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– 1 Timothy 3:15

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10. THE ISRAEL PROBLEM

In chapters 9 to 11, the apostle Paul discusses in greater length the problem of the unbelief of Israel. This problem is both an enigma and a paradox. Israel are the ones ‘entrusted with the words of God’; they are the circumcised, the sons. They have ‘the divine glory, the covenants, the law, the temple worship and the promises’ - religious markers which made them different from all the rest. Moreover, in physical lineage, the ancestry of Jesus Christ can be traced from the Israelite race (see 3:1-2; 9:1-6). Yet Israel’s standing before God is no different from that of their Gentile counterparts. ‘Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin’, charged Paul. ‘Their (the Jews’) condemnation is deserved’ (3:9, 8). But what makes the Jewish problem all the more enigmatic and paradoxical is that while the Gentiles (who lack the religious privileges enjoyed by the Jews) are responding in faith to the gospel of Christ, the Jews are, by and large, holding back.

Paul, in dealing with this Jewish problem, is careful not to offend his countrymen’s sensitivities any more than what can possibly happen. He knows that he is walking on eggs and he has to tread gingerly. He prefaces his discussion with a solemn declaration that he is speaking ‘the truth in Christ’, that his conscience is clear and that he has the Holy Spirit on his side (9:1). He next evinces a self-deprecating spirit:
     I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself
     were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
     the people of Israel. - 9:2, 3

And in the middle of his discussion, he expresses his ‘heart’s desire and prayer to God’ - that Israel may be saved (10:1). Thus armed with this display of artful diplomacy, Paul begins to take the bull by its horns.

First, he redefines ‘Israel’. ‘Not all who are descended from Israel (Jacob) are Israel’; neither are they his descendants that they are all Abraham’s children. Instead, the beginning point to reckon the offsprings of Abraham (effectively, Paul’s codename for the church) needs be taken a generation back - to that of Isaac. In essence, Paul is arguing that ‘Israel’ in the now is not the national Israel who are physically descended from the patriarch Israel but that they are the spiritual grouping of all, who like Isaac, are the children of God’s promise to Abraham (‘I have made you a father of many nations’, Gen. 17:5; see Rom. 4:17). Thus, the new Israel groups both national Israel and the rest of the world on the proviso that there is faith: both Jew and Gentile are ‘Israel’, Abraham’s offsprings, when they express faith in Christ.

In anticipation of a cry of protest from the Jews that God is ‘unjust’ to dilute Israel with the Gentiles, Paul next raises the point of the sovereignty of God. He does this by citing God’s own words to Moses:
     I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
     compassion. - 9:15; see too Ex. 33:19

As God did with Pharaoh (9:16-18) and as the clay is in the potter’s hands (vv. 19-21), so God’s sovereignty, the right to do as he pleases, is unquestionable and untouchable. No one can ‘talk back to God’; none can question him (v. 20).

Paul further bolsters his argument for the ‘Israel’ of the now with some citations from the prophets Hosea and Isaiah (see vv. 25-29). Principally, his citation of Hosea 2:23 is telling:
     I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’
     who is not my loved one.

The paradox of the Gentiles ‘who did not pursue righteousness’, but have ‘obtained it’ and the Jews ‘who pursued a law of righteousness’ but did not attain it, is next dealt with by Paul in the closing verses of chapter 9 and further in chapter 10.

If the Jews fail to attain the righteousness they aspire, it is not for lack of zeal. They do have zeal and are indeed ‘zealous for God’ (10:2-3). However, they do not have the zeal that is with knowledge; and this is crucial. Zeal without knowledge can be dangerous. It can lead to fanaticism - lots of negative energy spent on any number of causes - all in the name of God, yet totally destructive to the common good and failing to achieve any real fruitful purposes.

This zeal of the Jews in their pursuit of ‘a law of righteouness’ is a case in point. In zealously pursuing this form of righteousness, they fail to take in that there is another type of righteousness that has become possible for them. They fail to recognize the righteousness that has come from God - the righteousness that is by faith in Christ Jesus. Instead, they stumble over this ‘stone’ and ‘rock’ that is Christ (9:33) and excuse themselves with ‘we have not heard’ and ‘we have not understood’ (see 10:18, 19). Yet Paul puts it squarely to them: ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart’ and if you continue to stumble, it is because all along you have been ‘a disobedient and obstinate people’ (see 10:8, 21).

Archive
The Romans Series
1. Being the Community of God’s People
2. Ethno-Religious Tensions
3. The Power and the Wrath of God
4. Justification by Faith
5. Justification Brings Blessings
6. While We Were Still Sinners
7. Died to Sin
8. Slaves to Righteousness
9. The Difference of the Spirit
10. The Israel Problem
11. The Gentile Problem
12. Community Living
13. Community Unity
14. Community Ethics
15. Loving the Enemy Ethic
16. Extra-Community Ethics
17. The Weak and the Strong
18. Community Formation
19. Paul, the Minister
20. Gems in Greetings

Articles on The Da Vinci Code, Gnosticism and
the Gospel of Judas
1. The Da Vinci Code: A Christian Response
2. The Nag Hammadi Documents and Gnosticism
3. The Gospel of Judas
4. The Gospel of Judas - A Retake
5. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 1)
6. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 2)
7. Teachings in the Gospel of Judas Compared (Part 3)
8. Canonicity and the Gospel of Judas

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