So, What Happened? Why Didn't The Jews Believe?

November 08, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:30-33

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Chapters 9–11 make up one unified, technically complex section, filled with Old Testament allusions and quotations. As we work through this section, we see that Paul is examining and answering four related questions:

1. Why did so many of the Jews refuse to accept Jesus as Messiah?
2. In light of Jewish rejection of Jesus and Gentile acceptance of Jesus, has God replaced the Jews with the Gentiles as His chosen people?
3. Is there any hope that the Jews who previously rejected Jesus as Messiah might one day turn back and believe?
4. In light of all of the above, what is God up to?

Paul has been explaining to the Romans that the Old Testament prophets foretold that God would one day bring in the Gentiles and that unbelieving Israel would face consequences for that unbelief. In today’s reading, Paul is breaking it down even further by answering the question:

So, what happened? Why didn’t the Jews believe?

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; [Romans 9:30].

Well, says Paul, believe it or not the Gentiles (of all people)—the Gentiles who didn’t even have the Law and had no idea what righteousness really meant—the Gentiles have actually now become righteous because of their faith—their trust—in Jesus.

In contrast:

31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law [Romans 9:31].

The Jews—who had been actually instructed by God and had the Law—missed what God is doing. Here’s why:

32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” [Romans 9:32-33].

Paul says that the Jews are missing the key aspect of relationship with God, i.e., they are failing to trust, to have faith. In fact, they have tripped up over Jesus!

32b They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” [Romans 9:32b–33].

Jesus is the stumbling block; because the Jews were unwilling to accept Him as Messiah, they have completely missed what God is doing. Anyone who believes in Jesus will be saved, but if you refuse to believe in Jesus because He doesn’t conform to your expectations, you will trip up and fall.

“Who is Jesus?” You have to answer that question one way or the other—to not answer it by trying to avoid it is still answering it.

How would you answer that question today?

God Is Working The Long Game

November 07, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:25-29

25 As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”

Throughout this whole section, Paul has been dealing with four related questions:

There are more Old Testament quotations in Romans 9–11 than in the whole rest of the letter, and here Paul offers a few more.

First, from Hosea, Paul makes a point about the Gentiles:

25 Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God’” [Romans 9:25–26].

Paul uses the quotation from Hosea to make the point that the Lord was always planning to bring in people into His family who were originally outsiders, so Paul wants the Romans to understand that the inclusion of the Gentiles shouldn’t be shocking.

Second, from Isaiah, Paul makes a point about the Jews:

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah” [Romans 9:27–29].

Just as the Old Testament prophets has said that the Lord would one day bring in the Gentiles, Paul also reminds the Roman church that the Lord had warned the Jews that there would be consequences for unbelief:

In 9:27 Paul quotes Isaiah to make the point that just because there are lots of people related to Abraham does not mean they will all be saved; rather, only the small (faithful) number will be saved;
In 9:29 Paul quotes Isaiah to make the point that, even if the majority of Israel rejects the Messiah, nevertheless there will still be a faithful remnant.

Paul’s point is just to explain to the Roman church that the inclusion of the believing Gentiles and the exclusion of unbelieving Jews was already foretold in Scripture.

God Will Change His Plans In Response To Human Actions

November 06, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:19-24

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Today’s commentary will be crucial to our understanding of everything Paul is saying. If you miss Paul’s allusion to Jeremiah 18, you will end up drawing the wrong conclusions from Romans 9–11.

We are in the midst of a technical and complicated argument Paul is making in chapters 9–11 as he examines and answers four related questions:

At the time Paul is writing the majority of the Jews—Paul’s own people!—have rejected Jesus, while more and more Gentiles are coming to faith. This would seem to imply that God has abandoned His people. Paul is explaining why this is not the case.

In our previous reading, we’ve seen how Paul has explained that sometimes God uses certain people for His salvation purposes. The implication (which Paul will specifically state many times in his letter, e.g., Romans 11:15) is that God is currently using Israel’s refusal to accept the Messiah as part of His plan.

So, Paul anticipates someone objecting to his point:

“If God is using Israel’s refusal to accept Jesus as part of his plan, then how can God possibly hold Israel accountable for that refusal?”

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” [Romans 9:19].

Paul’s answer: Are you kidding me? Who are you to possibly assume you know better than God?

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? [Romans 9:19–21].

You cannot understand this passage unless you know the Old Testament allusions and “hyperlinks” behind it.

In the background here is Isaiah 29:16:

16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

As well as Isaiah 45:9:

9 Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?

The point Isaiah is making (and to which Paul is alluding) is that as the creatures, who are we to question the Creator? The Roman Gentile Christians were lording it over the Jewish Christians, assuming that the Gentiles had become the new chosen people, replacing Israel. After all— they might have said—if Israel is still the chosen nation, then why aren’t more Jews becoming believers in Jesus as Messiah? Paul has no patience for this kind of thing—if God wants to choose to bring in the Gentiles, then so be it. Who are we to question?

But Paul goes further and makes an even more explicit Old Testament allusion:

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? [Romans 9:21–24].

Here, Paul is referencing the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who was instructed by God to go and pay a visit to a potter. It is vital that we closely read the Jeremiah passage or else we will miss what Paul is doing in Romans 9–11.

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do [Jeremiah 18:1–4].

First, Jeremiah goes to visit the potter, and he sees that, as the potter is working, one of the pottery dishes becomes messed up, so he reworks the clay and turns it into something else.

Having shown Jeremiah this lesson, God speaks to him concerning His providential purposes:

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it [Jeremiah 18:5–8].

There are two crucial points here:

1. God is within His rights to pronounce judgment and destruction on a disobedient nation (specifically Israel, in this case);
2. BUT IF THAT NATION, UNDER GOD’S JUDGMENT, THEN REPENTS AND CHANGES ITS WAYS, GOD WILL RELENT AND FORBEAR RELEASING THE DESTRUCTION HE HAD PREVIOUSLY INTENDED.

To make the point even more explicit, God continues His lesson to Jeremiah:

9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds’ [Jeremiah 18:9–11].

Now, God makes the related but opposite point to that above:

1. If God has promised blessing and life to a nation because of its obedience,
2. But if that nation then subsequently turns from life and begins to follow after evil, THEN GOD WILL CHANGE HIS PLANS FROM BLESSING TO DESTRUCTION.

Friends, this is one of the most important points Paul has made so far in all of Romans, and the meaning is as clear as day:

God’s desire is blessing, and if people who are under judgment subsequently repent, God will change His plans and bring blessing, but if people who are under blessing subsequently begin to do evil, God will change His plans and bring destruction.

IN OTHER WORDS, GOD WILL CHANGE HIS PLANS DEPENDING ON WHETHER PEOPLE ARE OBEDIENT OR DISOBEDIENT, DO GOOD OR DO EVIL.

This is the plain sense of Jeremiah 18:1–11. God is warning Judah (Judah is the only surviving tribe of Israel at the point Jeremiah is prophesying, which is roughly around 600 B.C.) that, though the people have been disobedient, and that destruction is coming, it is not too late to change direction, and if they change, then God will change His plan.

With all that in the background, let’s look again what Paul is arguing in vv. 19–24:

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? [Romans 9:19–24].

God is the potter, shaping history. If the chosen people are now hardhearted toward the Messiah, then God—who has been extremely patient with the Jews (has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction)—has simply moved to share His mercy in a place where it will be received, namely the Gentile nations. The very fact that God is bringing in the Gentiles is a both a sign of his mercy—Paul calls the Gentile Christians vessels of mercy [v. 23]—and a confirmation of the warning that the prophets gave to Israel long ago, namely that their hard hearts would leave God no choice but to give them over to judgment.

Paul’s point in all of this is this: “No, God hasn’t abandoned Israel—He warned them for centuries and finally now God has decided to work in a new way and bring in the Gentiles. But, if Israel were to repent, He’d pour out mercy on them, too.”

This is a heavy message, both terrifying and encouraging. We American Christians need to remember:

1. God is expecting us to stay faithful and not presume we can abandon the Lord and escape the consequences of our apostasy.
2. But it is also not too late for anyone to turn in repentance to the Lord—God is eagerly offering every person the chance to receive mercy and move from death to life.

How seriously do you need to take #1? How seriously do you need to pray for point #2?

Is God Unfair?

November 05, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:14-18

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Chapters 9–11 make up one unified, technically complex section, filled with Old Testament allusions and quotations. As we work through this section, we will see that Paul is examining and answering four related questions:

HAVE THE GENTILES REPLACED THE JEWS AS THE CHOSEN PEOPLE?

At the time Paul is writing his letter, most of the people who are becoming Christians are Gentiles, not Jews, and in the Roman church some of the Gentile Christians were implying that the Jews were no longer the chosen people. In our previous days' readings, Paul has lamented the failure of so many of his Jewish brethren to come to faith in Jesus, but he has said that this failure does not mean that God has failed. Using the Old Testament, Paul has shown that it has always been the case that God has chosen to use merely one part of Abraham’s family.

Is it unfair for God to single out certain people to play specific roles in salvation history?

Paul’s answer: By no means! [v 9:14b]

Paul then uses the example of Moses and Pharaoh to make his point.

The very first thing the Israelites did after the Lord made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai was to make a golden calf and worship it! One would think that this would mean the end of their relationship with the Lord, but surprisingly, the Lord continued to be faithful to Israel. In fact, when Moses presses the Lord on this point, the Lord replies,

15 I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion [Romans 9:15, referencing Exodus 33:19].

As Paul points out, God even uses Pharaoh—of all people—as part of His plan of salvation. The point of the Pharaoh example is that hard hearts can be used by God to bring other people to saving faith—just as God previously used Pharaoh’s refusal to relent to bring salvation to the Hebrews, so now God is using the hard hearts of the Jews to bring salvation to the Gentiles. (But we are getting ahead of ourselves—Paul hasn’t gotten there yet.)

18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills [Romans 9:18].

If you take this verse out of context, it at first seems that God is deliberately hardening the hearts of the Jews so that they will NOT believe. But, as we shall see, this is not the point Paul is making. (The problem is that we have to read his entire argument in chapters 9–11 to get his overall point.)

1. Paul will go on to explain in chapter 11 that even Jews who initially rejected Jesus are capable of later changing their minds and coming to faith in Him. Paul is not here talking about God making someone permanently incapable of repenting and responding to the Gospel.

2. For another thing, the example of Pharaoh is complicated. In Exodus, the Lord continually reaches out to Pharaoh and gives him chance after chance to repent. Finally, and tragically, Pharaoh stubbornly refuses to repent but God even uses Pharaoh’s refusal for His salvation purposes.

The point Paul is making here is that God shows mercy in surprising ways!

We’ll have to read on to see how this applies to the question, Have the Gentiles replaced the Jews as the chosen people?

In the meantime, don’t give up hope today—God’s mercy often comes in surprising ways and places. Keep praying. Whatever the result of the election, do not assume you know how God is at work.

The Israel Within Israel

November 04, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:6-29

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Previously we read about the grief and sorrow Paul has experienced because so few of the Jews—his own flesh and blood!—have accepted Jesus as Messiah, despite the fact that they have the amazing privilege of being God’s chosen people.

Does this mean that God’s promises to Israel have failed? Paul’s answer? NO.

Why?

Paul points out that there were always two “Israels” within Abraham's family—the people literally (biologically) descended from Abraham, and then the ones God chose to use in a certain way for His salvation purposes. There is an Israel within Israel, so to speak:

6b For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring [Romans 9:6b–8].

There is an Israel within Israel, and so God is not unfaithful to His promises when He chooses this or that person to play an important role in salvation history. Yes, Ishmael is descended from Abraham as well as Isaac, but God chose Isaac—the child of promise, of faith—to be the one He would work through; Esau is descended from Abraham just like Jacob is descended from Abraham, but God chose Jacob to be the one He would work through, this despite the fact that the boys were twins and unlike Isaac and Ishmael, came from the same mother. Moreover, Jacob was the younger brother. And on top of that, God chose to work through Jacob even before he was born—when she was pregnant, Rebekah their mother was told:

12 The older will serve the younger [Romans 9:12].

In other words, the fact that God chose to work through Jacob’s line had nothing to do with Jacob deserving to be chosen—rather, God just chose Jacob according to God’s own mysterious (mysterious from a human point of view, that is) purposes.

This is why the above matters:

Paul’s argument should matter to us is because he is making a very simple but profound point: God can choose how He will work through human history. When He picks Isaac and not Ishmael, Jacob and not Esau, He is working according to his deep purposes. In the Bible, this concept is called election.

Election is the idea that God chooses to work in particular and specific ways, and through particular and specific groups of people. The Lord did not choose Israel to be the chosen people because they were somehow better than the other nations; He chose them as an act of grace. Israel didn’t choose God, God chose Israel. The elect are those who find themselves chosen by God to play an important role in God’s plan—in the Old Testament, Israel is the chosen nation, the elect. When God singled out Abraham to play an important part in salvation history, that was always God’s prerogative. To be singled out to play an important part does not mean you are any better than anyone else.

As we shall see, Paul is not saying that people have no choice in the matter—people can and do choose how they will respond to God’s choosing of them. Will they respond to His gracious invitation with faith, or with hard hearts? And, the ones chosen by God to play a part in salvation history—“the elect”—is a group that is continually being added to. In fact (and Paul will explain this in Romans 11), Paul believes that it’s not too late for the unbelieving Jews, and that some of them will come to put their faith in Jesus before the end.

But, in this section, Paul’s overall point is simple:

Just because right now the majority of the descendants of Abraham have failed to believe in the Messiah is not something new that God is doing; God is not a liar—it has always been the case that God was working through only one part of the descendants of Abraham.

In the same way, none of us chose the circumstances or timing of our birth. Why were we born when or where we were born, to those particular parents? The answer is known only to God. What Paul is reminding the Romans here is that God doesn’t work in ways that immediately make sense to the world.

Is this unfair? That’s the question Paul will tackle next.

Why Didn't More Jews Believe In Jesus?

November 01, 2024 by Andrew Forrest in Bible

Romans 9:1-5

9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Sometime around A.D. 57 Paul sent the letter we now call Romans to the network of house churches in Rome that together made up the Roman church. The Resurrection of Jesus took place in either A.D. 30 or A.D. 33 (either of those two dates is possible), and in the first few years after the Resurrection, the church was primarily made up of Jewish Christians, i.e., people who had a Jewish background before they believed in Jesus. But as the Gospel spread around the Mediterranean—and the Apostle Paul was one of the missionaries and church planters who was most responsible for its spread—the church became more and more Gentile. As the decades went on, fewer and fewer Jews were coming to faith in Christ. When Paul sent his letter, the Roman church was made up of both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, but there was some tension between the two groups, and it’s likely that at the time Paul was writing that the Gentile Christians had come to make up a majority of the Roman church.

It seems that in the Roman church, the Gentile Christians were feeling superior to the Jewish Christians because so many of the Jewish people had failed to recognize Jesus as Messiah. In light of this fact, the Roman Gentile Christians believed that perhaps God has abandoned His chosen people and that they—the Gentiles—were the new chosen people: they had superseded—replaced—Israel.

Paul is going to spend the next three chapters dealing the following questions:

1. Why did so many of the Jews refuse to accept Jesus as Messiah?
2. In light of Jewish rejection of Jesus and Gentile acceptance of Jesus, has God replaced the Jews with the Gentiles as His chosen people?
3. Is there any hope that the Jews who previously rejected Jesus as Messiah might one day turn back and believe?
4. In light of all of the above, what is God up to?

Paul himself was a Jewish Christian, and the failure of so many of his people to recognize Jesus as Messiah was a source of pain for Paul:

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh [Romans 9:2–3].

What happened? Why didn’t more Jews believe in Jesus? God chose the family of Abraham—Israel—to be His chosen people; the Old Testament is the account of how God worked through Israel:

4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen [Romans 9:4–5].

So, despite being the chosen people and having all the privileges and blessings of hearing directly from God (!), despite being the people from whom the Messiah came (!), the Jews in Paul’s day missed recognizing Jesus as Messiah. Why? What does their blindness to the Gospel mean? Did God forsake His people? Was God unfaithful to His promises to Israel? Have the Jews been replaced by the Gentiles? In chapters 9–11, Paul will give an answer.

An overview of Paul’s answer: No, the Jews have not been replaced by the Gentiles; rather, God is working His plan of salvation, and throughout history God has used certain people at certain times for the larger purpose of bringing salvation to all who will receive it. If the majority of the Jews are rejecting Jesus, somehow their rejection is being used by God to be part of His overall salvation plan, but His promises to Israel are still valid and will be forever—He has not given up on Abraham’s family.

In the meantime, I think it’s worth thinking through the idea of privilege in our lives. Paul lists all the privileges that the Jews enjoyed, and yet they missed Jesus.

What are we doing with what we have been given?

We know the Gospel—are we living as if we know it?

We have the Gospel—are we doing anything with it?