The first question that comes to mind, upon reading this Epistle for today, is why is Paul wishing he could be cut off? Why the great sorrow and unceasing anguish? Quite plainly, Paul is observing that his own people, the Israelites, are apart from Christ. It’s an observation borne of experience. Paul’s missionary journeys from city to city in the Mediterranean basin, of which he has done quite a bit by the time he writes Romans, have shown him that the Gentiles are much more interested and open to the good news of Jesus than are the Jews, his own people. And he would rather that he himself were apart from Christ than that his people as a whole were apart from Him. It brings to mind what Moses did for Israel in Exodus 32. In that passage, Moses asks to stand in the place of the great sin of the people Israel. Make no mistake, it is a great sin. God has just delivered Israel from Egypt, from the hand of the Pharaoh and their oppression—and the Israelites respond by making a gold calf and offering a sacrifice to it. It wouldn’t be the last time that Israel, as a nation, would do this sort of thing.
And yet there is no question that in spite of their sin, God greatly blessed His people Israel. Consider the list of what Paul notes: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.”
The Israelites were adopted. They were chosen specially from all the nations of the world to be God’s own people. Abraham was not a believer before God chose him from the city of Ur to be His own. It wasn’t in light of any particular powers or abilities that God chose Abraham. He simply called and chose him to be the father of a great nation—this, a childless senior citizen. The rite of circumcision, on the eighth day, confirmed that adoption for each Israelite male.
To Israel belonged the glory. The presence of God. Remember the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Remember the building of the tabernacle and the cloud of the Lord descending upon it so that no-one could enter. Remember Moses’ face shining so radiantly after speaking in the presence of the Lord that it had to be covered when speaking to others. The glory of God’s presence that was so powerful that to see God face-to-face would lead to death, but also was mediated to Israel, a presence for good and for help rather than for judgment and destruction.
To Israel belonged the covenants. One of the definite themes of the Old Testament is that God is a covenant-making God. He binds Himself to His promises. Included in these covenants are the covenants which the Lord made with Abraham and Moses, the covenant to give them the land of Israel, the covenant of circumcision, the covenant to follow the Law of the Lord, and many other lesser covenants.
To Israel belonged the giving of the Law. The Law is a good and proper thing. It gives the guidelines for the people of God to follow, how they are to be and what they are to do in order to demonstrate their faithfulness to their God. As the apostle Paul has already demonstrated earlier in Romans, it is not a means by which a person can be saved, but it is a means by which to know God’s perfect and holy will.
To Israel belonged the worship. God had appointed the Divine Service for His people. The books of Exodus and Leviticus detail the tabernacle and the rituals which the Lord had set out for His people. These were set in place so the people would know how to receive mercy and grace from the Lord, would remember that the Lord alone was their God. They had a regular calendar of feasts and festivals, appointed times to come to the Lord’s house and offer Him their worship and praise.
To Israel belonged the promises. All the promises of the true God had been made to the people of Israel. The promises of the Messiah were foremost among these promises. That promise that God would send One to set right all the wrongs was a promise firmly held from the days of Adam and Eve forward. The promise grew and clarified over the years, and blossomed into its fullness in the birth of Jesus.
To Israel belonged the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the great fathers of the nation of Israel. To these fathers were given God’s covenant and promises.
To Israel belonged the Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary of the tribe of Judah, of the house and lineage of David. The one who was the answer to the promises of God, the one who is and remains the holy One forever, was born a Jew to redeem first His own people, the people so specially chosen and claimed by God to fulfill His purpose of bringing His grace and blessings to the whole world.
And yet with all those gifts and blessings from the Lord’s hand, Israel missed seeing the Messiah. They were trusting in their adoption, their seeing of the glory, their covenants, their keeping of the law, their worship, their understanding of the promises, their descent from the patriarchs— but they missed their Christ, they missed the right relationship with their God. They had substituted trust in things for trust in God alone. So Paul grieves for his people, knowing that even with all those gifts from the Lord’s hand, without the proper faith, all those works are empty, futile, and worthless.
This brings this passage directly to you and to me. What have you been given from the Lord’s hand? You have His Word. That collection of documents, written over a span of over 1600 years, collecting the history and prophetic word of God to His people. That Word which speaks of Christ from the first page right through to the last page. That Word which speaks of your sin and also speaks of your Saviour.
You have the adoption. In Baptism, which, as Paul notes in Colossians, replaces circumcision as the way to enter God’s covenant of grace, you have been made a son or daughter of God. You were chosen, not of your own accord, but simply and purely by God’s grace and God’s will.
You have the glory. God is present with you when you hear His Word. As Jesus said, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” When you and I gather around His Word, to hear Him, to receive His blessings, He is truly present. In the Lord’s Supper He is present with His body and blood in the elements of the bread and wine to feed Himself to us.
You have the covenants and the giving of the law. By faith you and I have also become part of God’s people. We are counted among the children of Abraham, but by faith, not by the circumcision of the flesh. We also have these markers to point to us how God is toward us and how we ought to be toward Him. What’s more, you have the giving of the Gospel made complete. Jesus’ death and resurrection for you is a completed deal.
You have the promises of God made yes in Christ Jesus. You belong to Him. How then can you live life so as to not have these promises and gifts first and foremost above everything else which this world gives and offers. Jesus is God over all, blessed forever.
Most of you have had faithful ancestors, too, the men and women of faith who taught you the Word of God as children and brought you up in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
So the big question is—where is your trust? You have all the gifts God gives—would the apostle Paul lament over you? This passage from Romans for today forces us to examine ourselves and repent. Repent that we are not the people we ought to be. Repent that we do sin against our God much and daily. Repent that we so often substitute faith in the things God gives us for faith in Christ Himself. For faith in anything but Jesus will only lead to either despair or pride. But faith in Jesus Himself, the one in whom all the gifts of God come together, the one who fulfills all the Old Testament and makes God’s word of promise a yes, in this Jesus there is life, there is hope, there is joy which surpasses all knowing.
The gifts we have been given are excellent, you see. There’s nothing wrong with having the Word, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Law, the Gospel, the promises of God, faithful ancestors. We have been blessed with a wealthy culture and a relatively easy way of life, compared to that of many parts of the world. Paul lamented his fellow Israelites because they had all those gifts God had given them and yet didn’t realize to whom they were pointing. He didn’t lament that they had all those things. Similarly, we have all these gifts so that we remember our Redeemer and receive Him who gives us His grace through these means. We have all these gifts to point us to our Christ who is God over all. As we learn of Him, grow in Him, receive His gifts, He gives, preserves, and strengthens our faith and trust in Him.
The warning is always there for any and every Christian. It is possible to turn and walk away from God’s gifts, it is possible to reject the salvation which He freely gives, just as the people of Israel turned and walked away from their Messiah. It isn’t always an obvious thing. Simply ignoring regular worship and the use of God’s gifts is all it takes to lead down this path to danger. Think of the Israelites. They had all God’s gifts, but missed out on God’s greatest gift through their own self-centred focus. Having your name on the membership roles of a church can’t save you. Only Jesus can do that. As such, our epistle for today is a call for you and for me to daily repent of our lack of faith and return to our Christ, who has called, chosen, and claimed you and me to be His own. Grounded in His Word and His gifts, He will keep us safe and strong in Him, both now and forever. God grant it, for Christ’s sake! Amen.
Last updated August 2008 by the webmaster.