Page 12 - July 2025 - Truth & Tidings

Read Romans 9:27-10:10 God’s standards of righteousness. In
Verses 27-29 continue the theme of pursuing their own righteousness, “they
verses 25 and 26. Both are quotes from stumbled at the stone of stumbling” (v33
Nestle’s). Paul goes on to quote from
Isaiah (10:22-23 LXX modified, and 1:9 two verses in Isaiah, the first of which is
LXX). While they confirm what Paul wrote 8:14, the full text of which reads, “And he
in Romans 9:6-8, that natural lineage does shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone
not qualify us for salvation, yet there is a of stumbling and for a rock of offence to
glimmer of hope in these verses. God has both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for
not totally discarded the nation of Israel – a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
“a remnant shall be saved” (v27). In their The other is 28:16: “Therefore thus saith
1
original context, they are speaking about the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for
the recovery of the nation in the yet future a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a pre-
(see Isa 10:20-23). When we come to chap- cious corner stone, a sure foundation: he
ter 11, we will see that even in this age of that believeth shall not make haste.” The
grace, God has a remnant of Jews that are words “shall not be ashamed” come from
saved (11:1-5). the LXX. Christ is “the stone of stumbling.”
In 9:30-33, Paul draws the chapter to its Those who trust Him find Him to be “a
conclusion. But in doing so, he also intro- sanctuary” (Isa 8:14). However, Israel na-
duces the subject of chapter 10. Paul com- tionally rejected Him; they stumbled over
mences verse 30 with the question, “What the stumbling stone.
shall we say then?” which is equivalent to Notice now that Paul’s conclusions are
saying, “In conclusion.” He follows with not based on God’s sovereign rights as the
the words, “That the nations, not pursuing Creator, but on human failure to acknowl-
righteousness, apprehended righteous- edge their sinfulness and trust Christ.
ness, but a righteousness of faith” (Nestle’s
Text). In other words, the Gentile nations Chapter 10
acquired what they were not seeking. This
is not saying that at no point did they seek At the beginning of chapter 9, Paul
to be justified before God. But the process expressed his sorrow at Israel’s failure to
didn’t start with them; God was seeking receive their Messiah (vv1-3). Now in 10:1,
them before they sought God. On the other he restates his heart’s desire, accompanied
hand, Israel “pursued a law of righteous- by his prayer, for their salvation. Paul
ness” and, as a result, “did not arrive at knew that not all of them would be saved.
a law [of righteousness]” (v31 Nestle’s). Yet he prayed for them all, since salvation
They could not attain God’s perfect stan- was available to them all.
dard of righteousness. Paul didn’t doubt that they were zealous
In verse 32, Paul answers his own ques- for God, but that zeal was not based on
tion, “Wherefore?” or “Why?” He states knowledge. The word for “knowledge” in
that they did not seek it by faith but by verse 2 actually means “full knowledge.”
law observance. They failed to see that They knew a lot about the God of the Bible,
they were sinners, totally unable to achieve but didn't know the most important things
to know. They were ignorant of the fact
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV that God’s righteousness is absolute, both
unless otherwise noted. in its nature and its requirements (v3).

204 TRUTH kTidings July 2025