https://youtu.be/cGLOArRMYSg
In our verse by verse study of Romans last time we started on Rom 9:4; where Paul is describing the Jewish people who comprise God's first client (priest) nation Israel with the phrase "who are Israelites."
Rom 9:4; "to whom belongs the adoption" the plural genitive of reference from the relative pronoun "hos" (to whom). That the Israelites are the antecedent and adoption is another factor in their incredible spiritual heritage.
We have the predicate nominative from "huiothesia" (to place as an adult son) with the article "ho" (the). We have seen this word previously. It is translated here "adoption" but it has nothing to do with the current custom where a couple that does not have children adopts small children.
This was a Roman custom where an adult was recognized as an heir as an adult that was the practice of the Romans. "Huiothesia" is a compound word made from two Greek words: "huios_= an adult son; thesia = the verb to place so it means to place as an adult.
This was a Roman custom where at the time of adulthood a natural child or other person was officially recognized as the heir as an adult and to legally officially declare him as such under Roman law.
God's promises are all related to eternity so in order to be qualified to receive God's eternal heritage "the adoption" has to occur that is correlated to the opposite side of the coin of election.
Therefore by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel, they are elected and they are simultaneously adopted so they will be participants in God's heritage for Israel forever. This is why all Jews who will receive eternal blessings from God are believers in Jesus Christ.
"And the glory" the connective conjunction "kai" (and) sets up a list. "Kai" (and) can be translated with other words if it is ascensive it is translated "even," if it is adjunctive is translated "also," and if it is intensive it is translated "in fact."
Then we have the singular predicate nominative from "doca " (glory) with the article 'ho" (the). No form of human glory is involved here. The simplest explanation for " the doca" is the Hebrew word "Shekinah" that means residence.
As a noun the word is not found in scripture but the verb "shakan" (to dwell) is found in scripture. The noun is Shekinah that describes the glory that Paul is expressing here because this glory is the glory of Jewish spiritual heritage.
God resided between the cherubs on the ark of the covenant so Shekinah glory describes the presence of the second person of the Trinity, the God of Israel, between the cherubs on the ark. This is found in Exodus 25:22 cf. Leviticus 16:2.
The Shekinah glory is also connected with the second advent of Christ in Isaiah 60:2 "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and heavy darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you."
This is the darkness that will cover the entire earth immediately prior to the second advent of Jesus Christ when "every eye shall see him" because the entire earth is enveloped is in a supernatural darkness and He is the only light in the sky.
So the glory mentioned here is this same glory from the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. No nation has ever had a greater heritage than the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory between the cherubs over the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant.
This is also related to the second advent where the adoption occurs. Only believers can be adopted and at the second advent only believers of Israel will be there to see it because the baptism of fire removes all unbelievers from the planet.
In Heb 9:5; we have the cherubs on each side of the mercy seat mentioned in connection with "doca" (glory).
The cherubs represent the highest form of angelic creation and glory refers to the personal presence of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The very presence of God overshadowed the mercy seat.
The glory therefore refers to the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of Israel. There is also a reference to this in James 2:1; where the Lord Jesus Christ is described as the glory.
Only the elect are adopted and only the adopted are elect. To be a Jew and to have the physical heritage of the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and a citizen of Israel and not to be elected, and not to be adopted, and not to be foreordained, and not to be foreknown is the burden that Paul carried. He was the only one who understood it so he was the only one who could bear it.
The Shekinah glory doesn't refer to the entire essence of God but it refers to and emphasizes God's attributes of righteousness and justice that combine in old English to be called God's holiness and in modern English God's integrity.
The failure of some Jews to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and relate their physical birth to their adoption in the new birth does not take away from God's integrity or the incredible spiritual heritage of believing Jews.
The heritage is still there and it will be there in every generation, and it is available to every Jew who believes in Jesus Christ with the exception of the Church Age where the Church is elected as God's royal family.
Israel was a client nation to God, the agent of missionary activity abroad and Bible teaching at home as God's first client nation. In arrogance racial Jews have emphasized their genetic heritage to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their physical relationship to these noble men instead of their spiritual relationship with them
They emphasize physical birth and they have distorted the doctrines that are in the unconditional covenants, they distorted and misunderstood the promises regarding Israel's glorious future.
As a result they were unable to recognize that the one thing that made Israel great was not the physical relationship, not the racial relationship, but the Lord Jesus Christ as the spiritual seed of Abraham.
In order to understand it Paul uses the concept of Roman adoption where a natural son of a Roman who was treated almost like a slave in the home until such time as he reached maturity the father would take the son aside in the presence of his entire family and friends and pronounce him as an adopted son.
All believers Jew or Gentile by faith in Christ Jesus are adopted sons. Eph 1:5; Adoption means being "huios theou" (adult sons of God).
The Jewish heritage as adult sons of God is not, being a racial Jew by having the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the biological descendants of Abraham, but it is the adoption from having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who is Adonai Jehovah Elohim, the God of Israel.
By believing in Him they enter into the new birth of (regeneration), recognizing that all of the promises of God divided into the covenants. For the future of Israel as a nation and the future of every individual Jew in that nation is dependent upon regeneration not by being the physical seed but the spiritual seed of Abraham.
Paul is explaining this point by developing the incredible spiritual heritage of Israel that is the greatest spiritual heritage in human history.
The Shekinah glory is described in several passages in scripture. A word that was used in 1Sam 4:21-22; was Ichabod. "And she called the boy Ichabod, (Ichabod means "no glory"). It is saying, "the glory has departed from Israel." This is a reference to the Shekinah glory "because the ark of God was removed."
This means that the boy was named for a historical event. When the ark was removed from the holy of holies the glory, the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, was no longer there.
The presence of the Lord Jesus Christ between the cherubs on top of the ark was the Shekinah glory. This glory was a part of the heritage of Israel and this same Jesus, the God of Israel, came back as the glory of Israel in another form as expressed in John 1:14; "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us."
This means that the Shekinah glory that dwelt between the cherubs came into a human body, so that we now have the God-Man or the hypostatic union.
"And we beheld his glory." The word "dwelt" plus the word glory refers to the Shekinah glory. This is John's message to his own people. The Shekinah glory became true humanity " ... the glory as of the uniquely born one from the father full of grace and truth."
The Jews had the Shekinah glory in the past because of their faith in God as he was revealed to them and they cannot have it in the future without believing in the current revelation of God the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 9:4; "and the covenants" " kai ho diathekai." This is the predicate nominative plural from the noun diathehke (covenant), referring to the unconditional covenants to Israel in contrast to the conditional covenant called the law.
The only Jews to whom these promises apply are spiritual rather than the natural or genetic descendents of Abraham because they only apply to Jews who receive the imputation of God's judicial righteousness, as Abraham did.
So "ho diatheke" (the covenant) is a disposition made by God to Abraham. This refers to the heritage of Israel. Like all of the covenants this is a part of the divine decree. Abraham and his spiritual descendants are beneficiaries without merit.
God promised certain things unconditionally to Abraham and his seed. But not his physical seed, his spiritual seed because "All Israel is not Israel." Starting in Gen 12:1-3;
Abraham received promises. Then for the rest of his life the promises were added together and referred to as the Abrahamic covenant, it is a summary of everything that God promised to Abraham and his spiritual descendants.
This is referring primarily to the Abrahamic covenant, though others are included as well. The Abrahamic covenant was the beginning of the Jews and the beginning of God's promises to Israel as a nation. The entire issue in these covenants is that God is faithful because God always keeps His word.
Gen 12:1; emphasizes the isolation and separation that is necessary for the development of the new race. Verse 2 describes the great nation. This does not refer to the descendents of Ishmael or the five sons of Keturah.
The great nation is the nation Israel, called the Jews, and also called the Hebrews after Abram crossed over the river into the promised land. This great nation is elected but not adopted until the second advent, because while Israel has been great in he past it is nothing compared to what it will be during the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Israel will be the channel for God's blessing to the entire world. Israel in the Millennium is the greater nation. Israel in eternity after the Millennium is the greatest nation.
The only people who can be citizens of that nation are racial or physical Jews who are qualified by having God's imputed judicial righteousness and by having eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ.
Verse 3 describes anti-Semitism as one of the most evil things in human history because it comes directly from satan the devil's opposition to God.
Gen 13:14-16; describes the Palestinian covenant. Verse 15 - "and to your descendants," not the Jewish race, not to the physical descendents but to the spiritual descendents, those Jews who are born again. Genesis 15:18-21; "to your descendents," refers to born again Jews.
This covenant was confirmed to Isaac in Genesis 26:3,4. The Abrahamic covenant was confirmed again to Moses, Exodus 6:2-8.
There was no nation Israel until Moses. They were in their infancy with no army or establishment law to protect them, and God would take care of them until they became a nation. The Jews did not function as a nation under the laws of divine establishment until after the Exodus.