After his moving words of Romans 1-8, Paul turns in Chapter 9 to the particular situation of his own countrymen, "the seed of Abraham." Paul loved those of his own nation and had sought earnestly to share with them the Christian faith in spite of their constant opposition to his teaching. But by refusing to accept the Messiah and his message they were excluding themselves from the glad promise of the Gospel. For Paul this situation brought "great heaviness and continual sorrow" (v. 2).
The apostle recounts the many special privileges bestowed on the Israelites, which they had slighted, including the covenant, the giving of the law, the promises—even the patriarchs and, according to human descent, the Messiah himself. Had Jewish unresponsiveness meant the divine promises to Israel were not fulfilled? No, as Paul explains in verse 6, for in a significant sense Israel embraced more than those born into the Jewish nation. The heritage of the children of God comes by promise, not by physical relationship. And indeed, as the potter has power to mold his clay as he will, it was perfectly legitimate for the creator to call the Gentiles (as well as the Jews) to accept His salvation.
Paul sums up Chapter 9 in terms of his teaching of "justification by faith." The Gentiles, though not in pursuit of righteousness, found it by faith; while the Israelites failed in their pursuit of righteousness, for they sought to obtain it by works instead of by faith.
Chapter 10 opens with a reiteration of Paul's deep concern that his people might yet attain salvation; but this did not blind him to their faults. Their zeal for God was "not according to knowledge." Those seeking to set up their own righteousness were in ignorance of God's righteousness, in which "Christ is the end of the law ... to every one that believeth" (10:4). In contrast to the endless rules and regulations that a Jew had to obey to achieve legal righteousness, Paul stressed the natural simplicity with which righteousness might be found through faith. To translate his words to his fellow Jews in verses 8-10: "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach .... For with the heart one has faith leading to righteousness, while with the mouth one makes confession leading to salvation."
Paul points out, however, that Jews could not properly offer the excuse of ignorance. Time and again the prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, but the people failed to heed the good news. As Isaiah said (53:1), "Who hath believed our report?" The Jewish nation was amply informed of the divine will yet neglected to make proper use of opportunities to carry it out.
This discussion leads up to the question raised in Chapter 11: Had Israel then been rejected altogether? The apostle replies by drawing upon the famous Old Testament teaching of "the remnant," a righteous nucleus of "the chosen people" that was expected to survive even if the others failed. Elijah once had lamented he was the only worshiper of the Lord left in the land, but he was reassured by God that there were still some 7,000 men not bowing down to the heathen deity Baal (see I Kings 19). Similarly there was now a remnant of God's elect among the Jews. As for the rejection of the Jewish nation in general, this also had served an important purpose: it led to an extension of the faith to the Gentile world.
This might seem cold comfort for the rejected ones. But Paul hoped his own ministry to the Gentiles might make his countrymen "jealous," perhaps leading some of them to salvation. And (as one might translate his words in verse 15) "if their rejection brought about the reconciliation of the world, surely their reception will be like life from the dead."
However, the apostle goes on to caution Gentile Christians—through the metaphor of an olive tree—not to be overly proud of their own situation. Israel, for all its faults, remained the central stem to which the Gentiles had been grafted in place of its broken branches. The Gentiles should remember that as branches they do not bear the root; the root bears them. Indeed, if alien Gentiles could be grafted successfully onto the tree of Israel, Israelites broken off from the tree could be made to grow again on their own parent stem.
Paul believed the rejection of the Jews was only temporary and that there is indeed sure hope of salvation for the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike. With such a prospect of universal salvation before him, the apostle closes Chapter 11 with that beautiful passage: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! . . . For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
The remainder of Paul's letter consists chiefly of practical ethics. In Chapter 12 he calls upon the Romans to present their bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God" (v. 1), for this would be their spiritual worship. He counsels them not to fashion themselves after this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their mind. (Here the Greek for "transformed" corresponds to "transfigured" in Matt. 17:2 and Mark 9:2.) And using the metaphor of the body and its members, which he had used in Corinthians, Paul underscores the importance of each Christian's own special contributions—whether they include prophecy, ministry, or teaching.
The themes of Chapter 13 might be described as obedience (including the issue of obedience to civil authority) and love as the only true means of fulfilling the law. Paul goes on in Chapter 14 with another point he impressed upon the Corinthians: that Christians avoid behavior which, though actually innocent, might shock their neighbors unnecessarily. Regarding varying opinions about such issues as the eating of meat, Paul recognized that—to put it in contemporary language—"one believes he can eat anything, while another . . . eats vegetables" (v. 2). But he notes that since all were members of the same community they should show consideration for one another, for "none of us liveth to himself" (v. 7).
Paul then announces in Chapter 15 his plan to fulfill his long-cherished desire to visit Rome but his intention first to take the contributions of Gentile churches to the Christians at Jerusalem. Already, apparently, he sensed the dangers of a journey to Palestine, for verses 30 and 31 request the Roman church to pray for his deliverance "from them that do not believe in Judaea."
Some feel it would be natural for Romans to close with the last verse of Chapter 15: "Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen." Indeed, as we have seen earlier, there may be some doubt whether Chapter 16 and its many greetings were part of the original letter to the Romans. But whatever view is taken on this, it will probably not affect our understanding of the main body of the letter. Paul in this, his longest letter, had shown that Jew and Gentile alike were powerless without the message of Christianity; yet if they were to accept it and to make it their own, nothing in time or in eternity could separate them from the love of God and the salvation of His Christ.
