Slices
Prepare
‘God moves in a mysterious way /His wonders to perform /He plants His footsteps in the sea /and rides upon the storm’ (William Cowper, 1731–1800).
Bible passage
All Israel will be saved
25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
‘The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.’
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Doxology
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?’
35 ‘Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?’
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
Explore
We might imagine the Gentile believers in Rome feeling proud that they are now God’s chosen ones, while the Jews are rejected. But Paul warns against such conceit (v 25). We are all, Jew and Gentile, recipients of God’s extravagant generosity and mercy (vs 30–32).
Here’s the mystery for us. God’s mission to the Gentiles is under way. Paul was keen to preach the gospel to Gentiles everywhere (v 13). But in the future, the Jews would also receive God’s mercy as a result of the Gentiles’ experience of God’s mercy (v 31). God remains faithful to his promises to the Jewish patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob and Isaac) (v 28), as he is faithful to the ‘grafted in’ Gentile believers (v 17). All his people, Jew and Gentile, are recipients of God’s mercy, dependent on the work of Christ who takes away our sin (v 27).
Paul now sums up all that he has been teaching about Christ and God’s salvation in the earlier part of his letter in this hymn of praise (vs 33–36). We cannot understand the ‘mind of the Lord’ (v 34). He owes us nothing, yet gives beyond measure, and beyond our understanding. ‘To him be the glory for ever!’ (v 36).
Respond
Pray that God will increase your understanding of his extravagant love and that this will overflow as you speak to others about your faith in Jesus.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Chronicles 8,9; Psalm 72
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Local Mission Partners who work in schools; this term is full of sessions helping children to prepare for the move into secondary education. Pray for conversations with schools as new groups and activities are planned for September.
