Paul's Prayer For Israel
The great apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the saints in Rome one of the most profound documents that exists today in any language, and in this letter we have the Christian religion stated, argued and amplified. That man must be righteous to stand in the presence of God is one thing that is simply implied, by announcing that the gospel is God's power unto salvation, and adding that in it the righteousness of God by faith is revealed, in order to produce faith. Not only is the fact made known that man must be righteous, but the "how" he is to be made righteous is also declared.
The fact that sin is in the World is generally known and acknowledged. The fact that sin separates man from God, renders him unrighteous, and makes him obnoxious to all that is, holy, is also generally known. The fact that sin separates us from God, our own sins, of which we individually are guilty, is clearly revealed to us in the gospel. This "righteousness by faith" is the very heart of the gospel. It was unheard of before the Christ came to earth as the "only begotten Son of God" revealing that divine scheme of redemption, which God had been developing through the preceding centuries. It was not, and is not now, something that mankind had been developing through the ages, in his "search after truth" as present day "modernists" would have us to believe. But, this gospel was revealed from heaven. It is not "the best expression of man's yearnings and searchings for truth" and therefore simply a human production, but it is that which "God has spoken unto us." Hear the Apostle Paul: "Moreover brethren, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not after man, nor was I taught it, but it came to me by revelation of Jesus Christ." (Gal. 1:11, 12.) Since Paul was not taught the gospel by man, it was most certainly not taught in the school of Gamaliel at Jerusalem. Paul was educated in that school, in the Jews religion. The law of Moses was taught there. It was something that was "new" when it was first preached by the apostles of Christ.
The Jews — Israel, in Paul's day, had not been taught the gospel, and in fact, when it was preached to them, many of them rejected it completely. They seemed to think that since they had been the chosen people of God for fifteen centuries, and since they had had the Law, given by Moses, all through those centuries, mankind would have to be blessed through that law in some manner; else there was no blessing for them. The law given through Moses made no provision for absolute forgiveness of sin. Through the sacrifices it required Israel to offer their sins were "rolled forward" — a "stay of execution" was granted. And "in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year." (Heb. 10:3.) And since "all have sinned" and "there is none righteous" all stand alike in need of salvation from sin. The gospel of Christ is God's own means of making men righteous. Man is not righteous as long as he is guilty of any wrongdoing. So long then as he is guilty of one unforgiven sin (and he is not guilty of any sin that is forgiven), he is unrighteous. Paul's letter to the saints in Rome deals with these problems in a practical way. Israel after the flesh, that is the fleshly descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob, were Paul's kinsmen after the flesh. And it was they whom Paul desired to convert to Christ. It was they, his kinsmen after the flesh, for whom he prayed and of whom he wrote when he said: "My heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God but not according .to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth." (Rom. 10:1-4.)
Moses wrote that "the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby." The trouble was, that no one did the things the law required. All sinned. And when man sinned he could not reinstate himself in a state of innocence; he could not undo the sin he had committed. The law justified only in innocence. It was not the person who had the law, and nearly kept it, "but he that doeth them shall live in them." Man was not guilty till he sinned, and no man is guilty now till he sins. After he sins he is unrighteous until his sins are forgiven. In the passage quoted above we are told that Christ is the "end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth." I fear many people fail to see the significance of that statement. It doesn't mean merely the termination of the law. But Christ is the aim, the goal, the object or "end" of that law. Its ordinances, its required sacrifices, all of its appointments, pointed to the Christ. And Christ is the heart of the gospel. Complete and absolute pardon is in him. Outside of Christ, and apart from him there is no remission of sins. Paul's kinsmen according to the flesh, had not accepted the Christ, and they were not righteous, did not have the remission of sins which he offers, and which remission can not be had apart from Christ. The conclusion is inevitable; Israel was lost. And yet, they were devoutly religious. They were so devoutly religious they thought they were doing God a service when they put Christians to death. They were so religious they put the Christ to death. And after they had crucified him, they were so devoutly religious that they asked of Pilate that the legs of those crucified might be broken to hasten death, so that they might be removed from the cross before the Sabbath came, lest that day be thus desecrated. (John 19:31.)
Yet today we are told solemnly that it makes no "never mind" about what sort of religion a man exercises, just so he is sincere. Friends, I take it that those who crucified Jesus Christ were just as sincere, and devout as most religionists are today. Jesus told his disciples that those who killed them would think that they were offering service unto God. (John 16:2.) Those of fleshly Israel, for whom Paul prayed that they might be saved, were lost; and yet they were religious. They were making every effort to obliterate the religion of Christ. No man who is guilty of sin can ever be righteous until his sins are forgiven. And God's way of making men righteous is to effect their salvation — their deliverance from sin. Jesus authorized his apostles to preach the gospel to every creature. He requires us to believe the gospel the apostles preached. He also requires us to repent of our sins. He came to save us from our sins; not in our sins. We must therefore repent. He then requires us to be immersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:16.) When a man hears the gospel, believes in the Christ with all the heart, repents of his sins, confesses the Christ as Lord, and is baptized into Christ, God pardons his sins. He is then delivered from sin. He is no longer guilty. He is righteous. He is as righteous as though he had never been guilty. It is only in this way that man can be righteous. But salvation from sin precedes this state of righteousness. And the man who has not been delivered from sin by the pardoning power of Jesus the Christ, is not righteous, no matter what his claims to the contrary may be. It was this Paul had in mind, and of this which he spoke, when he prayed for Israel, his kinsmen according to the flesh.