Israel
At the present time
Romans chapter 9:30 to 10:21
Unlike the gentile believers, who, without seeking to be justified before God by their works (because the law of Moses was not given to them), they reached the justification by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Israel (as a people) strives for justification based solely on compliance with the law, without searching for it by faith. So it does not reach justification, on the contrary, it is convicted because it cannot fulfil it.
In striving for their justification by the merit of compliance with the law, Israel rejected the redemptive work of Christ: "stone of stumbling and rock of scandal" prophesied in Isaiah 8.14.
This same stone is also prophesied in Isaiah 28: 16 declaring "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily" ("can rest on it"), or "will not be confounded" (1 Peter 2:6). Struggling to justify themselves in their own way, Israel rejected the righteousness that comes from God.
Paul wished ardently the salvation of the people of Israel. It is interesting to note that immediately after talking about the rejection of Christ by the Jews, Paul prayed to God that the Jews "may be saved" or literally "can come to salvation." Paul would not have prayed so if they had been disapproved definitively.
Clearly, Paul did not feel that their case was lost, and despite his behaviour, he let God solve their problem. He prayed for the Jews despite his sadness (9:1-5).
The Jews had knowledge of God, in this having the privilege of being superior to Gentiles, (2:9-11), and were zealous for God. That was evident by their careful observance of rituals and ceremonies of Judaism, and their intolerance of all other doctrine. However, zeal is not enough; it must be combined with understanding of the truth. Otherwise, it can do more harm than good.
As God hardened these people (11: 8, but had not rejected them - 11:2), because of their rebellion (v. 21), Paul begged God to turn back to his people so they might be saved. It is about God's relationship with Israel, not the conversion of individuals.
Later Paul prophesied that this relationship will be re-established after the "fullness of the Gentiles", i.e. when the Church is complete and is raptured (11:25).
In the language of the Old Testament, we can perceive the difference between the words of the law and the words of the faith. In Leviticus 18:5, for example, Moses wrote that the man who achieves the justice that the law requires will live by doing so. The emphasis is on their achievement, on its fulfilment. No sinner can achieve this ideal.
The law was given to people who were already sinners (as are we all) and that therefore were already sentenced to death. Even if they could keep the law perfectly from that day on, they would still be lost, since they would still have to pay for past sins. Therefore, there could not be any hope of justification by law.
In order to show that the language of faith is quite different from the law, Paul first referred to Deuteronomy 30:12-13: "(this commandment) ... is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it?'
It is interesting that, in Deuteronomy, these verses do not refer to the faith and the Gospel but the law and, specifically, to the commandment to convert "to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (30:10 b). In other words, God is saying that the law is not hidden, distant or inaccessible. There is no need to go to heaven or cross the sea to find it. It was close and waiting to be obeyed.
The purpose of the law is Christ, bringing the justification for everyone who believes. Moses wrote (Deuteronomy 30: 11-16) that he who loves God and obeys him, earns life and good. Adapting these words to the Gospel, Paul wrote:
- “Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above)": the language of faith does not ask for someone ascend to heaven to make Christ descend. It would be totally impossible and even unnecessary, because Christ came to Earth at His incarnation!
- "Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)": replacing "sea" by "abyss" the Gospel does not require someone to drop into the tomb to make Christ rise from the dead. That would be impossible and unnecessary, because Christ rose from the dead already.
Here we have the two most difficult doctrines for a Jew to accept about Christ: His incarnation and His resurrection. However, one has to accept them to be saved.
Instead of asking for impossible things, or to do again what has been done by the Lord, the Gospel is close, accessible, comprehensible and easy to obtain, it even can be expressed verbally (in your mouth), and easily understood mentally (in your heart ) (Deuteronomy 30: 14).
It is the good news of salvation by faith that Paul and the other Apostles preached: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved" ; God will not disappoint those who believe in Him (Isaiah 28:16, 49:23).
Here it is, concisely:
- Accept the truth of the incarnation, that Jesus of Nazareth is the LORD of life and glory, the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
- Accept the truth of His resurrection, with everything it involves.
God raised Him from the dead as proof that Christ completed perfectly the work needed for our redemption, and that God is satisfied with this work.
Believing that with the heart means believing with our mental, emotional and volitional powers. Then we can verbally declare our faith in the Lord Jesus, believing sincerely that God raised him from the dead. It is a person's individual taking of it and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for himself. This is the saving faith.
It is impossible to conceive that a person can accept Jesus Christ as Saviour, without recognizing him as Lord of his life, too. The baptism in water through which he must pass to testify his faith, is in itself the way to symbolize death for himself and the resurrection to life in Christ (Romans 6:11, 16). Jesus Christ is Lord (Jehovah), and must be obeyed faithfully as such.
“With the heart one believes unto righteousness". It is not a simple intellectual statement, but a genuine acceptance with our inner being. That is how we are immediately justified.
“With the mouth confession is made unto salvation ". The believer declares publicly the salvation that he received. Is not a condition of salvation, but it is the inevitable expression of what happened to him, because when someone really believes, he wishes to inform the others. It is too good to keep secret, and he wants others to know to be saved too if they haven't already done so.
If the Jews had believed in Christ, they would have verified that He is the end of the law of righteousness. The purpose of the law is to reveal sin, to judge and condemn the disobedient. It can never make a disobedient person righteous. The sanction of the law over him is death.
On his death, Christ paid the penalty of the law, which men had transgressed. When a sinner receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour, the law judges him no more. Through the death of his Substitute, he dies to the law. He has nothing more to do with it, nor with the futile attempt to justify himself through it.
All that (either Jew or Gentile) "invoke the name of the Lord will be saved" as Joel 2:32. To invoke the Lord, it is necessary to believe in Him, to believe they must first know Him by the word of those who are sent to preach the Gospel of Christ. Not all obey the word of the Gospel, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:1, although God's voice is heard throughout the earth, according to Psalm 19:4.
Israel cannot ignore that salvation reaches all peoples, for this was already prophesied by Moses (Deuteronomy 32:21) and by Isaiah (65:1-2) that furthermore calls Israel "rebellious people who walk according to their own thoughts”.
R David Jones
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30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
33 As it is written: "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STUMBLING STONE AND ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME."
Romans 9:30 to 33
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "THE MAN WHO DOES THOSE THINGS SHALL LIVE BY THEM."
6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' " (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7 or, " 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' " (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES ON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13 For "WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED."
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF PEACE, WHO BRING GLAD TIDINGS OF GOOD THINGS!"
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?"
Rom 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Rom 10:18 But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: "THEIR SOUND HAS GONE OUT TO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD."
Rom 10:19 But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says: "I WILL PROVOKE YOU TO JEALOUSY BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT A NATION, I WILL MOVE YOU TO ANGER BY A FOOLISH NATION."
Rom 10:20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: "I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME; I WAS MADE MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME."
Rom 10:21 But to Israel he says: "ALL DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND CONTRARY PEOPLE."
Romans chapter 10