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 Mark |
Reflect: Smith Wiggelsworth once said this; "I can get more out of God by believing Him for one minute than by shouting at Him all night." Does this apply to yo?
Read: Romans 9:17-32 -link-
Response: Paul is still wrestling with the specific problem of why the Jews should have rejected their Messiah. His answer lies in the character of God and in our response:
• God’s sovereignty (v 22). God can choose to do as he wills – it is not for us to make the decisions or to argue. This may seem hard, but God’s actions are always performed in the light of his mercy.
• God’s grace (v 23). God does not act to exclude people but to include. His intention was that all nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3). So the emphasis is on the inclusion of the Gentiles (v 30). For most of the Romans (who are gentiles) this is good news!
• The human response. Despite every opportunity to respond, the Jewish nation had, by and large, ignored, rejected or failed to understand what God was doing in Christ – not all, though, for the first Christians obviously were Jews. Throughout Jewish history there had been those who rebelled and those who had faithfully served God – ‘the remnant’ (v 27). Into that faithful group the Gentile believers are now added.
This tension between the sovereign will of God and human responsibility isn’t easy to understand or explain. It is one of the mysteries of our faith, but emphasise either one at the expense of the other and something important is lost. Paul always keeps his eagerness to evangelise people – so should we. |
