Israel's Unbelief - Romans 9:1-5
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we begin a most fascinating section of Romans, but also an often-misunderstood section of Romans. Romans 9-11 is a section of this book that is filled with doctrine that is both essential and practical and it is a section that is focused on the nation of Israel as God’s chosen people.
As I said throughout the history of the church these three chapters were often misunderstood. Some who wrote commentaries and preached the Scriptures basically ignored this section of Scripture, others state that it is parenthetical as it breaks the flow of Paul’s great theme of justification by faith. They say it has no connection to the rest of the book but instead just expresses Paul’s concern for his fellow Jews and could have been left out of the book and no harm would have been done to Paul’s theme.
We shall see, however, that these three chapters are essentially related to the rest of this letter. Paul could not continue teaching on justification by faith until he cleared up some truths that were related to Israel and the Israelites and he also needed to explain and refute some falsehoods, which Christians, especially Jewish Christians were struggling with, and so in these chapters Paul answers many questions that he knew Jews would be asking.
In these three chapters Paul shows us that the nation of Israel has been temporarily set aside by God. Why has God temporarily set her aside? Because of her unrepentance and unbelief, and above all because of her rejection of the Messiah. But God, in His grace and sovereignty will preserve for Himself a remnant to represent the nation of Israel, this remnant will be brought by faith in Jesus Christ not only into the purified and restored kingdom of David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ but also into the eternal kingdom of God. Paul will make it clear in this section that Israel and the church are not the same, God did not reject Israel and raise up the church in Israel’s place. The promises made to Israel that have not yet been fulfilled will be fulfilled in the future when Jesus Christ returns to reign over the nation of Israel during the millennium. As we come to chapter 9, the first of these three chapters devoted to Israel Paul begins in this first chapter, chapter 9 by focusing on Israel’s unbelief and the sorrow and grief that brings him, then Paul will explain that this unbelief is part of the eternal plan of God, His plan of redemption, and finally, he will show that this plan of the unbelief of Israel is not careless or impulsive or unfair on God’s part but is perfectly just. This morning we will begin by looking at the heartbreak of Paul over the unbelief of his people, his fellow Jews. Let’s pray and then look at the first five verses of chapter nine.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 9:1-5. Paul begins by expressing his love for his people and the great sorrow he has because of their unbelief. Please listen and follow along as I read these first five verses.
Romans 9:1-5,
“I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:1–5, NASB95)[1]
PAUL’S HEART FOR THE JEWS (Romans 9:1-3)
As we begin this passage devoted to the nation of Israel in these opening verses we learn of Paul’s own grief over the unbelief of his own people. In the first eight chapters of this letter Paul had given us truth concerning our salvation that should thrill the heart of those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, but these same truths are devastating to those who do not believe. Remember that many unbelieving Jews in Paul’s day felt completely secure in that fact that they were descendants of Abraham and because they did their best to keep the law as interpreted for them through the rabbinical writings and teachings. To them Paul’s writings in the first eight chapters were portraying them as those with no hope, written off by God.
Remember earlier in Paul’s life he was a great persecutor of those Jews who were followers of Christ. He was putting them in prison and seeking their death. Then he met Jesus Christ and his life was completely and forever transformed and he became a follower of Christ through salvation in Jesus Christ. Instead of being a persecutor of believers, he became a preacher of the Gospel in which he condemned the legalism and the false security of Judaism by preaching righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. To the religious Jew this man who had been a zealous defender of the Jewish faith, a pharisee of the pharisees, now was a traitor of traitors, more despised than a pagan Gentile, the religious Jews wanted him dead, and once had even stoned him and left him for dead.
With as much hatred as the Jews had for Paul, the feeling was not mutual, Paul had a deep love for Israel as a nation, and also for Israelites as individuals, after all these were his people. Paul knew, however, that if he was to gain a hearing from unbelieving Jews, he had to first convince them that he genuinely cared for them and that he was not leading some sort of anti-Jewish conspiracy. Paul’s preaching and writing, as we know from this letter already, conclusively destroyed the two basic tenets of Judaism, physical descent from Abraham and works righteousness under the Law. Because of this he had to convince unbelieving Jews of his sincere love for them. They had to come to understand that he proclaimed the gospel as friend who wanted to protect and rescue them, not as an enemy and betrayer who was out to condemn them and destroy them. Paul knew that he had to convince them of his love for them before he could share his theology with them. Is not this the case with all witnessing, if we do not come with a genuine love for those to whom we are witnessing, they will not want to hear what we have to say.
Paul begins by writing, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying…” (Romans 9:1a, NASB95)[2] Paul begins by assuring his readers of his truthfulness and he writes that his truth is in Christ. In other words, he called his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to be his witness that he was not lying but was telling the truth. Everything in Paul’s life was bound up in Christ and everything he said or did was directed by the Lord Jesus. The One who knew him better than anyone else, the One who was omniscient, perfectly righteous, his Savior and His Lord would attest and affirm the truth that Paul loved his fellow Jews with an undying love. He himself insists that he is not lying. In other words, Paul would not say something just to gain the attention of his fellow Jews, he would not exaggerate or tell a falsehood simply to get them to listen, everything that he says will be the absolute truth.
Paul calls upon another witness to his truthfulness, he writes, “…my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” (Romans 9:1b-2, NASB95)[3] Now the natural human conscience would not be a good witness to man’s truthfulness since it is defiled by the sinful flesh, but notice Paul does not simply call on his conscience to be a witness, but his conscience as it testifies with him in the Holy Spirit. For the believer who is saturating his life with the Word of God and who has given Himself over to God’s guidance through the indwelling Holy Spirit, then the conscience is a good witness of your truthfulness as it testifies with the Holy Spirit. When we live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and obey the Holy Spirit in our life, then we can trust our conscience because it is under the control of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s prompting through our conscience will either commend or condemn what we are doing or saying or planning on doing or saying. Paul calls upon two reliable witnesses to attest to his truthfulness that he has great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart because of his great concern and love for his people who do not believe. John MacArthur writes, “Israel’s rejection of her Messiah weighed so heavily on Paul’s heart that he had called two members of the Trinity to attest to his unrelenting anguish. And he knew, that but for God’s gracious intervention on the Damascus road, he would not only still be among those unbelieving Jews but would still be leading them in persecuting those who had acknowledged their Messiah.”[4]
It is only in verse three that we truly see the depth of Paul’s love for his fellow Jews, how truly great his sorrow and unceasing his grief was for their unbelief when he declared, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,” (Romans 9:3, NASB95)[5] Paul makes this statement out of deep emotion knowing full well that he could not reject his salvation and become accursed which literally means to be devoted to destruction in this case to eternal hell and therefore forever separated from Christ. Paul qualifies his statement with the phrase, “For I could wish…” knowing that it is not possible, but for the salvation of his people, the Jews, Paul if he could somehow save them he is willing even to forfeit his own salvation. Paul knew that salvation is only possible through Christ’s sacrificial death and Christ alone has the power to save. That Paul was willing to do this even though it was not possible is clear from his declaration of speaking in all truthfulness. Paul’s love for the Jewish people was so great that he was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, love to that degree can only be a reflection of God’s great love, who loved this world full of rebellious, evil sinners so much that He sent His only begotten Son to redeem them from their sins, that same great love is seen in God the Son who came to this earth in human flesh in obedience to the Father and willingly went to the cross and gave His life so that we might have new life in Him. Paul’s words from the end of chapter 8 were still ringing in the ears of his readers where he had declared the absolute, eternal security of the believer in Christ, that absolutely nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and yet Paul is willing to give up all the blessings of salvation for the sake of his brethren, his Jewish kinsmen after the flesh because he loves them so dearly. It was this great love for the unsaved that made him such a powerful witness in the hands of God. I can think of only one other figure in history other than God Himself, that loved the Jewish people so deeply and that was Moses. After the Israelites had made the golden calf and worshipped it while Moses was on the mountain with God receiving the law that he pleaded with God in much the same way as Paul for the Israelites, in Exodus 32:32 he pleaded with the Lord, “But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” (Exodus 32:32, NASB95)[6] This kind of love for the lost can only be produced in a believer by Christ’s own gracious love for mankind. The more that we live by the Spirit and obey God’s Word and submit to His will the more we will love as He loves.
ISRAEL’S BLESSINGS AS GOD’S PEOPLE (Romans 9:4-5)
As we move on into verses 4-5, we see that Paul’s great sorrow over Israel’s unbelief is in part due to fact of the great blessings that Israel has received from God because they are God’s chosen nation. You see Paul does not simply love the Jews because he is related to them, because they are his relatives according to the flesh, but more than that he has this great love for them because they are God’s chosen people. Because God loves them, Paul loves them.
First, they are blessed because they are Israelites, descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and finally through Jacob, who God changed his name to Israel. Consider the history of Israel, look at the advances that have come from the Jewish people, they have excelled in basically every field undertaken by man. They have advanced in science, in the arts, in music, in business and education, in leadership and the list could go on. God has blessed this nation that He has called His own.
Second, Paul writes that it is the Israelites to whom belongs the adoption as sons. This does not refer to the ancestry according to the patriarchs, but the blessing to be adopted as God’s son. When Moses was to appear before Pharaoh to ask for the release of the children of Israel, God commanded him to say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Israel is My son, My firstborn.’” (Exodus 4:22b, NASB95)[7] Later through the prophet Hosea, God declared in Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.” (Hosea 11:1, NASB95)[8] These Scriptures make it clear that the nation of Israel was in some respect God’s son. This is not referring to the adoption of sons that is ours through salvation, because salvation has always been on an individual basis. One person cannot be saved by another person’s faith. It was the nation that God called out of Egypt as His son and led him through the wilderness as His child. God is not portrayed in the Old Testament as the Father of individuals, as in the New Testament when Jesus revealed to us a personal relationship with God as His Father. In the Old Testament God is seen as the Father of the nation of Israel.
Third, Paul says that Israel received the blessing of the glory, this refers to God blessing them by revealing Himself in their presence in what is called the Shekinah glory. When God dwelt in the midst of His people in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. His glory was also present in the Tabernacle and the Temple in the Holy of Holies. In Exodus 25:21-22 God is speaking to Moses concerning the mercy seat which was to cover the ark of the covenant and the Lord said, “You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I will give to you. There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.” (Exodus 25:21–22, NASB95)[9]
Fourth, Israel was blessed to have been given the covenants. The first was the Abrahamic covenant, the man from whom all the Israelites descended and the father of all who believe. Next, was the Mosaic covenant given to Israel at Mount Sinai. Third, was the Davidic covenant which promised the people of Israel an eternal kingdom. Finally, is the new covenant, the covenant of redemption given through God’s Son. No other nation on earth has been blessed with such covenants. The uniqueness of Israel as God’s people is clearly seen in the receiving of these divine covenants.
Fifth, Israel was blessed to be the recipients of the Law. No other nation has been given the Law by God. This does not only refer to the Ten Commandments but all the laws and principles and standards that were taught to them by Moses, they were taught that obeying them would bring blessing, but to disobey would bring judgment. Paul had already told the Jews in Romans 3:2 of the blessing of being the custodian of the oracles of God, which not only includes the first five books of the Bible, but all of the Old Testament.
Sixth is the temple service with which Israel was blessed, it is through this blessing that she worshipped God and could deal with sin before her God. This refers to everything involved in the temple system, all the sacrifices, offerings, cleansings, the holy days which were all to be administered by the priests and Levites. The Lord promised that He would meet His people there.
Seventh, Israel was given the blessing of the promises of God. Paul does not tell us what those promises are but it seems that he is referring to the promise of the Messiah which is very often promised in the Old Testament, the Messiah who would come out of Israel, also brought the promised kingdom of the Messiah, and ultimately the promise of eternal life. Paul spoke of this promise of the Messiah and His kingdom when speaking to the Jews in Galatia in Acts 13:32-34, “And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’ As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to decay, He has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’” (Acts 13:32–34, NASB95)[10]
Eighth, Paul reminds the Jews that they are those to whom belong the blessings of the fathers. It is from Israel that God raised up the fathers of the twelve tribes that make up the nation of Israel, but going back beyond that you have the first great patriarchs of the nation, Abraham called out by God to become the father of a promised people, the promised son Isaac, who bore Jacob who later was named Israel. It was through these three men that the foundation of all these blessings were laid.
Ninth, and by far the greatest blessing that Israel ever received was the blessing of providing the lineage of the Christ, or the Messiah according to the flesh. Jesus Christ did not just happen to be born a Jew, it was preordained by God that the Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David. To establish His heritage according to the flesh Matthew gives us His genealogy according to His adoptive father, Joseph, in Matthew 1 and Luke gives us His genealogy according to His natural, human mother, Mary, in Luke 3.
Paul does not leave the Messiah simply according to the flesh but declares Him to be the One “who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5b, NASB95)[11] In other words, Paul is declaring the Jesus Christ, who is by far Israel’s greatest blessing, the blessing in whom all the others find their full meaning, is not only according to the flesh, but is God who is over all. Though this might appear as a benediction with the Amen attached to it at the end, but more than that this is Paul’s affirmation of Jesus Christ’s divine majesty and lordship, his declaration that Israel’s Messiah is God Himself. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament when a doxology is given the word “blessed” is always, without exception, placed before the name of God. Paul reverses the order here, “God blessed”, to show us beyond doubt that he is deliberately and purposefully equating Jesus Christ with God. This is clearly seen in the grammar of this verse. Do you remember from grammar class what an antecedent is? An antecedent is a word, phrase, or clause, that is replaced by a pronoun or other substitute later, or occasionally earlier, in the same or another subsequent sentence. Let me give you an example: Jane lost a glove and she can’t find it. In this sentence Jane is the antecedent of she and glove is the antecedent of it. In the end of verse five Paul writes “…whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5b, NASB95)[12] In this sentence the antecedent of God is who, it is God who is over all, the antecedent of who is Christ. He is the greatest, most important blessing that Israel ever received, and they rejected Him!
CONCLUSION:
Paul in these opening verses of chapter 9 sets the stage for this chapter and the next two after it. In these verses he shows us that tragic unbelief of his people, the Jews, that they had their Messiah, God Himself in the flesh and they rejected Him. Paul’s heart is grieved by this unbelief, his heart is grieved as God’s heart is grieved. He loves his people and desires them to understand the grace that is offered to them through the death of Jesus Christ and the hope that can be theirs because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What can we take away from this message? Paul’s love for his Jewish brothers and sisters according to the flesh was not just because he was related to them, his love for them was because of God’s love for them. As we draw closer to the Lord, as we get to know Him better as we read His Word and spend time with Him in prayer His heart will become our heart. We will begin to feel great sorrow and have unceasing grief for the unsaved. This burden for the unsaved does not come on you suddenly, but it is a burden that grows on your heart. I am sure that Paul spent many hours on his knees praying to God for Israel. Oh, that God would put on your heart and mine a burden, a compassion, a tenderness for lost men, women, and children that they would be saved. Pray for your unsaved loved ones, your kinsmen according to the flesh, pray for your unsaved neighbors, unsaved friends, but understand that when you begin to pray for them you must be willing to be used by God to be a witness to them and tell the story of redemption, how Jesus Christ came to this earth and went to the cross and died for us, paid the penalty for our sin and was buried and on the third day rose from the dead proving that sin had been paid for in full and death was forever conquered, guaranteeing for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ forgiveness of sins, justification before God, and eternal life. Be willing to share this good news with those for whom you are praying.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 1994
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.