~Romans 9~ Romans 9 starts off with the title “God’s selection of Israel”. The chapter starts off with Paul saying “With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.” 

 As you may know, the majority of the Jewish people rejected Jesus Christ and Paul (who was a Jew) is expressing his sadness because his people rejected Jesus. This is a normal feeling that many Christians have felt for their people. Christian Zionists may use this to support Israel but this is simply Paul showing his sadness about how his people rejected Jesus, Paul didn’t feel bad for the Jews because they are “chosen people”, he felt bad because these are his people. Many Arab Christians feel bad because the majority of their people aren’t saved. This doesn’t mean they think Arabs are more important, they just feel bad for their people. The people who share the same culture as them. “They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.” 

 Christian Zionists using this to defend their pro-Israel agenda is a perfect example of Eisegesis. Eisegesis is the action of interpreting books in a way that fits *your own agenda*. Eisegesis has been used many times throughout history, White Christians used Eisegesis to oppress both the Blacks and the Native Americans, Eisegesis has been used by Christians to silence and oppress women, Eisegesis has even been used by characters in the Bible as well. When Jesus was fasting, Satan came to tempt him. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ Jesus responded, ‘The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’’ Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to you,’ he said, ‘if you will kneel down and worship me.’ ‘Get out of here, Satan,’ Jesus told him. ‘For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ‘ Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.” 

 As you can see, Satan kept on using parts of scripture to convince Jesus to give in to temptation. Jesus called Satan out for his Eisegesis and did not give into temptation. When looking the Romans passage we just looked at, we need to look at what was said next: “Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,’ though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.” 

 So, God has fulfilled his promise to Israel and not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people. It does mention that “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted” and right after mentions that Abraham had other children too. What does this mean? That not all of Abraham’s children are children of God, only the children of the promise. A Christian Zionist could argue that this is implying that the descendants of Isaac are the children of the promise because “Isaac is the one through whom your descendants will be counted” and that not all of Abraham’s physical descendants are children of God. This would be a flawed argument as it also says in this passage that not all of those born into the nation of Israel are members of God’s people. So not all of those who are from the nation of Israel are God’s people, only the children of the promise. So who are the children of the promise? If it’s not all of the children of Abraham and it’s not all of the nation of Israel, who are the children of the promise? The answer is, the followers, Jew or Gentile. Doesn’t matter what you race, nationality or ethnicity is, you can still be a child of the promise. To prove this, we need to go back to Galatians 3:23-29 “Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.” So the Christians are the true children of Abraham and they inherit the promise. So the children of the promise are truly members of God’s people. Let’s continue to look at Romans. “For God had promised, ‘I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’ This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, ‘Your older son will serve your younger son.’ In the words of the Scriptures, ‘I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.’ Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, ‘I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.’ So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.” 

 Christian Zionists can use this to defend their “Jews are still the chosen people” belief. A Christian Zionist could say “what’s wrong with Jews being the chosen people? Doesn’t it say that God chooses people according to his own purposes?” God does choose people according to his own purposes and God did choose the Jews according to his own purposes. In the Old Testament, God guided the Jews and made promises to them and in the New Testament, these promises were fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ who came from the Jewish people and shared the truth to both Jews and Gentiles. And now, both Jews and Gentiles can become chosen by becoming believers. All these promises have been fulfilled, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the oppression and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the destruction of the beautiful country of Palestine is not something God supports. The next few passages in Romans 9:17-23 is about how God shows his mercy to people. Romans 9:24-29 talks more about Jews and Gentiles: “And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles. Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, ‘Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.’ And, ‘Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’’ And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, ‘Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.’ And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: ‘If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.’” Prophecies in the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, talk about how Gentiles will become God’s people. So when talking about prophecies in the Old Testament about Israel, we must acknowledge that the Old Testament has prophecies about Gentiles becoming the chosen people of God. The reason only a remnant of the Jews shall be saved is because the majority of the Jews rejected Jesus. This shows how God always had a plan to bring both Jew and Gentile one in Christ. After this, Romans 9 moves on to a new section called “Israel’s unbelief”. In this section, it shows how following the law doesn’t make you right with God and only faith can make you right with God. “What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, ‘I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.’” 

 Following the law doesn’t make you a true member of God’s people, faith does. That’s why God chose Abraham, not because of his works but because of his faith. That’s why Jesus came, so people could be saved by faith and not by works. After this passage, Romans 9 finishes and we then turn the page to Romans 10. ~Romans 10~ We open Romans 10 with Paul talking about how the Jews have a love for God but have a “misdirected zeal” as Paul put it. “Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.” 

 The Jewish people do indeed want to follow God but in this passage of the Bible, the Jews have been misdirected on how exactly to follow God. Christian Zionists could say that since Paul wants Israel to be saved, that could somehow support their pro-Israel agenda when in reality, Paul is just saying how bad he feels for the people of Israel and how they rejected God. It says “For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God”. Jesus came so we could be made right with God, Jew or Gentile. Romans 10 moves on to a new section called “Salvation is for everyone”, and notice how it says everyone and not just the Jews. In this New section, it says ‘If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.’ Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” 

 As I said, the New Testament makes it crystal clear that being a Jew doesn’t automatically make you right with God, neither does it make you chosen by God. Neither your works nor your ethnicity can make you right with God, only faith. Despite this, Christian Zionists continue to support Israel, the oppressor, and stand against Palestine, the oppressed. This is also a contradiction with scripture because in the New Testament, we see Jesus standing up for the oppressed. “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!’ But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message? Yes, they have: ‘The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.’ But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, ‘I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation. I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.’ And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, ‘I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.’ But regarding Israel, God said, ‘All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.’” 

 Israel rebelled and to this day, God is still trying to save them because God remains faithful. In fact, there is no human being on earth that God is not trying to bring to faith, not a single human being. Jew or Gentile. Israeli or Palestinian. Greek or Turkish. Armenian or Azerbaijani. Indian or Pakistani. North Sudanese or South Sudanese. Ethiopian or Eritrean. Saudi or Yemeni. Any race, nationality or ethnicity on earth, God is trying to save all of them and God cares for all of them. God loves everyone. After this, the book of Romans goes on to a new chapter, Romans 11. This chapter starts off with the title “God’s mercy on Israel”. This chapter is probably most used by Christian Zionists to support their agenda. “I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.’ And do you remember God’s reply? He said, ‘No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!’” 

 After all we have read, about how God accepts Jew and Gentile and how salvation is for everyone, Romans 11:1-4 comes up, trying to tell us that God still cares for the people of Israel and has not rejected them. When it says “No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning.” It is simply saying that the Israelites were the first people chosen (“chosen from the very beginning”) and God has not rejected the first people who followed and worshipped God. Notice how it does not say, “God has not rejected the people of Israel because they are still chosen”, it says “God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning.” Meaning that God hasn’t abandoned the first people who accepted him even though they rejected him. In the Greek translation, “οὐκ ἀπώσατο ὁ Θεὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ὃν προέγνω.” Means “God did not forsake his people before me” and it refers to the people of Israel as “his people” because they were the first people to come to faith, the first people of God. They aren’t the only people of God and they aren’t the people who are chosen above others now, they are just the first people to come to faith. This passage of the Bible is trying to clarify that God did not abandon the Israelites or reject them but just because God didn’t reject them doesn’t mean they are chosen above anybody else. Jews were the first people of God, they aren’t the only people of God and since there are other people of God who aren’t Israeli, that means all people of God, Jew or Gentile are chosen. “It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say, ‘God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear.’ Likewise, David said, ‘Let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble, and let them get what they deserve. Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent forever.’ Did God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it. I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them. For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead! And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too. But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root. ‘Well,’ you may say, ‘those branches were broken off to make room for me.’ Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen.” 

 The majority of the Israelites rejected Jesus and only a small amount of the Israelites actually accepted Jesus. The ones that didn’t accept Jesus were broken off from Abraham’s tree and the Gentiles who accepted Jesus replaced them. The reason Paul wants to make the Jews jealous was because Paul was a Jew who cares for his people and since the Gentiles were accepting Jesus and receiving all of God’s gifts, Paul hoped that the Jews would see this, become jealous and accept Jesus as well. We Gentiles are warned not to brag about we replaced the Jews who haven’t accepted Jesus (yet). This is not to say that Gentiles replaced the Jews, only the Jewish and Gentile believers are allowed to be part of Abraham’s tree. It’s just that the majority of Jews haven’t accepted Jesus and therefore, were cut off from Abraham’s tree, not because they were Jewish but because they didn’t accept Jesus. To prove this, let’s look at the next part of Romans 11. “For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t spare you either. Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.” 

 God will still accept the Jewish people and put them back on the tree of Abraham as he put us (the Gentiles believers and the Jewish believers) on the tree of Abraham. And even the Gentile unbelievers, if they were to accept Jesus, they would be grafted into the tree of Abraham. Any unbeliever, Jew or Gentile, can become a believer and be grafted into the tree of Abraham. Romans 11 moves on to “God’s mercy is for everyone”, notice how it says everyone and not just the Jews. “I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say, ‘The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.’” 

 Everyday, more and more Gentiles are coming to faith and according to the Bible, once the full number of Gentiles have come to faith, Israel shall be saved as well. “Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.” 

 Christian Zionists can use this to support their agenda by saying “since God’s gifts and his call can never been withdrawn, that would mean the promise that the Jews would possess the Holy Land can’t be withdrawn”, it wasn’t. As I said many times throughout this book, God did not cancel his promises to the Jews, he already fulfilled them. If I promise you that I will give you 20$ tomorrow so you could go buy food for the entire family, and then tomorrow I keep my promise and then you come back with the food and we all finished eating dinner, my promise was fulfilled. In the same way, the land was promised to the Jews so the Messiah, Jesus, who was a Jew, could come from the Jewish nation to spread the truth and now both Jew and Gentile can be saved. This was the purpose of the promise given to the Jews, and this purpose was fulfilled. This war is a result of human greed and yes, God talks about war happening in Israel, doesn’t mean that he wants the war to happen. God’s gifts to the Jews were not withdrawn, they were fulfilled. It says that the Jews are still the people God loves and this is true, this does not mean that the Jews are chosen, this simply means they are the people God loves. God also loves the Gentiles. The reason Paul says that the Jews are still the people God loves is because the Jews rejected Jesus and Paul wanted to make it clear that despite their rejection, God still loves and cares for the Jewish people. “Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” 

 God’s desire is for all Jews and Gentiles to worship and accept God. 

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