As we continue in our study of the book of Romans, we have progressed our way through two of the book’s four sections: righteousness needed 1:18-3:20 …righteousness provided 3:21-8:39…righteousness vindicated 9:1-11:36… and righteousness practiced.
Looking back at chapters 1 through 8 Paul explains the world’s rebellion against God and the dismal situation that everyone who has ever been born is faced with …which ultimately leads Paul to say….you are without excuse.
In chapter 2 Paul reveals God’s reaction to this rebellion…to judge everyone because our conscience and God’s revelation through nature confirms His existence and again…we are without excuse.
Chapter 3- Paul continues in his description of God’s judgment and that no one will be exempt from God’s judgment because everyone has sinned…and are therefore without excuse.
BUT…after 3 and a half chapters of revealing God’s condemnation on us…Paul finally shares some good news…that God has provided a way to make us right with Him that does not depend on anything we can do…as a result.
In Chapter 4 God declares us righteous…without sin…not by doing things… but by belief in His Son…whereby in Chapter 5 because we have been declared righteous…we are now put right with God and have peace with Him.
Paul closes out the first eight chapters of Romans by concluding that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Chapter 9 begins another major section of Romans.
Paul changes his tone from his passionate confidence of God’s love in which nothing can separate us at the end of chapter 8 to one of deep sorrow…regret …and grief.
Paul is so distressed over Israel’s lack of faith in Christ that he says he would be willing, if it would help…if it were possible…to separate himself from Christ for the sake of his fellow Jews.
That he would give up his place in Heaven if only his fellow Jews would realize who Jesus is…that’s quite a sacrifice.
Knowing that God had previously given Israel every advantage, Paul lists the blessings God has given Israel but in sorrow writes:
1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit, 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen
Paul sets forth eight privileges that God graciously bestowed to and belong only to Israel:
1) – They are privileged to be “Israelites”…descendants of Abraham.
2) – They are privileged to have been “adoption as sons”.
3) – They are privileged to have the divine visible presence of God’s Shekinah “glory” dwelling with them.
4) – They were privileged to have been given “the covenants.”
5) – They were privileged by the “receiving of the Law” …the Scriptures…the Ten Commandments.
6) – Israel was blessed by being entrusted with “the temple service” the Tabernacle of Moses…the Tabernacle of David…the Temple of Solomon.
7) – Israel was given the “promises of God”…including the promised Messiah.
8) – Israel was privileged to provide the lineage of “Christ according to the flesh”….whose human nature came through Israel.
Why did God choose Israel in the first place…above all the other nations who were on the earth at that time?
The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because
you were more in number than any of the people for you were
the fewest of all peoples. [Deut. 7:7]
Not because of your righteousness [Deut. 9:4]
But because the Lord loved you ]Deut. 7:8]
Here’s the issue…if the people that God personally chose as His own are in danger of being cast aside…could the same also happen to us?
When reading this about Israel, it might cause us to question God’s dealings with us…how can I be secure in God’s love and salvation when Israel who was once loved now seems to have been cast aside and rejected?
In just the previous verses Paul declares that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ…now he hints that God’s own chosen people seem to have been cast aside and rejected.
Will God also reject and curse me one day? …if God cannot bring His own people into salvation, how convinced is a Christian that he can be saved?
The first five verses of Rom. 9 introduce the next three chapters…these verses start a whole new section in the book of Romans dealing with the question of Jewish unbelief and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.
If God aborted his covenant with Israel…how do we know that His promises to save us are any more trustworthy than His promise to the Jews?
This creates a massive problem…what does it say about God…what does it say about the people of Israel that God had previously set aside as His own possession but are now being rejected by Him?
This is where the foolish idea of replacement theology comes in. It “is the view that the church is the new Israel that has permanently replaced Israel as the people of God.”
There is a list of questions that goes along with that line of thinking:
…Why did God reject his people?
…Why are God’s chosen people, Israel, still in unbelief?
…Why are God’s chosen people not saved?
…Why have God’s chosen people not chosen Christ?
In the next three chapters Paul…directed by the Holy Spirit and probably completely unknown to him at the time, writes about God’s eternal plan for Israel in addition to the reason for Israel’s rejection of their Messiah.
This seemingly boring part of Scripture unveils God’s plan for Israel:
Chapter 9 – Israel’s past election
Chapter 10 – Israel’s present rejection
Chapter 11 – Israel’s future restoration
Paul begins in chapter 9 by addressing two hard to follow issues:
FIRST…who is the true physical descendant of Abraham?
Paul makes an important statement about the history of Israel concerning not all are children because they are Abraham’s descendants.
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.
These two verses have a couple of meanings:
1) Abraham had other “seed” besides Isaac…these are referred to in verse 8 as the children of the flesh that included Abraham’s first born by Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid.
Only through Abraham and Sarah would come the child of the promise [Gen. 21]. Any seed outside of Sarah is not counted as the ‘seed’ in God’s mind.
2) After the death of Sarah, Abraham married again, and by his second wife, Keturah, there came at least six other sons [Gen 25:1-6]. These sons were also the ‘seed’ of Abraham but none were the promised ‘seed’ of Abraham…only in Isaac was the promise of the Messiah to come.
3) There are other nations who can claim Abraham as their father…Scripture is clear…Only “in Isaac shall they seed be called” only the nation that could trace its birth…and genealogy back to Isaac…Abraham’s only begotten son…in God’s sight is counted as the ‘seed.’
Then there’s the secondary issue regarding the true physical descendants of Abraham…all Jews are descendants of Abraham…BUT…this is where it’s important to understand verse 6 and the statement from a spiritual perspective
For not all who are descended from Israel (Jacob) are Israel.
All those born in Abraham’s bloodline are his descendants…BUT…not all those born in Abraham’s bloodline are true Israelites…which explains verse 7:
Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.
God’s promises were not made to national Israel but to spiritual Israel.
Israel’s failure to come to faith in Jesus is not an indication that God’s promises have failed—I’m standing on the promises that cannot fail—on the contrary, God’s purpose has always been through the spiritual remnant of physical Israel.
Not to those born in Abraham’s bloodline…but those born of faith like Abraham …Paul is affirming the privileged spiritual position of the Jews.
Understanding this is the starting point of interpreting Romans 9 – 11…it’s just like the fact that not everyone in the church is saved…you do know that right? There is a smaller circle within the big church that really is regenerate and knows the Lord.
Within the church there is a large group that believes that they are relatively ‘good’ people…they go to church…they are outwardly moral… “Sure, I’ve got my faults. Who doesn’t? …BUT God knows that I’m basically a good person.”
I hear that a lot… ‘God knows I’m a good person’ …what does that mean? … God has said…There is no one righteous, not even one [Rom. 3:10] …here’s what Jesus says about Himself… Why do you call me good?”…“No one is good—except God alone [Mark 10:18].
When people make the statement…‘I’m a good person’ …they’re putting themselves as an equal with God.
When people are filled with self-righteousness, they’re trusting in their good works to justify them on judgment day.
Here’s the terrifying reality…one day they’ll be standing before God…all excuses will evaporate…all mouths will be closed…all that will be heard is the Sovereign Judge pronouncing, “Guilty as charged!” At that point, it will be too
late to plead for mercy.
So, not all Israel is saved and not all the church is saved…there is a smaller, tighter circle, and that is what Paul is describing in this chapter.
See this more clearly defined in Deut. 29:21 that says a lot about God:
The Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity
…first…He knows you personally
…second…no one can escape God’s knowledge of what you’re doing
…third…God will pay you back for your disobedience.
This person’s mistake was to think he was safe in his sins because he belonged to Israel…I’m part of the chosen nation…that verse has an application today.
People respond by saying…‘we live in the age of grace where God forgives… that’s an Old Testament verse that has no meaning today, that’s not the God of the New Testament’…an important thing to remember about the New Testament is that…the New Testament gets the Old Testament right.
The issue in this verse is a person thinks he’s safe even if he has no heart for holiness… the mistaken thinking is…“I’m in the new covenant…you don’t need holiness…we’re justified by faith.”
There’s a verse in Hebrews that reflects the error of that thinking [Hebrews 12:15]
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God
Those who “fall short of the grace of God” is in reference to those who are false believers…that would be in agreement with other N. T. warnings about those who claim to be godly, but aren’t (Matt.7:15, Jude 1:12).
Those falling short of the grace of God are those within the church who are defiant towards God’s holiness.
In Deuteronomy the people of Israel were warned about those who assumed they’d be blessed and protected by God because they were the descendants of Abraham despite their willful rebellion…God’s patience eventually ran out.
There are people in the ‘church’ today who think because they’ve been baptized …go to church…even participate in church activities, that they’re saved and can live however they want…God’s patience will eventually run out.
There’s a warning concerning that erroneous thinking in Hebrews 12:14:
“Strive…for holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
See the importance of holiness…here’s the problem…much of Protestant theology has its emphasis on justification and imputed righteousness…both of those are salient points…but it has created a Christian culture of sinful people who believe that holiness is not necessary because the Bible says ‘I’m forgiven.’
Too many believers do not see a life of holiness as necessary for their Christian journey through life…they’re content to remain ‘sinners saved by grace’ to not only save them…but to excuse them to live a life that is profane and outside of God’s holy standards…because they think they’re forgiven.
Another area of unholiness that hampers our fellowship with God is when we allow bitterness…resentment…rage…anger…discontentment…and grudges against others to come into our lives.
When we have no heart for holiness, we come short of the grace of God and allow ungodly characteristics of this life into our hearts…the consequence is a lack of power to preserve their life as a Christian.
The Israel God made His promises to are the children of faith or as Paul writes, the children of promise. That’s why… not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Romans 9 is a text revealing that it is not our heritage…our ability to adhere to the law…or by being a physical descendant of Abraham that makes us God’s children…salvation is by being a spiritual offspring by faith.
SECOND…This chapter is a particularly difficult one because it is the most widely used text in the defense of predestination.
I realize for most of you predestination means very little…but because it is God’s word to simply ignore it or scan over it without an explanation of what it’s revealing is inexcusable.
Because this chapter has been historical and widely used as one of the main texts that defends the theological stance of pre-determination it’s important to untangle the text in order to see Scripture the way it was meant to be.
The Bible must be interpreted within its correct social and historical context, as well as giving regard to its intended audience.
This text is often interpreted as meaning that God unilaterally determines who He will have mercy on and who He will pour His wrath upon…using Israel as the example, many believe that Paul is defining how God works in the lives of all people and nations.
Some believe Romans 9 tells us that God has pre-determined the fate of every person and has determined where they will spend eternity before they were ever born.
That God has sovereignly elected some people for salvation before the foundation of the world…that is a twisted interpretation of Romans 9.
When interpreting Scripture, it’s important to know the context of the text before trying to decide what it’s trying to say…we must ask ourselves why is Paul writing these words…what is the relevance?
Looking at the letter on a broader scale, Paul wasn’t trying to teach us why God condemns certain people and saves others, so to insert this into the text is to miss the meaning.
Romans 9 teaches us that it is not the natural children that are God’s children, but the children of the promise…the promise that comes through faith in Christ, not by works of the Law.
This is a great lesson for us today…Paul uses the example of the Israelites, who pursued righteousness by the law without obtaining it…as a result they were on the outside looking in…For 33 verses Paul uses the Old Testament to prove that righteousness through doing things was unattainable.
It’s the same today…people getting wrapped up in going to church…being involved in Bible Studies and church organizations and letting rituals and traditions keep them separated from being in a relationship with Jesus.
The Israelites were the beneficiaries of all the promised blessings of God but failed to obtain those blessings as opposed to the Gentiles who pursued righteousness by faith and obtained it through Jesus.
Chapter 9 is a sobering call about the importance of relationships…a relationship that must start with recognizing that faith in Christ alone saves us.