Far-Reaching Kindness
Romans 9:25-33
📖 Scripture
25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”
26 and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
📝 Scripture Summary
Paul quotes Hosea and Isaiah to show that God includes people who were not originally His and preserves a remnant for Israel. Gentiles gained righteousness by faith, but Israel, pursuing the Law, did not. They stumbled over the “stone” God placed in Zion. But the one who believes in this stone, Jesus Christ, will never be put to shame.
💡 Memory Verse
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
– Romans 8:18
🔎 Reflection
A Gracious God (9:25–29)
Paul uses the reference to Hosea to remind the people of God’s faithfulness. The prophet Hosea was unwaveringly committed to his adulterous wife, representing God’s continual faithfulness to His idolatrous people. The Lord repeatedly demonstrated His loving kindness to Israel, culminating in the atoning death of His Son. Because of Jesus, we are now included as the children of the living God. The reference to the book of Isaiah is also profound. Although Israel was unfaithful to God, a remnant was saved. When we recognize the depths of our sin, we realize that we should have received judgment like Sodom and Gomorrah. Instead, we experience the depths of God’s incredible grace.
Think back on your week, and consider whether you are being a faithful child of the living God. Confess your sins to Him, and give thanks for the depths of His mercy.
The Stumbling Stone (9:30–33)
Paul is pleased that many Gentiles have responded to God’s offer of salvation and are obtaining righteousness by their faith, but he laments that many Jews have pursued the Law as a way of righteousness. This contrast demonstrates the importance of faith and humility before God. When we think that we can earn righteousness, we show that we do not understand our relationship to God. Because grace runs counter to the ways of this world, some stumble when they encounter Jesus: He is a stumbling stone to those who try to achieve righteousness on their own. However, those who humbly recognize Him as the true Lord gratefully receive His forgiveness and mercy and are declared righteous by their faith.
Reread verse 33. In what ways do people stumble when they encounter Christ today?
🌟 Today’s Inspiration
“Faith unites to Christ, and Christ gives all that is necessary for the believer to stand justified before God. The declaration of God in justification is thus based not on anything the believer does but solely on what God has done in and through Christ, and that external to the individual.”
– Carl R. Trueman
🙏 Prayer
Dear Lord, I confess that I am in desperate need of Your mercy. I cast away my own crowns once again and look to You, the rock of my salvation. I rejoice that, because of You, I am a child of the living God. In Your name I pray, amen.
🖋 Essay
The Most Unfair Trade
I love baseball, and I often check the sports news to catch up on the latest scores. I also like to look at what players have been traded to which teams. I still remember sitting on a parking lot curb years ago as I read that the New York Mets (my favorite baseball team) had completed a trade—a trade that I knew would not turn out well. They gave up a young promising pitcher for an overrated veteran one. Unfortunately, the trade results were exactly as I expected.
As a sports fan, I love to discuss trades. Whenever a new trade is reported, I immediately talk with friends about which team got the better deal. Any devoted sports fan can tell you that a great trade sets up a favorite team for future success and that a poor trade can be a disaster. We might praise a great deal and feel pity for those who got a poor one.
On an infinitely greater scale, we can remember another unfair trade that took place on the cross. Paul declares, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus took all our sin and its eternal consequences, and in return, He gave us His perfect righteousness and its eternal rewards. Wow! When we feel that life is difficult and unfair, let us reflect on the most unfair trade of them all and be encouraged, rejoicing in the God of our salvation.
Written by Bob Koo