Romans 10: 18-21
Here Paul jumps back in his hole, getting his fellow Jews mad at him. Paul is saying that all Jews need to do is look at their bibles and they’ll know who Jesus is. They have heard the faith that he talks about in the previous section.
Paul is trying to open the doors to all gentiles while slamming it in the faces of his fellow Jews.
At least that’s the way it looks in the surface. If you read further, you’ll see that Paul is setting his readers up for another expression of grace in chapter 11.
This is why we can’t read scripture simply by pulling out a verse here and there. Especially not in Paul’s writings. Paul has a way of writing that makes you think he’s saying one thing, then pull the rug out from under the reader. It’s a specific rhetorical strategy that he uses to reinforce the power of his argument.
That’s why we shouldn’t doze off while listening to him. And it’s also why he’s been so badly misunderstood by some people.
No comments:
Post a Comment