What can we say, then? Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have attained righteousness, a righteousness that comes through faith. But Israel, who did pursue the righteousness that is based on the law, did not arrive at that law. Why not? Because they did not pursue it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. As it is written, “Look! I am placing a stone in Zion that people will stumble over and a large rock that will make them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be ashamed.”
. . .
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of the Jews is that they would be saved. For I can testify on their behalf that they have a zeal for God, but it is not in keeping with full knowledge. For they are ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God while they try to establish their own, and they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the culmination of the law as far as righteousness is concerned for everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the law as follows: “The person who obeys these things will find life in them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will go down into the depths?’ (that is, to bring Christ back from the dead).”
But what does it say? “The message is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart.” This is the message of faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For a person believes with his heart and is justified, and a person declares with his mouth and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be ashamed.” For there is no difference between Jew and Greek, because they all have the same Lord, who gives richly to all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 9:30 -10:13
Why have I divided the text up in the way I have? Why didn’t I just stop at the chapter break, combining 9:30-33 as one unit and 10:1-13 as the other? Because I am following Paul. Paul has sectioned off his thought and started the sections with rhetorical questions. But yes, you will notice that I have also spent some time previously on different parts within one section. I will actually deal with this section in two parts as above. But it is not because they actually are two parts or because they are separated by a chapter boundary. (I don’t take much notice of the chapter boundaries; neither did Paul. They were not there in his day.) The division is because of the detail contained in this section that requires comment and it is the way Paul organised it. In reality notice how it all hangs together.
Now let’s deal with the first part: 9:30-33
What shall we say then? On the basis of what went before, which now leads to the point . . . The Gentiles didn’t pursue it; but gained it; the Jews pursued it; but didn’t gain it.
Isn’t that interesting, the Gentiles stumbled into righteousness. They weren’t looking for it but found it. The Jews had been looking for it for a long time but didn’t find it. Well isn’t that ironic? Why was that so?
How is it the Gentiles found it so easily when the Jews knew all about it because “salvation belongs to the Jews” but ended up missing out? Now that certainly is not fair. The simple answer to why this happened is because the Gentiles did it God’s way and when you do that, all the free gift is given to you. Grace is dumped on you. It will leave you reeling from the amount of grace heaped upon you. The Jews however sought it on their own terms, based on works and not based on faith. Even though they were the children of their father Abraham, they missed the “faith connection”. If you do that you’re pushing water up hill with a rake!
Remember the Jews were into the law in a big way. The law had been given to them and so they were going to fulfil it. They added a mountain of other detail to spell out all the details, to dot the i’s and to cross the t’s. It is called the Mishnah, the collection of the oral edicts related to the discussion of the law. They were masters at topping up the law to make it perfect. To make the understanding of it complete and therefore ensure that everyone could obey it. But actually it worked in the opposite way. They who had the law couldn’t keep it and neither could the Gentiles. Their sinful nature made it as impossible as it would have been for the Gentiles if they had tried that route as well.
I will leave it there at the moment and will revisit this section again next Gem as there are two parts of the text that require further comment.
So sad to see people are busy making excuses instead of making changes. Your life won’t get better by making excuses!
Jeffrey Rachmat
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.
Sid Mohede