Israelites - Romans 9:1-8

When we first started studying Romans, the IM broke the themes of the book down into three sections. Romans 1-3 focused on “the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ,” where Paul “defined the plight of sinfulness that faces all mankind and taught that God’s solution to this problem for all people, whether Jew or Gentile, was the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Romans 4-8 focused on the need to grow out of the law of Moses and into the gospel of Christ with baptism, faith, obedience, and the blessings the come from obeying the gospel. Finally, Romans 9-16 talks about “Israel’s election, present rejection of the gospel and eventual salvation.” Basically, Paul has gone through why we need the gospel of Jesus Christ, how it works, and now will discuss how to make it work in their lives specifically.

There is a concept brought up in verse 4 that was also discussed in chapter 8, but I didn’t mention it, and that is the concept of “adoption.” The IM says, “Caesar Augustus who was the ruler of Rome at the time of Christ’s birth, was adopted by his predecessor, Julius Caesar. Adoption was common in the Roman world and would have been a familiar concept to Paul’s’ readers.” The IM goes on to say that once legally adopted, that person then had all the same rights and privileges as someone who had been naturally born to that family.
Another interesting change Paul makes in his narrative is his deviation from the label of “Jews” to “Israelites.” The IM comments, “In Romans 9-11, Paul used the terms Israel and Israelites instead of Jews. Paul used Israel to mean God’s covenant people, the house of Israel, in contrast to the Jews of his day, who had largely rejected the Savior… Just because the Jews in general had rejected Jesus Christ, this did not make the gospel message fruitless or ineffectual. Paul reasoned that not all people who were Israelite by lineage could be considered to be part of covenant Israel; the world of God was taking root among the Gentiles… Paul also observed that Israel’s rejection of the gospel and the taking of the gospel to the Gentiles fulfilled prophecy, verifying God’s word rather than discrediting it.”
By talking about adoption and making a clear distinction between “Jews” and “Israelites,” Paul is clarifying that ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ is available to all and that God’s blessings come to those who are obedient to the gospel, regardless of their circumstances or origins. This would be a shock and heresy to those who believed that they would be saved and held blameless simply because they were of the lineage of Abraham.
Another good point brought up by Paul is that just because the gospel was rejected by many doesn’t mean that “that word of God hath taken none effect.” We know that seat belts can save lives when worn in an accident, but if someone doesn’t wear their seat belt, does that mean that seat belts don’t save lives anymore? Of course not. That one single person’s rejection of seat belt safety means that is it now ineffectual in their lives, but the efficacy of seat belts is not diminished because someone refuses to wear it.
Likewise, the gospel of Jesus Christ saves, and if we allow it to work in our lives, then we can benefit thereby. But if we reject it, then the benefits are still there, just not available to us because we refuse to participate.