Congregational Bible Experience Day #46: Romans 9-11

After the heights of Gospel assurance with which Paul climaxes the previous section - that nothing can stop God fulfilling His promises to save and glorify His people with Christ (8: 31-39) - the tone of today's Bible reading is altogether more reflective and sombre. Here's the issue that Paul anticipates in these chapters:  if God is said to be so faithful to His people now, what about Israel? Why are so many of God's (original) chosen people not believing the Gospel and are rejecting the Messiah?  Have God's promises to Israel to be their God somehow failed?  What can account for their widespread unbelief (John 1:11; and, for example, Acts 13:43-52)? And so, the natural follow up question is this:  how can God be trusted to be faithful to Gentile converts if it seems that He has been unfaithful to Israel?  Big questions. Not easily answered.

In His response, Paul is adamant:  God has been faithful to what He had promised (9:1-29), His word has not failed.  But, he says, his readers must understand what is meant by 'Israel'. 'True Israel' should never have been understood as merely those members of the nation of 'Israel' (v6-7). The nation of Israel is not the same thing as God's chosen people. Despite the privileges that the people as a whole were given (v4-5), the promise of salvation was never a matter of ethnicity (being born a Jew) or ancestry (being a physical descendant of Abraham, v6-9).  Rather, God's promises trump ancestral priorities:  so it's Isaac, not Ishmael, in whom God's promise is fulfilled; it's Jacob, not Esau (v10-13), for good character and conduct are not the basis of God's choice of saving anyone.

As hard as it may be for us swallow, Paul is clear (with plenty of Old Testament precedent): against the charge that God is being "unfair" by choosing only some of Abraham's descendants for blessing and not others, he says 'justice' or 'fairness' is not the issue. If justice was the primary motive for salvation, no-one would be worthy to be saved (Romans 2).  Rather, God's character has always been "to have mercy on whom He has mercy, and compassion of whom He will have compassion" (v14-18, quoting Exodus 33:19).  The wonder is not that God chooses only some to believe the Gospel; the wonder is that, in His mercy, He chooses any at all to be saved, for that has meant the sacrificial death of His own son Jesus to secure their salvation.  It was His electing love for His people that caused God to step in to rescue us and call us to Himself.

 Now, just in case you are just about to erupt in anger and confusion as to why God can blame people for not repenting when He has hardened their hearts (v18-19), Paul warns us to be careful in what we say to the God who made us (v19-21). For, with great patience and forbearance, God can use those who do not receive His mercy in order to extend mercy to those He chooses, even people like you and me (v22-24).  For, throughout Israel's history, God's plan was always that His people would consist of Christ-believing Gentile and Jews (v25-29).

One of the indications of growing spiritual maturity is a contentedness to let God be God: in all He does, in all His wisdom, in all His saving grace and mercy.  That's faith. Lord, we believe.  But help our unbelief.

Very briefly, having helped his readers understand that God has remained faithful to His promises (chapter 9), Paul now shows that - at a human level - the reason those Jewish people are unconverted to the Gospel is because of their own unbelief (9:30 - 10:21): the Jews are wrongly attempting to trying to earn righteousness and God's favour by their good works, instead of undeservedly and gratefully receiving God's righteousness (salvation) by faith.  Although Israel heard and understood God's message of grace (10:5-13), they did not accept such mercy because of their stubborn pride and disobedience to repent and believe the Gospel (v14-17). And since they continued to reject God and His ways, so He turned to save Gentiles instead.

Finally, chapter 11 still holds out hope for 'Israel', for as there has always been a faithful 'remnant' within the larger national group. God has still not rejected them outright (v1-6), although some have been hardened in judgement (v7-10).  Believing Gentiles should not be arrogant over unbelieving Jews (this was probably a source of tension within the fellowship of converted Gentiles and Jews in the church at Rome) since they still have a role in God's present and future plans of salvation (v11-32).

Before we finish, here's a couple of things to note from this section:  first, Paul writes these words with a broken, prayerful heart (see 9:1-3). He's so concerned for his fellow, unbelieving Jews that he's willing to sacrifice his own salvation - if that were even possible - so that some of them might be saved from their unbelief. As we have seen, Paul has a high view of God's sovereignty, but that does not lead to complacency or apathy, but rather to a deep, passionate concern for those who are lost.

Second, Paul concludes this section of the letter (and his exposition of the Gospel) with heartfelt praise and thanksgiving for the unimaginable lengths to which God has graciously gone to secure our salvation and win our hearts to Him.  There is much that we will never fully grasp this side of eternity (see chapters 9-11); but for those things that we do understand, even a little, like Paul, we should take a moment to bow before Him, to be "lost in wonder, love and praise".