The following is excerpted from Charles D. Alexander’s work “The Puritan Illusion – An Answer to the Book Entitled ‘The Puritan Hope’ ” by Iain Murray. It is an excellent work, if you can find it. – Joel

There is no limit to the subversion of Old Testament prophecy to make it conformable to Jewish interpretation, once the special, national interest of Jewry has been conceded in any one text. It is useless for cautious authors like Mr. Murray to deny the essential connection between these ambiguous interpretations and the extreme errors of millennialism and dispensationalism. The men quoted by our author were good men, but they lived in days before eschatology became a close study. The Puritans did not perceive the logical end of their theories, but had they lived at the latter end of the 20th century they would (we are sure), have retreated in dismay from their false position, and condemned with all the means at their disposal that ambiguous treatment of vital texts which has led to the subversion of the true doctrine of the Church in Old testament prophecy, and has marched on from that point to destroy the evangelical pulpit.

The Old Testament prophecies must only be understood in terms of New Testament usage. [This] is axiomatic and is accepted as the principle of prophetic interpretation by all reasonable men of whatever party.

But the Puritan Hope writers departs notably from this principle in order to establish their theory. In the face of all the New testament examples which insist on the Church of the Redeemed as being the fulfillment of the promises of the Kingdom, they select and isolate one, used by Paul in Romans 11:26, 27, and without any attempt at exegetical proof, assert that it foretells a time of Jewish national privilege.

From that point they proceed to demolish the true gentile interest in every other OT prediction of the Kingdom of Christ, by insinuating that Romans 11:26,27 provides a key by which a much wider field of prediction must be understood.

We remind our readers, however, that the New Testament teaches the exact contrary. It insists on the abolition of all national interest in the Kingdom of Christ. Paul’s dictum in Galatians 3:28, 29 states that a basic fact of Christ’s kingdom is that in it no question of race or nationhood can possibly enter. Thus:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (ESV)

Who are the Jews? Who are the Israelites? Who are Abraham’s descendants? Paul answers, “All, and only those who are Christ’s, be they Jew or Gentile.”

To make Paul say that in Romans 11 the “Zion” and “Jacob” to whom the promises belong and to whom the Redeemer is sent, are in fact the earthly nation of Israel, is to overturn the New Testament and set Paul against Paul. National interest and genealogical descent once more become paramount – and they do not come alone, for as we shall see, the Puritan Hope goes on to erect again the Jewish temple and set up the sacrifices of the Jewish altar. This they cannot avoid because they include in their Jewish scheme the whole of Isaiah 60 in addition to Isaiah 59 (see The Puritan Hope, pages 74, 75).

For our friends to attempt to set a double value on the predictions, a lesser for the gentiles and a greater for the Jew is the very nadir of exegesis, and is far more dangerous than the dispensationalism which makes the whole over to the Jew without a blush. The latter error is so patent that reasonable men will not entertain it for a moment. The ‘double-value’ interpretation, on the contrary, is highly commendable to those who desire the convenience of riding [their horses] in two directions, at the same time. The unwary are likely to be deceived by its very plausibility as it reassures the gentile on the one hand, and rehabilitates the Jewish nation on the other, and relieves one of the burden of serious thought.

There can be no escape however from the fact that this method of handling the prophecies completely destroys the relevance of the epistle to the Galatians because the Jewish prerogative against which paul so vehemently contended, is preserved, and held only in a state of abeyance until a Jewish day of glory shall come….

It is not enough to make a selection of Puritan authors to buttress the opinion. The Puritans were fallible guides on these matters. Godly men they were indeed, but prophetical exegesis was not their strong point. They were new to it, and they displayed in their handling of it a naivety not to be surprised at considering the recent emergence of the study in their time.

- Charles D. Alexander

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