Summary: Romans 9-11

In our next lesson we will return to Romans 8 and begin Romans 12, but today I want to discuss Romans 9 –11 as a unit. In order to prepare to read Romans 9-11, I want you to imagine or remember a dark moment in your life … a moment in which there was a terrible disappointment or tragedy or loss or misunderstanding. Perhaps you
• Lost a job
• Did not get a job you believed you deserved
• Were betrayed by a friend
• Were unfaithful to a friend
• Lost a child to accident or disease

Imagine your state of mind in the days that would follow. For many of us, our thoughts would churn. We would race from one explanation to another … we would create theories and then we would debunk those theories … we would live in the world of “if only” and “why” and “surely not” I imagine pacing around a room, and as I reach each corner of the room a divergent thought would arise to lead me further into despair.

In Romans 9 – 11 Paul wrestles exactly such a disappointment.
• Why did not all the Jewish people understand that Jesus was the Messiah for whom they had long waited?
• Why were all true Jews not Christians?
• (Note many Jews were Christians, indeed it appears that for the first few years virtually all persons who followed Jesus were Christians. At some point the Christians in Jerusalem numbered 8000.)

Now why is this such a crucial question for Paul?
• He was a Jew … a very serious Jew … a Pharisee … who had studied under one of the great Jewish rabbis of the first century, Gamiliel
• As he traveled around Turkey and Greece as a missionary to Gentiles, as he arrived in each city he first went to the Jewish synagogue with his “good news.” He reached many Jewish converts, but many of those who most vigorously persecuted him were Jewish.
• It was a crucial issue for Paul … because he loved his people and wanted them to respond to God’s love in Jesus

Now, Romans 9-11. When I read these chapters, I do not find a carefully reasoned argument. Rather I hear the struggles of a man who is wrestling with a very difficult issue. I imagine Paul pacing around a room, trying on different ideas, trying to understand .. but never quite achieving understanding. At each corner of the room he has a new idea … sometimes contradicting the idea he had at the last corner … in each case he is turning the great tragedy of the rejection of Christ by some Jews over and over again in his head.

Before we walk to some of those corners with Paul, I want you to read his beginning and his conclusion. Let’s read the beginning lessons of Romans 9 and concluding verses of Romans 11 (Romans 11: 33 – 36)

The Beginning: Read Romans 9: 1-5

As Paul begins his long night of wrestling with the tragedy of the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish people, what is his tone? Is he angry, sad, frustrated, belligerent, condescending, hoping, …?

The End: Read Romans 11:33-36

As Paul ends his long night of wrestling with the tragedy, what is his tone?
How do you respond to his conclusions?

As Paul finishes Chapter 11, he acknowledges that some questions are too big for him to answer … no matter how hard he tries. He prepares himself to go forward without his tragedy resolved … indeed in next chapter he shifts into practical advice for living Christian life. His resolution is remarkably similar to the position at which Job arrived in the Old Testament after his time of trial

Now, let’s follow Paul as he wrestles with this question in these 3 chapters of Romans. As I summarize his thought, I will imagine him pacing a room, arriving at a different and divergent thought at each corner:

First Corner: This is the fact of the matter. God owes the Hebrew people nothing. God can choose to be merciful to whom he wishes to be merciful. Not all the biological descendents of Abraham became Hebrews … Abraham’s son Ishmael was rejected in favor of Isaac; Isaac’s son Essau was rejected in favor of Jacob. Indeed, God used Pharaoh as an instrument to show his power … everything has to do with what God chooses. (Romans 9: 6 – 18)
Second Corner: But this sounds a little like we have no choice in the matter at all … no free will. Well that is the truth of the matter. We are like clay in the hands of a potter. He chose some of us to serve a noble purpose and some of us to serve a base purpose. (Romans 9: 19 –21)
Third Corner: Maybe the whole idea is this. In order to show his power and glory, God chooses his people not only from the Jews who are his covenant family but also from those who have no claim to be part of his family. (Romans 9: 22 – 27)
Fourth Corner: But I don’t think God acts this way. He does not deprive us of our free will and punish us when we don’t deserve it. Maybe it was really Israel’s fault. Perhaps God allows the Israelites to reject the Messiah because the Israelites chose to pursue salvation by seeking righteousness under the law rather than by faith. (Romans 9:30 – 33)
Fifth Corner: But my heart breaks. My hearts greatest desire is that the Israelites be saved. They are so serious about their faith .. yet their seriousness is misdirected. Here is the truth they must apprehend. (Romans 10: 1 – 12 and following)
Sixth Corner: But God is working in Israel. There are thousands of Hebrews in the church in Jerusalem and across Asia. Perhaps God is just saving a remnant and the rest have been lulled to sleep. (Romans 11:1 –9)
Seventh Corner: But you Gentiles had best be careful. Don’t get arrogant because you are part of God’s coming kingdom and the Hebrews are not. By God’s mercy you have been grafted onto the tree of God’s family .. .but the roots and lower branches of that tree are Jewish. Indeed, God may be using the fact that you have been grafted onto the tree to make Israelites jealous so that they will come to the faith. (Romans 11: 11 – 24)
Eighth Corner: I tell you what I really believe. I cannot see how it will happen right now, but I know the God I love and in the end, He will save his people. All of Israel will be saved. They are disobedient now … but in time … they will receive mercy. “God has bound all people over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.” (Romans 11:25 – 32)