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Romans 9:30-33
The Apostle Paul makes an attempt to explain the difference between salvation in Christ Jesus for the nation of Israel (God’s chosen people) and how that differs for the Gentiles. To save confusion as we discuss this topic, I want to note here that salvation in Christ Jesus is no different for the nation of Israel than it is for anyone else; but that brings us to this passage of Romans 9:30-33 as the people of Israel were given the Law through Moses and were instructed to keep it. This is what we would refer to as the Ten Commandments (which also contained many more commandments as is listed in the Old Testaments books of Exodus 20-Leviticus).
As God’s chosen people, Israel was given the Law to follow – not some of it or most of it but all of it as being God’s representative to all the nations of the world in the blessings that would come on those who follow His commands. God clearly instructs this to His chosen “special” (Deuteronomy 26:18, NKJV) people through Moses in Deuteronomy 26:16-31:1. In this, God is setting out the Law for His chosen people to follow which will lead to righteousness. This problem is that because of sin no one is able to follow all of the Law which God gave to Moses. But that is the point in which God is making; no one is able to obtain righteousness in the eyes/commandments of God. But the nation of Israel became so focused on accomplishing this unattainable task that they lost their focus on God and His leading them through their faith in Him as Almighty God to accomplish what they could not do for themselves. In Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NKJV) God declares through Moses to the people of Israel, “11For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over their sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
The hearts of the Israelites turned from God to themselves – they put their trust and faith in believing that they had to accomplish righteousness for themselves apart from God. God instructs them in Deuteronomy 30:14, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.” And in Deuteronomy 30:16, “in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.” And in Deuteronomy 30:20, “that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
This is an example of why we need to love the LORD God with all our hearts, souls, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4).
What the Apostle Paul is teaching in Romans 9:30-33 is that the Gentiles, when given the gospel, were free from the Law in their lack of knowledge of it and were only offered the saving grace of God through the gospel of salvation in and through His one and only Son Jesus, who died on the cross to pay the price for their sins unto salvation. The Gentile’s only option was to open their hearts to the saving power of Jesus through His Holy Spirit given to all who will believe in Him. The nation of Israel was so caught up in trying to obtain righteousness for themselves that they missed the point of their need to put God first in their lives. Instead, they lowered their standards by pointing fingers at one another in an attempt to make themselves look better than the less fortunate, as if this would be “good enough” to obtain righteousness; but would be only a self-proclaimed righteousness in their own eyes and not in the eyes of God. This is why Paul quotes Isaiah in referring to Jesus as a “stumbling stone” in which the Israelites would refuse to believe in as they were still trying to accomplish the unattainable for themselves instead of putting their faith and focus on God through His gift of righteousness for all who will believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world (John 3:16-18).
Dear LORD,
Your lessons taught through the Apostle Paul help us to see that it is not through our own doing that we may obtain righteousness in Your eyes, but only through opening our hearts to You; to follow Your will for our lives through our faith in You and the gift You offer to us in salvation through Your one and only Son Jesus whom You sent to save the world from sin. Please help us to see that our “doing” is only made possible through our “believing” in You to accomplish for us what we cannot accomplish on our own in the righteousness that only come through believing in Jesus – that He died for our sins and rose from the grave for our righteousness for all who will confess and believe – in Him. In Jesus name I pray, amen.