The subjective part of the gospel. In Romans chapters 12 through 16, Paul addresses the believers’ response to the objective truth presented in chapters one through eight. We have an obligation because of what God has accomplished on our behalf. We are indebted to God to live a life controlled by the Holy Spirit and
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A warning to Gentile believers. The apostle Paul asserts that God did not reject all of Israel and that those who have fallen off can be brought back. “And even they if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” Romans 11:23,
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Warning to the Gentile believers. After presenting a convincing assertion that God did not reject Israel, Paul turns to Gentile believers. “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, If somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them.”
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Who received the promised righteousness? “So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” Romans 11:5 – 6, NET. The remnant before the birth of the Messiah, at the
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Did God reject Israel? “So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.” Romans 11:1, NET. The Jewish leaders and those afraid of them rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah. Who, then, among the Israelites, received
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Who will be saved? God saved the world from guilt and punishment for sin through the body of Jesus on the cross at Golgotha. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.” John 3:17, NET. The Son of God did
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Who will be saved? Salvation does not come through human obedience to the letter of the law. “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 preach) because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
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Paul’s concern. Paul was concerned about the salvation of the Jews. Romans 10:1. Salvation is not possible without acceptance of the righteousness from God, Jesus Christ. Pursuing righteousness through performance in the flesh is evil in God’s eyes. There is one God, one Savior, Jesus Christ, one righteousness, and one salvation. The Jews were zealous
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Did God reject the Jews? The Jews believed that if they fulfilled, in the flesh, the requirements of the law of Moses and performed the Temple rituals, they would be without sin. Accordingly, they could not see the need for justification by removing sin. There was nothing to remove because they were without sin, they
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Did God reject the Jews? The Jews misunderstood why the need for the Messiah to come to earth. In self-pride, they concluded that the Messiah would be the final and enduring liberator of the Jewish Nation. A succession of foreign powers occupied Judah, so the Jews felt oppressed. However, the Temple in Jerusalem stood during
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Did God reject all of Israel? “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before the people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven.” Mathew 10: 32 – 33, NET. Therefore, the Jews who accept Jesus Christ and acknowledge him before the
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Did God reject the Jewish people? “This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of the promise are counted as descendants.” Romans 9:8, NET. God called Abraham, not because of who he was at the time of calling, but because of whom he would
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Did God reject the Jews? “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed – cut off from Christ – for the sake of my people, my fellow countryman.” Romans 9:2 – 3, NET. Why was Paul so concerned about the people of Israel?
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