) reprobate and to do not (and cannot) receive this special work of sovereign grace. This is a false view of God’s grace and radical distortion of the doctrine of grace. The common term for Monergism amongst Calvinists is the term Sovereign Grace.
The opposing view against Monergism is called Synergism. Although there are numerous and varying ideas communicated regarding Synergism, here I will simply give you what I believe is a Biblical understanding of the term. The word synergism simply means to work together or in cooperation. The word synergism may generally be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently. The word synergism is not a popular term in Reformed theological circles. The theological meaning of the word synergism has been seriously misrepresented by those within Reformed Theology circles to mean that the sinner participates in his own regeneration. In other words the sinner’s faith contributes something to the supernatural act of regeneration. Of course, this is a complete misrepresentation of Synergism.
Regeneration and salvation are completely supernatural works of God. A sinner does not contribute to this supernatural work of God or aid Him in anyway in what He does. Faith is not a work that contributes to what God does in the sinner’s regeneration and salvation. Faith is merely the God-ordained trigger that God conditions His gracious supernatural work of regeneration and salvation upon.
The Calvinist says God pulls the trigger and regenerates before salvation to give the elect sinner the gifts of repentance and faith in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that the believing sinner pulls the trigger as the Spirit of God leads the sinner to be “convinced of sin, righteousness and judgment and illuminates the sinner to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and Who Jesus is in the eternal redemptive plan of God (Rev. 13:8).
Faith is to simply believe and rest in what God’s grace provides in the already accomplished objective facts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and defines the God ordained response to these Truths in the way He has ordained; repent, believe, confess, call, and receive. The Calvinist’s monothetic view of God’s sovereignty will not allow him to see God waiting upon man to call out to Him for salvation. Secondly, the Calvinist’s extreme view of the sinner’s depravity will not allow for a sinner’s ability to even make a correct moral choice, even if he is led to that decision by the Holy Spirit of God.
Scripturally, synergism would be that which describes the sinners cooperation with the Holy Spirit in His pre-salvation work of grace as He “draws” the sinner to Christ. Secondly, synergism would be that which describes the doctrine of grace in the supernatural enabling/empowering of the Redeemed as they yield to the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 6:11-13) and are “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Therefore, we must see synergism from both these two perspectives:
1. Before salvation, we must see the synergism of the cooperation of the sinner along with the influence of the Holy Spirit as He convicts the sinner of condemnation of sin, the righteousness of God, and God’s judgment on the sinner, the illumination of the Holy Spirit as He reveals the Truths of God’s Word regarding condemnation and the Person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ to deliver the sinner from that condemnation, and the work of the Holy Spirit as He “draws” the sinner to a faith decision of repentance, belief, confessing Christ as Jehovah, calling on Jesus as Jehovah to save/deliver, and receiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His gift of regeneration and salvation.
2. After salvation, we must see the synergism that results when the Redeemed yield (Romans 6:11-13) their lives and regenerated bodies to the indwelling Holy Spirit, Who then supernaturally enables/empowers them to be the vehicles of His grace as disseminators of the Gospel and the manifestation of the communicable attributes of God through the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-26) as Christ’s Ambassadors of reconciliation.
To understand these two spiritual dynamics is to understand the fundamentals of the doctrine of grace. This is the contextual continuity of the epistle to the Romans leading up to the statement in Romans 10:14-21 regarding the responsibility of all Church Age believers to become the vehicles of God grace as evangelists and “ambassadors of reconciliation.” The four questions of Romans 10:14-15 are rhetorical; “14 How then shall they {whosoever} call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they {whosoever} believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they {whosoever} hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” It is presumed that the answers to these questions should be known by all believers.
1. The answer to the first question is they cannot “call on him in whom they have not believed.”
2. The answer to the second question is they cannot “believe in him of whom they have not heard.”
3. The answer to the third question is they cannot “hear without a preacher.”
4. The answer to the fourth question is they cannot “preach, except they be sent.”
We might refer to these four points as the Ordis Evangelium (Order of Evangelism). The purpose of these four questions is to confront the believer, “born again” of the Spirit of God and indwelled by Him, with the responsibilities of the Great Commission. God intends for His Redeemed to be the vehicles of His grace (“beautiful feet”) and the Messengers/Heralds of His Gospel to the lost. Although the Spirit of God is drawing all sinners to Christ, it is the responsibility of the Redeemed to “preach the gospel of peace.” This is the primary purpose in the vocational calling/election (Eph. 4:1) of God’s new Priesthood of all believers “in Christ” throughout the Church Age. All of Christ’s priesthood of believers are evangelistic Ambassadors.
“17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 30 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:17-30).
God’s Word is filled with accounts of battles. However, the primary warfare waged in the Bible is warfare fought by Jehovah Sabbaoth and His hosts with Satan and his forces of evil. Both of these opposing forces are composed of both angelic and human agents. The primary objective of this warfare is not over real estate. The primary objective is the recovery of the souls of all lost men condemned to eternal separation from God due to Satan’s deception of Eve and Adam’s choice to sin. This is spiritual warfare fought inside the temporal with eternal consequences and results.
The intensity behind the four questions of Romans 10:14-15 is about God’s “born again” human hosts doing “the work of the ministry” (evangelism and making disciples) that they are saved to do as the “Church of the firstborn.” The moment a person is “born again” of the Spirit of God he becomes part of the Priesthood of all believers “in Christ” and one of host of Jehovah. In this new position in the “Church of the firstborn,” the believer becomes responsible to God for preserving the Truths of God’s revelation by proclaiming those Truths on the widest possible scope of his influence. The responsibility for reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ falls upon each local church as part of the hosts of Jehovah through the God ordained provision of grace through the indwelling Holy Spirit in synergism with the completely yielded believer/priest (Rom. 6:11-13). God’s use of His faithful remnant has been His pattern throughout the Ages.
“1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah {I Chron. 13:6; the city where David went to get the Ark of the Covenant to bring it to Jerusalem}, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims” (II Samuel 6:1-2).
According to the Scofield Reference Bible’s note on I Samuel 1:3, (the first use of the name “LORD of host” in the Bible) Jeremiah uses the title “LORD of host” 80 times, Haggai uses it 14 times, Zechariah uses it 50 times and Malachi uses it 25 times. That same note goes on to say, “. . . [P]rimarily the angels are meant, but the name gathers into itself the idea of all divine or heavenly power as available for the need of God’s people (Gen. 32:1, 2; Isa. 6:1-5; I Ki.22:19; Lk. 2:13-15).”
In God’s dispensational operations, the Holy Spirit is the primary agent in bringing lost people to understand their condemnation and the death sentence upon them by the curse, lead them to repentance of sin, to understand their need of a Savior, to understand the means of that salvation in Messiah, and finally to put their trust in God for the gift of redemption by grace (undeserved favor provided solely by God through faith).
God’s redeemed, along with God’s holy angels, become the secondary agents of the Holy Spirit’s work. In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit came upon certain chosen/elect believers such as judges, prophets, priests and kings (and other individuals) for them to proclaim God’s will, to be instruments of His grace, to lead His people in righteousness, and to be mediators for Him. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit indwells ALL believers and uses believers, who willingly yield their lives to Him as the vehicles of God’s grace to preach the gospel and to make disciples, to restrain the forces of evil, and to bring glory to His Name. There are four spiritual dynamics necessary to this supernatural synergism being accomplished by the Holy Spirit’s enabling grace through the lives of believers. These dynamics are evident in the contextual continuity of the epistle to the Romans.
1. Yieldedness to the indwelling Spirit of God (Romans 6:11-13)
2. Practical sanctification (Romans 6:1 through 8:39)
3. Consecration to doing the “work of the ministry” in holiness (Romans 12:1-21)
4. Believers perfected (discipled) “for the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:1-32)
God has a
vocational calling/election upon ALL believers in the Dispensation of Grace. Therefore, the Dispensation of Grace is about faithful
stewardship of the enabling/empowering of the believer’s life by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Unfaithfulness is the failure to live one’s life yielded to the Spirit and the wasting of this immeasurably valuable resource called
Grace. This is what the doctrine of the Priesthood of all believers “in Christ” as our High Priest is all about. As a priest, the consecrated (separated unto God) and sanctified (separated from worldliness) believer-priest can be used of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Word of God (“preach”) and “persuade men” (all men) to repent and believe. Once an individual has repented of sin, trusted in Christ’s “finished” work of redemption and is “born again,” the consecrated and sanctified believer-priest can be used of the Holy Spirit to teach that individual truth in order to prepare that newly saved person in the knowledge of truth and practice so that he/she can do the “work of the ministry” as a believer-priest before God as well. This vocation work of ministry of the priesthood of all believers is known as
discipleship.
“And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God” (Acts 19:8).
“14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. 21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. 22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: 23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:14-23).
Satan and his forces of evil oppose the work of the Holy Spirit and His angelic and human “hosts” in this “work of the ministry” at every opportunity and in numerous ways. Satan’s continues to use deception to oppose the Holy Spirit’s work. Satan’s two main methods are:
1. The denial of Truth (“ye shall not surely die” - Gen. 3:4)
2. The distortion of Truth (“hath God said” - Gen. 3:1)
However, Satan’s most effective method in opposing God’s doxological and soteriological purposes is to render God’s redeemed unusable by leading them (temptation) into worldliness (defiling their sanctification; this is the “the way of Baalim”) and selfishness (preventing their consecration). God’s use and divine enablement (“filling”) of the believer is dependent upon BOTH of these matters (sanctification and consecration). The believer MUST be both consecrated to doing the work God has called him to and sanctified before that work can be divinely blessed. Sanctification and consecration are the criteria and definitive realities of what Christ’s refers to as abiding “in me” in John 15. Therefore the believer priest is involved on two fronts as the agent of God (“the LORD of host”) in His warfare against the forces of evil.
1. As a guardian against the corruption of the gospel and the distortion of truth
2. As a guardian of his own separation from worldliness and unto God
This was the Apostle Paul’s emphasis to the carnal church at Corinth. In the sixteen chapters of Scripture of this epistle there are 14 chapters of rebuke. This is also the emphasis of the epistle to the church at Ephesus. In the first three chapters the emphasis is on doctrinal purity. In the last three chapters the emphasis is on practical purity in the application of the doctrines established in the first three chapters. II Corinthians 3:12-4:7 give us an excellent overview of this truth.
“12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy {aorist tense; lit., we have and continue to receive mercy}, we faint not {present tense; lit., we are not fainting or are not being worn out in that we have unlimited resources of energy in the Spirit of God}; 2 But have renounced {second aorist tense} the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Corinthians 3:12-4:7).
God has chosen to use His redeemed (believer-priests) and the methodology of
preaching for the purpose of persuading lost people of their need of Christ and He has chosen to use saved people as His human agents (“ambassadors;” II Corinthians 5:17-9:15; please read these few chapters). However, God’s
vocational choice/election of His redeemed to be His vehicles of grace and “Ambassadors of reconciliation” is not Calvin’s view of God’s operations in human history. As far as Calvinists are concerned, all of this is done solely by the Holy Spirit according to God’s sovereign will totally apart from the human agent. Calvinist use the word
providence to describe this sovereign operation of God. For them, it is just another word for
predeterminism.
“8.Those who would cast obloquy on this doctrine, calumniate it as the dogma of the Stoics concerning fate. The same charge was formerly brought against Augustine (lib. ad Bonifac. 2, c. 6 et alibi). We are unwilling to dispute about words; but we do not admit the term Fate, both because it is of the class which Paul teaches us to shun, as profane novelties (1 Tim. 6:20), and also because it is attempted, by means of an odious term, to fix a stigma on the truth of God. But the dogma itself is falsely and maliciously imputed to us. For we do not with the Stoics imagine a necessity consisting of a perpetual chain of causes, and a kind of involved series contained in nature, but we hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things,—that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed. Hence we maintain, that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined. What, then, you will say, does nothing happen fortuitously, nothing contingently? I answer, it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that Fortune and Chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance. We ought also to be moved by the words of Augustine (Retract. lib. 1 cap. 1), “In my writings against the Academics,” says he, “I regret having so often used the term Fortune; although I intended to denote by it not some goddess, but the fortuitous issue of events in external matters, whether good or evil. Hence, too, those words, Perhaps, Perchance, Fortuitously, which no religion forbids us to use, though everything must be referred to Divine Providence. Nor did I omit to observe this when I said, Although, perhaps, that which is vulgarly called Fortune, is also regulated by a hidden order, and what we call Chance is nothing else than that the reason and cause of which is secret. It is true, I so spoke, but I repent of having mentioned Fortune there as I did, when I see the very bad custom which men have of saying, not as they ought to do, ‘So God pleased,’ but, ‘So Fortune pleased.’ In short, Augustine everywhere teaches, that if anything is left to fortune, the world moves at random. And although he elsewhere declares (Quæstionum, lib. 83). that all things are carried on, partly by the free will of man, and partly by the Providence of God, he shortly after shows clearly enough that his meaning was, that men also are ruled by Providence, when he assumes it as a principle, that there cannot be a greater absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God; because it would happen at random. For which reason, he also excludes the contingency which depends on human will, maintaining a little further on, in clearer terms, that no cause must be sought for but the will of God. When he uses the term permission, the meaning which he attaches to it will best appear from a single passage (De Trinity. lib. 3 cap. 4), where he proves that the will of God is the supreme and primary cause of all things, because nothing happens without his order or permission. He certainly does not figure God sitting idly in a watch-tower, when he chooses to permit anything. The will which he represents as interposing is, if I may so express it, active (actualis), and but for this could not be regarded as a cause.” (Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion; Chapter 16)
In other words, human agents are not partners with God in the “work of the ministry,” but puppets of God. This would be a complete contradiction to I John chapter one, where God puts accountability for “fellowship” (partnership in ministry) upon the believer’s “walk” (I John 1:7). This “walk” is dependent upon the believer’s determinant will (choice). So it is true of the context of John chapter 15. It is the responsibility of the believer by his/her own determinant choice to “abide . . . in Christ.”
Although God does force His will on all humanity judicially, there is not one single instance in Scripture that I am aware of where God forces individuals to do His will. On the contrary, He appeals to and pleads with individuals to do His will. He usually uses consecrated and sanctified human agents who have already yielded to God’s will to make His appeals and to plead with other humans. That does not mean He does not use chastisement or circumstances to motivate people to do His will and to bring people to repent of their sinful and selfish choices when those wills are contradictory to God’s will. He certainly does use these means to turn men’s hearts. This is exemplified in the angel’s communication with the father of John the Baptist at the announcement of John’s future birth.
“13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:13-17).
Calvinism makes the human agent an unnecessary element in God’s doxological and soteriological purposes. That is a complete contradiction of clear statements of Holy Writ and a complete misrepresentation of thousands of years of the history of God’s working within His creation according to divine revelation in the Scriptures.
What makes the feet of the Ambassadors of reconciliation “beautiful . . . feet”? They are “beautiful . . . feet” because they are the vehicles of God’s grace in carrying the message of “the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” to the lost (the “whosoever”) of the world. This is another quote from Isaiah. Again, the context of the prophecy encompasses a whoseoverism of inclusivism to salvation availability to all nations of the world. The prophesy of the fifteen verses of Isaiah 52 is steeped in Messianic language. The message is similar to Paul’s spiritual wake up call to Israel in Romans chapter 10.
“1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I. 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. 13 Behold, my servant {Messiah} shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (Isaiah 52:1-15).
William Newell1 says of Romans 10:15, “The whole chapter of Isaiah from which this is taken, and the three that follow, are so richly Messianic, that there can be no doubt ‘the glad tidings’ there spoken of announce a more glorious release than of Judah from the Babylonish captivity, and the very feet of its preachers are called ‘beautiful’ for the sake of their message.”
The great truth of “whosoever” is not about the mere deliverance of national Israel from the Babylonian captivity due to her sinful rejection of God’s absolutes. The gospel alluded to in Isaiah 52:7 is the gospel of the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, His sinless life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection/glorification. We know that because what is said in Isaiah 52:7 is expanded upon in great detail in Isaiah chapter 53. The phrase “how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” in Isaiah 52:7 refers primarily to the prophet of God that would bring the message of the time of restoration from the Babylonian captivity. Paul’s use of this quote in Romans 10:15 provides a complimentary hermeneutic to Isaiah chapter 52 revealing that the messenger is actually Christ Jesus in His first advent and that the continuum of this is found in every “born again” child of God as priests of God in the beginning of the New Covenant.
From the Day of Pentecost and the indwelling of all believers by the Holy Spirit, all believers become both priests and prophets (not in the sense of receiving new revelation, but in the proclamation of the revelation of Jesus Christ already received). The scope of the accomplished realities in this gospel extend to every corner of the Earth. However, it would become the responsibility of all New Covenant believers and their “beautiful feet” to transport the message of completed redemption to “whosoever” to the uttermost parts of the world. This becomes the added responsibility that is provided by a complimentary hermeneutic from what Paul says in Romans 10:14-15.
“6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power {the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit creating synergism}, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:6-8).
We cannot separate the “beautiful feet” in Romans 10:15 from Christ’s commandment to His true disciples, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” in Mark 16:15. This is what Christ refers to in Acts 1:8 by the word “witnesses.” The idea of “witnesses” is very much like what we find in the oath taken by a judicial witness in a courtroom; . . . “to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” Disciples of Jesus Christ do not take this oath, or even make this oath. Disciples of Jesus Christ live this oath every day, and every moment of every day, of their lives as “Ambassadors of reconciliation.”
The word “beautiful” is translated from the Greek word horaios (ho-rah'-yos). It describes the feet of the Messenger of the Gospel, the Missionary, or the Evangelist. The word literally means belonging to the right hour or season (timely)2 . The idea of “beautiful feet” connects the Evangelist with the harvest season and the fruit or grain that is ready for the harvest. The Church Age is the harvest season of the blessings of the “whosoever” promise within the Abrahamic Covenant, “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3).
[1] William Newell, Romans Verse by Verse, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, Sword Searcher Software 4.8
[2] Strong’s Greek Dictionary, SwordSearcher Software 4.8
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