Living by Faith - Romans

The Elite and the Elect

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Living by Faith

Lesson: 48-64

Genre: Talk

Track: 048

Dictation Name: RR311Y48

Location/Venue:

Year: ?

Let us worship God. This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. Having these promises, let us draw near to the throne of grace with true hearts, in full assurance of faith. My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning oh Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou who in Thy grace and mercy has made us Thy people, and hast redeemed us by the blood of Jesus Christ, has governed us in Thy grace with Thy providential care, and beset us before and behind with Thy mercies. Give us grace so to walk knowing that all things are ordered by Thee, and shall accomplish in Thy due time Thine appointed purpose. We thank Thee that the nations are as nothing in Thy sight, and that all their plans shall be brought to naught by Thy wisdom, and the wisdom of men shall be confounded. Give us grace therefore to wait on Thee, to trust in Thy word, to walk in Thy Spirit, and to be more than conquerors in Christ our Lord. In His name we pray, amen.

Our scripture this morning is Romans 11:25-36, our subject: The Elite and the Elect. Romans 11:25-36.

“25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

As we saw last time, Paul undercuts the doctrine of the merits of the fathers, works of supererogation. This was a belief that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in particular Abraham, had been so good that they had not only done enough good works to save themselves, but had built up a treasury of merit, so that every Jew to the end of time could draw on that treasury, and no matter how bad he was, if he appealed to that treasury on judgement day he would be saved.

For examples of this, note this rabbinic comment in the Song of Solomon 1:5 the verse: “I am black, but comely.” And it was held and I quote: “The congregation of Israel speaks: I am black through my own works but lovely through the works of my fathers.”

Another example, I quote: “As this vine supports itself in a trunk which is dry, while it is itself fresh and green, so Israel supports itself on the merits of the fathers, although they already sleep.”

Again I quote: “The Holy One speaks to Israel: My sons, if ye will be justified by me in the judgement, make mention to me of the merits of your fathers, so shall ye be justified before me in the judgement.”

In terms of these concepts, works of supererogation, the meaning was clear. Anyone who appealed to the merits of the Fathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no matter what kind of a scoundrel he was, could be saved. This doctrine had a wide popularity.

Now Paul had this in mind as he writes, because the doctrine is a perennial one in human history. The Romans were no less sure that they were the chosen people of history, and that the Romans were favored of the God’s. The Greeks also believed this. The Romans of course are better known to us because we still speak of eternal Roman, divine Rome, and other like terms, which were commonplace during Rome’s lifetime, and some still linger on.

Of course, Israel’s belief was worse because it was linked to the living God, making it far worse. But the Romans and other peoples have seen themselves as elite peoples. The Romans and the Greeks I have cited, and since then the Chinese, the Japanese, the French, the Spanish, the Germans, the English, and no less the Americans, all see themselves, and many other groups, as histories elite people.

As against the elite Paul sets forth the elect, and hence the stress at the heart of Romans on predestination. The elect against the elite. The elite are self chosen in every instance in history, the elect are God’s chosen. The elite assert natural privilege and inherent merit, they assert the works of supererogation, the works, the merits of the fathers, and this doctrine has many forms. Being born in a country with a great past, with many great men, gives us no claim on God or the present. But many people seem to feel that because they are born in some country that is full of cathedrals and monuments of the past, somehow that makes them great. But they are pygmies living in the ruins, the relics of the past. And we too are becoming pygmies by contrast with those who made this country strong.

The works of supererogation then has many forms. It passed into the church and had a profound influence on the medieval schoolmen. In this century it has been by and large dropped by Catholic scholars. It was, by the way, basic to the Indulgences against which Luther fought. But in the last century it was set forth very plainly by so influential a theologian as Pelliccia, and I quote: “A theologian of recent times, Alexander de Hales proposes: When the penalty of a due and sufficient contrition has already been suffered, may the Supreme Pontiff remit to a penitent the whole of the penance which his sin properly deserves? Answer: “He may,” and he brings forward the following arguments in support of his opinion. It may be said that when our Lord the Pope grants a plenary indulgence, he himself inflicts punishment, by obliging the Church, or some member of it, to make amends for the sin. This is the first reason. The second is because the treasury of the church which is set forth for the satisfaction of the church consists principally of the merits of Christ. What he means by the treasury of the church he briefly explains in these words: it consists of the merits of the supererogation, a sum paid over and above what is due, of the members of Christ, and is chiefly made up of the supererogation of the merits of Christ. The Roman pontiff therefore according to the opinion of the schoolman did possess the power referred to, for it was allowable for him to apply the merits of Christ or of the faithful as compensation for the penance of another; though, as the same writer says, the pope ought not to do this except in cases of urgent necessity.”

This doctrine was set forth centuries ago in 1433 by Pope Clement the 6th in Unigenitus Dei Philos. Now the protestants have been vocal in denouncing Catholics for this, but they have developed a weak counterpart to the doctrine. At the heart of this doctrine is the assumption of the merit gained by natural privilege and inheritance, and so there is a common assumption that by being protestant one has a particular merit, and has thereby established a status before God; and some churches are more vehement about this than others. Landmark Baptists are particularly vehement about the importance of being a Landmark Baptist. Those who are in confessional churches, Or those who are in very Bible believing churches believe that such membership gives status before God in some cases. I have heard that argued. The same is true of national inheritance; being born in a particular country or of a particular heritage is seen by many as giving status.

Now, this is very commonplace. Paul in this letter to the Romans is determined to undercut any trust in such status by Jew or Gentile. We can understand why Romans, which has only been dealt with superficially, has been so revolutionary a work; as against elitism it insists on predestination. The doctrine of predestination is the death knell of all elitism, because it says God in His mercy chooses us, that we cannot be self-chosen. Paul hits at this in letter after, for example in 1 Corinthians 4:7 he says it as plainly as anyone can: “For who maketh thee to differ from another? Or what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as though thou hast not received it?” Paul could not be more emphatic.

Now, all this is very closely related to a word that Paul uses in verse 25: “25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,” now Paul uses the word ‘mystery’ many times in his letters; it is a startling use, and a lot of scholars who have a gift for idiocy have said that Paul was very much influenced by the mystery religions. Well, I have examined every use Paul has made of the word. It is in the Greek ‘musterion’, it was a word used primarily by the mystery cults, and if anything, every use by Paul undercuts the whole thesis of mystery religions. What were the mystery cults? They were sometimes revolutionary groups, and were mistrusted by Rome with reason, they had to be strictly controlled. But they were secret societies with a secret faith and a secret agenda. They were elitist to the core, that is why they were dangerous, potentially revolutionary, because they had an elitist group with elitist goals, and a secret agenda, and a secret membership.

But what does Paul do with the word, every instance where he uses it? He says: ‘Here is something that man could not have imagined that has now opened up. I would not brethren that you would be ignorant of this mystery. I am unfolding.’ The mystery cults concealed, Paul says those things which are beyond man, the mysteries of God, God reveals, unveils, and opens up.

Elitism is thus undercut. The mystery is opened up to all mankind, Paul says in various passages; the incarnation, the crucifixion, the unfolding of the meaning of history in Christ, the inclusion of the gentiles, the whole purpose of God in history; he said: ‘this great mystery is opened up.’

One of the mystery cults, Isis worship, had in its temple, it was primarily an Egyptian cult which became a semi mystery cult. Its central inscription in its great temple read that: “I am he who was and is, and no man can see beyond my veil.” The future is dark, it is hidden, and the mystery cults attempted to govern the future, an unknowable and unpredictable future; and Christ in opposition to this says: “I am He who is, and was, and is to come.” The Lord, the creator, the unveiler.

So Paul in his every use of the word mystery is striking at this whole elitism.

Now Vincent gives an interesting sidelight on the meaning of the word ‘mystery’ and I quote: “In early ecclesiastical Latin, musterion was rendered by sacramentum, which in classical Latin meant the military oath. The explanation of the word sacrament which is so often found on this etymology is therefore mistaken, since the meaning of sacrament belongs to musterion and not to sacramentum in the classical sense.”

However, when the Greek word musterion was translated and used in Latin with the word sacramentum, they didn’t necessarily pervert the meaning. What they were saying is that this mystery which is now revealed, requires of us something comparable to a military oath, a readiness to live and die in terms of this faith. The choice of the word sacramentum was not accidental. By receiving the revelation and new life, we take an oath of allegiance to Christ, our savior king.

Now Paul speaks of the extent of the Revelation, of the fullness of the Gentiles world-wide conversion, which will be marked, he says, by the end of Israel’s hardness and the fullness of Israel’s conversion. Blindness, hardness of heart, he says, is come to Israel in part because throughout the centuries there has been a steady, sometimes an accelerating drift of Jews into the church. Today it is especially marked. But, when you have the conversion of the gentiles and of the Jews, it is not the end of the world. To assume that is to assume that the saving of souls is the only goal of history, and it is more; it is dominion, it is the kingdom of God. All things shall be put under His feet, Paul says to the Corinthians, before the end.

When Paul says the fullness of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Jews will come in time ahead, he does not mean a majority, nor 70%, nor 90%, nor 98%. You can have that without having a Christian country. After about 1850 or 60, the membership in this country of Christians in Evangelical churches was high up in the 90’s; but it had ceased to be a Christian country. Why? Because of the pietism of the churches. Christianity had become sub-cultural in its impact. Everybody believed it, but hardly anyone was allowing it to govern their economic, their political, their educational life. So it was sub-cultural, and it cannot be so. What Paul envisions is Christianity commanding the culture.

Then Paul continues in verse 26: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:” All Israel includes all the Gentiles and all the Jews, everyone who is of Christ, it is the Israel of God, the elect as against the self-appointed elite.

Then Paul quotes: “The Redeemer shall come to Zion” which is from Isaiah 59:20. And this is a promise in Isaiah, not to the nation as a whole, but to the seed according to election, the true Israel of God; so it clearly is inclusive of all peoples everywhere.

Again he quotes Jeremiah 31:31 in verse 27, concerning the world-wide mission of Israel to all peoples. Nothing Paul says has reference to the restoration of Israel as a political, humanistic state. God is not interested in Jews or Gentiles in their humanism, only in Christ. And this is stressed by Paul in verses 28-32, where he says in particular in verse 32: “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”

God has allowed all peoples to go into unbelief, beginning with Adam and everyone born of Adam, all of them to fall into sin, all of them to stray, all of them to be sons of Adam and reprobate, and able to come to Him only by His grace; so that no man can say he is of the elite. We are all chosen by His grace, by His mercy. Antinomianism leads to elitism, because it makes every man his own God, determining things for himself.

He tells us that Israel has a double status, enemies for your sakes, but in terms of the covenant beloved for the fathers sake. The reason for it, he says in verse 29, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, or as Moses said: “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent; hath He said and shall He not do it, or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?”

Three times in these verses, Paul contrasts disobedience and mercy, and emphasizes grace as against elitism.

Then in verses 33-36 we have what is commonly spoken of as Paul’s doxology. Here we have the foundations of what he has been saying. It is not in terms of the Jews, nor of the Gentiles, nor of the church, but in terms of God. He is the elector, the Predestinator, and He speaks of the depths and riches, and the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.

His focus, and the focus of all things, he says, is God and His government. As Charles Hodge said with regard to these verses and I quote: “The principle ideas presented in this passage are first, the incomprehensible character and infinite excellence of the divine nature and dispensations; second, God’s entire independence of man; third His comprehending all things within Himself, being the source, the means, and the end of all.”

God’s ways, Paul says, are past finding out. No man can know the mind of God, except by revelation; no elitist can scratch the surface. We can know God truly by His grace, but we can never know Him exhaustively, as Van Til has so tellingly made clear. Those who insist that God operates in terms of Aristotle’s logic, or their own logic, are guilty of blasphemy. To understand and comprehend the mind of God would require that we have a mind equal to or greater than God. We are created in God’s image, in the image of His communicable attributes, not His incommunicable attributes. Man is not a clone of God, but God’s creature.

Commenting on these verses, Cranfield wrote beautifully of Paul’s general argument and I quote: “If we have followed him through these chapters with serious and open minded attentiveness, we may well feel that he has given us enough to enable us to repeat the amen of his doxology in joyful confidence that the deep mystery which surrounds us is neither a nightmare mystery of meaninglessness, nor a dark mystery of arbitrary omnipotence, but the mystery which will never turn out to be anything other than the mystery of the altogether good and merciful, and faithful God.”

In this doxology, Paul gives us the presuppositions of all that he has been saying; God is what He says He is, not what man thinks. In elitism man plays at being God; whether he calls himself a philosopher king, a scientific planner, an intellectual, or a bureaucrat, he assumes that his wisdom can best govern men and the world. The myth of evolution has greatly furthered modern elitism, since man is now seen as the highest point of evolutionary development, and the scientific man, the intellectual man, as the highest point of man.

Most contemporary concepts of political order presuppose elitism, although they usually disguise their elitism in the name of republics or democracies. Every last country in the world today virtually, claims to be a democracy or a republic; the Soviet Union is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. But they are all elitist, and all such elitist thinking is a clear invitation to God’s judgment. Paul stresses predestination. By means of predestination, God’s covenant and the covenant law of God makes plain that justice and mercy can only exist in His kingdom; because of Him and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever amen.

Let us pray. Oh Lord our God, we thank Thee that in this world of elitists, Thou hast chosen us, not because of us, for we were dead in our sins and trespasses, but because of Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for Thy grace and mercy. Make us strong in Thy service, and ever grateful that we may serve Thee as we ought; confound the elitists of our world, and sweep them into the dustbin of history, and establish Thy kingdom in truth and in power. Grant this we beseech Thee in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes John?

[John] Then we can say that supererogation is the doctrine that man derives status from some aspect of creation?

[Rushdoony] From himself basically, and it is an elitist doctrine because it says the merit comes from man in history, not from God. Yes?

[Otto Scott] Well the idea is now I think, that the state, the government creates status, and creates the elite; and we have eliminated heredity officially speaking, as the entry into elitism. But right now, in seeing the deliberate campaign to elevate minorities, what we are seeing is an attempt to change the elite into a governmental created elite with certain truths, educational, situational, and so forth.

[Rushdoony] I think that is a tremendous point, and a very fine study could be made of the federal doctrine of works of supererogation, because that is what we see in the courts to a great extent today. Yes?

[Audience Member] On the same subject, you mentioned that protestants, while being vehemently opposed to the open profession of supererogation as perhaps when described in the Catholic church, would their guilt of the same thing being directly tied to a doctrinal position? And would a doctrinal position be a form of the (?) in so far as it didn’t square with scripture?

[Rushdoony] Sometimes, I think, yes, very definitely. Any time a group takes pride in their position or their confession as though because it is a summation of truth, therefore they have gained status by it; they are assuming the same Rabbinic doctrine. Yes?

[Audience Member] Do you feel that men tend to want the elitist more than women do you think, they are striving for it more; or do you think with the womans lib movement that they are trying for their own elitism?

[Rushdoony] Very good question. Men are the born elitists, they really strive for it. Feminism is trying to teach women to be elitists, but I don’t think it comes naturally to women. When it does it is a real aberration; of course it is an aberration that in Eve created a lot of trouble. She took the lead, she became the elite person in Eden, she had a corner on the truth, and she was ready to let Adam in on it. But, I think men are definitely more prone to it. It doesn’t mean that women are less sinful, it just means that there is a difference in the kind of sin men and women have. Elitism is emphatically a masculine sin.

Any other questions or comments?

[Audience Member] I guess you could say then that elitism, it is a more vulgar statement than male chauvinism.

[Rushdoony] (laughter) Yes, I think there is a connection there. Very definitely.

[Audience Member] I’ve known an awful lot of (Gron dons?)

[Rushdoony] Well, none of us are exempt from sin; we all have a duty to fight it, and to conquer it. Any other questions or comments? If not, let us bow our heads in prayer. Lord, by Thy grace and mercy make us strong in Christ, make us ever faithful to His calling and to our duty in Him, that we may serve Thee as men and women of Thy kingdom, servants of Thy glory, manifestations of Thy dominion in history. Bless us to this purpose. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.