“Israel didn’t attain that legal righteousness”
What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith, but Israel, who did strive for the law of righteousness, did not attain that law. Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever trusts in him will not be put to shame.”
Paul begins a new section of his discourse by summing up what he has found, from the Scriptures, to be true about Israel and the gentiles. While gentiles didn’t seek righteousness, they attained “righteousness from faith” (Gk: dikaiosunēn… ek pisteōs), and Israel, seeking “a legal righteousness” (Gk: nomon dikaiosunēs), didn’t find it. They failed to understand, from their own Scriptures, that they must be saved by their Messiah by “having faith in him” (Gk: pisteuōn ep’ autō; Isa. 28:16 LXX). Once again, however, the context of the Scripture citation supports the restoration of rebel Israel after punishment (Isa. 28:22-29).
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I can testify that they have a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge. Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Paul’s desire for his brethren, despite his previous worry that they might be “vessels of wrath” created for the sole purpose of destruction (9:21-22), is “for salvation” (Gk: eis sōtērian). They’re zealous about God (Gk: zēlon theou echousin), but their zeal isn’t based on knowledge, because, as argued above, they failed to recognize from their own Scriptures that they must believe in the Messiah (9:32-33). They sought to establish a legal righteousness rather than “the righteousness of God,” which belongs to everyone who believes in the Messiah (cf. Rom. 3:21-26).
They fail to understand that “Messiah is the telos of the law, for righteousness to every believing-one.” The meaning of telos here is debated, as it could mean that the Messiah is the end-point of the law, or that the Messiah fully consummates the law and brings it about in its ultimate form. Perhaps the correct reading is in between the two: Jesus has authoritatively re-interpreted the law, so that we no longer follow all the Mosaic commandments, but only “the law of Messiah,” which is to love [God and] others as yourself (Rom. 13:8-10; 1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 5:14; 6:2; cf. Matt. 7:12; 22:34-40; John 15:10-17).
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
To illustrate his point, Paul contrasts “the righteousness from the law” (Gk: tēn dikaiosunēn tēn ek tou nomou) with “righteousness from faith” (Gk: ek pisteōs dikaiosunē) using three Scripture quotations (Lev. 18:5; Deut. 9:4; 30:12-14 LXX). The first shows that, according to the law, one must follow every commandment in order to live (Lev. 18:4-5). In contrast, the other citations show that you don’t need to overexert yourself to follow God’s law — “the word is very near to you” (Deut. 30:14). Paul allegorizes this to apply to Christ, whom we don’t need to up follow to heaven or down to the abyss, because as he says elsewhere, Jesus himself went down to the abyss and up to heaven to save us (Eph. 4:8-10)!
“The word is near you”
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation.
Paul further allegorizes Deut. 30:14 (LXX) by expanding on its statement that the word is “in your mouth and in your heart.” He takes “in your mouth” to refer to one’s confession that “Jesus is Lord” (cf. 1 Cor. 12:3), and “in your heart” to refer to one’s belief that God raised Jesus from the dead. The former leads “into righteousness” (Gk: eis dikaiosunēn), and the latter leads “into salvation” (Gk: eis sōtērian). This is the “righteousness from faith” that Paul’s brethren, the rebel Israelites, have failed to understand and receive.
The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Isaiah 28:16 (LXX), previously quoted in Rom. 9:33, is cited again to show that the righteousness and salvation that comes from confession and belief is available to anyone who has faith in Christ (Gk: pas ho pisteuōn ep’ autō), regardless of ethnicity. Joel 2:32 (“everyone who calls… shall be saved”) demonstrates the same thing. This proves that Jesus is indeed “Lord of all people” (Gk: kyrios pantōn), both Jew and gentile, and will save anyone, whether Jew or gentile, who calls on him.
“Haven’t they heard?”
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Paul wonders again (9:14) whether it’s fair that God has hardened his rebellious brethren. After all, how can they call on Jesus to be saved if they don’t have faith in him, and some have never even heard of him because he hasn’t been proclaimed to them? He quotes Isaiah 52:7 (LXX), which speaks of the “timely” (Gk: horaioi; also translated “beautiful”) arrival of messengers to proclaim salvation to punished, rebel Israel (Isa. 52:3-10). Why hasn’t God proclaimed salvation to the rebellious people of Israel now, like he did back then?
But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have: “Their voice has gone out to all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.”
Paul answers his own questions about the fairness of God’s hardening of rebel Israel, using another group of Scripture quotations (Isa. 53:1; Ps. 19:4). These citations show that God has indeed proclaimed salvation to rebel Israel — indeed, to all the people of the earth! — but they’ve refused to believe it. Israel already heard salvation proclaimed to it, “by the word of Messiah” (Gk: dia rhēmatos christou), most likely referring to Jesus’ ministry to the circumcised while he was on earth (cf. Rom. 15:8). The gospel of John (12:37-41) appeals to the same passage from Isaiah to explain Israel’s failure to believe Jesus’ message.
Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will use those who are not a nation to make you jealous; with a foolish nation I will provoke you.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Another group of Scripture quotations (Deut. 32:21; Isa. 65:1-2 LXX) are brought in to show that Israel should have understood, from their own Scriptures, that God would show himself to the gentiles, but they’ve been willfully rebellious. His point is further strengthened by the context of his second quotation, in which Isaiah predicts that God will destroy the rebels among his people, while bringing in people from far-off lands to worship him in Jerusalem (66:15-24).
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