Di\-ine purpose in them. He also recognizes no less distinctly that, according to that purpose, theirs was a high destiny (. . - A" ^ovXiiv rod SeoO iieir-naay (is iaiTous, Lk 7*' [cf. for the use of /SouXt) in this ^en'^e Ac 2^ 4^ 20=7, Eph 1", He 6"]), and it seems as if at times His realization of what this people might have become, and His keen disappointment at their actual achievement, led Him into speaking disparagingly of those who were outside the Jewish covenant (cf. the contrast vfiels . . . W"s. Jn 4 , which is the verbal expression of a contrast running throufh the whole narrative [see Westcott, Gospel of Sf. John, ad loc] ; cf. also the priWlege involved ill the word TpQroi' as well as the harsh contrast W/cra [TraiSia] . . . Kuvapia, Mk 7"'-).
We niav here note that St. Matthew has preserved several fragmenU which deal with the clain, of Israel ^fJ;<^'^.^°'P}?^ to be the sole recipients of the gospe messajfe (Mt llFi; ^ IM ■^■i5f0 though he also records savings of Jesus which conflict with this (241° 2819, c?:Mk 1310 uif 145 1615, Lk 2447). ^Perhaps the
' striking instance of these just referred to is that in wmcn
"■ — — '"r the evangelization of Israel alone, int, and t'Sa.l no time is to be lost.
,asHi!
that His ' coming ' is inimin(
because, in any event, the
evtdenTtS^'^hiieVer'may haVe been the case with regard U
jIsus" actual knowledge of^he date of HisP«ro-,a those who
heard His words understood Hini to mean .'.^^'.'''"""'i.'f,^
over the Evan-elists seem to have established an intimate con- consciousness of early Christianity betwe- "■» - caching of His gospel to ■- -
Edersheini, Li'/e and Til of. also'O. Holtzmann, /,1'if" ./fSK, Eng. ■ • It might, of course, be objected, of the judginen
disciples' '^or^^^r-^-^-^.i o7The"discipIes' preaching the latter had been given the Law and tri.-s of the ohjectin -■- *
second coming and the preaching of His gospel to ' the c Israel' (Ac 3<Roli«; ^ • - - '■/
cf.
That Jesus held firmly by the Jewish beliet in the election of that race to spiritual prmlege, is evidenced by many signs both in His teachin" and His methods of work. It is true that His words are in perfect harmony wth the Baptist's scornfiU warn- in" a-^ainst that foolish pride of birth which leaves oul of sight the responsibility involved by privilecje (cf. Mt 3»'- and Jn S'^'-). At the same time He is no less ready to assert the claims of His fellow- countrymen to the rights which were theirs as the Divinely chosen people ir, ^u,r-npla (k rH,' lovSaj.^^ i,rlv, Jn 4=-^, cf. rhv ipro. r£. r^..o,., Mt lo-^). The stin" of His bitter denunciation of con- temporary religionists lay in His recognition ot their spiritual position, and of the fact that tliey of ri"ht were the teachers of the people (eiri t^s M<o,rfa,s KaSidpa,. Mt 23=, cf. v.'™-). tn spite of many disappointing experiences. He was again and again amazed at the lack of faith and spiritual insight amongst ' Israelites ' (Mt 8>» = Lk 7» ; Jn S\ cf Sik 6'), and His pathetic lament over the de- cayin" Jerusalem shows how eagerly He had hoped to make the Jewish nation realize its ancient place as the ' first-begotten ' in the family of His Father (Ex 4=, Jer 31", cf. He 12^). His activity m this direction betrays itself both in His words which incidentelly express His feelings (fl^es npurou x°p- ra^e^.a. ra riK.a, Mk 7", Mt 15^*) and m His deliberate instructions to His disciples to confine their missionary labours ' to the lost sheep of the liouse of Israel ' (Mt 10«). We are, however, bound to remember that St. Matthew alone records thi.s restriction, and that there are some evidences of the abandonment of its strict enforcement even by Jesus Himself (Jn 4^'^, cf. Ac 1» 8'«-).
Thouch Jesus felt Himself forced to recognize in the attitude of the Pharisees and lawyers of His day, the failure of God's people to realize
the idea oUhe universality
leaves no sufficient reason for restricting the the Jewish people, and that the heathen i perhaps i
than the Jews, since ti the Prophets. The ju But against it we hav r etc. (O. Holtzmann. . the limiting v ' to His connction Israel. 'Thesayiu'.'
also their future juili': li iniii :. i- |Mm,,,H, ■^ "J" "'■" '
Sran ingathering . . . which, as a whole, insisted of native Israelites' (Wendt, Lehre Jem, Eng. tr. ii. 349 f.).
Not only do we find Jesus recognizing and acting upon the t)T conception of the national election ot Israel— that preferential treatment which His fellow- countrymen claimed as of right-though He re- minded them from time to time that m order to a genuine Abrahamic descent it was necessary to Cultivate an ethical and spiritual likeness to their ereat forefather, whicli would alone complete t leir title to the promises made to them through hini (cf. the implied contrast between physical and spiritual descent in the words <nr4piMa and Wcto, j^ gS7. 39 . ef . Lk 3^ = Mt 3'). Jesus also Himself, in establishing His Kingdom amongst men, proceeds alon" lines exactly parallel to these. He assumes to Hmiself the right to select certain instruments whereby His desiims may be furthered and ulti- mately accomplish- 1. a: H,. w.^s the Chosen and Sent of His Futl.. i, -.. II. ,- .U-legated to choose and send others, v,l.„ nw ,. t-. 1..- the few through whom God's work upon the many wa-s to be accom- plished (cf Jn 17'* 20=' 13'' etc.). It is true that at times Jesus speaks of His disciples as His Father s choice and possession (o-oi fi<rav, Jn 1/ ), and that they aif His by His Father's gift {not avrov, fSuKOS, ffdiffTiv Kalra aaefi.a,v."'). lO less emphatic in His de- His own elect, the result