CENTER FOR
CHURCH ENRICHMENT
SURVEY OF
ROMANS
LESSON OUTLINE 9
Romans
9-11
Has God Been Faithless?
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The Story of Romans So Far!
Paul wrote the Roman Epistle to introduce himself as an Apostle to Christians in Rome, many of whom he had not met.
They must have heard of his ministry form Christians, especially Jewish Christians, who had travelled to and from Rome, especially during those times when Jews had bee banished form Rome( see Acts 18:1, “After this he left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.”)
Paul has completed his mission to Asia and Eastern Europe and wished to travel via Rome to Spain. He expected the churches in Rome to finance his mission trip to Spain (Rom 15:19-29, esp. 24).
In the Roman Epistle he is presenting his “ambassadorial” Apostolic credentials and Apostolic message so the Christians in Rome could have confidence in his ministry.
Paul knew that his message of
justification by grace through faith in Jesus would be of some concern to
Jewish (and Gentile) Christians who would struggle over his rejection of the
Torah as a vehicle for justification.
He has spent six chapters explaining that justification is by faith in Jesus
and not by the Torah.
This would lead some to believe that Paul had no
regard fro the Torah (he has answered this concern), and some would think
that God, too, had rejected his chosen people, Israel since he now treated
Jew and Gentile on the same grounds.
Obviously, according to Paul’s proposals, the Jews would think that there
was no advantage to being a Jew since God seemingly had now turned away from
Israel.
In Romans 9 - 11 Paul answers these concerns.
These three chapters are a defense of the righteousness (faithfulness) of God in light of what seemed his rejection of the Jewish nation.
They are also a polemic against
Gentile arrogance which was being fed by the notion that God had permanently
cast off the Jewish people.
Rom 9:1-5 - Paul’s Agony Over Israel
There were those who thought Paul should be ashamed of what he preached (Romans 1:16 and see Acts 21:21; 28:17) because it only confirmed he was a renegade Jew who hated his people.
Rom 9:1-3 Paul swears this is entirely untrue and that he would be glad to forfeit his share in the Messiah in the service of his people (Romans 9:1-3 and Exodus 32:31-32).
Rom 9:5 Paul recognized the
unique opportunities afforded his nation (my kinsmen by race) and affirms
their privileged position.
Rom 9:6-25 – Any Rejection of Israel Lay in the Unbelief of Israel, not in the unfaithfulness of God!
Paul begins by stressing that the fault lay not in the message (word of God). The message had not failed!
A major problem the Jews encountered was that they assumed that because they were a descendent of Abraham and Jacob that constituted their being God’s people!
Paul argues that not every Jew was in fact a real “Jew” or every Israelite an real “Israelite”!
Paul demonstrates by citing Jacob and Esau that it was not always the genealogical lineage that counted, but those who treasured God’s promise and election (Rom 9:11).
It is often difficult for those
of us who are not Jews to understand Paul’s very Jewish reasoning, so we
must think like a Jew to follow his thoughts!
The promise to Abraham and his seed (Gen 12:2; 17:4) and the election of
Israel through those promises was a fundamental feature of Jewish thinking
and faith.
Paul played on this Jewish understanding!
They recognized that God’s promise to Abraham and his descendents, and god’s election of Israel were God’s prerogatives and his business!
His critics may have thought this a very convenient way to weasel around the problem but Paul shows he is only following the Torah in this matter.
To have Abraham’s flesh was not enough as the case of Ishmael and Isaac shows. Yes, but Ishmael was “illegitimate”.
This might be true but he was as much Abraham’s flesh as Isaac.
Besides, in the case of Esau and Jacob they were both legitimate and Esau was the firstborn yet he was excluded by God’s choice as heir.
And this was not a simple choice between individuals; nations are involved here as a look at the Genesis texts will show.
But the critic might urge, Esau was a profane man and was rejected for his profanity. Paul reminds them that this cannot be true, because God’s choice was made while they were in the womb where neither of them had done good or evil (9:11).
In any case, by now Paul’s point was made, God’s blessing and election does not rest on simple fleshly lines, it never had in the past!
And while his Jewish critics would be happy to hear the Arabs and Edomites are excluded by Paul, he would answer that they dismissed the selection principle too quickly.
God chose between Isaac and Ishmael, between Jacob and Esau and between a Jew and a real “Jew” (Romans 9:6-13 with 11:4-7).
(Though Paul doesn’t mention Deuteronomy 18:15-19 Peter does in Acts 3:22-23 and speaks of non-believing Jews being “cut off from among his people.”)
This does not reflect the faithlessness of God who is sovereign and bestows his grace and mercy in a way he sees fit.
In the light of how he fulfils his gracious purposes it isn’t simply fleshly descendants that are counted as heirs but those who are like Isaac, children of promise (9:8 and see Galatians 4:21-22,28-31).
Paul has already stressed that it is by faith that one is a child of promise or heir (Rom 4; see also Gal 3:26, 29).
Rom 9:14. Is God then unjust?
Is this a way to reject Abraham’s kin through Jacob?
In Rom 10:18-21 Paul will enlarge on this and demonstrate that it was the faithlessness of Israel that led to their rejection!
No, no, no, by no means, God was not faithless or fickle for God had not rejected Israel!
But this does mean God will work his gracious will for the world through Israel as he sees fit (9:14-21).
Moses begged to be cut off at the golden calf incident in the Sinai desert, and sinful Israel saved, but God curtly rebuked him even though he went on to assure Moses that he would not obliterate Israel because of the Golden Calf incident (Exodus 32:30-35 and 33:12-23).
Arrogant Pharaoh could have been blotted out by God in an instant but it served God’s purpose to raise him up and harden him in his unbelief (Romans 9:17).
An interesting point should be made here, God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart because Pharaoh had already hardened his heart against God (Ex 8:15, 21, 32)
Israel could have been blotted out immediately at Sinai (Exodus 32:7-10) but it suited God’s purposes to maintain the covenant with them for world redemption (Romans 9:22-23).
This God did by sovereign grace and not because Moses in some way had won God’s favour (Rom 9:16).
So Pharaoh and Israel serve God’s gracious purposes either in obedience or disobedience!
But if that’s the case why should God judge them for disobedience (Rom 9:19 and Rom 3:3-8)?
Paul will shortly say that God hardened Israel as surely as he hardened Pharaoh (Rom 11:7-10,25) but throughout the discussion we know God is dealing with sinners who have first hardened their hearts against God!
God does not harden the hearts of the faithful!
However, in spite of the discussion on the hardening of faithless hearts, and God’s patient bearing with sinners who have no right to complain, God as the potter does with them as the potter has the right to do with the clay! (see Jeremiah 18:1-12 which Israel knew very well)!
God’s purpose had been gracious (see Romans 11:32).
His aim had always been to be true to the true descendents of the promise promises to Abraham, so God has not been faithless . He has kept his promise which was based on faith (Rom 4 and Rom9:6a).
In fact, if there’s to be a criticism levelled against God it would have to be that he was too patient (Rom 9:22)!
Paul’s gospel excluded a host of Jews from Messianic blessings but this wasn’t new because the prophets had done precisely the same thing.
Hosea said the Northern Kingdom was not the people of God (9:25-26), yet they had been!
Isaiah insisted that God would save only a remnant and that if it hadn’t been for God’s grace they would have been totally obliterated (Rom 9:27-29).
All of this shows that Paul’s view that a mass of Israel were outside God’s blessing in the Messiah was nothing new (see Rom 11:2-4).
Even the Torah taught that such rejection is not a lack of faithfulness in God!
And what is just as important, the rejection of some of Israel (grounded in God’s sovereign will and Israel’s sin) was not to be taken as permanent!
Hosea said that Israel would be
again called God’s people after the exile (Rom 9:25-26) so the “not my
people” status was not intended to be a permanent arrangement (see Rom
11:11,17-24 where Paul discusses the grafting in of the natural branches of
the olive tree, branches that had previously been cut off ).
Rom 9:30-33 What Shall We Say About This?
The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it!
The Jews who sought righteousness through the Torah did not attain it!
Why?
Because the Jews did not seek it by faith and had stumbled over the stumbling stone, faith in Jesus as the Messiah!
The fault was not God’s nor the fault of his message or the Torah.
The fault lay in Israel who
rejected God’s Messiah and faith.
Rom 10:1-4 Israel Not Saved!
Again, Paul laments the loss of Israel and prayed that their salvation would be possible.
Israel had a zeal for God, not that zeal was neither enlightened nor fully formed!
The NIV translates this as Israel’s faith or zeal not being based on knowledge!
This suggests that although zeal is noble, it must be fully informed and according to knowledge (presumably knowledge of God’s word as in the Torah).
Israel had faith in God, but were stubborn in not listening to the Torah which had predicted the coming of the Messiah (se John 5:39, You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.)
Paul then declares that the
Christ is the end (telos – goal, terminal) of the law, not meaning
that Christ was the doing away with the Torah, but that Christ was the
direction or goal to which the Torah had been pointing, but the Jews had
missed this goal!
Rom 10:5-13 The Message of Righteousness Had Been Near the Jew, But They Missed It!
Moses had said that those who sought righteousness by the Torah must live by the Torah (Lev 18:5).
However, Paul had already shown that the Jews had failed to live by the Torah because of their human sinful nature.
In contrast tot his, the righteousness based on faith was not something hidden, it was there near to them!
It lay simply in faith in God and his chosen Messiah (see John 5:39 above again)!
Rom 10:9. All the Jew needed to do was confess with his mouth that Jesus was Lord and believe in his heart that God had raised him form the dead, and they would be saved!
This was true for both Jew and Gentile.
In the next verse Rom 10:10 we encounter a doctrine that some use to argue that all that is necessary for salvation is that one believe in Jesus!
At first glance the verse certainly sounds as though it would support such a position!
Rom 10:10, “For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.”
What is possibly misleading in this verse are the three words “and so is” justified or saved.
The NIV translates this as “and are” justified or saved!
The KJV is better, and translates this as “unto” righteousness or salvation!
The ASV is similar to the KJV, translating this as “unto” righteousness or salvation.
The NASV is similar to the KJV and ASV translating this as “resulting in” salvation.
The Greek uses the preposition eis in this place, which is normally translated as “for”.
The primary translation of eis is for as in Acts 2:38, “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins.”
[To get a little technical, whenever you place eis before a noun in the accusative (direct object) case, the eis points toward the accusative noun and the accusative noun limits the meaning of the verb that precedes the eis. In Acts 2:38 the verb is be baptized, the accusative noun is forgiveness, and eis stands between the two. Thus one believes for the forgiveness of sins.]
In the case of Rom 10:10 the translation of the RSV and NIV are unfortunate, the KJV and ASV do a good job of maintaining the meaning of eis as unto, and the NASV is near this with resulting in.
However, the best translation would be for!
In this case we should translate Rom 10:10 as “For man believes with his heart for justification, and he confesses with his lips for salvation”.
This maintains a position that is in keeping with the Gospel which also mentions repentance as a requirement for salvation! (Act 2:38; 3:19).
Certainly believing in Jesus is for salvation, as is confessing one’s faith in Jesus for salvation, as is repentance for forgiveness, as is baptism for salvation and forgiveness! (Mk 16:15, 16; Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet 3:21).
The real question here is why does Paul not mention repentance and baptism?
The answer is simple, he is writing about Jews who refused to believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord and Messiah!
Repentance and baptism would not have been a problem to the Jews, but accepting Jesus as the Messiah was!
Remember, this section is addressing the question why the Jews were rejected.
It was not simply because of the Torah, for the Torah was good, holy, and spiritual!
It was not because the Word of God was faulty (Rom 9:6).
The reason was because they would not believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord and Messiah.
If
they would believe in Jesus and confess him as Lord and messiah, they will
be justified and saved!
Rom 10:14-21 Faith and the Preaching of Jesus
Paul suggests a question that a Jew might ask, “how are men to believe and call on Jesus if they had not heard of him?”
Paul will answer, “But you Jews have heard, but you would not listen, believe, and obey the message!” (Rom 10:14-21 summarized).
Remember John 5:39, they had searched the Scriptures seeking eternal life, but these Scriptures had pointed to Jesus and they would no listen!
Now Paul refers to Isaiah.
Isaiah had spoken but the Jews had not listened.
Faith come from hearing the message preached, and what was preached was Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Had they not heard? Of course they had!
Had they not understood? They had Moses and the prophets who had preached to them, but they had no listened to them!
What was their problem? “All day long I have held out my hand to a disobedient and contrary people”! (Rom 10:21, citing Isa 65:2).
Israel was rejected and lost simply because they would not listen to the message regarding Jesus Christ!
If they will only repent and believe in Jesus they can be saved!
This is the story of Rom 11.
Rom 11:1-10 God Has a Remnant of Israel that Will Be Saved
God has not rejected all of Israel, only those who would not believe.
There is an elect group in Israel who would be saved!
Who are they?
Those who have kept their faith in God (“who have not bowed the knee to Baal”)
Paul himself is an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin!
He has been saved!
Why?
Because he believed God’s message about Jesus being the Messiah!!
If all Israel will only believe, they too can be saved like Paul!
So, what’s
the gospel message?
Rom 11:11-32 The Salvation of Israel
This section has led to some fancy interpretations such as “In the end, all of Israel will be saved.”
This passage does not teach this!
Paul’s Gospel message has all along been that the only way either the Jew or the Gentile can be saved is by accepting Jesus as the Messiah, that is, through faith in Jesus!
So, in the end if Israel is going to be saved it will be on the grounds of the Gospel Paul preaches.
If there is another way to be saved then God is not a righteous God!
The Jew will be saved on the same ground as the Gentile, through faith in Jesus the Messiah!
Then is it that God has rejected the physical Jews and replaced them with Gentiles?
Absolutely not (Rom 11:1)!
Is it that God has rejected the fleshly kin of Abraham and replaced them with a cosmopolitan “church”?
Absolutely not (Rom 11:29)!
The message is that God continues to love the physical Jews even though the Mosaic covenant has been terminated and reached its goal in Christ just as surely as he continued to love Gentiles after he had chosen the Jews.
The bulk of the Jews (in response to their sin) were hardened and refused to believe (Rom 11:1-10) but this was no God’s plan to get rid of them.
In their hardened condition they rejected the Messiah and were rejected!
The glorious result, however, was the salvation of the Gentiles!
But if Israel’s loss worked for the glory of the Gentile, what should we think of their state of rich blessing (“fullness” – Rom 11:11-12)?
[The word fullness is a technical term in Greek – pleroma - and the Jewish Apocalyptic tradition. It is translated full inclusion in Rom 11:12, and full number in Rom 11:25. It carries the meaning of full blessing or rich blessing.]
The righteous believing remnant weren’t hardened (Rom 11:7) but were blessed through the hardness of the bulk of the nation.
The hardness is seen in their unbelief but their unbelief need not continue!
If the Jews would come to faith they too will be blessed in their Messiah (Rom 11:17-24).
However, Paul sounds a warning!
Jewish arrogance should not be replaced by Gentile arrogance (Rom 11:18-22). When God elected the Jews they became arrogant, and now that Gentiles are elect the temptation is for them to be arrogant.
Gentiles were in danger of doing precisely what the Jews did: seeing themselves as an end in themselves with Jews completely cast off.
But this would be a violation of the Abrahamic covenant, which was for the entire world, all nations.
Gentiles are not to have the impression that God has rejected the Jews so that the Gentiles could get in (Rom 11:19-21).
In Rom 11:17-24 we have the fascinating “parable” of the natural and wild olive branches. Natural olive branches (the unbelieving Jews) have been cut out because of unbelief. Wild olive branches (the believing Gentiles) have been grafted in because of faith. If God can graft in wild olive branches because of their fait, surely he can graft in natural olive branches that have been cut out if they come to faith!
So, the solution is that if Israel wants to be grafted into the true family of Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant after they have been rejected for unbelief, all they have to do is return to faith and believe in Jesus the Messiah and confess him as Lord and Messiah! (Rom 10:10)!
So we come to the final statement of this great discussion!
God has not rejected Israel, Israel has rejected God through unbelief!
If Israel wants to be included all they have to do is believe in the Messiah!
Rom 11:26, “and so all Israel will be saved”!
The little word so [Greek “houtos”] simply means, “in this manner”!
In what manner?
By
faith in Jesus the Messiah all Israel can be saved, and will be saved, if it
believes in Jesus the Messiah!
Summary of Rom 9 - 11
So how did the whole argument in Rom 9 - 11 flow?
God has not rejected Israel, Israel has rejected God through unbelief!
Paul assures them he’s no renegade Jew and insists that they indeed were promised blessings in their fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).
Paul claims that mere fleshly descent was not enough to guarantee the Abrahamic blessing.
Paul insists that the election of Israel was not based on the moral goodness of Jacob and that God has a perfect right to choose his instruments of blessing.
The prophets made it clear that Israel had forfeited their right to blessing and their name as God’s people in light of their persistent apostasy but that God had maintained his faithfulness despite that.
He claims the reason Israel (as a national entity) had missed Messianic blessing is because not only were they apostate but that they had all along misread the nature of the Torah.
They saw themselves as an end in themselves and sought only to establish their own national righteousness contrary to the Abrahamic covenant.
The result was that they would have excluded the Gentile world.
In truth, the goal of the Torah was the Messiah and the eschatological (end of the world) righteousness that was to be found in Jesus the Messiah for all believers and with the Messiah the Torah pointed and was to be terminated, having fulfilled its salvation history function of bringing Israel to faith (Gal 3:23-25, follow this reading with verses 26-29).
This reading of God’s will (the Torah) was missed by Israel because God hardened Israel in her sin.
But God hardened Israel so that her disobedience would result in the obedience of Gentiles (note Rom 1:5 and Rom 16:26) which in turn was meant to result in the obedience of the Jews (Rom 16:26).
God concluded all under sin that he might have mercy on all (11:32).
If Israel seeks salvation it will not be through Torah keeping, but through faith in Jesus on the same grounds as the salvation of the Gentiles, for God is no respecter of persons, for all have sinned and all need salvation in Jesus, the only means of salvation!
No wonder Paul closes with the doxology of Rom 11:33-36:
“O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.”