Monday’s Mystery Quotation Quiz
March 19th, 2007
(ANSWERS HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED IN BOLD)
In keeping with Jonathan Moorhead’s mystery quotation last Friday (from R.C. Sproul), we thought we’d put up a few more on the topic of Israel and the future. For those who missed it at Jonathan’s site, here is part of the Sproul quote:
And so all Israel will be saved. The context indicates that Paul must be speaking of the Jewish people. He does not mean every Jew that ever lived, but the nation of Israel. Now why do I say that ‘Israel’ in this phrase refers to the Jews? All through his discussion Paul is talking about Israel in part: part of Israel has been blinded, part of Israel has been cut away, part of Israel has been stubborn, part of Israel has been excluded from the kingdom of God and its blessings. The Jews as a people are presently under judgment. But as there was a national judgment, so there will be a national restoration. Their rejection, even though it was a national rejection, did not include the rejection of every individual. So the restoration doesn’t necessarily mean that every individual Jew will be saved, but the nation as a nation will be restored to God. (Online Source)
So. . . if you have a few minutes, take our ten-question, multiple-choice, quotation quiz (no googling, of course). We’ll put the answers up just before 5 PM PST this evening. (HINT: None of these quotes come from “dispensational premillennialists,” even if we’ve listed a few “dispies” among the potential answers.)
Quote #1: Who said this?
The space of a thousand years is [in Revelation 20] to be taken, not indefinitely, but definitely, for just this number of years exactly, as appears from their having the article prefixed to them; and are called afterwards, no less than four times, ta cilia eth, “the thousand years,” or these thousand years, Revelation 20:3 and from the things which are attributed to the beginning and ending of these years, which fix the epoch, and period of them; . . . [They] are to be understood literally and definitely, as before, of just such an exact number and term of years.
Was it?
A. John Calvin
B. John Gill (1697-1771) in his commentary on Revelation 20
C. John Owen
D. John Darby
Quote #2: Who said this?
. . . the Jews in all their dispersions shall cast away their old infidelity, and shall have their hearts wonderfully changed, and abhor themselves for their past unbelief and obstinacy. They shall flow together to the blessed Jesus, penitently, humbly, and joyfully owning him as their glorious King and only Savior, and shall with all their hearts, as one heart and voice, declare his praises unto other nations. . . . Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of the Jews in Romans 11.
Was it?
A. Jeremiah Burroughs
B. John Owen
C. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 1:607
D. J. D. Pentecost
Quote #3: Who said this?
[The] error of allegory has been the source of many evils. Not only did it open the way for the adulteration of the natural meaning of Scripture but also set up boldness in allegorizing as the chief exegetical virtue.
[And in a different place]
Let us know that the true meaning of Scripture is the genuine and simple one, and let us embrace and hold it tightly. Let us . . . boldly set aside as deadly corruptions, those fictitious expositions which lead us away from the literal sense.
Was It?
A. John Calvin (1509-1564) Online Source
B. John Gill
C. John Darby
D. John Stott
Quote #4: Who said this?
It is possible to designate a terminus, because it seems that the blindness of the Jews will endure until all the pagans chosen for salvation have accepted the faith. And this is in accord with what Paul says below about the salvation of the Jews, namely, that after the conversion of the pagans, all Israel will be saved.
Was it?
A. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) “Super Epistolam Ad Romanos”; II.2
B. Thomas a Kempis
C. Thomas Watson
D. Thomas Ice
Quote #5: Who said this?
The Lord says, All the nations shall be blessed in Abraham: Hence I gather that the nation of the Jews shall be called, and converted to the participation of this blessing: when, and how, God knows: but that it shall be done before the end of the world we know.
Was it?
A. William Gurnell
B. William Perkins (1558-1602) cited from Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope, 42
C. William Wilberforce
D. William HendricksonNOTE: For an interesting read on how most of the Puritan’s viewed Israel’s future, see here.
Quote #6: Who said this?
The second great event, which, according to the common faith of the Church, is to precede the second advent of Christ, is the national conversion of the Jews. . . . The restoration of the Jews to the privileges of God’s people is included in the ancient predictions and promises made respecting them. . . . The future restoration of the Jews is, in itself, a more probable event than the introduction of the Gentiles into the church of God.
Was it?
A. Charles Simeon
B. Charles Hodge (1797-1878) Systematic Theology, 3:805; cf. Romans, 270-85
C. Charles Spurgeon
D. Charles Ryrie
Quote #7: Who said this?
I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything promised in the Bible it is this.
Was it?
A. Charles Simeon
B. Charles Hodge
C. Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) cited in Murray’s, The Puritan Hope, 256
D. Charles RyrieNote: For another great Spurgeon quote, regarding eschatology, see here.
Quote #8: Who said this?
He [Paul] speaks of the whole nation, not of any one part. . . . The blindness of the Jews is neither so universal that the Lord has no elect in that nation, neither will it be continual: for there will be a time in which they also (as the prophets have foretold) will effectually embrace that which they now so stubbornly for the most part reject and refuse.
Was it?
A. The Geneva Study Bible (1599 ed.) from the notes on Romans 11:24-25.
B. The Reformation Study Bible
C. The Catholic Study Bible
D. The Ryrie Study Bible
Quote #9: Who said this?
And so all Israel shall be saved. . . . Meaning not the mystical spiritual Israel of God, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, who shall appear to be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, when all God’s elect among the latter are gathered in, which is the sense many give into; but the people of the Jews, the generality of them, the body of that nation, called “the fullness” of them, Romans 11:12, and relates to the latter day, when a nation of them shall be born again at once; . . . when they as a body, even the far greater part of them that shall be in being, shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King; shall acknowledge Jesus to be the true Messiah, and shall look to him, believe on him, and be saved by him from wrath to come.
Was it?
A. John Owen
B. John Gill (1697-1771) commentary on Romans 11:26
C. John Murray
D. John Walvoord
Quote #10: Who said this?
If we keep in mind the theme of this chapter [ Rom. 11] and the sustained emphasis on the restoration of Israel, there is no other alternative than to conclude that the proposition, ‘all Israel shall be saved’ is to be interpreted in terms of the fullness, the receiving, the in-grafting of Israel as a people, the restoration of Israel to gospel favor and blessing and the correlative turning of Israel from unbelief to faith and repentance. . . . In a word, it is the salvation of the mass of Israel that the apostle [Paul] affirms. . . .
. . . it does not follow that Israel no longer fulfills any particular design in the realization of God’s worldwide saving purpose. . . Israel are both “enemies” and “beloved” at the same time, enemies as regards the gospel, beloved as regards the election. . . “Beloved” thus means that God has not suspended or rescinded his relation to Israel as his chosen people in terms of the covenants made with their fathers.
Was it?
A. John Calvin
B. John Murray (1898-1975) in The Epistle to the Romans, 99
C. John Stott
D. John Walvoord
Quote #11 (extra credit): Who said this?
There can be no question of God’s having finally rejected the people of his choice–he would then have to reject his own election (11.29). . . . Israel’s promises remain Israel’s promises. They have not been transferred to the church. Nor does the church push Israel out of its place in the divine history. In the perspective of the gospel, Israel has by no means become ‘like all the nations.’
Was it?
A. Karl Barth
B. Rudolf Bultmann
C. Emil Brunner
D. Jürgen Moltmann (1926-Present) in The Way of Jesus Christ, 35Note: For those who don’t know who Jürgen Moltmann is, see here.
Special thanks to Michael Vlach’s website for help in finding some of these. Another helpful site in this regard can be found here.
In parting, here is one final quote for free:
Gerhardus Vos:
. . . with respect to national privilege, while temporarily abolished now that its purpose has been fulfilled, there still remains reserved for the future a certain fulfillment of the national elective promise. Israel in its racial capacity will again in the future be visited by the saving grace of God [Rom. 11.2, 12, 25]. (Source: Biblical Theology, Old and New Testaments, 79.)
I’ll give it a go.
1. A 2. C 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. B 7. C 8. A 9. A 10. B
11. A
[…] The Puplit Magazine (http://www.sfpulpit.com) has their Monday quiz. This one is on the topic of Israel and the future. Can you guess the quotes? […]
Here are my guesses:
1.B
2.C
3.A
4.A
5.A
6.A
7.C
8.A
9.A
10.B
11.A
Here’s a couple more from the Puritan commentaries on the whole Bible:
Matthew Poole, Commentary on the Bible, Vol. 3, pp. 519-520 [Comment on Romas 11.36]:
‘by Israel here (as in the precedent verse) you must understand, the nation and people of the Jews. And by all Israel is not meant every individual Israelite, but many, or (it may be) the greatest part of them. So all is to be taken in Scripture: see John 6:45; 1 Tim 2:6, and elsewhere. Look, as when he speaks of the conversion of the Gentiles, and the coming in of their fulness, there are many (too many of them) still unconverted; so, notwithstanding the general calling of the Jews, a great many of them may remain uncalled. As it is written; the apostle had this by revelation, but he proves it also by Scripture. All are not agreed from whence these testimonies are taken; the former is found (with some little variation) in Isa 59:20: as for the latter, some think it is taken from Jer 31:33. Others think, that he joineth two places in Isaiah together, (as he did before, Rom 11:8,) and the last words are taken out of Isa 27:9. The Seventy have the very words used by the apostle. These prophecies and promises, though they were in part fulfilled when Christ came in the flesh, (see Acts 3:26,) yet there will be a more full and complete accomplishment thereof upon the Jewish nation and people towards the end of the world.’
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Rom. 11.26:
‘The Jews shall continue in blindness, till God hath performed his whole work among the Gentiles, and then their turn will come next to be remembered. This was the purpose and ordination of God, for wise and holy ends; things should not be ripe for the Jews’ conversion till the church was replenished with the Gentiles, that it might appear that God’s taking them again was not because he had need of them, but of his own free grace … [Some] think that it is yet to have its accomplishment towards the end of the world-that those Jews which yet wonderfully remain distinct from the rest of the nations by their names, customs, and religion, and are very numerous, especially in the Levant parts, shall, by the working of the Spirit with the word, be convinced of their sin, and brought generally to embrace the Christian faith, and to join in with the Christian churches, which will contribute much to their strength and beauty. Alas! who shall live when God doeth this?’
J.C. Ryle comes after the Puritan era of course, but he’s one of my favorite reformed devotional writers, and he also adds some interesting thoughts to the discussion:
‘It always seemed to me that as we take literally the texts foretelling that the walls of Babylon shall be cast down, so we ought to take literally the texts foretelling that the walls of Zion shall be built up—that as according to prophecy the Jews were literally scattered, so according to prophecy the Jews will be literally gathered—and that as the least and minutest predictions were made good on the subject of our Lord’s coming to suffer, so the minutest predictions shall be made good which describe our Lord’s coming to reign. And I have long felt it is one of the greatest shortcomings of the Church of Christ that we ministers do not preach enough about this advent of Christ, and that private believers do not think enough about it.’
Source: http://www.pbministries.org/Eschatology/miscellaneous/ryle_01.htm
Thanks for all these quotes, mostly from our Reformed forefathers. They clearly demonstrate that one does not need to be dispensational to have a high regard and expectation for the salvation of the Jewish people. They also plainly demonstrate that the notion of salvation or election of national Israel apart from Christ’s bride, the church, was a concept foreign to the Reformers. As the gospel is advanced in this age, and many are converted by its power, we should expect that many who call themselves Jews will flee to Christ in ever increasing numbers.
The problem that most people do not take up, or recognize in this discussion is the often misunderstood usage of “kai outws.” Paul, excuse me for being bold, almost NEVER uses “kai outws” (nine times- Rom. 5:12, 11:26, 1 Cor 7:17, 36, 11:28. 14:25, 15:11; Gal 6:2; 1Th 4:7) to mean plainly “and so.” Kai outws in pauline literature is predominantly employed for a manner. Therefore it should be recognized that “kai outws” here before “all Israel will be saved” should actually be rendered, “and so in this way, all Israel shall be saved.” Of course this DOES NOT CHANGE the national aspect of the main point. BUT this does change the way in which all Israel shall be saved. The correct identification of “kai outws” implies that Paul is still maintaining his remnant theme. This remnant theme is now being applied to how Jews will be saved. The main point then seems to be that just as the Gentiles have been saved as being a remnant, so in this way all Israel shall be saved. Its the how, not the how many, where and when. Paying attention the greek text and usage of key transitional markers is more important than speculating on identifying people groups and times to fit into a personal grid of future salvation history timeline.