Jews

One Body Through the Cross

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14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:14-22 ESV

To truly understand this passage, one must first grasp the nature of the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s world. There was a long and deep-seated animosity between the two groups. To put it bluntly, Jews despised Gentiles. They viewed them with contempt and rarely, if ever, associated with them on any level. The Jews viewed themselves as the chosen people of God; everyone else was considered a Gentile, an outsider, and destined to God’s wrath and punishment.

It was forbidden for a Jew to marry a Gentile, and in the rare cases it did happen, the family of the Jewish son or daughter would consider their child as dead, even holding their funeral to mark the day. Paul has just told the Gentile converts in the church in Ephesus, “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12 ESV). Jesus, the Christ (the Greek word for Messiah), had been promised to the Jews and had been born as a Jew.

However, the Gentiles had been born outside the commonwealth of Israel, with no access to the covenant promises made to the people of God. So not only were they disdained by the Israelites, but they were also considered to be without hope and without God in the world. But Paul reminded that Jesus had changed all that.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13 ESV

The great chasm that separated the Gentiles from the Jews was closed by Jesus. He had made it possible for them to have hope and a relationship with God. But amazingly, Jesus had not just reconciled the Gentiles with God, but He had also reconciled them to the Jewish believers in their congregation. They were now one.

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. – Ephesians 2:14 NLT

When God called Abraham and promised to make of him a great nation, that was the beginning of the Jewish people. God separated them out from the rest of the nations of the world. He took one man and his barren wife and miraculously gave them descendants “beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17 NLT). God chose them as His own and revealed Himself in ways He had never done before with any other people group.

He rescued them from captivity in Egypt. He led them through the wilderness and met all their needs along the way. He gave them His law. He provided them the land of Canaan as their homeland just as He had promised Abraham. He fought and won battles on their behalf. He gave them prophets to speak to them. He provided kings to lead them and appointed priests to minister to them. And, as His chosen people, they were to be a light to the Gentiles, a visible example of what it looks like when men live in obedience and submission to God.

But they failed. They couldn’t keep God’s law and were incapable of remaining faithful to Him. They repeatedly rebelled and wandered from the truth of God, seeking after false gods and the fulfillment of their own selfish desires. And as a result, God punished them by sending them into exile. He disciplined His chosen people, but He also redeemed them from slavery again and returned them to the Land of Promise. But things would never be quite the same. They would never have another king or enjoy the peace and prosperity of David’s and Solomon’s reigns.

Then God sent His Son, the Messiah. After centuries of waiting, the long-awaited One arrived on the scene. But John records what happened. “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV). Jesus, the Son of God and the descendant of King David, was rejected by His own people. Instead of crowning Him as King, they demanded His crucifixion. But it was all part of God’s redemptive plan for mankind.

With His death, Jesus “broke down the wall of hostility that separated us” (Ephesians 2:14 NLT). The law had separated Jews from Gentiles, but it had also separated Jews from God. They could not keep the law. Instead, it exposed their sinfulness and condemned their lack of faithfulness to God.

But Jesus removed the barrier. He reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God “in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:16 ESV). He made it possible for men to be restored to God and to one another. Paul claimed that Jesus “brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near” (Ephesians 2:17 NLT). The very same message of redemption was preached to all men, regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Restoration and reconciliation with God would be the same for both. As Paul stated earlier, it was to be by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

Now, believing Jews and Gentiles were one. There was to be no more alienation, separation, animosity, pr hostility. As a result of their shared faith in Jesus Christ, they had become “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19 ESV).

The church, the body of Christ, had been God’s plan all along. It was always His intention to redeem men and women from every tribe, nation, and tongue. That is why He told Abraham that He would make him the father of many “nations,” not just the Hebrew nation. He had also told Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18), and that promise was fulfilled in Christ.

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. – Ephesians 2:22 ESV

Together, we form the people of God, reconciled to Him through a common faith in His Son, and living in the shared power of His Spirit. One nation under God.

Father, Your intention has always been to redeem a lost and dying world. You sent Your Son to serve as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and not just for Jews, but also for Gentiles. You chose the descendants of Abraham as Your treasured possession and blessed them with Your presence, the Mosaic Law, and the sacrificial system. You repeatedly poured out Your grace and mercy on them and blessed them in so many ways, but they refused to honor You as God, choosing instead to worship false gods. They feined obedience, but practiced unfaithfulness. Yet, they were the means by which You sent Your Son into the world to redeem all men. As Paul put it, “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT).

Through the Jews, You proved that access into Your presence and awareness of Your moral code of conduct would not be enough. They enjoyed a unique relationship with You and knew Your expectations of them, but were completely incapable of remaining faithful and obedient. Legalism and lawkeeping was not going to work because “the law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins (Romans 8:3 NLT). And the benefits of His death were not just for the Jews, but for all who would believe. And I am a grateful beneficiary of Your love, grace, and mercy. Thank You! Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Profoundly Complex But Perfectly Simple Plan

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11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. – Ephesians 1:11-14 ESV

It is essential to pay close attention to the personal pronouns Paul uses in these verses. He begins to use the pronouns “we” and “you” to refer to two different groups of believers. This will be important to understanding the text. His use of “we” indicates that he is speaking to the converted Jews in Ephesus because he is one of them. When he uses the pronoun “you”, he is speaking to the Gentile believers in the church. So when Paul writes, “In him we have obtained an inheritance,” he is speaking to his fellow Jews. Jesus was born a Jew, and brought His message of the Kingdom to the Jewish people first, and the initial converts to Christianity were Jews.

In a sermon Peter gave right after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he said to the Jewish crowd, “God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (Acts 3:20 ESV). The Jewish disciples chosen by Jesus would be the very first converts. According to Paul, this was all predestined by God according to the counsel of His divine will. God had intended all along for the message of salvation to go to the Jews first, “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12 ESV). But God had not left out the Gentiles.

Paul continues his letter by saying, “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13 ESV). God had planned all along for the good news of Jesus Christ to begin with the Jews and then spread to the whole world (the Gentiles). Jesus’ commission to His Jewish disciples, given just prior to His ascension into heaven, made their mission clear.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

Just prior to that occasion, Jesus had appeared to the disciples in His resurrected form and had told them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:46-49 ESV).

Luke records in the book of Acts that Jesus gave His disciples one last command before He left them. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ESV). And that is exactly what happened; they went to Jerusalem and waited. On the day of the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came just as Jesus had promised. One of the end results of that amazing event was that the disciples were suddenly endowed with the miraculous ability to speak in languages they did not know. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, they witnessed to the tens of thousands of people from all over the world who had gathered for the feast. Luke records for us exactly what happened:

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” – Acts 2:5-12 ESV

Peter preached a sermon, and 3,000 individuals came to Christ that day. The church age had begun, and the message of Jesus Christ would spread throughout the known world as these new converts returned to their hometowns at the end of the celebration of Pentecost.

Luke records that after Peter finished his sermon, the people “were cut to the heart” and asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 ESV). Peter told them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39 ESV).

By accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior, they would receive forgiveness of their sins and be made right with God. They would also receive the Holy Spirit, just as the disciples had. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit was not tied to their baptism, but was simply a part of their commitment to express to the world that they were aligning themselves with the cause of Christ. It was an outward expression of their internal transformation. But the key was that they received the same Holy Spirit as the disciples.

Paul told the Gentile believers in Ephesus that they had been sealed by the very same Holy Spirit when they believed. As a result, they were assured of their future inheritance, just as Paul and the believing Jews in their congregation were. Because the Holy Spirit “is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:14 ESV). The Holy Spirit is literally a “down payment” from God, reminding us that the promises He has made to us regarding our eternity are real and reliable. God’s Spirit never leaves us, and He will also never let us go. His presence within us assures us of our eternal security. He will reside within us until the day that Christ returns or God calls us home. Our inheritance is assured.

Father, I am always amazed and, at time, perplexed by Your plan to use the nation of Israel to accomplish Your divine will for the redemption of mankind. You purposefully and providentially set apart the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be Your chosen people. In doing so, You chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau. You took Jacob and from his small clan of 70 people, you made a great nation. His 12 sons would form 12 tribes, but it was from the tribe of Judah that you chose to raise up David, the future king of Israel. In handpicking David, You chose to reject his older brothers. But it was through the lineage of David, the young shepherd boy, that the Good Shepherd would come. It was He who said, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16 NLT). And Jesus, the good shepherd, assures me, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me” (John 10:27 NLT).

Father, You began with the people of Israel, but You did not limit Your focus to them alone; they were simply the conduit through which Your gift of grace and mercy would flow to all the nations. You chose to send Your Son as a descendant of Israel, but He would be the Savior of all nations. And when His own rejected Him as Messiah, You chose to send the message of salvation to the Gentiles. But You have not forgotten Your chosen people. As Paul wrote, “Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it” (Romans 11:12 NLT). Only You could have come up with such a profoundly complex but perfectly simple plan, and I am just another amazed and gratified beneficiary. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Man On A Mission

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22 This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 24 I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. 28 When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. 29 I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. – Romans 15:22-33 ESV

Paul had just said, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation” (Romans 15:20 ESV). Now he tells them that he hopes to see them, but only in passing as he makes his way to Spain.

Paul was a starter, not a builder. He saw himself as a planter, not a harvester. Yet his many letters, which comprise most of the New Testament canon, prove that he cared deeply about the ongoing maturity of the churches he helped to start. He longed to see believers grow but, more than anything else, he wanted to see the lost come to faith in Christ. So he was always looking for fertile fields in which to sow the seeds of the gospel.

Paul took the words of Jesus seriously.

“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” – Luke 10:2 NLT

Paul knew that there were those who would sow and those who would reap the harvest, and his job was to plant so that others might come along and water the new seeds of faith, allowing them to grow to full maturity. That is exactly what he told the Corinthian believers when he heard that they were dividing themselves between those who claimed to be his followers and those who claimed to follow Apollos.

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. – 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT

Paul wasn’t looking for glory or trying to establish a name for himself. He simply wanted to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to as many people in as many places as possible. But he also cared deeply about the discipleship of those who came to faith in Christ. He had a passion for the reputation of the body of Christ and the spiritual well-being of the congregations he helped to plant. He was concerned about the unity of the church and the acceptance of his Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ by the leadership in Jerusalem.

When he discovered the division taking place in Corinth, he wrote, “I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT). Paul wanted to see the body of Christ prove its love by ministering to itself selflessly and lovingly, regardless of location.

Paul had been commissioned by his sending church in Antioch to take up a collection for the believers in Judea.

During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem. – Acts 11:27-30 NLT

The famine had severely impacted that region of the world and left the church in Jerusalem in dire straits. Not only were its members being persecuted for their faith in Christ, but they were struggling to feed themselves. So, on his missionary journeys, Paul collected offerings from the predominantly Gentile congregations to take to the believers in Judea. He told the believers in Rome that he would come to them as soon as he delivered the funds he had collected from all the churches to “the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” He reminded his Gentile readers that since they “have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings” (Romans 15:27 NLT). The Jewish believers in Jerusalem were suffering and Paul wanted to see the Gentile believers play a part in ministering to them. Paul’s goal was unity and impartiality.

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” – 2 Corinthians 8:13-15 NLT

Paul’s mission was not just to make converts, but to establish a strong and vibrant church, made up of those who understood the grace of God and were willing to extend that grace to others. For Paul, salvation was not the end-all; he wanted those who claimed to have faith in Christ to demonstrate the life-changing nature of their salvation through their actions. They were to be new creations, exhibiting the characteristics of Christ, living in submission to the Spirit, and expressing the love of God to all those around them.

As verse 31 indicates, he was under constant attack for his unfailing commitment to the cause of Christ. His mission was not an easy one, and his ministry was far from trouble-free. He traveled far, suffered much, failed often, but never lost sight of his mission “to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard” (Romans 15:20 NLT). He even had his eyes set on Spain, which, in those days, was believed to be the literal end of the world. For Paul, Rome was an important destination, but it would not be his final stop along the way. He had ambitious goals to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, just as Jesus had said. And while there is no biblical evidence that Paul ever made it to Spain, the gospel did. Paul’s zeal and determination influenced others to take up the baton and finish the race on his behalf. 

Paul lived out the truth found in Isaiah 40:31.

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.

Father, had Paul not taken his commission seriously, the gospel would never have made it beyond the walls of Jerusalem. He was the first to fulfill Jesus’ command to take the gospel “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NLT). When Jesus charged Paul “to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel” (Acts 9:15 NLT), Paul took His words seriously. Paul obeyed and spent the rest of his life fulfilling his Christ-ordained call, and he let nothing stand in his way. Rejection, imprisonments, constant character assassination, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, and physical ailments could not diminish his zeal or deter him from accomplishing his mission. His faithfulness produced untold fruitfulness, transforming the lives of countless Gentiles and Jews and helping to create a richly diversified family of Christ-followers whose mutual love and affection gave evidence of the gospel’s power to transform lives from the inside out. And the gospel is still making a difference in the world today as Your church continues to carry out the Great Commission. But may we have the same zeal and determination that motivated Paul, so that the gospel will spread and the church will expand until Your Son returans. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

A Man Possessed

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14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; 20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,
    and those who have never heard will understand.” – Romans 15:14-21 ESV

As Paul begins to wrap up his letter, he provides a glimpse into his heart. After spending nearly 15 chapters defining and defending the gospel and its non-negotiable dependence on faith alone, he takes a moment to remind his readers why he wrote the letter in the first place.

He was passionate. In a way, he was obsessed with the personal commission he received from Jesus Himself to take the gospel to the Gentiles, and he would stop at nothing to see that he fulfilled his responsibility. That is why he could put up with suffering, abuse, rejection, ridicule, and his apparent lack of success on many occasions. He was relentless in his mission and refused to be distracted or deterred from his life’s calling.  He described it as “the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God” (Romans 15:15-16 ESV).

Paul considered his job as an apostle and missionary to be an expression of God’s lovingkindness and favor.  His responsibility to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the Gentiles was a privilege that was undeserved and unmerited, and he did not take it lightly. He had every reason to be proud of his work for God; not in a self-centered, boastful kind of way, but because he knew that anything he had accomplished was by God’s grace and through His power.

Paul had a healthy understanding of who he was and what he had accomplished.

For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. – 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 NLT

His hard work and determination had paid off, and he could look back on all his missionary journeys and see the fruit of his labors. There were thriving, growing churches filled with new believers from all walks of life. Jews and Gentiles, having come to know Christ as their Savior, were worshiping together and living out Paul’s metaphor of the body of Christ. That is why he could say, “from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:19 ESV). He had done his job and fulfilled his commission. But he was far from done.

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation. – Romans 15:20 ESV

He was neither content nor complacent and was unwilling to rest on his laurels. In fact, he had told the believers in Rome, “I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours” (Romans 1:11-12 NLT).

Paul was not distracted by the things of this world; money and materialism had no appeal to him. He told the believers in Philippi, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him” (Philippians 3:8-9 NLT).

Paul made it his “ambition” to preach the gospel. The Greek word he uses is philotimeomai, and it means “to strive earnestly, make it one’s aim” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). You might say that Paul had a one-track mind. His single focus in life was to preach the gospel to the Gentiles; it was his sole passion. And what should amaze us is the incredible impact of one man committed to a singular cause. Paul changed the world and revolutionized the culture in which he lived. Everywhere he went, he left a wake filled with transformed lives. One man, one mission, and one hope for making men right with God: the gospel of Jesus Christ.

How easy it is for us to see ourselves as insignificant and incapable of making a difference in the world. We sometimes feel alone and outnumbered, and see our faith as too small and our influence as too weak when compared to the darkness that surrounds us. But like Paul, we must understand that any difference we make will not depend on us but on the power of God within us. Our job is to make ourselves available. We can make a difference with God’s help. As evidenced by the life of Paul, one individual can make a world of difference when he or she is committed to the cause of Christ and dependent upon the Spirit of God for strength.

And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. – Colossians 1:27-29 NLT

Father, it is clearly evident that Paul was committed. He took his job seriously and viewed his mission as Your spokesperson as a privilege, not a duty. He was honored to serve and even suffer for the cause of Christ. He refused to give in, give up, or compromise his commission or convictions, even in the face of fierce opposition and the constant threat of death. He wasn’t oblivious to animosity of his enemies and he didn’t live with his head in the sand, ignoring the dangers that accompanied his mission. He simply knew that his work was divinely ordained and his life was providentially protected. He suffered constant rejection, relentless ridicule, and spent his fair share of time in prison for his efforts. But he remained committed to the cause. He even penned some of his most powerful and encouraging letters during his years in confinement. Rather than moan over his lot in life, he used those years of imprisonment to build up the body of Christ. His life is an inspiration. His dedication to ministry is a powerful reminder to every believer that we serve as Your ministers of reconciliation in this world. We too, are Your servants, tasked with the job of taking the gospel to the nations. But if we are to be successful, we must have the attitude that possessed Paul. 

“I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them.” – Romans 15:18 NLT

Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Family of God

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8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
    and sing to your name.”

10 And again it says,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

11 And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
    and let all the peoples extol him.”

12 And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,
    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. – Romans 15:8-13 ESV

“Christ did not please himself,” Paul wrote back in verse three. No, Paul reminds us, “Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy” (Romans 15:8-9 ESV).

As Paul sums up his admonitions and encouragements for unity between the members of the body of Christ, he uses Christ Himself as the example to follow. It is true that Jesus initially focused His ministry on His fellow Jews, having been born into the line of Judah as a descendant of David. But His intent from the very beginning was to make salvation available to both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham when He said, “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 28:18 NIV). In his letter to the Galatians, Paul clarified the meaning of this promise.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. – Galatians 3:16 ESV

Jesus was the means by which God would bless all the nations of the earth, including the Gentiles.

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” – Galatians 3:7-8 ESV

God’s intent all along had been to make salvation available to all people groups, not just the Jews. Paul’s missionary journeys to the Gentiles were not God’s plan B. He wasn’t forced to come up with an alternative plan when the Jews failed to accept His Son as their Messiah. And Paul makes this perfectly clear by quoting from four Old Testament passages that predicted that the Gentiles would respond to God’s offer of grace and mercy:

For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. – 2 Samuel 22:50 ESV

Rejoice, O nations, with His people… – Deuteronomy 32:43 NASB

Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! – Psalm 117:1 ESV

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. – Isaiah 11:10 NIV

The Hebrew word used in these passages for “nations” is gowy, which usually refers to non-Hebrew people or Gentiles. That is why Paul replaces it with the Greek word, ethnos, which refers to pagans, Gentiles, or the people of foreign nations who did not worship the one true God.  God’s promise to Abraham that He would bless all the nations (gowy) of the earth through Abraham’s offspring was fulfilled in Jesus. He became the sole sacrifice for the sins of men, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Jesus told Nicodemus, the Pharisee, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17 ESV). The apostle John reminds us, “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1 NLT). Those of us who are Gentiles or non-Jews have been extended the mercy and grace of God made possible through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. So, Paul encourages us to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7 ESV).

We have been included and warmly welcomed into God’s family, not because we deserved or earned it. In fact, Paul makes the amazing truth of our inclusion status quite clear. He provided the predominantly Gentile congregation in Colossae with a powerful reminder of their remarkable transformation from enemies of God to cherished members of His family.  

You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:21-22 NLT

And the apostle Peter confirmed Paul’s words. 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV

In light of God’s marvelous grace, we are to welcome or receive others in the same way that we have been welcomed by Christ; with open arms, no pre-conditions or demands for good behavior, and no requirement that they curtail their sinful behavior. Our unity doesn’t require unanimity; we don’t always have to agree, and we won’t always see eye to eye. We will have our differences, but we will always share our common bond in Christ, illustrated by His undeserved mercy and grace.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. – Romans 3:23-24 NLT

Father, Your Son’s cross is the great leveler. At the foot of the cross, all men are equals, sharing the common status as sinners in need of a Savior. No one can stand before You who deserves Your mercy and grace. None of us are worthy of Your love and forgiveness but, through Christ, we discover access into Your presence and receive Your unmerited favor and acceptance. Each of us deserved condemnation and judgment because we have all sinned and fallen short of Your glorious standard. In Your eyes, all our so-called righteous deeds have as much value as a soiled piece of worthless cloth. The color of our skin, the quality of our character, the measure of our wealth, or the extent of our achievements mean nothing to You. You are not impressed by any man and You are indebted to no one. Your mercy and grace have nothing to do with our merit; they are expressions of Your selfless, sacrificial love for a hopeless and helpless humanity. And when we accept Your free gift of grace offered through the life, death, and resurrection of Your Son, we all become His co-heirs and members of the same family. And for that, I am grateful. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Pursuit of Peace Over Personal Preference

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13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. – Romans 14:13-23 ESV

Paul bookends this section with virtually the same words. He opens with “let us not pass judgment on one another” (Romans 14:13 ESV) and ends with “blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself” (Romans 14:22 ESV). The only difference is the one on whom the judgment is assessed.

We are not to judge each other, and our actions toward one another should give us no cause to judge ourselves. In both cases, the issue is about rights, and Paul used himself as an example. He declared that he had the right to eat whatever he wanted, because nothing was unclean for him. He had probably heard the story of the vision Peter received from God before Peter was sent to the home of Cornelius, a Roman army officer.

Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”

“No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.”

But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.” The same vision was repeated three times. – Acts 10:9-16 NLT

While this vision was meant to convey God’s approval of Gentiles receiving the gospel, it also conveyed a not-so-subtle message regarding Jewish dietary laws. With the coming of Jesus, a radical paradigm shift had taken place. The new was replacing the old. The law of Moses was being replaced with the law of liberty. Jesus put it this way:

“No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” – Luke 5:36-39 NLT

Gentiles were now acceptable, and once-forbidden foods were no longer off-limits. Paul would also have been familiar with Jesus’ teachings about dietary laws and defilement.

“It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” – Mark 7:15 NLT

Jesus’ disciples had been confused by His words, so He provided clarification.

“Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes). – Mark 7:18-19 NLT

So Paul, even though he was a Jew, lived his life with a newfound freedom when it came to his eating habits. He no longer lived under the strict dietary restrictions associated with his Jewish heritage, but he was willing to give up his rights for the sake of a brother or sister in Christ. It all goes back to the “weaker” brother narrative in the opening verses of this chapter.

There will always be those in the church whose understanding of the life of faith is less developed. They will retain certain legalistic expectations, believing that what they do or don’t do earns them favor with God. In Paul’s day, both Jewish and Gentile believers brought their own list of restrictions to the table. There were converted Jews who still felt it necessary to maintain the dietary laws of their Jewish faith. There were also Gentile believers who felt convicted about eating meat that had been sacrificed to pagan idols.

Paul had to deal with this issue in the church in Corinth. He told them, “We all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God” (1 Corinthians 8:4 NLT). But he went on to say, “However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated” (1 Corinthians 8:7 NLT).

Then Paul dealt with the real issue. “It’s true that we can’t win God’s approval by what we eat. We don’t lose anything if we don’t eat it, and we don’t gain anything if we do” (1 Corinthians 4:8 NLT). But for Paul, it all boiled down to the spiritual well-being of his brother or sister in Christ.

But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer for whom Christ died will be destroyed. And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble. – Romans 4:9-13 NLT

While Paul understood that certain foods were perfectly fine for him to eat, he was not willing to demand his rights if doing so would cause a brother in Christ to sin against his conscience.

It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes a brother to stumble. – Romans 14:21 ESV

It is a wonderful thing to enjoy the freedom that comes with the life of faith. Our right standing with God is not based on adherence to a long list of prohibitions and restrictions. But there will always be those who don’t understand this truth and hold strong convictions about what they eat or don’t eat, what they can and can’t wear, and even which activities they can participate in or abstain from.

For Paul, the final word on all of this concerned faith.

For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. – Romans 14:23 ESV

For the immature or weaker believer, conscience ends up playing a far greater role than necessary. Rather than enjoying the freedom that comes with knowing his standing before God is fully taken care of by the finished work of Christ, he ends up operating from his own inner sense of right and wrong. So if his conscience tells him that something is forbidden by God, to violate that belief would be sin. He becomes burdened with guilt for having done what he believed was against God’s will.

Paul says, “Whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith” (Romans 14:23 ESV). So rather than the stronger believer wearing his or her rights like a badge of honor, they should love their weaker brother or sister in Christ, willingly setting aside their rights so that they might not cause a fellow believer to sin against their conscience.

We are always to build up, not tear down. We are to lovingly teach and instruct one another, not boastfully and arrogantly display our rights and flaunt our newfound freedoms in Christ. Peter summed it up well when he wrote, “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8 NLT).

Father, rights are a wonderful thing until they cause pain and suffering for others. I enjoy all kinds of rights and freedoms in Christ, but I am never free to flaunt them in the face of others or use them to condemn those who remain enslaved to guilt-enducing sins. Paul understood the freedoms he enjoyed as a Christ-follower, but he never allowed those freedoms to create barriers or roadblocks for the lost or less mature believers. He was willing to sacrifice his rights so that others might embrace the law of liberty, the freedom found in a relationship with God based on grace, not merit. Defending our rights and protecting our freedoms can actually make us slaves to them. We end up making them the focus of our faith, rather than Christ. If we’re not careful, we can replace righteousness with rights and holiness with the pursuit of happiness. But dying to self is a big part of living for Christ. Help me to see the difference and to never allow my rights to become a pretext for sin. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

From Enemies to God’s Elect

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28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. – Romans 11:28-32 ESV

This is a fascinating and difficult passage that presents a somewhat confusing picture of God’s grace, which could easily lead us to accuse Him of injustice. But Paul’s is attempting to explain God’s plan concerning His chosen people, the Jews. For the time being, the Jews are experiencing “a partial hardening” until “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11: 25 ESV). While the Israelites had been trying to earn a right standing with God, they had been going about it the wrong way, by attempting to keep the law in their own strength. When Jesus revealed Himself to be the true path to righteousness, they rejected Him. So, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day” (Romans 11:8 ESV).

But God did not cause their hardening or spiritual callousness; He simply allowed their hearts to go where they were naturally bent to go. He did not intervene by extending them mercy. But if we conclude that God’s treatment of the Jews was unfair or unjust, we misunderstand mercy. God is not obligated to show mercy to anyone. By definition, mercy is a gift, not a requirement. However, justice is required. In a sense, mercy is non-justice. In other words, when God determines to extend mercy to anyone, He is choosing NOT to enact justice or to give them what they truly deserve.

The Old Testament Scriptures repeatedly show God extending mercy to the unrepentant and undeserving people of Israel. Their track record of disobedience and unfaithfulness to Him condemns them and warrants that justice be served. Their willful sin against Him deserved His righteous and holy sentence of just punishment. But instead, God graciously chose to show them mercy, His undeserved kindness, goodness, favor, and compassion. And to do so is God’s prerogative.

For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” – Romans 9:15 NLT

When God shows mercy, we have no cause to complain or to cry foul. What should amaze us is that God, in His patience and love, chooses to show anyone mercy. Because mercy is never deserved and can never be earned. Paul has made it clear that all men deserve God’s justice.

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23 ESV

…the wages of sin is death. – Romans 6:23 ESV

So if God chooses to extend His mercy to some, can we accuse Him of injustice? Paul would say, “No!”

Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses,

“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
    and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. – Romans 9:14-16 NLT

Which brings us back to our passage. Paul contends that, as it pertains to the good news regarding salvation through Christ, the Jews were essentially enemies of God. Their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah had opened the door for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles. But when it came to God’s sovereign election or choosing of the nation of Israel, they were still beloved in His eyes.

At this point, it appears that Paul is talking about the future state of Israel as a nation or a people. He is not referring to individual Jews or individual Gentiles in these verses. At one time in history, the Gentile nations had been alienated from God. They were separated from Him because of their sin. Paul reminded the Gentile believers in Ephesus of their former state of alienation from God.

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. – Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT

As non-Jews, they were excluded from citizenship among God’s chosen people. They could not claim the covenant promises God had made to Abraham. But Paul says that something changed all that.

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13 NLT

Notice that he addresses them as a whole, as Gentiles. This does not mean that ALL Gentiles have come to faith in Christ, but that God has extended His undeserved mercy to “outsiders,” to non-Jews.

And Paul’s point is that God will do the same thing for the nation of Israel. While they are currently experiencing a hardness of heart and a spiritual callousness toward God and His offer of salvation through belief in His Son, the day is coming when He will show them mercy just as He has done for the Gentiles.

Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. – Romans 11:30-31 NLT

Paul wants us to understand that this is not a case of Gentiles replacing Jews as God’s favored people; it is about God extending mercy to those whom He sovereignly chooses. God’s mercy knows no prejudice. He is magnanimous and equitable when it comes to His mercy.

For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. – Romans 11:32 NLT

Again, this does not mean that all will be saved, but that all share a common state of disobedience and alienation from God. If He does not choose to show mercy, no one will be saved, either Jew or Gentile.

Israel’s rejection of the Messiah did not put them beyond God’s mercy, and His inclusion of the Gentiles was not a sign of His exclusion of the Jews. It is a matter of timing. At present, during the period of the Gentiles, His focus is on bringing the full number of “outsiders” to faith in His Son. When that happens, He will turn His attention to the nation of Israel.

While this is difficult for us to understand, Paul is trying to explain the nature of God’s ways, which he admits are beyond our capacity for comprehension.

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! – Romans 11:33 NLT

We may not understand God’s mercy, but we can certainly appreciate it and recognize that it is a gift freely given and never deserved.

Father, Your ways are beyond my capacity to understand. I don’t fully comprehend the magnitude of Your mercy. In fact, far too often I take it for granted and treat it with an attitude of complacency. But Paul would have me remember that mercy is a priceless gift that You pour out on the undeserving and unworthy. I did not choose You; it was the other way around. In my original sinful and self-centered state, I was incapable of recognizing the value of Your Son’s sacrifice on my behalf. I did not see myself as a sinner in need of a Savior. But through the power of the Holy Spirit, You opened my eyes to the truth of the gospel and allowed me to accept the gift of Your marvelous mercy. I deserved death, but You gave me life. I deserved justice and judgment, but You gave me justification, a right standing with You that I could never have earned or deserved. Oh, how great are you riches and wisdom and knowledge. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Our Ready, Willing, and Able God

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25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
    he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.” – Romans 11:25-27 ESV

Paul has been establishing the fact that God is not yet done with Israel. While the majority of Jews have rejected Jesus as their Messiah, a remnant has been shown mercy by God and placed their faith in His Son as their Savior. Paul was living proof of that reality, and there were other believing Jews in the church in Rome.

The Gentile believers had much for which to be grateful to the Hebrew nation. It was through the Jews that their Savior had come. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and born into the line of King David, all in keeping with the promises made to both men. And while those Jews who refused to accept Jesus as their Savior were “broken off because of their unbelief” (Romans 11:20 ESV) and the Gentiles were grafted in, that did not mean that God had turned His back on His chosen people. If He was able to mercifully take Gentiles and graciously graft them into the root of Abraham, could He not do so with the Jews? Paul poses that very question.

And even they [the Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. – Romans 11:23 ESV

The important word here is “belief.” Faith in Christ is required for anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, to be grafted into the root of Abraham. Paul wrote the Gentile believers in Galatia, reminding them of their status as children of Abraham because of their faith in Jesus, the descendant of Abraham.

The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. – Galatians 3:7-9 NLT

He went on to clarify, “Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:14 NLT).

It is through faith, our belief in the saving power of Jesus Christ, that we inherit the promises made to Abraham. We become part of God’s family through belief in His Son, and the same thing is true for God’s chosen people, the Jews. But Paul indicates that a “partial hardening has come upon Israel” (Romans 11:25 ESV). The term Paul used is interesting. It is pōrōsis, and it means “obtrusiveness of mental discernment, dulled perception” (Outline of Biblical Usage). The root word means “to grow hard, callous, become dull, lose the power of understanding.”

For the time being, the Jews, individually and collectively, are experiencing a callousness to the gospel message, but this was all part of God’s divine plan. As Paul wrote earlier, “their rejection means the reconciliation of the world” (Romans 11:15 ESV). It was their rejection of Christ that led to the gospel being taken to the rest of the nations of the world. But Paul indicates that there will be a point when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25 ESV). Thomas L. Constable explains what this phrase means:

“When all the Gentiles whom God has chosen for salvation during the present age of Jewish rejection (setting aside) have experienced salvation, God will precipitate a revival of faith among the Jews. Even though some Jews trust Christ now, God is not presently working through them as Israel as He will in the future (i.e., in the Millennium), after multitudes of them turn to faith in Christ. He is now working through the church.” – Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Romans, 2009 Edition.

Paul writes, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:26-27 ESV). He is quoting the writings of the prophet Isaiah.

“And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.” – Isaiah 59:20 ESV

Paul understood this passage as a prophecy concerning the Messiah, which was partially fulfilled in the coming of Jesus. But upon His arrival, Jesus was met with opposition from His own people. The apostle John described the less-than-warm welcome Jesus received from His fellow Jews.

He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. – John 1:10-12 NLT

The Jews didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet when Jesus appeared the first time. But God is far from done with them. He will still accomplish His will among the Jewish people and fulfill the promises He made to them, but it will not take place until He has completed His work among the Gentiles. There is a day coming when the number of Gentiles to be saved will be complete. Paul is not inferring that ALL Gentiles will be saved; he is indicating that there is a limited number of those who will place their faith in Christ, and when that number has been reached, God’s work among the Gentiles will have been fulfilled. He will then turn His attention to the Jews.

But when Paul says that “all Israel will be saved,” he does not mean that every single Israelite who has ever lived will become a believer in Jesus Christ. In the same way that not all Gentiles will come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, neither will all Jews. But when compared to the relatively small believing remnant of Jews that currently exists, the number that will come to faith in the future will be large, and there will be representatives from every tribe of Israel.

The prophet Zechariah predicted a future day when God would do a mighty work among the people of Israel. He quotes God’s promise to complete His divine plan for His chosen people.

“I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died.” – Zechariah 12:10 NLT

The day will come when the people of Israel will grieve over their mistreatment and rejection of their Messiah. But their sorrow will be turned to joy. 

“On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity.

“And on that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will erase idol worship throughout the land, so that even the names of the idols will be forgotten. I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them.” – Zechariah 13:1-2 NLT

But not all Israel will be saved. The prophecy is very specific in indicating that God will redeem and restore a remnant of His chosen people.

“Two-thirds of the people in the land
    will be cut off and die,” says the Lord.
    “But one-third will be left in the land.
I will bring that group through the fire
    and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
    and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” – Zechariah 13:8-9 NLT

God is ready, willing, and able to redeem Israel. He is not yet done with His chosen people, nor has He fully rejected them. He is simply waiting until the full number of Gentiles has come to faith in Christ, then He will turn His attention to the Jews. His plan is perfect, and His timeline is right on schedule. We don’t know when these things will take place, but we are to trust that they will, because our God is faithful, just, righteous, powerful, and fully capable of completing what He has started and fulfilling all that He has promised to the people of Israel and to us.

Father, as Paul has so persistently illustrated, You are a promise-keeping God. Your Word is filled with promises You made to the nation of Israel and You will fulfill every one of them. As Balaam said, “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” (Numbers 23:19 NLT). You are good for Your word. You don’t renege on Your promises and You never change Your mind. You are faithful, true, and totally trustworthy. And the fact that You will keep Your promises to Israel is a powerful reminder that You will keep the promises You have made to me and every other Gentile believer. You are more reliable than the sun coming up in the morning or the changing of the seasons. I am reminded of the words Paul wrote to Titus, reminding him of Your faithfulness.

I have been sent to proclaim faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. – Titus 1:1-2 NLT

Your plan is far from finished. Your will concerning the people of Israel is not yet complete. They remain hardhearted and incapable of accepting the truth concerning Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. But the day is coming when You will give them new hearts and a new capacity to see the error of their ways and return to a right relationship with You through faith alone in Christ alone, because You are faithful. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Faithfulness of God

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17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. – Romans 11:17-24 ESV

Paul has been discussing dough, firstfruits, olive trees, roots, and broken branches. But what’s his point? What is he trying to tell us? We must remember that he has been addressing Israel’s current and future fate. God had chosen them as His special possession, but they had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. As a result, they were passed over by God, and His message of salvation was taken to the Gentiles. Yet, God had ordained for some Jews to believe in Jesus as their Messiah and form a remnant, a sort of firstfruits or offering that would consecrate the rest of the nation.

Paul referenced the command God had given to the Israelites as they prepared to enter the land of promise.

“When you arrive in the land where I am taking you, and you eat the crops that grow there, you must set some aside as a sacred offering to the Lord. Present a cake from the first of the flour you grind, and set it aside as a sacred offering, as you do with the first grain from the threshing floor. Throughout the generations to come, you are to present a sacred offering to the Lord each year from the first of your ground flour.” – Numbers 15:18-21 NLT

In his commentary on Romans, Donald Grey Barnhouse explains:

“In order to understand this we must first realize that throughout the Old Testament the word ‘holy’ has a special meaning. In the Old Testament ‘holy’ means ‘separated from profane uses, consecrated to God.’ In the use of the allusion as found in our text, Paul is saying that if the whole nation of Israel was originally set apart for God by the call of Abraham and the giving of the covenant promises to him, then the individuals of the race of Abraham also have a special relationship to God. This does not mean that they are personally holy, for some of them are even accursed; but it does mean that the members of the ancient race have been chosen by God and they will be brought to fulfill His purposes.” – Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans

The nation of Israel was holy to God. He had set them apart, not because of anything they had done, but simply out of His sovereign will. Moses made this perfectly clear to them.

“For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.” – Deuteronomy 7:6-8 NLT

In Paul’s day, God was bringing some Jews to faith, and they served as evidence of God’s continuing favor upon the nation of Israel. He had not completely abandoned them. In fact, Paul goes on to stress the non-debatable necessity of the nation of Israel in the grand scheme of God.

He switches analogies and begins to talk about trees, roots, and branches. He specifically refers to the olive tree, which, in the Old Testament, represented the nation of Israel.

The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;
    my love will know no bounds,
    for my anger will be gone forever.
I will be to Israel
    like a refreshing dew from heaven.
Israel will blossom like the lily;
    it will send roots deep into the soil
    like the cedars in Lebanon.
Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees,
    as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.” – Hosea 14:4-6 NLT

“I, the Lord, once called them a thriving olive tree,
    beautiful to see and full of good fruit.
But now I have sent the fury of their enemies
    to burn them with fire,
    leaving them charred and broken.

“I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who planted this olive tree, have ordered it destroyed. For the people of Israel and Judah have done evil, arousing my anger by burning incense to Baal.” – Jeremiah 11:16-17 NLT

The root to which Paul refers most likely represents Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. He had been hand-picked by God and ordained to be the father of the nation of Israel and the means by which God would bless the nations of the world. From Abraham, the root, came the trunk and the branches of Israel. And because Abraham was holy and set apart for God, so was the rest of the tree. But some of the branches of that tree had been broken off by God, and the branches from “wild” or uncultivated olive trees were grafted in.

Gentiles were made a part of God’s family, not because they deserved it, but out of His mercy and kindness. And Paul reminds the Gentiles, “remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you” (Romans 11:18 ESV). Our faith as believing Gentiles depends on the promises of God made to Abraham. We are not better than or superior to the Jews, and we are not to look down our noses in pride at those Jews who remain in unbelief. In fact, Paul would have us see ourselves as unified with God’s chosen people.

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. – Ephesians 2:19 NLT

God is not done with Israel; He has not abandoned them. If He can graft into the root of Abraham branches from “wild” olive trees, He can certainly graft back in those branches that were broken off. In fact, Paul states, “And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again” (Romans 11:23 ESV).

God’s promises to Israel still stand, and He will fulfill them all, in His time and according to His perfect will. God’s unwavering faithfulness to Israel is meant to encourage us, reminding us of His love, faithfulness, and trustworthiness.  What He says, He will do. His promises will be fulfilled.

His decision to take the gospel to the Gentiles was not Plan B. It was not done because the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah; it was all part of God’s sovereign will from the very beginning. Everything is taking place according to His divine plan. He is blessing all the nations of the earth through the offspring of Abraham, and one day He is going to bless the nation of Israel by sending His Son again and setting up His Kingdom on earth in Jerusalem and restoring His chosen people to their rightful place.

Father, Your plan is perfect and undeterable. Nothing can prevent Your will from taking place just as You have ordained it. You are never surprised or caught off guard. At no point, do You have to change plans or knee-jerk react to what You see happening in the world. You are all-knowing and all-powerful, and You are in control at all times. Your plan for Your chosen people is unfolding just as You set it out before You laid the foundations of the earth. You have a timeline and it is unfolding precisely as You have planned, and it includes the restoration of a remnant of the people of Israel. You will keep Your covenant promises. and fulfill every commitment Your have made to them. And we, the wild olive branches ,get to enjoy the benefiits of having been grafted into the tree that You planted and that will one day produce fruit for eternity in Your Kingdom. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Blind Eyes and Deaf Ears

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7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.” – Romans 11:7-10 ESV

Blind eyes and deaf ears. According to Paul, that was the current status of the majority of Jews “down to this very day” (Romans 11:8 ESV). They were unable to see Jesus for who He really was – their long-awaited Messiah, and they were incapable of hearing and comprehending the message of the gospel. As Paul had already stated,

They have stumbled over the stumbling stone. – Romans 9:32 ESV

Rather than accepting Jesus, the Son of God, as their Savior, they rejected Him because He had not met their preconceptions regarding the coming Messiah. He didn’t look like what they expected, and he didn’t do the things they hoped the Messiah would do. They believed the Messiah would come in the form of a conquering king, not a suffering servant. They were intrigued by Jesus’ miracles, but His message of repentance left them disappointed and disillusioned.

Paul has been pointing out the futility of pursuing a right relationship with God by attempting to keep His law. Paul has said that the Jewish people had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2). In other words, they wanted to do the right thing, but they were going about it in the wrong way. They had misunderstood the kind of righteousness God required of them; it could not be self-produced or earned.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. – Romans 10:3 ESV

They had refused to place their faith in Jesus, who was God’s chosen means for providing righteousness for all men, including the Jews.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. – Romans 10:4 ESV

With the coming of Christ, the misconception that men could be justified before God through human effort was brought to an end. And there had been some Jews who had heard and accepted this message of salvation through Christ. That is why Paul states, “The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened” (Romans 11:7 ESV). There was a believing remnant among the Jews who had embraced the gospel message, and Paul had been among them. However, many were hardened. Paul used the Greek word pōroō to refer to the condition of the majority of the Jews in his day. That word means “to grow hard, callous, become dull, lose the power of understanding” (Outline of Biblical Usage).

While many had heard the message of the gospel, only a few believed. The rest made a conscious decision to reject it and were left in a state of spiritual stupor, “which renders their souls torpid so insensible that they are not affected at all by the offer made them of salvation through the Messiah” (Outline of Biblical Usage).

Paul was very familiar with this condition because he encountered it virtually everywhere he went on his missionary journeys. One of his first objectives upon arriving in a new town was to visit the local synagogue, where he would share the gospel with his fellow Jews.

Paul and Silas then traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” – Acts 17:1-3 NLT

But the usual reception Paul received was less than welcoming.

But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too. And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus.” – Acts 17:5-7 ESV

While Paul was ministering in Lystra, a group of Jews arrived and “stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town” (Acts 14:19-20 NLT). Paul was well acquainted with the hardened hearts of the Jews to whom he sought to share the gospel. He had experienced firsthand just how stubborn and opposed to the message of salvation they could be.

And this condition was not new for the Jews. Throughout their history, the Jews had exhibited a pattern of rebellion and resistance to God’s will.  God had repeatedly offered them messages of repentance and watched as they rejected His messengers and their message. The prophets had faithfully called the people of God to repentance, promising them salvation if they would repent. But they had refused. Instead, they turned down God’s offer of restoration and redemption. And they had continued to do so even when Jesus appeared on the scene.

Not long after beginning His earthly ministry, Jesus chastised the Jewish religious leaders for their obstinacy and accused them of following the lead of their rebellious ancestors.

“You testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started. Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city.” – Matthew 23:31-34 NLT

Jesus mourned over the stubborn resistance of His own people and declared His desire that they would open their eyes and see Him as who He was: Their long-awaited Messiah.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” – Matthew 23:37-39 NLT

Paul, like Jesus, had a deep affection for the people of Israel and desired to see them come to faith in Christ. He longed to see them repent and return to the Lord. But he knew that most would refuse to accept Jesus as their Messiah and reject His offer of salvation. But that didn’t stop Paul from sharing. He continued to share the good news of Jesus Christ with every Jew he met.

Paul had no idea just how big or small God’s believing remnant would be; he refused to worry about that. Instead, he continued to faithfully proclaim the gospel, boldly, unapologetically, and fearlessly. He knew that the Jews could only be awakened from their spiritual stupor by the Spirit of God. So, he simply shared and left the rest up to God.

Father, like the prophets before him, there must have been days when Paul became discouraged and defeated by his lack of success among his own people. He shared the gospel repeatedly, but the Jews returned the favor by rejecting his message, running him out of town, and even stoning him and leaving him for dead. Yet, he never threw in the towel or gave up his quest to see his fellow Jews come to faith in Christ. He was committed to his commission to share the gospel with Jews and Gentiles alike. He even said, “preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!” (1 Corinthians 9:16 NLT). Paul never compromised his message, but he did make concessions, saying, “With those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law. Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law” (1 Corinthians 9:20 NLT), “doing everything I can to save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT). 

I want to have that kind of determination and dedication to Your will. I want to exhibit that kind of faith and sold-out commitment to Christ’s call to make disciples of all the nations. But too often, I allow the fear of man and the thought of failure keep me from fulfilling my role as an ambassador of Christ. Give me the boldness and love that permeated Paul’s life so that I might do everything I can to save some. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22