Romans 9: 19-29
This is where Paul gets into trouble with some of his Jewish friends. A big part of his theology is that Christ is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Israel. And now Paul is saying that, because many of his fellow Jews haven’t recognized Jesus as Messiah, God is going to cut them loose.
At least that’s what it sounds like he’s saying. And a lot of Christians decided that Jews were fair game for aggressive evangelism because of this passage.
Paul quotes from the prophet Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not my beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
God is opening the doors to all people. God’s Messiah will be for all people. First for the Jew, then for the gentile.
It doesn’t make sense to say, on one hand, that God chooses an elect, then on the other hand, God rejects them because they don’t have the proper faith. If God chooses then God chooses.
I think Paul is having an argument with his earlier self about how Jesus fits into Jewish thinking and believing. But even more than that, Paul is arguing with some Jewish Christians who don’t want gentiles in their fellowship.
No comments:
Post a Comment