Theological Commentary: Click Here
In Romans
10, we take a bit of a departure in Paul’s writing to talk about his concern
for his own Hebrew people. There is a
good bit to learn from his words. Above
all else, though, we learn that Paul is remorseful about people who do not
desire to turn to God. Paul is not angry
or vindictive of judgmental; Paul is burdened with sorrow and remorse.
So where do
we begin? First of all, Paul reminds us
that his people did have the word. God’s Word was among His people. God’s Word was proclaimed by the prophets. The people had priests. The people had some righteous kings. There were leaders and people to follow. They had the opportunity.
Paul also
tells us that God held out his hands in opportunity. God was with Abraham and his offspring. God brought the people out of Egypt and gave
them the Law. God stood beside them even
when they wanted a human king to follow.
God sheltered them from adversaries, even when they turned to foreign
gods. God gave them opportunity.
Where then do
we end up with this? We end up in a simple
place. Not all of Paul’s people have
turned to God. Some have, no doubt. But not all.
Paul then tells us that God’s people have been found in a nation that did
not seek Him. In other words, there are
people who are following God. But they
are not necessarily the people we would think.
They are from among the people of the world. There are people in the world who hear about
God and who turn to Him in love. There
are people in the world who voluntarily turn to God because they want to
respond to the truth.
In the end,
we come back to where we started. We
celebrate the fact that we can come to God even though we aren’t a part of the
Hebrew people genetically speaking. But
we should not look upon others in judgment.
We aren’t God’s people because we’re better. We are God’s people because God reached out
to us. We mourn for those who haven’t
responded to the hand of God as it reaches out to them.
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