Chapters 9-11 are a speed bump in the book of Romans. They make us slow down and thoughtfully consider the text. These chapters are also very important to the overall theme of the letter as they develop from yet another angle the righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God in Romans is not primarily about us (as in God’s plan for making us righteous). It is about God and His personal righteousness. The gospel is the good news of His righteousness (i.e., God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises). After all, in the end our hope isn’t ultimately based on what we’ve done—it’s based on who God is. If He isn’t the loving, merciful God who keeps His promises, then we have no basis for hope of any kind.
All of this brings us to the issue Paul addresses in Romans 9-11. From the perspective of many Jewish people, it didn’t appear to them that God was being righteous. After all, if salvation was from the Jews (John 4:22), then how was it that so many of the Jewish people were unsaved according to Paul’s gospel? As a nation they had been in a covenant relationship with Yahweh for fifteen hundred years and now, according to Paul, most of them were no longer in such a relationship with Him. To compound their confusion, many of the Gentiles now were. It didn’t seem to them that Yahweh had been faithful.
The short, simple answer of course was that they had not embraced Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. But Paul didn’t give this answer because he wasn’t interested in writing them off, he was interested in reaching out and to do that meant that he needed to honor their question with an in-depth response. That’s why he takes three chapters to explain why so many Jewish people ended up on the outside looking in.
Here’s an outline of what Paul has to say:
- Chapter 9 – He retells Israel’s history from Abraham to the exile and exposes their superficial, selective understanding as it related to God’s election and points to the salvation of the believing remnant (v. 27-29).
- Chapter 10 – He contrasts the righteousness by faith (of the remnant and the Gentiles) with the righteousness from law (the rest of Israel).
- Chapter 11 – Despite the disobedience and obstinance of the unbelieving portion of Israel (10:21), God is still pursuing them—even through the Gentiles (v. 13-14).
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 