1I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience. So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say 2my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow. 3I would gladly be placed under God's curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people. 4They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them. 5They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of Jesus Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever! Amen. 6It cannot be said that God broke his promise. After all, not all of the people of Israel are the true people of God. 7-8In fact, when God made the promise to Abraham, he meant only Abraham's descendants by his son Isaac. God was talking only about Isaac when he promised 9Sarah, "At this time next year I will return, and you will already have a son."
10Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 11-12Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. 13That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.
14Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not! 15The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. 16Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do. 17In the Scriptures the Lord says to Pharaoh of Egypt, "I let you become Pharaoh, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth." 18Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
God does whatever He wants. "The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to". But, He doesn't pick everybody. Of course, the perceived lack of fairness is mitigated by the fact that none of us deserves mercy. The fact that mercy reigns at all is, by definition, "unfair".
I'm counting on the "unfairness" of it all...
Paul is discussing this because God picked Israel...instead of somebody else. The inherent notion among the Jews (of his day) was that they were special people. And, they were. God chose to use Israel for His plan to redeem the world. How much more special could one be. However, "special" does not mean "privileged". Which is to say, the Jews of Paul's day turned their special role inward. They believed they had a privileged status among the nations of the world. The rules, as applied to all others, did not apply to them. They had the Law. They had the Prophets. They had the one true God. They had a temple for Him to live in. And in that...they had salvation. God owed them that much.
Not exactly...and, their misunderstanding broke Paul's heart...
We believers are the spiritual progeny of Israel. We are special. We have been given stewardship of the great Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has chosen to use us as a means for evangelizing the entire world. It's an unspeakable blessing...but it doesn't make us privileged. It makes us responsible.
Live boldly out there today...
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