Romans 11:1-10 - A remnant

Paul has said a lot of seemingly negative things about Israel, regarding their failure to obey the gospel, their failure to believe Christ. So has God rejected Israel? In fact Paul puts it even more potently, "Did God reject His people?" Israel is not just any nation, it is not just a group of people, they are God's people.

Paul's answer is a resounding no. Then he points first to himself. Paul was an Israelite, from the tribe of Benjamin and he believed. Then he cites the example of Elijah. Elijah felt like all of Israel had rejected God, but God told him that He has "reserved seven thousand people for himself." Likewise, there was still a remnant chosen by God, chosen by grace. Things are not always as bad as they seem. There was a remnant in Paul's day, and there was a remnant for the future as well.  

All this is by grace, not works. The fact that Israel had failed to fulfil the Law did not mean that God's plan was overturned, for salvation is by faith, not works. Grace, not merit.

So some Israelites accepted the gospel, but most did not, and their hearts were hardened.

Romans 10:17-27 - Excuses

Faith comes from hearing the message, and this happen through the word of Christ. A man or woman is born again by the work of the Holy Spirit. When we speak, preach or teach the word of Christ the Holy Spirit is also at work. In John 15:26, 27 Jesus said the Holy Spirit would testify about Him, and that we also must testify. God has chosen to work in partnership with us. 

So why did Israel not respond favourably? It wasn't that they did not hear. Throughout the ages the prophets (which includes people like Moses and David, as well as the Elijah's and Isaiah's) had been pointing the way forward to Christ. Jesus Himself went to the nation of Israel. Then the church started in Jerusalem. Israel had the first opportunity to respond to the word of Christ.

Well then, did they not understand? And here we start to get to the root of the problem, the stubbornness and hard-heartedness of Israel. God gave them many chances, but they repeatedly refused. So God would make them envious by sending His message to the nations. Those who did not seek Christ would find Him.

People make all sorts of excuses for not believing, but we need to look first at ourselves, and you need to look first at yourself. 

Romans 10:14-16 - Let them hear

Paul is continuing to explain here how salvation works. In the earlier parts of Romans he has focussed on the message itself. In chapters 6-8 he focusses on how it works out in the life of the individual. In chapters 9-11 he is explaining how God brings the message to the world. 

He has just established that all who call on Jesus will be saved. The logical next step from that is that if people are saved if they call on the Lord, then they need to believe in Christ. And in order to believe they need to hear in the first place. And if they are to hear, then someone needs to tell them. And if someone is to tell them, that person needs to be sent.

Another common objection to the gospel is that it is unfair on those who have not heard. The Bible has a very practical answer to this, if that is the case then go and tell them. It is a good thing to get good news.

Not all the Jews, indeed not many of them, obeyed the gospel. Note the use of the word obeyed. The good news is a command. And in the book of Isaiah, where many of Paul's quotes come from, the prophet was told that many would not believe.

Romans 10:5-13 - Confess with your mouth

The righteousness based on the Law depended upon someone fully obeying all the Commandments. Only one man has ever achieved this, Jesus Christ. The righteousness based on faith is simple and straightforward. We simply believe the word of Christ. We confess with our mouth and believe in our heart. Note that "believe in your heart" does not imply this is a pure emotional response, rather it involves both emotions and our mind.

If we do this we will be saved. Note also that saying Jesus is Lord was a religiously and politically charged thing to do in those days. To the Jews it was saying Christ is God, the very reason that the religious authorities were so angered by Jesus. To the Roman authorities Caesar was Lord, so it was declaring that Caesar did not have ultimate authority. Today we have lost a lot of that pungency of the phrase, but with the increasing marginalisation and hostility to Christianity by the state it maybe that very soon declaring Christ to be Lord will be an equally dangerous thing to do.

So we are justified by what we believe and saved by what we declare. This is not salvation by works, but it is saying that faith is more than a mere one-off response.

Paul then returns to one of his favourite themes. The universality of Christ's salvation, and that the same criteria are applied to all. All are saved who call upon the Lord, and He bestows His riches on them all.

Romans 10:1-4 - Who decides the rules?

Paul reiterates his desire to see the Israelites saved. It is his hearts desire to see this happen. Being a Jew, and a persecutor of Christ before his conversion, Paul knew the mindset of the Jews. He knew that they were zealous for God. However, this zeal was not based on knowledge.

There is a crucial lesson here. We are all too ready to think that if someone's motives are right, then their actions are OK too. This is simply not true. We can be well meaning fools, well intentioned actions can lead to disaster. Some think that all religions are the same, or cannot see why one is better than the other. The reason is truth. The gospel is not about feelings, but about objective truth (which then affects feelings, but the truth is the starting point).

Behind this thinking is the notion that we decide how God is to be approached or pleased. A moment's thought will show how ridiculous such thinking is. If you were going to visit the Queen or the President of the USA who would decide how things were done? Who would decide if you were even invited at all? Yet we are so foolish as to think we can decide who God should invite, and how He is to be approached.

The Jews sought to establish their own righteousness, and so failed to submit to Christ's righteousness. Christ came to fulfil the Law so that righteousness would come by faith. 

Romans 9:30-33 - Summing Up

Paul summarise the situation. The Gentiles were not looking for righteousness with God, yet they found it, and this was obtained through faith. Israel, on the other hand, was pursuing righteousness, but sought to do so via the Law, and they failed to attain their goal.

The problem was not the goal, but the means chosen to achieve that goal. Now we need to look a little more closely at what this righteousness that they pursued entailed. In evangelical circles we tend to be so focused on people making "a decision", on "saving souls", which we see as people making a prayer of commitment typically at some evangelistic meeting or the like. Two consequences of this are (i) there is a very high attrition rate, with people who make a commitment falling away; and (ii) the outside world see Christianity as rather superficial. 

To the Jew the righteousness talked about here was not like that, rather it was a whole way of life. The Law encompassed every aspect of life, both for individuals and for the nation, from the smallest details of everyday life to national politics, economy and diplomacy. And the righteousness that the New Testament speaks of is the same, it affects all of life, it is not just "a decision". Jesus told us to make disciples.

Paul then  quotes from Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. These verses were commonly used in the early church, for they encapsulated the situation. Jesus had been sent as the source of salvation, but He proved to be a stumbling block for the Jews. Conversely, those who did believe in Him were saved.

Romans 9:19-29 - Potter and the clay

So if God determines everything, how can we be held responsible? Again, Paul deals with a question that is still asked today. As before, Paul's answer is offensive to the modern mind (and probably the ancient mind as well, we haven't really changed that much!). "Who are you to answer back to God?". So we are faced again with the fundamental issue of submitting to God, of making Him Lord, instead of ourselves.

We were created by God. We had no say in the day we were born, not even if we were born. No man or woman who has ever lived has ever been able to determine whether or not they will be brought into existence. And we will all one day die. We need to recognise our fundamental role in the grand scheme of things. We are utterly dependent upon God. 

Instead of constantly arguing against God, we would be better to make Him Lord. And the truth is that God is far more merciful than we can ever imagine. He calls people who have been rejected, people who are not loved. Without God's mercy we would have no hope at all.