Romans Nine Part 1

Romans chapter nine can be challenging. In this part of his letter to the believers at Rome, Paul writes some things that can be, as Peter put it in 2 Peter 3:15-16, hard to understand.

Here we go. Romans 9:1–5 (AV) “1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.”

The Israelites have been called the people of God. They have been glorified and given the covenant of the Law of Moses. They carried the Ark of the Covenant. They were given the books of the Law and the Prophets. The promises given to them included the Messiah, the Christ, being born through the line of David. Everything was set up for them to receive everything that was promised. Despite these benefits, they did not receive Jesus when He appeared. John 1:11 (AV) points this out in saying, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”

So this is the question Paul is going to address. Why were the Jewish people rejecting the Gospel? How does righteousness apart from the Law have anything to do with the position of privilege the Israelites understood themselves to have? Paul goes so far as to point out that Jesus is God. In this way he brings out the reason why he is so upset that he could wish that he himself could provide their salvation.

Now in verse six he begins his explanation of the error the Jewish people are making. There we read, “6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” Earlier in Romans Paul made the same point. In Romans 2:28-29 (AV) we find, “28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: 29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

The Jewish people referred to themselves as “the circumcision.” Paul was a member of this people group, yet he wrote in Galatians 6:15-16 (AV) “15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.”

The Gospel is good news. It is good news for the Jews first, and also for the Gentiles. AS we progress through this challenging chapter, we will see that the Gospel is simple in keeping with the simplicity that is in Christ.