Recap

So far in Romans we've read through the section on how the gospel is good news for both Jew and Gentile, and how the gospel creates a new humanity. We looked at how Paul was writing to a church of both Jews and non-Jews, Gentiles, drawn into a culture war. And we saw that from the beginning of the letter, Paul wanted to address this. 

Paul begins his letter by emphasising his calling to share the gospel. This gospel is rooted in its Jewish heritage but is meant for all humanity, both Jew and Gentile. He explains that all humanity is trapped in sin, including the Jews. Their special relationship with God carried responsibility, not special privilege. The solution is faith in Jesus, who frees people from sin. Paul highlights Abraham, who was saved by faith before the law. He serves as the father of all believers, making all who have faith in Jesus part of one family.

The gospel also creates a new humanity. Through Jesus, believers are justified and made right before God. We now rejoice in suffering as it is making us more like Jesus. Adam's sin defines humanity as shaped by death and sin. Jesus’ death and resurrection creates a new humanity shaped by his life, made possible by grace.

This new humanity is embraced through baptism, where believers symbolically die to their old selves and rise into a new life in Christ. Paul then addressed questions he knew would come up. Does freedom in Christ mean we can live however we want? If we are justified and made right despite our sin, can we now sin as much as we want? His answer is no. Sin enslaves us. The more we indulge it, the more power we give it to rule over us. But offering our lives to God brings true freedom. Sin leads to death, but obedience to Jesus leads to life.

We are no longer held accountable to the law, but to our faith in Jesus. So what, then, was the role of the law? Paul pointed out that the law served to guide people to live in a way where they didn't indulge the power of sin. Unfortunately, sin used the law to trap people. Though the law itself is good, it becomes a tool that sin exploited to lead people away from God.

Paul described his inner struggle, wanting to do good but being unable to because of sin's power. Yet, he reassures believers that through Jesus, they are no longer condemned or bound by sin. The law of sin and death has been replaced by the law of the Spirit.

He explained that believers are no longer condemned by sin because the Spirit now empowers them to live in freedom. They just have to choose to indulge the Spirit rather than sin. The Spirit leads them, making them children of God and heirs of his promises. While the struggle with the power of sin continues, that struggle is nothing compared to the future hope of when all creation is shaped by the Spirit in the image of Jesus. Therefore, while we are works in progress, facing struggles with the power of sin in and around us, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.

Romans 9-10

So Paul has covered the problem, the power of sin in all creation, and the solution, the death and resurrection of Jesus. This allows us to die to the law, no longer being held guilty by it and be resurrected into his new humanity, empowered and shaped by the Spirit to deal with the power of sin in our lives and the world around us.

But what does that mean for the Jews who don’t choose Jesus? Does that special relationship they had with God mean nothing now? This is the question that Paul wants to address next.

First of all, Paul is deeply grieved by his issue. He wishes he could cut himself off from Christ if it meant that all his fellow Jews could be saved. In this, Paul echoes Moses, who was willing to offer himself up for his fellow Israelites (Exodus 32:30–32).

It is through the Israelites and then Jews that God made his covenants. To them, he gave the message to pass on to the world, and from the Jews that Jesus was born. That’s not nothing. God made promises to Abraham and his descendants. Surely God did not lie when he made those promises?

So Paul begins to answer the question. God’s promises haven’t failed. Not everyone who was considered an Israelite fully embodied the promises that were given to Israel. The promise was made to Abraham and his descendants, but when Abraham had children, it was just Isaac that it applied to. Then, when Isaac had children, the promises just applied to Jacob.

There’s a distinction then between those who are Abraham’s descendants just by flesh, and those who are descendants by the promises God made to him.

Out of each group, God chose a smaller group to be the carriers of his promise. We saw this early on with the Israelites when they were brought out of Egypt. The Israelites as a whole were chosen by God to be the people who modelled who he is to the world.

But then out of the Israelites the Levites were chosen to be God’s tribe. Then out of the Levites the priests were chosen to be the ones that facilitated the people’s relationship with God. Then out of the priests the High priest was chosen to enter into God’s presence.

Some may see this as fair or as exclusionary. But Paul points out God can guide people as he wants. For some, he might choose to carry his purpose, while others he might choose to make examples of, just as he did with Pharaoh.

Paul draws on Jeremiah’s imagery of God as a potter allowed to do what he wants with his clay (Jeremiah 19:1-11). As we saw in the gospels and then in Acts, it was through the rejection of certain Jews that Jesus was crucified on the cross. It was then through the persecution by some Jews that the church was spread first to Samaria and then to the Greco-Roman world.

God allowed those who chose not to be descendants of the promise to create space for Gentiles to become descendants of the promise. Paul quotes Hosea 2:23 to show this was always the plan.

In short, as Paul explained in Romans 4, descendants of the promise are defined by the faith in Jesus and their faithfulness to him. This means that there are Jews who are descendants of Abraham by flesh, but opted out of being descendants of Abraham by promise.

Having looked at Israel’s history to explain how this works for the Jews who haven’t chosen Jesus, Paul turns to focusing on now. Paul's desire for them now is that they come and know Jesus and may be saved.

He explains there are two types of righteousness. There is the righteousness that comes from the law and keeping it (which no one was able to do), and the righteousness that comes from faith.

Describing the righteousness that comes from faith, Paul draws from Deuteronomy 9:4 and Deuteronomy 30:11-14. In Deuteronomy 9:4, Moses was explaining to the Israelites about to enter the promised land that they shouldn’t think that they are taking this land because they are so righteous. This land is being given to them because of the goodness of God.

Then in Deuteronomy 30:11-14, Moses has just finished giving all the commandments to the Israelites and tells them not to complain that these commandments are too hard for them. To say that the ability to keep them is too far away for them to reach, and they need someone to bring it close. All they need to do is cherish it in their hearts and keep it in their mouths.

Paul is saying the same things now about the righteousness that comes from faith. We did not earn it by being good. It is given to us because of the goodness of God. And we can’t complain that it’s too far away and we need someone to get it for us, because Jesus already brought it close to us. All we need to do is believe in our heart and declare with our mouths that Jesus is Lord.

This is true for both Jew and Gentiles, so all the Jews need to do to experience the righteousness that comes from faith is to believe in their hearts and declare with their mouths.

And how does someone reach a point where they believe and declare? When believers who are sent go out and proclaim Jesus, so that person can hear, and believe, and declare.

But they Jews, they have heard. The apostles did go and proclaim to them. Paul quotes Isaiah 53:1, Psalm 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:31, and Isaiah 65:1-2 to show that, throughout their history, the Israelites had plenty of opportunities to both hear and understand but chose not to. They were too rooted in their disobedience.

Psalm 135

This isn’t attributed to anyone in particular and falls into the category of praise psalm.

Psalm 135:1-3 - Call to praise the Lord

Psalm 135:4-14 - Reasons to praise the Lord

Psalm 135:15-18 - Trusting in idols is foolish

Psalm 135:19-21 - Final call to praise

The psalmist opens with a call to praise the Lord. The call to praise for the ‘servants of the Lord’, those ‘that stand in the house of the Lord’. this is likely referring to the priests and Levites.They are to praise the Lord for he is good and gracious.

Then comes a list of reasons why they should praise the Lord. He chose Israel to be his own people. He is Lord above all other gods, in charge of the heavens and the earth. It’s the Lord who produces rain, lightning, and wind.

It was the Lord who brought them out of Egypt and into the promised land with many miracles. He is an eternal God and will always defend and have compassion on his people.

In contrast, the idols of other nations are worthless. They are made by human hands from silver and gold. They have no mouths, eyes, or ears and so can’t speak, see, or hear. Those who trust in idols are as worthless as the idols they trust in. We read very similar words in Psalm 115:6-8.

And so the psalmist ends with another call to praise the Lord, this time to all of Israel. May all who fear the Lord bless him.

As we Christians believe in the priesthood of all believers, this psalm is very much one for us to pray. We too can praise the Lord for his power and all that he has done for us in the past and will do for us in the future. We can recognise the foolishness in trusting in things other than the Lord. Instead, we place our trust firmly in him.