02.17. II. Israel’s Rejection Is the Result of Israel’s Failure (Chapter 10).
II. Israel’s Rejection Is the Result of Israel’s Failure (Rom 10:1-21).
1. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved Paul’s expression of affection here is very strong. Rotherham renders it, Brethren! the delight of my own heart and my supplication God-ward in their behalf are for salvation.
2. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge The zeal is for God rather than of God (see R. V.). They were zealous for God, but their zeal was not based upon correct knowledge of God.
3. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Rom 10:3). It was because of their ignorance of God’s righteousness that they sought to establish their own. Had they known the meaning of righteousness from God’s viewpoint they would not have admitted such a thing.
4. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth (Rom 10:4). This verse explains the meaning of the closing words of the preceding verse. Their failure to submit themselves unto the righteousness of God consisted in their rejection of the Lord Jesus, who is The Righteousness of God, and the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The promise is written large in the Old Testament Scriptures, that one day Israel shall receive the Lord Jesus Christ and salute Him as THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer 23:6). This will be in the day of the fulfillment unto them of the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; compare Heb 8:8-12 and Rom 11:25-27).
5. The righteousness which is of the law. Moses’s description of this legal righteousness is, of course, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. This is the first Old Testament citation in the chapter. It is from Lev 18:5.
6. The righteousness which is of faith (Rom 10:6). In this verse, reference is had to a passage in Deu 30:12-14. This is not because gospel righteousness is found in that passage, but the passage serves to illustrate the perfectly plain statement of gospel-righteousness. The word of the new covenant is as clear and as comprehensible as was the plain command uttered by Jehovah through Moses unto Israel in the wilderness. It is not needful that anyone should ascend into heaven to bring Christ down from above, nor into the deep to bring Him up again from the dead (Rom 10:6-7). The word of the gospel is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach (Rom 10:8):
(1) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (Rom 10:9). This is a needful condition of salvation under the new order of things. This is the way of obtaining the righteousness which is of faith.
(2) And shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead (Rom 10:9). There must be heart belief. Mr. Rotherham points out that the contrast in this passage is between heart and mouth, and not between heart and head—”a distinction of which the Bible knows nothing.” Doubtless there is such a thing as an intellectual assent, even to the proposition of the gospel, which falls short of saving faith. To believe, in the gospel sense, is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s personal Saviour, and any so-called belief which falls short of this definite reception of the Saviour is not New Testament faith. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12). Saving faith is perhaps better understood as personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s own Saviour.
(3) Thou shalt be saved (Rom 10:9). In this verse we have one of the clearest settings forth of the gospel to be found anywhere in the Scriptures.
7. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). In the paragraph closing with this verse we have one of the most important statements in the Bible. Here the Holy Spirit of truth brings into sharpest contrast the two righteousnesses. One is God’s righteousness and the other is man’s righteousness. One is divine and the other is human. One is by works; it comes to the man who doeth. The other is by grace through faith,—to everyone that believeth. One is called the righteousness which is of the law. The other is called the righteousness which is of faith. One is the result of man’s own efforts. The other is the gift of God in Christ to any man who will receive it. The failure of Israel is the matter under discussion. They, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, went about seeking to establish their own righteousness; and when Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, came and offered Himself to them, they refused to submit themselves unto Him. The principle involved, however, is applicable not only to Jews. It is general, and applies to all men, Jews and Gentiles alike. Seven fundamental propositions may be drawn from this passage of Scripture. This is the gospel of God. In this sevenfold statement He gives us a complete unfolding of the way of life. In the midst of the awful confusion of these last days it is refreshing to get back to first principles and examine the foundations upon which we are building. May God deliver His people from error, and ever show us His way more perfectly!
(1) Man by nature is unrighteous. Nothing is more strongly emphasized than this in the Word of God. Humiliating to the flesh though it be, it is nevertheless true that man is naturally corrupt. Theologians may quarrel over questions of original sin and total depravity, but God has been faithful in pointing out that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). Out of the heart are the issues of life, and from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within (Mark 7:21-23). Man, apart from God, is unrighteous and only unrighteous. This is shown in the terrible history of the race, as given by the Holy Spirit of truth in Rom 1:1-32. When God gave them up, it was unto vile affections. When he gave them over, it was to a reprobate mind, and they were found to be filled with all unrighteousness (Rom 1:26, Rom 1:28-29). It is easy for men to compare themselves with themselves, and derive satisfaction from the comparison, but God declares that there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3:10). There is no difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:22-23). As for the Jews, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through them (Rom 2:24). As to the Gentiles themselves, they are without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world. They walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and past feeling (Eph 2:1; Eph 2:12; Eph 4:17-19). The Scriptures declare that the natural man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph 4:22); that his mind is enmity against God, that it is not and cannot be subject to God’s law; and that he cannot please God (Rom 8:7-8). They further assert that he cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1Co 2:14). Such, according to the Scriptures of God, is the helpless, hopeless, undone condition of the natural man. And in this we are all alike—we are by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Eph 2:3). Man by nature is unrighteous.
(2) Man by nature is ignorant of God’s righteousness. Man is corrupt, and he has a corrupt mind. Therefore, his view of righteousness is distorted. He has his own ideas of right and wrong, and they are false ideas. For as a matter of simple fact, the righteousness of God is the only kind of righteousness there is. In this discussion we have spoken of two righteousnesses, but we shall find on examination that the human righteousness here spoken of is not righteousness at all. Righteousness is simple right-ness, and if a thing is right it cannot be more. On the other hand if it be not right it is of necessity wrong. And the standard of righteousness is God’s righteousness. He is absolutely righteous. The ways of the Lord are right. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. In Him there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God cannot lie, because He is righteous. He cannot repudiate a promise, because He is righteous. He cannot forget His Word, because He is righteous. But God’s standard is not man’s standard. The characteristic distinction between God and man is that God is not a man that He should lie (Num 23:19). Man’s ideas of right and wrong are low ideas, corrupt ideas, evil ideas, because they are conceived in corrupt and evil minds. Man’s conception of God is distorted. It is written that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. They conceived that God was like themselves. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man (Rom 1:21-23). Having therefore corrupted their very conception of the character of God, they of course lost the true view of His righteousness. What is the natural man’s idea of the righteous requirements of a holy God? Ask the first man you meet, and he will probably tell you that if a man tries to do right, that is all that will be expected of him. Or perhaps he will say, If I do the best I can, God will be satisfied. Does it never occur to the natural man that in these very words he speaks there is an implied admission of his corrupt nature? For, according to these replies, he can only try to do right: he rarely succeeds. He may do the best he can, but of course what he does is not perfect. But the point here is that man who is so complacent about his own trying and doing, has an idea that God is complacent, too. Man says, Of course, we are all sinners, and all we can do is to do the best we can. This satisfies his perverted conscience, and he thinks it also satisfies God. This is all wrong. God’s demands are inflexible. He says to man, Walk before me, and be thou perfect. He says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And His declaration is most explicit that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. And though holiness and righteousness are not the same thing, yet there cannot be the one without the other. God’s new creation is in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24). All this, however, is unintelligible to the natural man. For man by nature is ignorant of God’s righteousness.
(3) Man by nature, because of this ignorance, goes about to establish his own righteousness. Of course he would never try such a thing if he had any real appreciation of what he was attempting. If he realized how high God’s righteousness is, and then realized how low his own ideas of right and wrong are, he would give up at once, and be ready to wait for the grace of God. But it is not so. From the days of Cain until now, the natural man has sought to make himself presentable to God. The carnal mind is proud, and it rebels against the truth of God. Even when the truth is apprehended, man holds it down in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18, R. V.). The Scriptures declare that that which may be known of God (i. e., to the natural man) is manifest in them, so that they are without excuse. God has not left Himself without witness even among unregenerate men, but they have turned from Him: they did not like to retain God in their knowledge (Rom 1:19-20; Rom 1:28). So it is that men, having rejected the counsel of God against themselves, are continually seeking to establish a righteousness of their own. Instead of consulting the Word of the living God, they consult their own consciences— i. e., their own corrupt ideas of right and wrong. The unenlightened conscience is a most elastic thing, besides being corrupt, and the more it is listened to, apart from the testimony of the Word of God, the more accommodating it becomes; until finally, instead of accusing, it excuses almost any act of evil. It becomes not only defiled and polluted—it is all that by nature— but it becomes also seared as with a hot iron (1Ti 4:2). Man by nature, because he is ignorant of God’s righteousness, goes about to establish his own righteousness.
(4) The only conceivable way for the natural man to establish his own righteousness is by means of his own works. This goes without saying. If I am to have a righteousness of my own establishing, it must be the result of my own good works. This was the method put to the test in the case of Israel. The righteousness which is of the law had only this word: The man which doeth those things shall live by them. Not trying, mark you! but doing. And not doing the best we can, but doing those things. The natural man has an idea that his good deeds and his evil deeds are to be weighed in a balance; and if the good weigh more than the evil, then everything will be all right. His case would be bad enough even then; but that is not the method. Far from it! In the law, God said to Israel: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This has been called the concept of the mind of God. Well, at least it is the concept of the mind of God as to what man ought to be it is God’s “idea of right and wrong. It is a statement of God’s righteousness, the righteousness of God. There is nothing arbitrary about it. God demanded of Israel only that which was right, or righteous. It was their duty, even before He issued the law, to love God supremely, and their neighbours as themselves. It follows, therefore, that if the people of Israel were to establish their own righteousness, they could do it only by doing those things. There was no other possible way. And the same principle obtains with men everywhere and always. The Gentiles, though they have not the law, are yet bound by the same principle of righteousness as that contained in the law. As it is written, They show the work of the law written in their hearts (Rom 2:14-15) • It is their duty, as much as Israel’s, to do right. And to do right means to do righteously. They, as well as Israel, are bound to love God supremely, and their neighbours as themselves. If they are to establish their own righteousness, this is the only way to do it. It is true universally that only he that doeth those things shall live by them. The only conceivable way for the natural man to establish his own righteousness is by means of his own works.
(5) But it is impossible for any man thus to establish his own righteousness. We have seen that the only conceivable way for the natural man to establish his own righteousness is by means of his own good works. But what if he is incapable of good works? What then? Ah, then is his case a hopeless one, indeed. And is not this the true state of the case? If it be true that man by nature is unrighteous, how then can he do a righteous act? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one! (Job 14:4). Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil (Jer 13:23). Man may do things which he considers righteous, but in God’s sight we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Pro 14:12). The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart (1Sa 16:1). In the days before the flood, men supposed they were making great progress. There were giants in the earth in those days. There were mighty men which were of old, men of renown. But what God thought of the matter was a far different thing. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:4-5). The end of all flesh came before God in that day, and never to this present time has God put any confidence in the flesh. The flesh, corrupt then, is corrupt now, and its works —the doings of the natural man—”are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Gal 5:19-21). Now, how can righteousness come from such a source? When the fountain is poisoned, how can the stream be pure? What can the law of God, which is holy and righteous and good, do for the natural man, who is unholy and unrighteous and evil? Surely, it cannot produce righteousness in him. It can only condemn him and show him his helplessness. And this is the very purpose of the law. When it speaks, every mouth is stopped, and all the world is brought in guilty before God. By the deeds of the law no flesh is justified in God’s sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20-21). The law of Moses, the ten commandments, written and engraven in stones, is not a ministration of life, but of death. It is not a ministration of righteousness but of condemnation (2Co 3:9). Let us remember that the law is an inflexible thing. It demands a flawless life of perfect obedience from the cradle to the grave. It brooks no slightest disobedience. If man keeps the whole law and stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all (Jas 2:10). It is not enough to try to be good. It will not do to try to do right. It will not suffice to have done the best we could. If a man is establishing his own righteousness, why, then, let him\do it. But the Word of God will never call wrong by the name of right; it will never call evil good. Now, where is our natural man? Is he justified? Far from it! He is cursed. As the Scripture saith, As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them (Gal 3:10-12). Thus it is seen that it is impossible for any man to establish his own righteousness.
(6) On the other hand, to obtain the gift of God’s righteousness in Christ is possible for every man. Whosoever will may come. The gift is for anyone who will have it. As there is no difference in God’s sight between sinners, so there is no difference in respect of those invited. It is true that righteousness is not attainable by law-works, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference (Rom 3:21-22). Not one member of the human race is excluded. White or black, rich or poor; whatever you are, whoever you are, wherever you are; no matter how sinful, no matter how vile, no matter what you have done, no matter what your record —”God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). He is “the living God, Who is the Saviour of all men (1Ti 4:10). Hallelujah, what a Saviour! Behold, the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world! Think of it! God’s righteousness, offered to every man! The Lord Jesus Christ, the end of the law for righteousness when He died on Calvary, tasted death for every man (Heb 2:9). No man will be able to plead that he was omitted from the great provision of salvation. The Lamb of God is the Saviour of all men. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. This text (Isa 53:6) opens and closes with the big-little word all. It is like a door, placed at each end of the text. If you are included in the former all, you are also included in the latter all. All includes everybody. As the little boy said of the like word, whosoever, it means you, or me, or anybody else. And He died for all. He died, for you, and me, and everybody else. He died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes died and rose again (2Co 5:14-15). He died for you. Whoever you are He died for you. True, He died for others, but He died for you. If He had not died in your room and stead; if He had not died for you—for you— then you must needs perish for your sins. But He died for you that He might bring you to God —the living God, the giving God, Who waits for you to come to Him, that you might not perish but have everlasting life. He died for you! He died for me! Blessed be His holy name! For me! I must die if He had not—but He died for me—and now I have His promise that I shall never perish: that I shall never be plucked out of His hands: that I am accepted in the Beloved, that I am called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! He died for me! He died for everybody else! Everybody! Everybody! From Adam down to the last man in the human race, He died for them all. Before He died, many had been saved by faith in the Coming One; and since His death many have been saved by faith in the One Who came and died. He died for them all. But many were lost, before Calvary, and after. Yet He died for them. All their iniquities were laid upon Him. If they were lost, it was not His fault. If they went down to perdition, it was in spite of all He did for them. He died for them. He died for you, and me, and everybody else. To obtain the gift of God’s righteousness in Christ is possible for every man.
(7) God’s way of bestowing His righteousness upon unrighteous man is by grace through faith. We have seen man’s helplessness to attain to righteousness by means of law works. The law could show him the need of righteousness; it could show him what righteousness was. But it could go no further. It could not make him righteous; it could not produce righteousness in him. But God, through the gospel of Christ, has met man’s need just here. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Rom 8:3-4). What the law could not do, God did. But it had to be by grace, which is unmerited favor. Man could never have earned such a boon as the righteousness of God. He could not have deserved it. He deserved death, for that is the wages of sin. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph 2:4-9). And the gift by grace is through faith. As it is written, it is of faith, that it might be by grace (Rom 4:16). It is not a hard thing that is asked of man. No man may say in his heart, Christ must again be brought down from above, or up from the deep. The word is nigh us, even in our mouth and in our heart. We have only to receive God’s perfect salvation, already wrought out and finished. It is all very simple. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Nothing could be clearer; nothing more beautiful. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What a wonderful gospel! The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life, mind you! Not temporal, but eternal. Not temporary, but perpetual. Eternal! Everlasting! Not something you get now and lose after a while. Not that, but life, life, eternal life. The Good Shepherd, just before giving His life for the sheep, said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they .follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to pluck out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one (John 10:27-30). There are many persons in the world who will tell you they were once Christians, but not now. Surely, they could never have received the gift of God, which is eternal life. Eternal life is everlasting—it lasts forever! No, Christ does not suffer His sheep to perish. He is not a man that He should lie; and His own word is, they shall never perish. The gift is by faith. It is unto all and upon all that believe. And to believe, Scripturally, is to receive the Lord Jesus as one’s personal Saviour. He came unto His own, and His own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name (John 1:11-12). He that thus believeth is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, not because he is a sinner, but because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). Do you ask what you are to believe? The answer is, You must believe God. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record: That God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (1Jn 5:9-12). May God Himself help all who read these words to believe Him! For to believe Him is to obtain His gift of eternal life, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s way of bestowing His righteousness upon unrighteous man is by grace through faith. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?
8. For the Scripture saith (Rom 10:11). From this point in the chapter the writer’s purpose is evidently the same as in Rom 4:1-25, namely, to show that this gospel-righteousness is no new thing; that this justification by faith has always been God’s way of salvation. On this point several proof-texts are gathered from the Old Testament: For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame (compare Isa 28:16). For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him: for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:11-13, R. V compare Joe 2:32).
9. How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? (14) At this point the inspired writer anticipates an objection, and again he sets up the imaginary opponent who puts these queries:
How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (Isa 52:7). But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? (Isa 53:1). So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
10. But I say, Have they not heard? (Rom 10:18). The imaginary opponent having availed himself of Old Testament quotations also, in an attempt to thrust back upon God the responsibility for Israel’s failure, the apostle replies in the passage beginning at the 18th verse. We quote from the Revision here: But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world (Psa 19:4).
“But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding will I anger you (Deu 32:21).
“And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought Me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of Me (Isa 65:1).
“But as to Israel He saith, All the day long did I spread out My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people (Isa 65:2).
Here are more quotations from the Old Testament, all tending to show that God had warned His chosen people. The first quotation is from the 19th Psalm, and the Holy Spirit’s purpose in referring to it is to show that even where the message of God has not been carried by personal messengers, God has not left Himself without witness. Indeed, the entire Psalm is written to prove precisely that thing.
Nature itself reveals God to man. And that revelation is sufficient to make man responsible to God. Enough of God is revealed to man— every man—to make it his duty to worship the Maker of heaven and earth according to the measure of that revelation. The revelation through nature is not a small revelation; it is not, as has been said, the dim light of nature. God declares that by it the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, even His eternal power and divinity, so that they are without excuse (Rom 1:20). The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies show forth the work of His hands.
Day unto day is pouring out speech,
And night unto night breathing knowledge.
Without speech and without language,
Without their voice being heard,
Into all the earth their sound goes forth,
To the end of the world their words.
(Psa 19:1-4, De Witt’s rendering.) This Scripture from Psa 19:1-14 bears with crushing force upon the people of Israel. Surely, if the Gentile nations were held responsible before God, how much more the nation of Israel! The oracles of God had been committed to them. They were doubly responsible. Furthermore, they had been repeatedly warned that if they continued to despise the Word of God, it should go to the Gentiles. The quotations from Moses and Isaiah, cited above, are sufficient proof of this. Where Israel was groping and failing to find the Messiah, those who sought Him not clearly discerned Him. How can Israel be excused for ignorance of a worldwide gospel, when even the heathen discovered it? (Stifler).