vi on the doctrine of Firstfruits. 99 



Saint Paul, and reading on from the one to the 

 other, thus : "He begat us, that we should be a kind 

 of firstfruits of His creatures. And if the firstfruit 

 is holy, so is the lump." Westcott says, commenting 

 on another passage : " It is through the fulfilment 

 of His work for the Church the firstfruits that 

 (Christ) moves towards the fulfilment of His work 

 for the world." l 



In the interpretation of the entire chapter before 

 us, the chief problem is to determine of what the 

 Apostle is speaking, and especially of whom he 

 speaks when he declares that at the last " all Israel 

 shall be saved." Who are the Israel spoken of? 

 Is Israel here merely a synonym for the elect people 

 of God, and is this simply a declaration that none 

 of the sheep of Christ shall perish, neither shall any 

 one be able to tear them out of His Father's hand ? 2 

 This no doubt is true; but the connection of this 

 verse with what precedes and what follows, shows 

 that such is not the Apostle's thought in the present 

 passage. He is speaking of Israel as a nation ; and 

 the entire .passage is a declaration that as the re- 

 jection of the Christ by the Israelite people has led 

 to the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles, 

 so the mercy now extended to the Gentiles will in 

 the fulness of time be the means of bringing back 

 Israel to the fold of God, and the entire nation will 

 become obedient to God in Christ. 



But is this all 1 What of those " whose carcasses 

 1 Westcott on Hebrews, p. 230. 2 John x. 28. 



