Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Romans 9 and Psalm 105

In Romans 9, the thoroughly Jewish Paul wrestles with a tragic reality. In every city he visited (remember Acts) he had gone first to the synagogues to share the Gospel with the Jews, yet by and large the Gospel was rejected there, and only a small number received and believed it. Only thereafter had he turned to the Gentle population of the city and begun to preach to them. In every city, he found that far more Gentiles than Jews received the Gospel and responded with faith.

In a long and winding argument that feels a lot like someone ‘thinking out loud’, Paul writes Romans 9 mainly to remind himself and others that this state of affairs is based on the mysterious combination of God’s absolute freedom to give mercy and on people’s freedom to choose to receive it by faith or not.

In God’s mercy, He has chosen not to reject and destroy every human being for our sinful rebellion. Through exercising His absolute right to give mercy as He determines, God has chosen to extend mercy to anyone who trusts entirely in the saving work of Jesus Christ (i.e., anyone who has faith in Jesus).

The frustrating reality, which so saddened Paul, was that his ‘own people’ the Jews had widely rejected this offer of mercy, because they had become so intent on (and so blinded to their sinfulness by) their own self-righteous pursuit of pleasing God through obedience to the Law. God’s merciful offer of salvation by grace through faith had proven to be a stumbling block to them because they were determined to do the impossible – to earn their salvation!

On the other hand, Gentiles tended to recognise far more readily that they were separated from God by their sin, and to receive the offer of mercy and salvation with great gratitude.

Life application: Forget about trying to earn your way to God. Put your faith in Jesus afresh today. Understand that you are saved by God’s mercy and grace through faith in Christ alone. God has chosen to adopt you into His family as an act of mercy and not because you deserve it in any way. So respond to that mercy and grace by trusting Him even more, and living out your gratitude through a God-pleasing life.