“Beginning With Moses, Part 3” by Romans
Youtube Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnDKD1NMH4
We are continuing our Series "Beginning With Moses." On the Road to Emmaus, Jesus caught up with and spoke with two disciples who were sad and perplexed about the arrest, crucifixion and resurrection reports about Jesus, the One Whom they "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel” (Luke 24:21). In response to their sadness and confusion, Jesus opened the Scriptures to them. We read, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
In my daily readings as I am making my way through the New Testament, last week I read a very similar incident in the life of the Apostle Paul. In his trial before Festus, when Paul was offered the chance to go to Jerusalem to defend himself against the charges of the chief priests, he declined, and instead, he appealed to Caesar.
Festus made arrangements for Paul to go to Rome to plead his case before the Emperor. After three days of his arrival in Rome, he called together the chief of the Jews in Rome to meet with him. We find that account in the last chapter of the Book of Acts:
“And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not” (Acts 28:23-24).
Notice that Paul presents to them virtually the same defense of Jesus' Messiahship that Jesus, Himself, did to the two on the Road to Emmaus: We read that he expounded and testified, “persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets” (Acts 28:23).
Matthew Henry writes of this: “We have here a short account of a long conference which Paul had with the Jews at Rome about the Christian religion. Though they were so far prejudiced against it, because it was every where spoken against, as to call it a sect, yet they were willing to give it a hearing, which was more than the Jews at Jerusalem would do.
It is probable that these Jews at Rome, being men of larger acquaintance with the world and more general conversation, were more free in their enquiries than the bigoted Jews at Jerusalem were, and would not answer this matter before they heard it.
I. We are here told how Paul managed this conference in defence of the Christian religion. The Jews appointed the time, a day was set for this dispute, that all parties concerned might have sufficient notice, Acts 28:23. Those Jews seemed well disposed to receive conviction, and yet it did not prove that they all were so. Now when the day came,
1. There were many got together to Paul. Though he was a prisoner and could not come out to them, yet they were willing to come to him to his lodging. And the confinement he was now under, if duly considered, instead of prejudicing them against his doctrine, ought to confirm it to them;
for it was a sign not only that he believed it, but that he thought it worth suffering for. One would visit such a man as Paul in his prison rather than not have instruction from him. And he made room for them in his lodging, not fearing to give offence to the government, so that he might do good to them.
2. He was very large and full in his discourse with them, seeking their conviction more than his own vindication. (1.) He expounded, or explained, the kingdom of God to them, - showed them the nature of that kingdom and the glorious purposes and designs of it, that it is heavenly and spiritual, seated in the minds of men, and shines not in external pomp, but in purity of heart and life.
That which kept the Jews in their unbelief was a misunderstanding of the kingdom of God, as if it came with observation; let but that be expounded to them, and set in a true light, and they will be brought into obedience to it.
(2.) He not only expounded the kingdom of God, but he testified it, - plainly declared it to them, and confirmed it by incontestable proofs, that the kingdom of God by the Messiah's administration was come, and was now set up in the world. He attested the extraordinary powers in the kingdom of grace by which bore his testimony to it from his own experience of its power and influence upon him, and the manner of his being brought into subjection to it.
(3.) He not only expounded and testified the kingdom of God, but he persuaded them, urged it upon their consciences and pressed them with all earnestness to embrace the kingdom of God, and submit to it, and not to persist in an opposition to it. He followed his doctrine (the explication and confirmation of it) with a warm and lively application to his hearers, which is the most proper and profitable method of preaching.
(4.) He persuaded them concerning Jesus. The design and tendency of his whole discourse were to bring them to Christ, to convince them of his being the Messiah, and to engage them to believe in him as he is offered in the gospel. He urged upon them - the things concerning Jesus, the prophecies of him, which he read to them out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, as pointing at the Messiah, and showed how they had all had their accomplishment in this Jesus.
They being Jews, he dealt with them out of the scriptures of the Old Testament, and demonstrated that these were so far from making against Christianity that they were the great proofs of it; so that, if we compare the history of the New Testament with the prophecy of the Old, we must conclude that this Jesus is he that should come, and we are to look for no other.
3. He was very long; for he continued his discourse, and it should seem to have been a continued discourse, from morning till evening; perhaps it was a discourse eight or ten hours long. The subject was curious - he was full of it - it was of vast importance - he was in good earnest, and his heart was upon it...
he knew not when he should have such another opportunity, and therefore, without begging pardon for tiring their patience, he kept them all day; but it is probable that he spent some of the time in prayer with them and for them.
II. What was the effect of this discourse. One would have thought that so good a cause as that of Christianity, and managed by such a skilful hand as Paul's, could not but carry the day, and that all the hearers would have yielded to it presently; but it did not prove so: the child Jesus is set for the fall of some and the rising again of others, a foundation stone to some and a stone of stumbling to others.
They did not agree among themselves, Acts28:25. Some of them thought Paul was in the right, others would not admit it. This is that division which Christ came to send, that fire which he came to kindle, Luke 12:49-51. Paul preached with a great deal of plainness and clearness, and yet his hearers could not agree about the sense and evidence of what he preached.”
The reason I cite this Account to your attention is this: Here we have no less than the Apostle Paul preaching Jesus to the Jewish Leadership in the city of Rome from the pages of the Old Testament. Some accepted what he said, others rejected his preaching, and there was division among them.
We need to be aware of this if we are ever in a conversation with non-believers. If there was rejection and division of the Truth about Jesus from people who believed the Word of God, there will certainly, conceivably, be greater rejection of Jesus Christ among non-believers.
The two disciples on the Road to Emmaus believed the Word of God, and as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them we read that “their hearts burned within them” as He spoke. But we also read that when Jesus opened the Scriptures to those in attendance in the Synagogue at Nazareth, telling them that Isaiah's Messianic Prophecy was fulfilled in Him, their hearts also burned within them. But it was a very different burning in their hearts.
It was a violent fury of rejection that incited them to try to throw Jesus off the nearest cliff! We read that they “rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong” (Luke 4:29).
We cannot know in advance how someone will react to our sharing the Truth about Jesus with them. We have to remember that Jesus tells us that, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him”(John 6:44).
The Apostle Paul understood this truth when he wrote, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6). That is all we can do: Plant and water. It is in God's hands as to whether and when He will grant anyone repentance, or begin to open their minds and their hearts to His Truth about His Son and Word and Plan of Salvation.
So don't be discouraged by the response you get. We are instructed, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). If someone recognizes in you the light that Jesus said we are to be, and you are asked about it, be ready to respond.
Let's get back to the main thrust of our Series, Beginning at Moses. Two weeks ago, in our introduction of this Series, the Pulpit Bible's comments were that Jesus could have quoted from: “The three divisions, the Pentateuch (Moses), the prophets, and all the Scriptures, cover the whole Old Testament received then in the same words as we possess them now.”
Last week, we saw, while Adam and Eve were still in the Garden of Eden, the serpent being cursed, and speaking of the coming of the Seed of the woman Whose heel would be bruised, and Who would crush the head of the serpent. Our next Scripture also directly involves Adam and Eve.
Notice several things as we proceed. After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they realized they were naked, and they covered their shame by making and wearing aprons of fig leaves. But their own effort to cover the shame of their nakedness did not accomplish what they hoped that it would. When the Lord appeared in the cool of the evening to fellowship with them, they hid in the bushes, fig leaf aprons and all.
We read, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:8a-10).
Their effort to come with a way to cover the evidence of their sin failed miserably. And so it is with us, today, even though the exact circumstances of our sin, and attempted remedies are different. What we need to see is that the remedy that worked for Adam and Eve is the very picture in the form of a parable of how God resolves our sins.
We read, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21).
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “We have here a further instance of God's care concerning our first parents, notwithstanding their sin. Though he corrects his disobedient children, and put them under the marks of his displeasure, yet he does not disinherit them, but, like a tender father, provides the herb of the field for their food and coats of skins for their clothing. Thus the father provided for the returning prodigal, Luke 15:22-23. If the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he would not have done this for them.
Observe, 1. That clothes came in with sin. We should have had no occasion for them, either for defence or decency, if sin had not made us naked, to our shame. Little reason therefore we have to be proud of our clothes, which are but the badges of our poverty and infamy.
2. That when God made clothes for our first parents he made them warm and strong, but coarse and very plain: not robes of scarlet, but coats of skin. Their clothes were made, not of silk and satin, but plain skins; not trimmed, nor embroidered, none of the ornaments which the daughters of Sion afterwards invented, and prided themselves in.
Let the poor, that are meanly clad, learn hence not to complain: having food and a covering, let them be content; they are as well done to as Adam and Eve were. And let the rich, that are finely clad, learn hence not to make the putting on of apparel their adorning, 1 Peter 3:3.
3. That God is to be acknowledged with thankfulness, not only in giving us food, but in giving us clothes also, Genesis 28:20. The wool and the flax are his, as well as the corn and the wine, Hosea 2:9.
4. These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were must be slain, slain before their eyes, to show them what death is, and (as it is Ecclesiastes 3:18) that they may see that they themselves were beasts, mortal and dying. It is supposed that they were slain, not for food, but for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice, which, in the latter end of the world, should be offered once for all.
Thus the first thing that died was a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure, who is therefore said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. These sacrifices were divided between God and man, in token of reconciliation: the flesh was offered to God, a whole burnt-offering;
the skins were given to man for clothing, signifying that, Jesus Christ having offered himself to God a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, we are to clothe ourselves with his righteousness as with a garment, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear.
Adam and Eve made for themselves aprons of fig-leaves, a covering too narrow for them to wrap themselves in, Isaiah 28:20. Such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them coats of skins; large, and strong, and durable, and fit for them; such is the righteousness of Christ. Therefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Apostle Paul understood this, writing, “Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:13-14). He also wrote, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27).
The Pulpit Bible tells us, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ. "For;" pointing back to the whole preceding verse, but especially to the words," in Christ Jesus." "All ye who were baptized;" more literally, "ye, as many as were," etc.
The rendering in our Authorized Version, "as many of you as have been baptized," allows of, if it does not suggest, the surmise that the apostle was aware of there being those among the Christians he was writing to who had not been "baptized into Christ."
But the context proves the fallacy of this surmise; for the baptism of a part of their body, whatever its consequences to those particular individuals, would have furnished no proof of the foregoing statement, that "all" of those whom he was addressing were "sons of God."
It may be paraphrased thus: As surely as ever any one of you was baptized into Christ, so surely did he become clothed with Christ. Precisely the same considerations apply to the clause in Romams 6:3, "All we who were baptized (ὅσοι, ἐβαπτίσθημεν) into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death." A similar paraphrase may be given in Romans 6:10 of this chapter: So surely as any are of the works of the Law, so surely are they under a curse; and in Romans 8:14,
So surely as any are led by the Spirit of God, so surely are these sons of God. Below, in Galatians 6:16, "As many as shall walk by this rule," the ὅσοι does mark out a class from among the general body of Christians, who were not all acting thus. So also Philippians 3:15, "As many as be perfect."
Were baptized into Christ. So Romans 6:3, "Baptized into Christ Jesus, baptized into his death." The question arises—What is the precise force of the preposition "into" as thus employed with relation to baptism? With the present passage we have to group the following: "Baptizing them into (εἰς) the Name of the Father. and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19);
"Were all baptized into (εἰς) Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Corinthians 10:2); "In (ἐν) one Spirit were we all baptized into (εἰς) one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13), which statement, we must observe, is preceded by the apologue of a body with many members ending with "so also is Christ" (Romans 6:13).
With reference to these passages we may observe that, since in 1 Corinthians 12:13 ("We were baptized into one body") the preposition retains its strict sense of "into," and since "Christ" is perpetually set forth as for Christians the sphere of their very existence, in whom they are that which distinctively they are, it is reasonable to conclude that, when the apostle here and in Romans 6:3 uses the expression, "baptized into Christ," he uses the preposition in its strict sense;
that is, meaning that Christians are in their baptism brought into that union with, in-being in, Christ which constitutes their life. Nor does 1 Corinthians 10:2, "were baptized into Moses", present any real objection to this view.
For in comparing objects together, the apostle not unfrequently puts a very considerable strain upon a phrase when he wishes to bring the two several objects under one category, using it alike of that to which it is most strictly applicable, and of that to which it is not applicable strictly, but only in a very qualified sense.
Compare, as a very noteworthy instance of this, his application of the words (κοινωνία κοινωνός), "communion," "having communion," in 1 Corinthians 10:16-20 (Revised Version); in which the expression, "having communion with devils" is, surely with considerable violence, applied to the case of persons eating things sacrificed to idols; but is applied thus by the apostle because he wishes to present a parallel to that real "communion of the blood, of the body, of Christ," which Christians are privileged to have in the Lord’s Supper.
Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 10:2-4 of the same chapter, for the purpose of exhibiting a parallelism, he strains the expressions," spiritual meat," "spiritual drink," justly and precisely applicable to the Lord’s Supper, to apply them to the manna and water from the rock, the meat and drink of the Israelites in the wilderness, although the only justification of their being thus designated consists in their having been supernaturally supplied, and perhaps also that they had a typical meaning.
We can thus, then, understand how, with reference to the other sacrament in 1 Corinthians 10:2 of the same chapter, he strains the expression, "baptized into," justly descriptive of Christian baptism, by applying it to that quasi-immersion of the Israelites in passing "through the midst of the Red Sea and under the cloud," which he construes into a "baptism" which made them over to a sort of union with, in-being in, Moses, thenceforward their lawgiver and leader.
The import of the expression, "baptized into Moses," is to be estimated in the light thrown upon it by the more certain import of the expression, "baptized into Christ;" not this latter to be explained down for the purpose of making it correspond with the other.
This view of the clause before us helps us to understand the words in Matthew 28:19, "Baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" in the comprehension of which we are further assisted by the very remarkable, pregnant use sometimes made in the Old Testament of the word "Name," when it is employed to designate that presence of Divine power and grace which is the security of God’s people and the confusion of their enemies (see Proverbs 18:10; Psalms 20:1, Psalms 20:7; Psalms 75:1; Isaiah 30:27, etc.).
For the baptism which brings men "into Christ" brings them into the Name of the triune God as manifested to us in the gospel. Such an interpretation of these words approves itself fully with reference to their use in the supremely solemn hour of spirit-fraught utterance recorded in Matthew 28:19;
notwithstanding that in other passages, of plain historical narrative, such as Acts 8:16 and Acts 19:5, it may be more natural to take the preposition in the phrase, "baptize into the Name of Christ," in a lower and less determinate sense—either as "unto," "with reference to," or, which seems more probable, as pointing to that professed connection with Christ as his people ("Ye are Christ’s," 1 Corinthians 3:23), into which the sacrament brings men.
But this lower interpretation, if admitted in those passages, has no claim to dominate our minds when endeavouring to apprehend the full import of the passage now before us, and of Romans 6:3. In these the apostle is evidently penetrating into the inmost significance and operation of the rite;
and therefore beyond question means to indicate its function, as verily blessed by God for the translation of its faithful recipients into vital union with Christ. For the just comprehension of the apostle’s meaning, it is of the utmost consequence to note that he introduces this reference to baptism for the purpose of justifying his affirmation in verse 26, that in Christ Jesus those whom he is addressing were all sons of God through faith.
This consideration makes it clear that he viewed their baptism as connected with faith. If there was any ,reality in their action in it at all, if they were not acting an unreal part, their coming to baptism was an outcome of faith on their part in Christ. By voluntarily offering themselves to be baptized into his Name, they were consciously obeying his own instructions:
they were manifesting their desire and their resolve to attach themselves to his discipleship and service; to be thenceforth people of his, as by him redeemed, and as expecting at his hands spiritual life here and perfected salvation hereafter.
Therefore it was that they were in their baptism translated "into Christ;" their voluntary act of faith brought them under such operation of Divine grace as made the rite effectual for the transcendent change which the expression indicates; for it is abundantly apparent that a spiritual transition such as this cannot be wrought by a man’s own volition or action, but only by the hand of God; as St. John testifies (John 1:13).
have put on Christ, or did put on Christ. In Romans 13:14 we find the imperative used, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." There the phrase has an ethical application, denoting the adoption of that whole system of habits which characterized the Lord Jesus, and presents in a more definite form that "putting on" of "the new man" which is insisted upon in Ephesians 4:24.
This can hardly be its meaning here; rather it is to be regarded as a more determinate form of the notion of" being justified." The penitent convert, by that decisive action of his faith which by seeking "baptism into Christ" put forth his hand to lay hold of the righteousness which is by faith, became invested with this particular form of "righteousness," namely, that very acceptableness, in the sight of God, which shone in Christ himself.
In that hour God "made him acceptable in the Beloved" (cf. Ephesians 1:6); endued this poor guilty creature with the loving-kindness with which he regarded his own Son. The middle voice of the Greek verb, though it denotes in Romans 13:14 action of the Christian’s own, is not to be so far pressed as to exclude the notion of our having in this case been subjected to the action of another.
Compare Luke 24:49, "Until ye be clothed with power from on high;" 1 Corinthians 15:53, "This mortal must put on immortality;" so 2 Corinthians 5:3. It is the exclusive prerogative of God to justify the sinner; and therefore it must have been by him that the believer became clothed with Christ, not by himself, though it was by his own voluntary act that he came under this operation of the Divine grace.
It is, perhaps, impossible more strongly to express the intense character (so to speak) which belongs to the righteousness which comes to us through faith in Christ, than by the form in which it is here exhibited. The apostle, however, in 2 Corinthians 5:21, uses an expression which may be put by the side of it:
"That we might become the righteousness of God in him." It is now clear how completely this verse makes good the affirmation in the preceding one. We have indeed been made sons of God in Christ Jesus if we have become clothed with Christ.
For what other in this relation does the phrase, "sons of God," denote as applied to ourselves, than the intense love into the bosom of which God has received us? No higher degree of adoption to be sons is conceivable; though the complete manifestation of this adoption still remains in the future (Romans 8:19).”
We, today, have something of an advantage over the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. We, with complete access to the completed Word of God, can far better appreciate our being clothed with Christ, as it was pictured in symbol by God's having sacrificed that innocent animal, in order to clothe Adam and Eve with its skins to cover the shame of their nakedness.
Some of what Old Testament Scriptures provide us in speaking of Christ are more evidence and obvious. Tonight, we saw evidence that was somewhat harder to see, and can be more easily read over, as I am sure countless Christians, including myself, have done.
This is why I so appreciate the profound insights of the Commentators I cite week after week to open our eyes to the hidden Truths of the Word of God. There are many more things written in the Old Testament that speak of Christ centuries and thousands of years in advance.
I invite all of you who are hearing or reading my words to join me, God willing, in the coming weeks as we review and examine, beginning with Moses, what the Old Testament has to tell us on this subject.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Beginning with Moses, Part 3”
This Discussion was presented “live” on August 9th, 2023
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