The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is now in a detailed study of Paul's epistle to the church in Rome. These are the notes for Session 13.
Paul’s primary purpose in writing Romans was to teach the great truths of the gospel of grace to believers who had never received apostolic instruction. Unlike with some of Paul’s other epistles, his purpose for writing Romans was not to correct detestable theology or rebuke ungodly living. The Roman church was doctrinally sound, but, like all churches, it was in need of the rich doctrinal and practical instruction this letter provides.
Romans 9–11 is one of the most fascinating passages in the New Testament, filled with essential and very practical doctrine and focused on Israel, God’s chosen people. With profound wisdom and holy reason, Paul demonstrates that our sovereign God will be faithful to keep all His promises and that Israel still has a future in the purposes of God.
Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles. So he explains how God’s plan for the Jews agreed with his plan for the Gentiles too.
The message that the apostles preached was about trust in Christ and his resurrection. In other words, it was about faith. And God would save people who have faith in Christ. They would have a right relationship with God. God would make them righteous. He would give them the Holy Spirit. And God’s Spirit would teach them how to live in a manner that pleases God.Their relationship with God would not depend on the law. It would depend on Christ, who made the law complete. By his death, Christ did everything that the law orders to make people righteous.
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This Jewish apostle to the Gentiles, however, wanted to clarify some truths regarding Israel and her people as well as contradict some prevailing false-hoods over which many Christians (especially Jewish believers) were stumbling. Specifically Paul wanted to address the question of whether, in light of Christ’s offer of salvation to all Gentiles, the Jews had been forsaken by God as a people. Did they still have a uniqueplace or purpose in God’s plan of redemption?
Romans 10:8-11 NLT In fact, it says, “The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
Verses 8-11 The message that the apostles preached was about trust in Christ and his resurrection. In other words, it was about faith. And God would save people who have faith in Christ. They would have a right relationship with God. God would make them righteous. He would give them the Holy Spirit. And God’s Spirit would teach them how to live in a manner that pleases God.
Their relationship with God would not depend on the law. It would depend on Christ, who made the law complete. By his death, Christ did everything that the law orders to make people righteous.
Hebrews 10:11-18 NKJV And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord : I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
In an 1861 sermon, Charles Spurgeon explained what Jesus meant when He cried from the cross, “It is finished!”
The Savior meant that the satisfaction which He rendered to the justice of God was finished. The debt was now, to the last farthing, all discharged. The atonement and propitiation were made once for all, and forever, by the one offering made in Jesus’s body on the tree (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 7, Sermon 47).
Romans 6:1-9 NKJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
Romans 4:23-25 NKJV Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
So Paul tells the people to declare, ‘Jesus is Lord.’
The word ‘Lord’ is also a translation of God’s most sacred name. So Paul was emphasising that Jesus is God. And Paul said that this belief was essential for Christians to declare.
Romans 10:9 NKJV 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.
Remember what I said a couple of Sundays ago about making a declaration. Tell somebody about your relationship with Christ.
Psalms 107:1-3 NKJV Oh, give thanks to the Lord , for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, And gathered out of the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south.
Verses 12-13
Let’s get back to Paul’s main point;
Romans 10:12-13 NKJV For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Christ is Lord of both Jews and Gentiles. Christ offers salvation to everyone. He will save everyone who asks him.
Joel 2:32 NKJV And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
Peter used the same words at the end of his speech on Pentecost.
Acts 2:21 NKJV And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’
Paul Answers Jewish Excuses
Romans 10:14-21 NKJV 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? 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!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “ Lord , who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 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.” 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.” 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.” But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Romans 10:14-15 NKJV 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? 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!”
Verses 14-15 These words are still true today. Nobody can believe in Christ unless that person has heard about him. People cannot hear about Christ unless someone tells them. God must send someone to tell them the good news.
A person must have faith in order to please God. The opposite of faith is unbelief. But when many people hear the gospel, their reaction is unbelief. In this passage, Paul is thinking about the reasons for this reaction especially, he is thinking about the Jews. Paul was himself a Jew. God had given many benefits to the Jews.
Romans 9:4-5 NKJV who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
But still most Jews had refused to accept Christ. Paul shows that there is no proper excuse for unbelief. You have to have heard a message before you can exhibit unbelief right?
Paul refers to Isaiah 52:7 to show how the people had already heard God’s message.
Isaiah 52:7 NKJV How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
In that verse, the person was bringing the good news about freedom to the Jews. They could return from Babylon where they were prisoners. Paul knows that the Jews have heard the good news of freedom from sin. Because of Christ’s death, God will free everyone who accepts him, both Jews and Gentiles.
Verse 16 However not everyone believed the good news, even if they had heard it. Paul showed that this was true in Isaiah’s time. Nobody would believe God’s message about his suffering servant.
Isaiah 53:1-7 NKJV Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
That message about the suffering servant was a prophecy about Jesus’ death. Jesus died on the cross so that God would forgive people’s sin. But not everyone obeys God’s message. The reaction of many people is unbelief.
Romans 10:17-18 NKJV So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 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.”
Verses 17-18 Faith comes when people hear the message. That is, the message about Christ. The Jews could not say that they had no opportunity to hear this message.
It is true that the gospel message has still not gone out through the whole world. But many Jews lived in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Paul knew that they had been able to hear the gospel. Paul himself had preached it in many cities.
In the book of Acts there are several instances where Paul went to the Jews first.
Acts 17:1-3 NKJV Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
Romans 10:19-20 NKJV 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.” 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.”
Verses 19-20 Someone might say, ‘Even if people had heard the message, they might not understand it.’ Paul answers with words from the two main parts of the Hebrew Bible. These parts are the law and the prophets.
God spoke by means of Moses. God said that he would make the Jews jealous of the Gentiles
Deuteronomy 32:21 NKJV They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
Already Paul has used Hosea’s message (Hosea 2:23) about people who were not God’s people (Romans 9:25).
Nobody had taught the Gentiles about God. So they were people who ‘did not understand’. Paul adds a prophecy from Isaiah
Isaiah 65:1 NKJV “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name.
Isaiah’s message to the Israelites was very bold. God would show himself to people who were not looking for him. In other words, God would save people who were Gentiles. Paul has already explained how God saved Gentiles because of their faith. But many Jews did not have faith. Instead, they showed unbelief. God offers righteousness as a free gift. But they wanted to become righteous by means of their own efforts. And that is impossible.
Romans 9:30-32 NKJV What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 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.
Romans 10:21 NKJV But to Israel he says: “All day long I have stretched out My hands To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Verse 21 The answer to all these excuses was in Isaiah.
Isaiah 65:2 NKJV I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jews did not hear or understand the gospel because of their sinful attitudes. Because of their unbelief, they would not obey the gospel. All during their history, God had appealed to the Jews. Like a father, God held out his hands, ready to re Nceive them like a child. But they did not want to obey him. They wanted to achieve salvation by their own efforts. But that is simply not possible. God offers salvation as a free gift to everyone who trusts him. That is the only way to receive salvation. And it is available to both Jews and Gentiles.
Israel’s Rejection Not Total
Romans 11:1-12 NKJV I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “ Lord , they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.” I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
Verse 1 God had wonderful plans for the Jews. He sent their messiah, who is Jesus. He offers them grace, salvation and righteousness. But the reaction of most Jews was unbelief. They refused to accept God’s generous gifts. It might seem that God’s plans for the Jews had failed. But Paul shows in this chapter that God’s plans had not failed. In fact, God has an even more wonderful plan for the future of the Jews.
Paul has already spoken about the effects of unbelief. In Romans 9:17,
Romans 9:17 NKJV For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
He spoke about Pharaoh (the ruler of Egypt). Pharaoh tried to stop God’s plans. First by not releasing them then by chasing them down at the Red Sea. Pharaoh’s efforts could not succeed. Pharaoh and his army suffered a terrible punishment. But of course, God’s plan was successful. He even used Pharaoh’s unbelief to win a great victory.
The situation at the time of Paul was similar. People had shown great unbelief. But they could not stop God’s plan. And this is still true today. God still has a plan for the Jews. Those people who show unbelief will not benefit. Unless they repent, they will suffer the punishment for their sins. But God’s plan will succeed. He will win a great victory.
Paul shows in two ways that God has not ended his relationship with the Jews.
1. Paul is a Jew himself. He is a descendant of Abraham. Paul had acted against God in the past before he became a Christian. God had forgiven him. So God could forgive other Jews as well.
2.
Romans 11:2-4 NKJV God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “ Lord , they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Verses 2-4 Paul reminds the Jews about the answer that God gave to the*prophet Elijah. The queen made plans to kill Elijah. He knew that the people no longer worshipped God. They had destroyed God’s altars. Prophets had died because of their faith. Elijah thought that he was the only person in Israel who was still loyal to God. God told him that this was not true. There were still 7000 people who were loyal to God. They had not worshipped the false god, Baal.
I Kings 19:1-3, 14-18 NKJV And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
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