Text: Romans 9:1-5 Title: So close, but sadly, so far. Truth: Unbelieving people are lost, and we ought to be troubled by that. Date/Location: Sunday January 5, 2014 at FBC

Introduction Something that is difficult for me, and I believe for many readers of the Bible or other literature, is to understand the “big picture” of what an author is writing about. In this case, the question is, “what is the meaning of chapters 9–11 in Romans?” That is a question that has troubled many theologians over the centuries, and we will have more to say about it in the upcoming weeks. For now, however, we should note that two views are wrong in the extreme: 1. There is the view that God is done with Israel and that the church has replaced her in God’s program for the world. 2. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the view that God’s favor to Israel excuses them from believing the gospel. Neither of these extremes is correct. The truth lies elsewhere—namely that God is not done with Israel, but He is also not giving them a pass for their rejection of Messiah. That God is not done with Israel is exceptionally clear in these three chapters (e.g., Romans 11:25-26). And the fact that God is not overlooking Israel’s unbelief is obvious because they must believe in the resurrected Christ just like everyone, else they will remain in their lost state (Romans 9:3, 6-7, 10:9-10). There is much more to be said about what God is doing for Israel and how Israel’s glorious kingdom promises will be fulfilled, but we will save that for upcoming times. I. Paul’s Deep Grief for His Jewish Brothers, vv. 1-3 A. Paul is talking about ethnic Jewish people. Paul is not at all using codewords for church saints. These are not Christian brothers, but they are brothers according to the flesh, of the same blood line (v. 3). B. Some people did not or would not believe what Paul is saying, so he carefully testifies that he is telling the truth. He basically calls Christ as witness to that, and adds that this is a conscience thing with the Holy Spirit working in him. Remember that the conscience has the function of “deciding” so that you are accused or defended in what you are doing. If the conscience is regenerate and Biblically informed, then it can make

All Scripture is from the NKJV unless otherwise noted. 1 good decisions. Here Paul is saying that he has a real burden about the Jewish people, and this is no surface thing. It is not just talk, it is heart. C. Paul has great sorrow and continual grief in his heart. What emotions! And this feeling extends even to the point of wishing he could be accursed for them, that is, to give himself for their benefit. What concern! D. But he cannot be accursed for someone else, just as you and I cannot be accursed for someone else. Not only can we not be accursed for someone else, there is no point in trying, because there is ONE who was accursed already, and that One is Jesus. Galatians 3:13. Paul is so upset that his own flesh and blood are not saved that he could wish that he was accursed for their salvation benefit. II. Why Would Paul Express Himself Like This? What is the function of this verse? What I mean is, we know what the verse says, but why is the verse here? I give three suggestions. A. First, Paul may be emphatic about this because he was accused of “abandoning” his people, and he wanted to dispel that accusation. 1. That’s a hefty charge—but one that may well have been made. Consider Acts 21:21 which records that the Jerusalem church knew that some people believed Paul was advocating to abandon Moses and to not circumcise their children. If we are charitable to his opponents, we would say that this is an exaggerated charge. If we assume the worst in them, we might say they were lying. The truth of the matter is that Paul did not say you had to “abandon” (apostatize from) Moses, nor that you couldn’t circumcise. He was teaching rather that those things could not save. You might participate in at least parts of the cultural and religious aspects of being a Jew with no harm done to your salvation, but you cannot expect to obtain salvation through those things. 2. By expressing his true feelings so strongly, he was making it clear to anyone willing to listen that he did not abandon his ancestral people in the least. It is true that he had a job in which God called him to minister to the other people group—the Gentiles. But this did not reduce his fervor for the Jewish nation. B. A second function of this verse is to show us Paul’s passion for the lost and to encourage us to ask ourselves if we have that same kind of

2 passion for the lost. Do we have passion for the lost more than our other loves in life—like family or sports or money or work or ______? C. A third reason that this verse is so important is that it shows the need of the Jewish person. The strength of Paul’s emotion and the extremity of his wish shows us that his Jewish brothers are unsaved and on their way to Hell, apart from God and His Messiah forever. The problem is their sin, their unbelief. 1. This says something to our culture of religious “tolerance”. What Paul’s attitude teaches us is that not only is it wrong to think that many different religions are valid ways to God, but it is also wrong to think that adherents to those belief systems are going to be “OK.” They are NOT going to be OK. It is so bad, someone needs to be accursed for them. 2. The way of salvation is so different than the world’s religions that it should be a huge burden on you to think about the condition of those people. It is so burdensome to think about the lost condition of those people that we are compelled to testify of the grace of Christ to them. III. Who Are These Jewish Brothers? v. 4-5 A. Paul recites a list of 9 things that describe the Jewish people. Certainly this proves he is talking about ethnic Jews. But more importantly, he shows their great privilege which serves to heighten their condemnation. 1. Israelites. These are from Israel, aka Jacob and his 12 sons. This is the one who wrestled with God. 2. Adoption. See Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 7:6-8. 3. Glory. See Exodus 40:34, 1 Kings 8:11. 4. Covenants. Genesis repeatedly mentions the Abrahamic covenant. Then there is the Old or Mosaic covenant which has become obsolete. Add to those the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7) and the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36-37). Three of these promises have not yet been completely fulfilled, but they will be! 5. Giving of the Law. This is the covenant through Moses, but it established the nation. It was attended by angels (Acts 7:53) and given directly by God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:11). 6. Service of God. This refers to the temple service: the sacrifices and the worship that was carried out through it. See Hebrews 9:1-7.

3 7. Promises. Acts 2:39, 13:32, Eph. 2:12. Closely related to the covenants. 8. Fathers. God is the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He is the God of the people who come from those patriarchs. 9. Christ came from them. Salvation is from the Jews (John 4:22). That is no small privilege. No wonder Paul can say that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first—they were “first in line” not because they were more clever than any other people, but because they were chosen by God to be nearest to all the divine action in the world. B. The end of verse 5 describes Christ as the eternally blessed God. This is a powerful Trinity text. One way that we know this is a description of Christ’s deity is that it would be out of place in this lamentation to have a word of excited praise to God at the end. (Some may translate this with a period after Christ and then a new sentence, “God, who is over all, be blessed forever.” The effect of such punctuation is to split Christ and God.) Conclusion The case being made in these verses is that these are important people— and then how awful it is that they reject God. Paul is so burdened for them because they are people, yes, but also special people to him, and special people, nationally speaking, to God. They were so close to God, but that closeness only makes it more of a tragedy that they do not believe in Him. God chose them. God used them to carry out the temple worship and to experience great miracles and to receive divine revelation and to be the vehicle of salvation for the world. The fact that God did all that and they rejected God (in the main) makes their rejection so much worse and so much more shocking. At least for the average pagan Gentile, you can understand how they are not near to God, for they never were near before. This situation is somewhat similar to a young person who grows up in the church; faithfully brought to the meetings of the local church, hearing Sunday school teaching, seeing the Lord’s Table, being baptized, hearing the pastor preach, being encouraged by the pastor and other teachers to walk with God, having the people pray for him or her over the years. And then at 18 he turns his back on the church and God and parents. Such a shocking and tragic situation. This young person was so close, but yet so far!

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