What Is Romans 9-11 About? Part One
Paul’s Heart For Unbelieving Israel
Paul begins Romans 9 by stating his deep sadness concerning Israel’s rejection of Jesus as the Christ/Messiah - the one the Hebrew Bible said was coming to establish God’s kingdom.
He was so saddened by Israel’s rejection of Jesus as the Christ that he would rather be cursed and cut off from Christ and not be saved in exchange for the people of Israel believing in Jesus so they could be saved.
When Paul used the word cursed, he was referring to the curses connected to Israel’s violations of the Law of Moses.
The curses for their violations of the law included the destruction of Israel’s land, people, cities, and holy places.
To familiarize yourself with these curses, read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32.
Jesus referred to these curses of the law when he pronounced judgment on Israel in Luke 10:8-15; 19:41-44; 21:5-28; 23:26-31; Matthew 22:1-14; 23:1-31; and 26:64.
In these verses, Jesus told the people and leaders of Israel that the people, land, cities, Jerusalem, and the temple would be destroyed by armies.
This is the background needing to be understood when reading Romans 9-11.
In Romans 9-11, Paul was writing about his brothers and sisters from Israel who rejected Jesus as the Christ and were facing the judgment of the law as foretold by Jesus.
These are the people of Israel during the time Paul was writing Romans.
Has God’s Word Regarding Israel Failed?
Since Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as the Christ and judgment was near, Paul asks if God’s word concerning Israel had failed.
What is this word?
It is the word of God in the Hebrew Bible concerning the restoration of all twelve tribes of Israel and the restoration of the kingdom of Israel under the leadership of the Christ/Messiah.
The Hebrew Bible foretold the birth of the Christ in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and the rule of Christ over the kingdom of Jacob’s descendants - the twelve tribes of Israel - see Luke 1:29-33.
Paul’s point in writing Romans 9-11 was to show that God’s word (message) concerning Israel and the Christ had not failed but was in process of being fulfilled at the time Paul wrote.
Paul then explained how God’s word concerning Israel was being fulfilled.
Not All Who Are Descended From Israel Are Israel
Paul explains that not all who descend from Israel (meaning descended biologically from Jacob as members of the twelve tribes of Israel; Jacob’s name was changed to Israel) are Israel.
Paul states that not all of his (Jacob’s, Israel’s) descendants, meaning the physical descendants of Israel (Jacob), are Abraham’s children (spiritual descendants of Abraham).
Jesus made the same point in John 8:12-58 when he told unbelieving Jews they were not Abraham’s children but were the children of the devil (John 8:44).
They were not children of Abraham because they rejected Jesus as the Christ.
Paul makes a similar point in Romans 2:28-29.
According to Jesus and Paul, those who believed Jesus was the Christ were the true Israel of God.
Those from Israel who rejected Jesus as the Christ were broken off of true Israel.
Jesus talks about this in John 15 when he states he is the true vine (true Israel), and those who do not abide in him by believing he is the Christ would be broken off and thrown into the fires of judgment - referring to judgment on first century, unbelieving Israel.
Paul wrote about the true Israel in Galatians 6:16.
He called the true Israel the Israel of God.
The Israel of God were descendants of Israel who boasted in the cross of Jesus as the means of righteousness.
The Promised Seed Would Come Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
In Genesis 3:15, God promised that a woman would give birth to a male child who would crush the head of Satan.
This male child is Jesus.
The seed of Jesus came through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Paul explains this in Romans 4 and Galatians 3.
God’s selection of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is called election.
God elected, or chose, for the seed of Jesus to come through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God Chose For The Seed Of Jesus To Come Through Jacob (Israel)
Paul traces the seed of the Christ from Abraham, to Isaac, then to Jacob.
Isaac was born of Sarah.
Jacob was born of Rebekah.
Jacob I Loved But Esau I Hated
God described his choosing of Jacob rather than Esau as loving Jacob and hating Esau (Romans 9:13).
Readers in the modern day are so far removed from the Jewish culture and language that we have trouble understanding what this verse means.
God loving Jacob and hating Esau is a Jewish idiom.
Every culture has idioms.
An idiom is a phrase that metaphorically communicates a message, thought, idea, decision, etc.
For example, in the American culture we say that it is raining cats and dogs.
This is an American idiom expressing metaphorically that it is raining heavily.
This statement is not to be taken literally.
Someone not familiar with this American idiom would not know what raining cats and dogs refers to.
It is the same with the Jewish idiom of love and hate.
In the Jewish culture, the Jewish people used the metaphorical contrast of love and hate to communicate the importance of choosing someone or something over the other.
This is not an emotional love and hate or a literal love and hate.
If it were, it would be against the verses in the Bible that teach about loving others.
Rather, it was the way the Jewish people communicated the importance of a decision being made.
Jesus used the metaphorical love/hate Jewish idiom in Luke 14:26 when he stated, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
With this statement, Jesus was contrasting to his Jewish audience the importance of choosing him over family if they were to follow him as the Christ.
Jesus understood that belief in him as the Christ would divide families in Israel.
Additionally, Jesus knew the time would come when unbelieving family members in first-century Israel would betray believing family members.
This betrayal would likely lead to their deaths (Matthew 5:11-12; 10:16-23, 34-36; 23:33-34; 24:9-10; Luke 21:12; John 15:18-16:4).
Because Jesus understood the persecution that would come upon believers in Israel in the first century, he used the Jewish idiom of love and hate to communicate the importance of the decision the people in Israel were making in believing in him as the Christ.
This takes us back to Jacob and Esau.
By stating Jacob I loved and Esau I hated, God was communicating to the people of Israel in their cultural expressions…in a way they would understand…the importance of the decision he made in choosing Jacob but not Esau as the one through whom the Christ would come.
Paul Quoted Malachi 1:2-3 In Romans 9:13
When Paul wrote about God loving Jacob but hating Esau, he was quoting Malachi 1:2-3.
In these verses, we discover Jacob and Esau are nations.
Jacob is the nation of Israel and Esau is the nation of Edom.
When Jacob and Esau were in the womb of Rebekah, they were called nations (Genesis 25:23).
Jacob became the nation of Israel (twelve tribes) and Esau became the nation of Edom.
The Book of Malachi focuses on the coming judgment upon the nation of Israel for their violations to the Law of Moses.
Even though Jacob (Israel) was elected by God to be the nation through whom Jesus the Christ would come, the nation would be judged.
This judgment was foretold by the prophets Joel and Malachi, John the Baptist (Matthew 3, Luke 3), Jesus (Luke 10:8-15; 19:41-44; 21:5-28; 23:26-31; Matthew 22:1-14; 23:1-31; and 26:64), and Peter (Acts 2:14-41) as they proclaimed the final judgment on old covenant Israel which occurred in AD 70 when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Roman armies.
Is God Unjust?
With this question, Paul is asking if God is unjust in saving a remnant of Israel from judgment while bringing judgment on the majority of Israel.
Paul answers his question by quoting Exodus 33:19 which says that God has mercy on whom he has mercy and compassion on whom he has compassion.
The Compassion And Mercy Of God
The context of Exodus 33:19 is that God called the people of Israel a stiff-necked people.
In the Book of Exodus, they were very difficult to lead.
The people complained against Moses and Aaron.
They complained about the food they were given.
Moses stated their complaints were actually against the Lord.
They desired to return to Egypt.
Eventually, they worshipped the golden calf while Moses was meeting with God.
The people of Israel had become corrupt (Exodus 32:7).
As a result of their corruption and refusal to be led, God called them a stiff-necked people (Exodus 32:9; see also Exodus 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:13; Nehemiah 9:16; Acts 7:51), causing God to say he would destroy them (Exodus 32:10).
It is in this context that God told Moses he would have compassion on those in Israel whom he has compassion and mercy on (Exodus 33:.19).
Although God would be just in judging all of Israel with destruction, he told Moses that he would have compassion and mercy on some of them.
God withholding judgment on some of the people of Israel but not all the people would have nothing to do with their own efforts or works but his own mercy.
This is like a judge in a courtroom.
There may be times the judge has mercy on some but not all.
By having mercy, the judge would withhold judgment.
It is the judges decision to extend mercy.
His extension of mercy to some has nothing to do with the recipients of mercy.
If the judge chooses not to have mercy on all, that does not make him unjust.
God Did Not Have Mercy On Pharaoh
To show that God has mercy on who he has mercy and compassion on, Paul provides an example of Pharaoh as one who God did not have mercy or compassion on.
Rather, God raised up Pharaoh to his position as one through whom he would display his power and make himself known throughout the earth…all the nations.
In making his point, Paul quoted from Exodus 9:16:
But I have raised you up (preserved your life and placed you in the position you are in) for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
The context of Exodus 9:16 is that God could have wiped Pharaoh and his people off the earth with plagues.
However, God preserved Pharaoh’s life so that God could make his power and name known throughout the earth.
Background Information
To understand God’s dealings with Pharaoh and his people, it is helpful to know that God created the nations after the people of the earth attempted to worship the demonic gods (Genesis 10-11).
God then separated the people into nations and allowed the gods to have dominion over the nations.
However, God chose to create one nation for himself - Israel.
The purpose of Israel was to remain separated from the nations and their gods so they could shine the light of the one true God to the nations.
However, if they mixed with the nations, they would begin to worship their gods and abandon the God of Israel.
Therefore, they would not be able to fulfill their purpose of shining the light of God into the demonic darkness of the nations.
One of the nations worshiping the demonic gods was Egypt.
Egypt was a powerful Satanic kingdom.
Pharaoh was under the power of Satan.
Satan, through Pharaoh, was seeking to keep the people of Israel from fulfilling their purpose.
Additionally, he was seeking to kill the seed of the woman of Genesis 3:15.
Therefore, through the order of Pharaoh, he had all the newborn male babies killed (Exodus 1:21).
Yet God preserved the life of Moses.
When Moses grew up, God sent Moses to Pharaoh to tell him to let the people of Israel go.
However, God knew Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the people go unless it was done by God’s mighty power (Exodus 3:19).
Therefore, God sent plagues into Egypt so that Pharaoh would be compelled to let the people go.
This takes us back to Romans 9:18 where Paul writes:
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy,
and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
How are we to understand this?
Hardening Pharaoh’s Heart
It is important for us to know that Pharaoh’s heart was already hard toward the people of Israel, and God knew this (Exodus 3:19).
Therefore, God hardened his heart even more so that God could display his power and proclaim his name throughout the demonic nations of the earth.
This was done by the ten plagues God sent in judgment of Egypt to defeat of their demonic gods.
With this display of power, God made his name known throughout the nations.
Hardening Pharaoh’s heart, rather than showing him mercy, was Biblical evidence Paul used to show that God had compassion/mercy on some but not others.
Those who God had mercy on and those who God hardened were both in a place of resistance to God.
God did not create the resistance.
Yet he reserved the right to have mercy on some and further harden the hearts of others to fulfill his ultimate plan of bringing the child of Genesis 3:15 into the world who would crush the head of Satan.
This takes us back to Romans 9:19-24 where Paul asks a series of questions:
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Is God Unfair?
Paul’s point in Romans 9:19-24 is that God reserves the right to have mercy and compassion on those he chooses and to further harden those he chooses.
Yet recall that those he has mercy and compassion on, and those who he further hardens, initially had resistant hearts to him.
To fulfill his plan of bringing the Christ into the world and make himself known throughout the demonic nations, God had mercy and compassion on some while furthering hardening others.
When Paul was writing, he understood some would say God was being unfair in only having mercy and compassion on some but not on all.
Paul responded that God reserves the right as the creator (potter) to make some people for special purposes, such as Pharaoh and Jacob, but at the same time making some for ordinary purposes.
God’s special purpose for Jacob was to be the one through whom the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel would come and ultimately through whom the Christ would come.
God’s special purpose for Pharaoh was to be the one who he would display his power through to the Satanic nations.
God as the potter has the larger picture in mind as he works to destroy the Satanic kingdoms and bring Christ into the world to establish the kingdom of God.
Paul’s Point
Paul’s point in highlighting Jacob, Esau and Pharaoh were to use them as examples of how God, at the time Paul was writing (approximately AD 55-57), was choosing to have compassion and mercy on some from Israel who had been resistant to him while further hardening others from Israel who had also been resistant to him.
This resistance to God by those from Israel was evidenced in their rejection of Jesus as the Christ and their persecution of those in Israel who did believe.
Their hearts were hard toward Jesus and those who believed in him (as seen in Matthew-Acts).
However, God chose to have mercy and compassion on some of them, such as Paul on the road to Damascus, while also further hardening the hearts of those resisting him.
The further hardening of the hearts of those in Israel was an act of the mercy of God in expanding the time before he brought judgment on Israel in AD 70.
Jesus, in Luke 10:8-15; 19:41-44; 21:5-28; 23:26-31; Matthew 22:1-14; 23:1-31; and 26:64, foretold the judgment to come upon Israel for their resistance to Jesus and their killing of those in Israel who did believe.
This judgment would mark the end of the old covenant age of law.
The end of the old covenant age is what the disciples asked Jesus about in Matthew 24:3.
God could have brought judgment on Israel before AD 70.
However, because it was his will that all be saved and none perish (2 Peter 3:9), he delayed the time of judgment by further hardening the hearts of those in Israel who resisted Jesus as the Christ and who were persecuting believers; thus, giving people more time to trust in Jesus as the Christ.
The Bible calls this delayed time of judgment upon Israel, giving them time to believe in Jesus as Christ, the year of the Lord’s favor.
This was the period of time God had mercy on Israel before his judgment on them (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:16-19).
God’s judgment on Israel was called the day of vengeance (see Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 21:22 NKJV).
God’s vengeance upon the people of Israel is directly connected to their transgressions of the law of Moses and their refusal to repent and change their ways (see Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32).
The day of vengeance was when the Roman armies destroyed the land, cities, and people of Israel in AD 70.
The day of vengeance included the destruction of the people, land, and cities of Israel, including Jerusalem and the temple as foretold by Jesus in Luke 10:8-15; Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-28; 23:26-31; Matthew 22:1-14; 23:1-31; and 26:64.
Prior to the day of vengeance, the people of Israel were given mercy by God in the year of the Lord’s favor.
This period of time was extended by furthering hardening the hearts of those in Israel who resisted Jesus.
This is much like the time when God extended the hardened heart of Pharaoh prior to bringing judgment on Egypt.
God could have brought judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians immediately.
However, by extending the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, he created an environment to make his name known to the people throughout the Satanic nations.
Those in the nations became the objects of his mercy because they heard of the one true God who was more powerful than the demonic gods of Egypt and their nations.
In a similar way in the first century, God extended the hardening of the hearts of those in Israel who were resistant to Jesus so that the name of Jesus could go into the nations before judgment came upon Israel.
Believers in the nations who identified with Israel and who trusted in Jesus would not be judged when God used the armies of the Roman Empire to destroy the land, people, and cities of Israel (as indicated in the Law of Moses - Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28-32), including Jerusalem and the temple.
The judgment would and did occur during a time of Israel’s covenant festivals when people traveled from the nations of the Roman Empire to Israel to celebrate (Leviticus 23; see also John 2:13, 6:4, 11:55 - Passover; John 7:2 - the Feast of Tabernacles; John 10:22 - the Feast of Dedication; Acts 2 - Pentecost).
Those identifying with Israel throughout the nations who trusted in Jesus would have refused to attend the festival celebrations, and, therefore, would have been saved from the judgment on Israel in AD 70.
The Potter, Clay, And Vessels Of Wrath
The judgment on first-century Israel from AD 66 to 70 (the Jewish-Roman War) was the wrath of God upon Israel.
Jesus spoke about this wrath in Luke 21:20-24.
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies [the armies of the Roman Empire in AD 70], then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written [in the Hebrew Bible concerning Judgment on Israel] may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land [of Israel] and wrath upon this people [the people of Israel]. And they will fall by the edge of the sword [of the Roman armies; compare to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32], and be led away captive into all nations [of the Roman Empire]. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled [the destruction of the Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman armies].
Jesus called judgment in the land of Israel and on the people of Israel wrath upon this people.
The people of Israel had become vessels of God’s wrath prepared for destruction in the Jewish-Roman War..
Paul writes about this in Romans 9:22.
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…
(NKJV)
The vessels of wrath were shaped by God for destruction.
In the context of Romans 9, Israel is the lump of clay that God shapes into vessels of wrath (those who rejected Jesus and persecuted believers were judged from AD 66-70 by the Roman armies) and vessels of mercy (those who accepted Jesus were not judged).
Paul’s metaphorical use of God being a potter who shaped the people of Israel as a potter shapes clay originates in the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah 29; 45; Jeremiah 18 - NKJV).
Therefore, Paul is not creating a new metaphor but is drawing from a previous metaphor used by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.
When using the potter and clay metaphor, Isaiah and Jeremiah were foretelling the nation of Israel that God was shaping them to be vessels of his wrath since they refused to repent of their violations of the law and had joined the nations in worship of the demonic gods.
Again, this is consistent with the law-based judgments of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-32.
Using the metaphor of clay to describe Israel was intentional by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul.
Just as the clay can be very difficult to shape and fashion into a vessel used for good purposes, the people of Israel were very difficult for God to form and fashion into his good purposes.
The people of Israel were stiff-necked.
They refused to allow God to shape them into a vessel for good (to be a light to the nations).
Therefore, God shaped them into vessels of his wrath (to make his name known to the nations).
Yet God in compassion and mercy, shaped some of them into vessels of mercy.
Paul, when using the potter and clay metaphor, was explaining to the people of Israel of his day that God’s word concerning Israel had not failed.
Judgment was coming upon Israel just as in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
Israel in Paul’s day was being shaped into vessels of wrath just as in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah.
However, God would save some from his wrath by shaping them into vessels of his mercy.
Paul was one of those from Israel shaped by God into a vessel of mercy (1 Timothy 1:12-17).
Let’s return to Romans 9:24.
Those Called From The Jews And Gentiles
During the time Paul was writing, God bore with great patience the hard-hearted Jewish leaders and people who rejected Jesus and were killing believers in Israel.
God could have immediately brought judgment on them.
But God patiently delayed his judgment.
God’s patience to Israel was the delay of time before judgment would come.
His patience provided an opportunity for the people of Israel to be saved before judgment came (2 Peter 3:9, 15).
During the time of God’s patience (the year of the Lord’s favor), he was calling those from the Jews and Gentiles to place their faith in Jesus (Romans 9:24).
The Greek word for called (kaleó) is the same Greek word for invited.
Kaleó is translated 15 times in the NKJV as invited (Matthew 22:3-8; Luke 7:37; 14:7-24; John 2:2; Acts 10:23; 28:14).
God was inviting those in Israel and those in the nations to place their faith in Jesus.
Paul Quotes From Hosea 2:23 and 1:10
To make his point that God was calling Jews and Gentiles to faith in Jesus, Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 and 1:10 (Romans 9:24-26).
…whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? :As he says in Hosea
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” Hosea (2:23)
and,
“In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” (Hosea 1:10)
The Book of Hosea records the warning of the prophet Hosea to the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Israel was a divided kingdom consisting of the ten northern tribes that made up the northern kingdom and the two southern tribes that made up the southern kingdom) concerning judgment to come upon them for their violations to the law.
Because of their unfaithfulness to God and the law, God said he would judge and put an end to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and call them “Not my people.” (Hosea 1:8).
This judgment came in 721 BC when God sent the Assyrian armies to destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
However, there would be a future time when God would call those of the Northern Kingdom children of the living God and my people (Hosea 1:9; 2:3).
By quoting these verses, Paul was stating that time had come.
During the time Paul was writing Romans, God was calling Gentiles, which included those from the Northern Kingdom (who previously experienced judgment in accordance to the Law of Moses), children of the living God and my people (those who believed in Jesus as the Christ).
Between the time of judgment on the Kingdom of Northern Israel (721 BC) and the calling of those from northern Israel scattered into the Gentile nations (during the first century leading up to AD 70), there was approximately 750 years.
By this time, the people of the northern kingdom were scattered among and assimilated into the Gentiles nations.
They married the Gentile people.
They became Gentiles.
So when the time came for those of the northern kingdom to be called children of the living God and my people, in fulfillment of God’s word, they were so assimilated into the Gentile world that they were called Gentiles by Paul in Romans 9:24.
They had lost their identity as Israelites and were referred to by Paul as Gentiles, which is the same identity of all people in the nations of the Roman Empire.
As Paul and others went into the Gentile nations to share the gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20:24; 26:15-18) with all Gentiles, those who responded to their message by placing their faith in Jesus became children of the living God (Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 4:4-6).
This fulfilled Hosea 1:9 and 2:3; and thus, fulfilled God’s word proving God’s word had not failed.
Paul Quotes From Isaiah 10:22-23 And 1:9
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
Paul’s purpose in quoting Isaiah 10:22-23 was to show that just as God saved a remnant of Israelites in the past (see also Ezra 9:8, 15), he would also save a remnant of Israelites in this present time (the period of AD 55 leading up to AD 70) who were about to experience judgment by the Roman armies as foretold by Jesus.
Paul compared the salvation of the remnant of the people of Israel in his time with the salvation of the remnant when Israel was facing judgment in previous times.
He does this by quoting Israel 1:9.
It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Isaiah’s point was that if God had not saved a remnant of people in previous times when facing judgment, then Israel, like Sodom and Gomorrah, would have no longer existed.
In Romans 9-11, Paul makes the same point.
Paul states that all of Israel deserved judgment during his time.
Yet God in his mercy and compassion spared some from judgment and thus preserved Israel.
Those who were spared were called the remnant (vessels of mercy).
The remnant were those God saved prior to the wrath upon Israel by the Roman armies from AD 66 to 70.
Paul’s Concluding Statement In Romans 9:30-33
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” (Isaiah 8:14; 28:16)
The people of Israel understood that righteousness was required to escape judgment and enjoy eternal life.
They understood the unrighteous would experience judgment, just as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They understood the standard of righteousness was the law.
In the Book of Romans, Paul taught that righteousness could not be gained through the law.
Jesus also taught that righteousness could not be gained through the law.
He taught this to the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-21) as well as to the experts in the law seeking righteousness through the law (see The Parable of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10).
Jesus and Paul clearly communicated the righteousness needed for eternal life comes through belief in Jesus and not through the law.
Unfortunately, the majority of the people of Israel rejected Jesus as the Christ and continued to pursue righteousness through the law.
However, many of the Gentiles, who the people of the Northern Kingdom were identified with in Paul’s time, accepted Paul’s message that righteousness comes through belief in Jesus (see Acts 13-14).
Some In Israel Trust In The Stone, Most Trip Over The Stone
The reason Paul gave for why the people of Israel would experience judgment was because they stumbled over the stumbling stone (Romans 9:32-33), meaning they rejected Jesus as the Christ and the gift of righteousness he offered (Romans 3:21-25; 5:17).
The stone they stumbled over was Jesus (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 8:14; 28:16; Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45; Matthew 21:42-44; Luke 20:17-18; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Peter 2:4-8).
They stumbled over him by rejecting him as the Christ.
Had they believed (trusted in him for righteousness), they would have been saved from judgment.
Isaiah prophesied that many Israelites would trip over the stone - Jesus (Isaiah 8:14).
Isaiah also said that those who believed in the stone (Jesus) would not be put to shame in judgement.
Rather, they would be saved from the law-based judgment of the old covenant (Isaiah 28:16).
Jesus, Paul, and Peter all reference the stone (Jesus) and quote Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16 when declaring that Israel had stumbled over Jesus and rejected him.
Matthew 21:42-44
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures (Psalm 118:22-23): ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Luke 20:17-18
But Jesus looked directly at them (the leaders of Israel) and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
1 Peter 2:7-8
To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word [rejected Jesus as the Christ]—and to this they were appointed.
Romans 9:32-33
Why not? Because their [Israel] pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They [Israel] stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion [Israel] a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
1 Corinthians 1:23
…but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1 Peter 2:4-6
As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also [those who believe], like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house [compare with Ephesians 2:11-21] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
Acts 4:11
This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ (Psalm 118:22-23)
During the life of Jesus and Paul, the people of Israel as a nation rejected the stone (Jesus as the Christ), and, therefore, would be crushed by the stone (experience the final judgment of the old covenant of law).
The leaders of Israel understood that Jesus’ parables of Matthew 20-21 were about the stone crushing them (Matthew 21:33-46).
Matthew 21:45-46
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Most of the leaders and people of Israel rejected Jesus as the stone who the prophets of the Hebrew Bible foretold was to come.
Consequently, judgment was soon to come upon them in the Jewish-Roman War.
However, those who believed in Jesus as the Christ were declared righteous by God and were saved from this judgment.
In Romans 10, Paul continues to explain that righteousness is by faith and was offered to the people of Israel at the time he was writing.
We will examine this in Part Two (Part Two will be available soon).
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