Baines on Phil. 3
“The second [I assume Phil. 3] simply warns believers against going back to symbols, on the ground that they have that which these symbols only typified. In the third [I assume Gal. 6], the expression, "Israel of God," is figuratively applied to those who for the time had taken Israel's place as the special object of God's favour; if, indeed, it is not confined to that "remnant according to the election of grace" — that small portion of the nation which believed in Jesus, while "the rest were blinded" (Rom. 11: 5-7).”
In his observation of Phil. 3:3, Baines completely ignores the first part of the sentence in this portion of his writings and simply labels this verse as a warning against the idolatry of Judaism that might be possible for Jews under the New Covenant without even beginning to address Paul’s provocative use of the word “circumcision” here in light the ways it is used throughout the Pauline writings. As for the way he addresses Gal. 6:16, I am quite confused. Perhaps I am reading an anachronistic argument back into his time period, but I would imagine that dispensationalists today would probably be appalled at his apparent ease in the explanation of the term “Israel of God” as “figurative”. Admitting that he had probably never heard the pejorative terms, here Baines has left no room to call an Amillennialists a “replacement theologian” or a “Supersessionist”. In fact, based on this statement alone, in today’s climate he might well be charge with being a “replacement theologian” himself, at least at this point.
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