As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
In Part 1, we followed along as the apostle Paul explained that God has not forsaken the people of Israel. Instead, He is temporarily punishing them. Now, he explains why the punishment is necessary. So, Paul deploys a sort of parable to explain God’s divine rescue plan.
In Romans 11, Paul finally answers the question he’s been dancing around since ch. 9: what is God’s plan for the people of Israel?
“of the nineteen uses of βασιλεία in the NT epistles, fully half of them occur in contexts of church membership, most often that of church discipline.” - DBTS Blog
As we enter into Palm Sunday and Passion Week, it is appropriate that we focus our attention on the discourse that Jesus gave His disciples in the Upper Room—most of it after Judas left (John 13:30)—on the night before His death.
I asserted in the previous installment that Jesus took this opportunity to reveal many new truths associated with the church age to His apostles.
“On one page, Jesus says that he will build his church, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18)…. a couple pages later, the young believer encounters Jesus telling the disciples they should address unresolved sin by telling it ‘to the church’ (Matt. 18:17).” - 9 Marks
Discussion