The questions just keep coming. Given Israel’s persistent unbelief, has God washed his hands of them? Paul is indignant. ‘Certainly not. Look at me! Rescued, as it were, from the very heart of the Jewish system’ (v 1). And there were others he could have named: Peter, James and John for instance. God never gives up. This now leads to four challenging words to be negotiated. Hold tight – and pick one to add to the jigsaw. 

In every age, there have always been a minority who have believed. They are the remnant (v 5), those in whom God’s grace (v 6) has not met with the obdurate desire to earn his favour. Responding to that grace they show themselves to have been elected (v 7) into God’s family. And those left outside? Their persistent rejection of the way of faith has produced in them hardened hearts (v 7), a hardening which God confirms; spiritual truth no longer being able to find a way past their carefully erected defences.  

If all this feels hard, don’t despair. Tomorrow, we shall see how God builds on this situation to fulfil his plan of redemption. For the moment, hold on to the central truth that God always acts in grace.

Think of this description as being about yourself. What does it mean for you that you are ‘chosen by grace’ (v 5)?

Can God give up on his people? Through the previous chapters, Paul has been expressing his grief that the Israelites – the chosen, privileged people of God – have rejected the Messiah and the way of grace.¹ Like the prophets of old, Paul has told them the bad news. Now, we hear the voice of the pastoral theologian seeking to help them understand. Paul is an Israelite too and shares the Jewish story (v 1). He questions these Jewish Christians of Rome. No, God has not rejected you – but there is a new way (v 5).

Paul reminds his listeners of Elijah who felt so alone, yet discovered that there were some who had stayed faithful to God (vs 2–4). Always, through the chequered history of God’s people, there are those who continue to seek him. God does not give up; he remains faithful. Now, this ‘remnant’ comprises the Christian Jewish believers (v 5), but their acceptance by God depends, as it does for all believers (Jew or Gentile), on grace, not works (v 6). For Jewish Christians this new culture is not one to which it is easy to adjust – as Paul’s later writing about the strong and weak in faith will show.² 

Paul does not go gently on hard truths. Many Israelites have rejected God’s Messiah (v 7). As prophets of old had said, they would not understand, they would not ‘see’ (vs 8,9). As a result, they have condemned themselves to carrying the heavy load of laws which leave them ‘bent for ever’ (v 10). The good news is, that all believers have been set free by the grace of God who remains faithful to his people. In the midst of our struggles to understand, the truth is that God knows us as his own (v 2).

Pray for all who are not Christians that they will seek and find Christ. Thank God that he accepts you, knows you and has chosen you by grace. 

¹ Rom 9:1–5  ² Rom 14:1 – 15:13