In the 10th chapter of Romans, Paul has now come to the crux of the matter. He has come to the pinnacle chapter of chapters 1-11. All along he has been leading his readers to this chapter of all chapters. It is in the 10th chapter that Paul announces to his readers that in fact God is dealing with a "disobedient and contrary people." He is referring to the Jewish nation.
Paul’s “desire and prayer to God for them (the Jewish nation) is that they may be saved.” (10:1) But how can they? They are “ignorant of the righteousness of God, and throughout their history have been seeking to establish their own righteousness.” (10:3) He says that they have never submitted to and still “do not submit to God's righteousness.”
Even though the end goal of the law (10:4) is righteousness through faith in the death and resurrection of the Messiah, (10:9) for the Jew first then to the Gentile, yet the Jewish nation has not been able to understand that fact. They continue in their ignorance.
Paul takes his readers all the way back to Moses to help them understand. (10:5) He tells them that Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law compared to the righteousness based on faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus and declares to his readers to gain access to that righteousness by faith, they must believe it in their heart and confess it with their mouth, two very typical and well-established Jewish rites. Paul is urging his own fellow Israelites to believe the gospel message that he brings just as he is urging the Gentiles to believe it.
Paul reminds his Jewish readers what the Jewish scriptures say, (Isaiah 54:4, Joel 2:26-27, Isaiah 49:23);
“Everyone (both Jews and Gentiles) who believes in him will not be put to shame." (10:11)
He goes on immediately afterwards to remind his readers once more,
"there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone (Jews first, then the Gentiles) who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (10:12-13)
It is interesting to note that Paul may be attempting to tie chapters 1-11 together with his double reference of the “gospel” (1:15, 16) in this chapter coupled with the reference to not being “put to shame” and “God making no distinction” as part of his main premise throughout the letter thus far.
These are the prominent theme-fibers with which Paul uses to thread together the beginning chapters of his letter and the very same prominent theme-fibers with which he uses throughout to thread together all of chapters 1-11.
So here, it looks like, once again, Paul is attempting to pull the thread a bit tighter to assure that his readers understand that all his content in chapters 1-11 is cohesive and understandable. Paul wants these “ignorant, disobedient and contrary people, who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and who blaspheme Gods name among the Gentiles” to get his emphasis,
“He is not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live by faith.”
The reason Paul is not shamed is because he knows that his version of the gospel is God’s version of His salvation plan for the Jews first and then the Gentiles. As Paul made clear in the very first paragraph of his letter, it was this gospel that was...
"promised beforehand through God’s prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we (Paul and his Jewish companions) have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations (Gentiles), including you (Jews and Gentile readers) who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (1:2-6)
It is these “ignorant, disobedient and contrary people, about whom Paul now writes.
It may appear that God has failed (9:6) He has not! This is God’s plan! It may appear that God is unjust (9:14) He is not! This is God’s plan! It may appear that God finds fault (9:19) He does not! This is God’s plan! It may appear that God has rejected the Jews (11:1) He has not! This is God’s plan! The Jewish situation may appear shameful. It is not! This is God’s plan!
Paul makes clear that the one who stumbles over the stumbling block, and to the one who believes, that there is no shame, as it is all the plan of God. “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek/Gentile.”
Paul now moves to placing the crowning cap atop his pinnacle argument. In his attempt to explain salvation history, first to the Jew and then to the Gentile, Paul makes it clear that the Jewish nation has had their opportunity to believe.
Paul asks his readers,
"have they (Jewish nation) not heard? Indeed they have." (10:18) "All day long God has held out His hands to a disobedient and contrary people” (10:21), and they have refused to believe.
Because God's salvation plan was presented first to the Jews and because they refused to believe, so now then God has turned to the Gentiles. According to Paul, he understands that the cultural context in which he finds himself, God had already prophesied about long ago. (Deuteronomy 32:21) Paul reminds his readers that God would turn his attention away from the Jews, appearing to be rejecting them and turn it to the Gentiles making them the apple of His eye. And Paul reminds his readers of this prophecy in 10:19.
"This appearance of rejection will make the Jewish nation jealous. "I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation."
It is now the time of the Gentiles, and their time is not yet fulfilled. (Luke 12:24). It appears that God's plans for the nation of Israel have failed (9:6) They have not! This is God’s plan! It appears that God is unjust in that "He has shown myself to those who did not ask for Him.” (9:14) He is not! This is God’s plan! It appears that God finds fault with the Jews (9:19) He does not! This is God’s plan! It appears that God has rejected the Jews in favor of the Gentiles (11:1) He has not! This is God’s plan! The Jewish situation may appear shameful. It is not! This is God’s plan! The Jewish nation has only experienced a partial hardening for a time, until the fullness of the Gentile has come" (11:25)
Yet, Paul is concerned about his fellow Jews. He has already said that his “desire and prayer to God is for them is that they may be saved. But because of their ignorance of God’s righteousness, he also believes that they are conceited (10:25) and wise in their own eyes.
And even though he has already described them as being “ignorant” of the righteousness of God, he does not want them to remain ignorant. He wants them to know of the gospel mystery that has been hidden for ages, but now revealed, "the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints." (Colossians 1:26)
Paul explains to his readers that it was God’s choice “to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery,” (Col 1:26-27) so that they will not continue in their conceit. Part of that mystery is a “hardening in part that has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in“ (11:25) and “Christ has come into them“ (Col 1:27)
So, the fact that these conceited, ignorant, contrary Jews are relegated to a moment in history in which they have been de-elevated by God, and because of their ignorance, the Gentiles are now conversely elevated simply because of God’s choice, we will see in the capstone chapter of Paul’s pinnacle argument in chapters 9-11, that it has been God’s plan from the beginning of time that "as regards the gospel, the Jews are enemies for the Gentiles sake, but as regards election, the Jewish nation is beloved for the sake of their forefathers.”
In my next blog, we will see that it was God’s plan from the beginning of time, from faith to faith, that for the sake of the Gentiles, all the Jews were Consigned to Disobedience.