The Kindness and Sternness of God

The Kindness and Sternness of God

Romans Chapter 11

The Jews

Chapter 11 is the final chapter in the extended passage Paul devotes to the status of his own people, the Jews. There is an ongoing theme in the Letter to the Romans, which has to do with the state of humanity in relation to God. The aspects of this theme include the relationship of sinful humanity to a perfect God, the existence of free will and the complete knowledge of God, and the supremacy of the will of God over the will of individuals, nations, and all of humanity. Central to this theme is the sufficiency of the gift of grace: there is no human accomplishment, not even the strictest possible adherence to the holy law of God, which can make us worthy of the love of God; our salvation is given to us because of the nature of God, and not because of our nature or our actions.

In keeping with this theme, the discussion of the status of the Jews begins in Chapter 9 with the statement that the failure of the Jews as a people to live up to the promise God made to them is not in any way indicative of a failure of the will of God. Instead, Paul says that God bore the rebellion of the Jews “with great mercy” (9:22) in a way which demonstrates the “riches of his glory to the objects of his mercy.” (9:23) Beginning at the end of Chapter 9 and continuing into Chapter 10, Paul clearly states the error of the Jewish way of thinking. They were given the law as a guide, but they had taken it as a means of salvation. In so doing, they had seen salvation as something attainable, something that could be deserved and achieved. Throughout Romans, Paul continually asserts that salvation is achieved though grace by faith, an idea that he presents quite eloquently, perhaps quoting a liturgy of the First Century Church: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (10:9 NIV)

The Remnant

In verses 1-10 of Chapter 11, Paul continues his style of one-sided argument that is characteristic of Romans by asking if God had then rejected his chosen people, and then firmly answering in the negative. Instead, Paul points out that the Lord’s covenant has never been fully accepted by the entire nation of Israel. In support of this, Paul quotes from a passage in 1 Kings (19:9b-18) which we recognize as a well-known interaction between God and Elijah. We know it for the “gentle whisper” (NIV) or “still small voice” (KJV) of the Lord. Paul wants us to notice that even when Elijah felt as though he alone was the only left serving God, the Lord revealed to him that there were still seven thousand that had not succumbed to the worship of Baal.

In this discussion, Paul uses two terms (specifically in verse 7) that are easily misunderstood. First, he refers to the remnant as “the elect” and says of the others that they were “hardened” or, as it is translated in the KJV, “blinded”. The first idea is one that Paul has already used in Chapter 8, where he references the complete knowledge of God, who exists outside of time, and the eternal plan of God for our salvation. Nothing, Paul says very eloquently, can separate us from the love that has been from before the beginning and will continue after the end. The idea of the elect does not describe those elected, they are not a particular group that has found favor with God, but instead it describes the sovereignty of God, who elected to share his love with all those who will accept it.

The other term that Paul uses in contrast to the elect are those whom God “hardened” or as it is translated in the KJV, those whom God “blinded”. Paul has also used this term briefly before, and will expand upon the idea later in the chapter. The previous use was in Chapter 9, where Paul quotes from Exodus 33:19, in which God says to Moses “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (NIV) In context, God offers this as a statement of assurance to Moses, who was justifiably anguished at the prospect of leading the people of Israel. Paul correctly quotes it as an example of the sovereignty of God to show mercy or to withhold that same mercy.

Intentional, Circumstantial, and Ultimate

There are three words which have been used to describe the will of God in context of the free will of humanity: Intentional, Circumstantial, and Ultimate. The will of God is always intended for our own good; whatever questions we may have about life, death, salvation, or condemnation, the answer is always found in the love of God. The will of God can be accomplished in every circumstance. What ever may happen to us, God always has a plan for our salvation. Ultimately, the will of God will be accomplished. The will of God has been ordained for all time.

In verses 11 and 12, Paul speaks of the circumstantial will of God. God used the circumstance of Israel’s transgression to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. That is how “their transgression means riches for the world.” (NIV) What could have occurred if the Israelites had accepted the role God offered them? We will never know the answer to that question, but God promised Abraham (at the time called, “Abram”) that he would be a blessing to the entire world. (See Genesis 12:3, for example). God was able to fulfill that promise even though the nation of Israel continued to reject the will of God, even to the point of rejecting God’s very son.

The Kindness and Sternness of God

In verses 13-24, Paul continues to speak of the way in which God used the transgression of Israel to bring redemption to all men. In this section, he says he is speaking directly to the Gentiles, a reminder that there were as many Jews in Rome as there were in Palestine, and that the Letter to the Romans addressed a church that was comprised of both Jews and Gentiles.

In Romans, Paul makes use of many metaphors, often with one metaphor leading to another and then another in succession and always with the understanding that no human analogy is sufficient to describe God’s love for us. In this passage, he refers to the Gentiles as “ingrafted branches” but, contrary to the usual process of grafting a cultured branch onto a hearty, wild root, Paul describes us as wild branches grafted onto a select, cultured root.

But we are to take no pride in this. God had offered salvation to the Israelites and because they rejected it, God rejected them. We are no more or less special than the nation of Israel; if we fail, God will reject us as well. This is the “kindness and sternness of God.” We are given a choice. Like the nation of Israel, God has graciously given us every opportunity to avail ourselves of the free gift of salvation. We may accept it or reject it.

If we continue to reject it, then like the Israelites of whom Paul spoke, we will become “hardened.” The word Paul uses which is translated “hardened” actually means to become petrified, but was used figuratively to mean “calloused” or “stupid.” It is a natural process. If we continually reject the love of God, we also do not accept God’s love for others. If we continually reject the truth, we certainly cannot become wise.

The Mystery

In verses 25-36, Paul speaks of the Mystery of the love of God, which is inseparable from the will of God. God’s will is always intended for our good. Even God’s design of free will is intended to our benefit. In every circumstance, God has a plan for our redemption. If God blessed the Gentiles even through the disbelief of the Israelites, and would continue to bless the world even though our disbelief, how much more could our acceptance of the will of God be a blessing to world? Ultimately, the will of God is never in question. The entirety of the plan of God has already been accomplished. It is only our limited understanding of time that prevents us from understanding this mystery.

The knowledge of God is immeasurable; we cannot know the mind of God. We cannot buy or earn the favor of God, but the love of God has been revealed to us from the foundation of the earth.

How Shall They Hear?

How Shall They Hear?

Romans Chapter 10

The End of the Law

Chapter 10 is the second of three chapters which are almost entirely devoted to the status of the nation of Israel. In the previous chapter, Paul begins by expressing his heart-felt anguish over the Jewish rejection of the gospel and ends by directly dealing with the failure of legal approach to salvation. In the present chapter, he repeats the desire of his heart for his fellow Jews, and with the support of many Old Testament passages, elaborates on the necessary ruin of those who believe that salvation is a thing to be obtained, and not a gift of grace.

In verses 1-4, Paul describes the Israelites as earnest people who are zealous for God. These are admirable qualities, but we do well to be reminded that good intentions and even good work are not enough. The people of whom Paul spoke had put their good intentions above the will of the Lord; they rejected the righteousness of God and tried to obtain a righteousness of their own through faith, not in the mercy of God, but in the law.

To those who put such trust in the law, Paul presents Christ as the end of the law. This is not in contradiction of his earlier confession that the law is holy, righteous, and good (7:12) but in agreement with the testimony of Jesus himself that he was the fulfillment of the law. In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus says that not even the smallest marks in the Law and the Prophets will pass away “until all is accomplished.” In the same passage, however, he tells us that we must have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees, who were the epitome of those whom Paul commended for their zeal for God. In the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proceeds to reinterpret the law with regard to murder, adultery, divorce, justice, and other major points of the law. In each case, the Pharisees and teachers of the law had developed careful and elaborate procedures by which the law could be kept, but Jesus pointed out that they had become devoted to the letter of the law and abandoned its spirit.

Believe and Confess

In verses 5-13, Paul again compares the rule of the law with the righteousness that comes by faith. In the first of many Old Testament references in this chapter, Paul quotes a passage from Leviticus that presents the law in relation to life. In Leviticus 18:1-5, the Lord commands the people to live, not as the people of Egypt, where they used to live, and not as the people of Canaan, where they were going, but in accordance with the law of God. Paul might also have chosen the passage in Deuteronomy 6:1-3, where the Lord explains that his commandments are provision for our health and long life.

In a way, the Jews had taken the commandments as a way of life, but they had also taken them as a means of salvation; they had come to believe that their own efforts in attention to the law could bring them life. To those who believed that salvation could be accomplished, Paul evoked the beautiful passage from Deuteronomy (30:11-20) which was sure to be well-known to all the Jews. In this passage, the Lord clearly presents salvation as a thing not to be achieved (by ascending to heaven or crossing the sea) but a thing very near to us, a word that the Lord has already put in our mouths. The law is of the Lord as a guide to life, but the Lord himself is the source of our life.

Paul explains that this word is the very gospel he was preaching, that if we believe with our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved. Though the Greek root of our modern Western separation of head and heart was emerging even in the time of Paul, it was the Jewish idea that both emotion and reason were of the heart. The belief of which Paul speaks is neither a cool, detached, completely intellectual understanding that has no heart-felt meaning, nor a blind emotional condition that has no reason, but a belief that is from our center; it is a belief that reunites our very souls with the soul of their Creator.

But if we must believe internally, we must also confess externally. “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32, 33 NIV) But it would be a mistake which draws us into the same trap that snared the religious people of whom Jesus and Paul spoke to begin to define and delineate just how this confession must be made or how the acknowledgement is shown. While I am reluctant to say that anything contrary to the service of our Lord is in our nature, it certainly seems that we all have a propensity to this sort of legalism. We are like the disciple who responded to the command of Jesus to love his neighbor by asking “and who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) If we are to confess with our mouths, we want to know just what form this confession should take. Perhaps we not only want to know so that we can make the correct confession, but also so we can tell if others confess correctly.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes this statement in a different way, one which is perhaps less open to a legalistic interpretation. In John 14:21, Jesus says “Whoever has my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by the Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (NIV) In this verse, Jesus speaks of keepings his commands, which we might think of as a checklist – do this, this, and this, and you will be saved – as identical with loving him. In the more extended passage in John, Jesus first says that the one who obeys his commands is the one who loves him, and then that the one who loves him is the one who obeys his commands; that is, they are one in the same. To love Jesus is to obey his commands; to obey his commands is to love him.

The Same Lord

Paul goes on to say that this salvation by faith is available to all. The statement that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile must have been staggering to those who heard it. The Jews knew themselves to be the chosen people. Paul begins the previous chapter with a long list of benefits from the Lord which were theirs alone. They had a special relationship with the Lord. They began to believe that they had this relationship because they were special.

Paul quotes two Old Testament scriptures in support of his claim. The first, from Isaiah 28:16, he has already quoted at the end of the previous chapter. The second is from Joel 2:32, and it is a passage which is also quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16). But whether the Jews would accept either of these passages as applying to the Gentiles, and with him conclude that all humanity is the same, there is no way that anyone can refute the other side of Paul’s argument: that there is only one Lord who is Lord over all. The same Lord who so graciously offers us salvation offers that salvation to everyone. The Jews believed that the Gentiles were beyond salvation, and we may feel the same way towards various people of our day, some we know and some we do not, but the gift is not ours to give or to retain.

How Shall They Hear?

One of the reasons the writings of Paul are so challenging is that they treat with such gravity issues which today are little known to us. We are not great students of the law in the way the Scribes and Pharisees were. We know almost nothing of ritual sacrifice or cleanliness. Nor do we, in general, place such important on tradition. In short, we do not know what it was like to be a Jew.

But, there is another challenge in reading Paul, and that is that his thinking is very agile. He can at one moment be expounding upon deep, theological truth, and at the next on solid, everyday advice. When one of his points brings another to mind, it is immediately included in his discourse. Perhaps this is an aspect of his mind, or an artifact of the way in which he dictated his letters, or it may be that there is simply a difference in the letter-writing of his day, and the sort of writing we expect from a modern reference book.

Whatever the case, in verses 14-15, Paul detours from his treatment of the status of the Jews to a subject which is always on his heart, the mission of the spread of the gospel. Paul knew himself to be an Apostle, which means “one who is sent” and it is in this thought that the passage reaches its zenith. “How shall they preach unless they are sent?” (NIV) However, it is not only, and not most importantly, a passage that is intended to support his own calling as an apostle, but one that cries out to the need of those who have not heard and accepted the good news of Jesus Christ.

I Have Held Out My Hands

In the closing verses of the chapter (verses 16-21) Paul uses even more Old Testament citations to point out that the Jews of his day had heard the call of God and rejected it. To those Jews, Paul says that God in his sovereignty has made himself known, not to those whom they expected, but to those of his own choosing. Even to those who reject him, he continues to hold out his hands.

Paul begins the chapter, not in condemnation of the Jews, but in fervent desire and prayer for their salvation. The Lord is patient with those who reject him, and offers his grace to all who would believe. Do we share this earnest desire that all should be saved? How shall they hear?

The Potter’s Clay

The Potter’s Clay

Romans Chapter 9

The Human Condition

A continuing theme throughout the Letter to the Romans is a discussion of the human condition. Paul continually refers to the nature of “the flesh” contrasted with the nature of “the spirit”. There is also the contrast of created beings living in a world dominated by death as apposed to the Living God who created all things and has no beginning or end. The letter begins with the affirmation that gulf between man and God does exist, but that it is bridged by God alone, by grace through faith.

In considering the human condition, Paul offers a significant discussion of the role of the law. The law is holy, he says, but he strongly asserts in various ways that the law is not a means of salvation. No amount of adherence to the law can make us holy. Our salvation is through the gracious will of God, and not through any actions of our own. Having stated this, Paul then deals with many related questions. There is the question of those who lived before the law was given, those who lived between the time of the law and the time of the coming of Christ, and the status of the Gentiles, who never had the law. Also, Paul gives careful consideration to question of what we might properly call our religion, that is, the practice of our faith. The questions that arise in regard to our daily living include whether we may continue in sin, since the grace of God continues to abound, whether or not it makes any difference what we do, since we are unable to achieve righteousness by any action of our own, and whether or not we even have any choice in our actions, since the Lord, not constrained by time, has always known who will and who will not accept salvation.

In answer to these questions, Paul explains that though the coming of Christ was an event that occurred at a particular point in time, the plan of God for our salvation has always existed. Though we cannot achieve righteousness, by the grace of God our faith will be credited to us as righteousness. Having accepted the grace of God, we must now live as slaves to righteousness, abandoning our former slavery to sin. Though we remain mortals in a fallen world, nothing can separate of from the love of God that is ours in Jesus Christ. The Spirit intercedes for us; Christ is on the right hand of God pleading for our salvation; and God, who alone can judge us and whose judgment will certainly come to pass, is not eager to condemn us, but rather stands ready to justify us.

The Law, the Temple, and the Patriarchs

Having addressed these important issues, the one that still weighs on Paul’s mind is that status of Israel: the chosen people of the Lord. In Chapter 9, he begins an extended discussion continuing through chapters 10 and 11 which addresses this concern. In verses 1-5, Paul speaks from his heart of his love and pity for Israel, his own race, and presents a list of their various advantages. To mention three, they had been given the law, the temple, and the witness of the patriarchs.

Paul has already addressed the issue of the Jews and the law. The law was given as their religion, that is, the practice of their faith. They had instead made it the object of their faith: they believed they could attain the favor of God through adherence to the law. This type of exchange theology has not been limited to the Jews. We are all prone to this error in thinking. We begin by making the mistake that God is limited to our understanding: we begin to think that what we know of God is all there is of God. Once we begin to limit God to human terms, it becomes hard to distinguish the will of God from our own desires. We can believe that if we act in a certain way which we understand to be prescribed by God, then God must respond by granting not only our salvation, but material blessings, power over our enemies, and our proper recognition as the uniquely chosen people of God. It is so easy in abstract discussion to recognize this as arrogant idolatry, but it is not so easy to recognize in the very real terms of our daily lives.

In addition to the law, Paul says that the Jews had been given the Temple of God. Here again the people of God had subverted the intent of God. As early as the time of Moses, the people feared the presence of God. When Moses descended from Mount Sinai, his face was changed from being in the presence of God, and the people could not bear to look upon it. They established Moses as their high priest to intercede with God for them. God gave first the Ark of the Covenant, then the tabernacle, then the temple as a place for God to come and be among the people, but the people used all these as a means to separate God from their daily lives. Though they knew intellectually that God is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, spiritually, they limited God’s presence to the temple, so much so that when they were exiled from their land and from the temple, they felt themselves cut off from God. This process of compartmentalizing is also not uniquely Jewish. We all at times act as though we can limit God to some aspect of our lives – that how we behave in church should be different than how we live our lives. When we try to make God smaller, it is difficult for us to rely solely on God’s presence and action in the areas of our lives where we are most at risk.

The Jews also had the special blessing of the patriarchs, the succession of great men of faith, with whom God dealt in a dramatic and inspirational manner, and through whom God earnestly desired to establish an eternal covenant with the people of Israel. God presented Israel with a unique and specific purpose, but the people began to believe that they were chosen because they were special, and not that they were special because they were chosen. We too can become trapped in the thought that our unique relationship with God is an exclusive relationship that sets us apart from all others. We rest in the thought that God is on our side, and forget that we are called to be on the side of God.

Paul is not alone in his anguish over the plight of Israel. Jesus cried out over the people who stoned the prophets, but whom he would gather as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34). It is sobering to think that both men were addressing the most deeply religious people of their day: people who had all the advantages offered by God, who studied their scriptures and earnestly sought the will of God for their lives, but who could not see that they had seriously and fundamentally erred in that pursuit.

Children of the Promise

In verses 6-13, Paul begins to revert back to his rhetorical style in previous chapters, wherein he makes some statement, gives his own voice to any possible objection or misinterpretation of that argument, and then refutes any such objection. His concern in this section is that the condition of the Jews might be interpreted not as a failure of man to live up to the purpose of God, but as the failure of God to carry out that purpose in man.

Paul’s immediate defense of this claim is to say that “Not all Israel is Israel” by which he means that not all the natural descendants of Abraham are among the chosen people. He points out that Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar, was excluded from the covenant, and even though he was the twin brother of Jacob, who became Israel, Esau was also excluded. Moreover, the prophets had spoken of Israel being reduced to a small remnant, so that very few of the descendents of Israel would participate in the covenant of God.

Paul goes on to say that the spiritual children of Abraham are the “children of the promise.” Paul is not alone in this thinking. John the Baptist told the religious leaders who cam to his baptism that they should not delude themselves into thinking that they were special simply because they were children of Abraham, because could raise up children of Abraham even from the stones that lay all about them on the ground (Matthew 3:9). Also, the Apostle John says of Jesus that he gave us the right to become children of God – children not of natural descent, either by birth or adoption – but entirely by the will of God (John 1:11-12).

The Potter’s Clay

In verses 14-21, the voice of the objector is back in again in full strength, as Paul states that our salvation is not by any human means, either lineage, desire, or accomplishment, but entirely by the mercy of God, and then asks how we can be held accountable if everything depends on the will of God. Out of context, the verse Paul quotes from Exodus 33:19 may sound as if the will of God is capricious or arbitrary, but in context this statement is one of certain assurance, as it is part of an exchange between Moses and God, wherein Moses repeatedly asks for assurance that the Lord will be with him and the people of Israel on their journey. The Lord assured Moses that he would be with them, and that they would be secure in his compassion and mercy.

Paul’s next analogy can also be disturbing if we take it out of context, as he seems to portray us as inanimate lumps of clay, completely at the mercy of the potter to do with as he will. In context, we know that Paul has consistently represented God as a loving, patient God who bares our failures and our accusations with grace and mercy, but who has a definite plan for or lives – lives which he holds in his loving and capable hands.

Great Patience

Paul’s argument in verses 22-29 is somewhat difficult to follow. He begins by saying that God is willing and capable of showing his justified wrath to those who are prepared for destruction, but goes on to say that God acts with great patience and mercy, so that the objects of his wrath become objects of mercy. The Old Testament quotations in the passage show that even though the people of Israel may dwindle to the smallest of remnants, that remnant will be saved, and that God will call “his people” those who are not his people. Paul applies this latter thought both to the Jews who had rejected the choice of God, and to the Gentiles, whom the Jews had not considered the people of God.

The Stumbling Block

In verses 30-33, Paul clearly states the failure of the Jews and the success of the Gentiles. The Jews pursued righteousness, but depended on themselves to achieve this righteousness through adherence to the law. The Gentiles, in contrast, had not pursued righteousness, but had obtained it, not by any actions of their own, but by faith. Continuing to contrast God’s wrath and mercy, Paul presents Christ, the instrument of our salvation, as the stone that is the “head of the corner”. Those who put their trust in this stone are forever secure, but for many the stone is a stumbling block.

The ways of man are not the ways of God. In this present age we cannot fully understand the mind of God. By the grace of God, we can by faith come to know the love of God. Though God bears with great patience our entanglement in the self-centered logic of this world, there will come a time those who reject the love of God are themselves rejected. Paul’s attitude gives us a model to which we must compare ourselves. Have we become content in our salvation to the exclusion of all others, or have we become the new Israel, a priestly nation through whom all nations will be blessed?