9:30,31
Paul has been emphasising God’s sovereign choice. God decides what happens, and He decides how things will happen. God has decided that the only way to know Him is through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. People object that this should not be the only way, or complain about what right God has to choose. God is the Creator! We now see human responsibility coming into play. The Gentiles did not pursue righteousness. Now Paul is not saying that there were no good Gentiles, there was no doubt the usual cross-section of people that you find in all people groups, but the Gentiles were not, on the whole, pursuing righteousness with God, they had no idea who God was. Yet they found righteousness. Again we need to note that this was a relatively small proportion of them, but the church was increasingly Gentile in composition. Conversely the Jews did pursue righteousness, they did want to know God, it was fundamental to the whole identity of the nation. Yet they did not find it because they did not pursue it by faith. The Gentiles believers responded in the way that God had chosen, the Jews did not respond in the way that God had chosen.
9:32,33
The Jews pursued righteousness by works and this was doomed to failure. Paul rounds off the section by quoting from Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. Jesus is the dividing line, the fork in the road. Our response to Him is what determines our eternal destiny. And Scripture has said God would place a stone that would divide, that would separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus says clearly to us that we are not righteous, that we need to repent and need to trust in Him, and in His sacrifice for us. To many this message is offensive or foolishness, and so it causes people to stumble. To those who do believe He becomes the rock on which we build our lives, a sure foundation. And no one who trusts in Him will be put to shame. God has decided the rules of the game and we need to play by them.
No comments:
Post a Comment