Romans 9
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED.”
8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.”
10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER.”
13 As it is written, “JACOB I HAVE LOVED, BUT ESAU I HAVE HATED.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION.”
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 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.”
18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea: “I WILL CALL THEM MY PEOPLE, WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, AND HER BELOVED, WHO WAS NOT BELOVED.”
26 “AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BE AS THE SAND OF THE SEA, THE REMNANT WILL BE SAVED.
28 FOR HE WILL FINISH THE WORK AND CUT IT SHORT IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, BECAUSE THE LORD WILL MAKE A SHORT WORK UPON THE EARTH.”
29 And as Isaiah said before: “UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT US A SEED, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WE WOULD HAVE BEEN MADE LIKE GOMORRAH.”
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.”
This made me wonder if there was animosity between the devout Jews, who had served their whole lives to keep the law and do as the law instructed to obtain righteousness; and the Gentiles who only made it due to the Christ making them righteous? The precious thing about Jesus is people’s pasts are a moot point with Him; He only sees future, always thinking the best of and looking through the eyes of the Spirit.
Pastor Stephen taught on living in the Spirit yesterday, and with that in mind, we can ever strive to adhere to the example of Jesus. Where the flesh sees sin and failures, Jesus sees their victory before there is ever a speck of evidence: I hunger to see people more like Jesus sees them. I want to look at the world and see blood bought, family members ready for adoption by the King. I want to always be ready to show the love of Jesus and His answers that will break any yoke the devil has bound them with.
When what you’re doing is the basis for your relationship with God, it can be very offensive to observe someone not fitting into your framework experience blessing in the glory and favor of God. What was setting the Jewish people apart from the world and elevating them in relation to God wasn’t, in their perspective, because of their faith in Him, but their faithfulness to observe the law of Moses. To believe that God could receive others outside of their nation who weren’t obeying any of the law’s dictates wasn’t just unacceptable but extremely offensive. Any deviation from their interpretation of God’s will became a reason not just to disagree but retaliate in offense. In the process, their offense produced much greater damage than what they perceived to be in error.
Though Jesus’ coming has transformed people of all nations with new life in Him, the law of Moses is still a major point of contention for those who assume their practiced observation or renunciation of it is the strict requirement of God. Rather than humbly acknowledging God’s demonstrated grace, mercy, and blessing observed in lives not conforming to their strict guidelines, they choose division and retaliation over their possible misperceptions. Paul had personally experienced the intervention of God’s demonstrated will in His own life and then for those who were obviously born again and filled with the Holy Ghost, things that didn’t line up at all with his own narrow interpretation of God’s box. When God’s glory shows up and demonstrates His blessing and favor in ways that go contrary to our strict (and possibly errant) interpretation of a translation, it may be best to humbly submit to the possibility that we don’t own the will of God in our perspective and that He may be moving to expand it.