Romans 9-11?

Question

What is your perspective about this...

What is Paul's purpose in Romans 9-11? How does this purpose fit into the purpose and argument of Romans as a whole?

Answer 1

The book of Romans is undoubtedly the greatest argument for Christianity ever penned. It is an outstanding legal apology for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that every serious student of law and God should study. Paul in addition to being an Apostle and a holy man of God is a literary genius. Romans stands alone as his greatest work. Hebrews is however a very close second.

I sincerely believe the purpose of chapters 9 to 11 is obvious. It is to address the temporary blindness ofJewish Israel concerning the Jewish Messiah , who came to save the Jews. And as Paul says also the Greek or Gentiles. It was to prevent the anti-semitism that was then and still is now amoung we Greeks. Today there is a large faction of churches that believe in what is called "Replacement Theology" This theology grew out of widespread anti-semitism mainly in the Catholic Church and also among reformers like Martin Luther. They believe that the "Church " has replaced Israel pertaining to all the promises God made to the Jews and the fathers , Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. This is a sad state and I am in the other camp. We believe that just as Paul said in Romans 11 we gentiles are grafted in to the natural vine of Israel. Grafted into ,not replacing. We believe that god will keep his promises made to israel just as Paul says in 11:26

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

So it is evident that Paul wishes that the Roman Gentiles as well as the Roman Jews realize that God is not finished with Israel because they have rejected their Messiah . That God will still save Israel in the end times. I don't know exactly how Jesus will do this ,but I know he will . God spoke thru the prophet Zechariah and said this:

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.Zec. 12:10

I believe this "spirit of grace" shall fall upon those Jews who are righteous and seeking their Messiah. In Israel and around the world right now are many righteous practicing Jews who are awaiting and longing for the Messiah. Just as we christians are longing and awaiting the Messiah. The difference is they believe it will be his first coming and we know it to be his second. As a Christian Zionist I believe that God is using the Church to prepare Israel for his coming and thet god is using Israel to prepare the Church also for his coming. We must prepare for the great tribulation. Both Israel and the Church will go thru it. Why else would Jesus teach on the tribulation if we were going to be raptured outta here first? Those that are either martyred or who endure to the end will be saved. Gird up your loinds brothers and sisters,
Jesus is coming soon. God bless you and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Answer 2

This chapter 9 opens in some degree a new train of thought and argumentation. Its main design probably was to meet objections which would be alleged against the positions advanced and defended in the previous parts of the Epistle. In the previous chapters, Paul had defended the position that the barrier between the Jews and Gentiles had been removed; that the Jews could not be saved by any external advantages which they possessed; that all were alike guilty before God; and that there was but one way for Jews and Gentiles of salvation - by faith in Jesus Christ; Rom. 1; 2; 3.

Romans 10 -
The apostle expresses his earnest desire for the salvation of the Jews, Rom_10:1.

Romans 11 -
God has not universally nor finally rejected Israel; nor are they all at present rejecters of the Gospel, for there is a remnant of true believers now, as there was in the days of the Prophet Elijah, Rom_11:1-5. These have embraced the Gospel, and are saved by grace, and not by the works of the law, Rom_11:6. The body of the Israelites, having rejected this, are blinded, according to the prophetic declaration of David, Rom_11:7-10. But they have not stumbled, so as to be finally rejected; but through their fall, salvation is come to the Gentiles, Rom_11:11-14.

Answer 3

In a nutshell, I believe his purpose was to show that God wasn't done with Israel. We, as Gentiles, were grafted into the vine, part of the New Covenant by adoption, whereas Israel is His chosen people. The promises made to Abraham and Israel were still in effect and would be fulfilled. It is also a caution against Gentiles getting too high minded concerning their adopted position in Christ. There were some who were thinking, and some do today, that the New Covenant was for the Gentiles only and that God was finished with Israel. Paul would have nothing to do with this thinking. Paul argued that Israel would be saved by grace, as the Gentiles are. I realize one could go on for pages dissecting each verse and passage, but I think this was his essential message in these passages.

Answer 4

The overarching theme of Romans is the righteousness that comes from God. The topic of chapter 9 is Sovereign election.

The children are twins Jacob & Esau. God's choice of Jacob, instead of Esau, to continue the physical linewas not based on his personal merit or demerit. Rather, God's choice of Jacob resides soley in His own sovereign plan, a perfect example of election unto salvaton. God has chosen some Jews and some Gentiles, but not all for salvation. The fact that God make His choice of Jacob before the boys were born and apart from personal merit demonstrates that election unto spiritual life is unrelated to any human effort, and is based only on the perogative of God who makes His selection. Notes on Romans 9:11

"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son," Romans 8:29

Answer 5

Sounds like a homework question to me. But in general his purpose was to answer questions that the Jewish and Gentile Christians might have about God's promises to the Jewish nation. Paul was teaching about the doctrine of election and his purpose was to head off potential disunity and factions in the church at Rome.

Here's something from Barnes Notes on the Bible for you.

Romans 9 -
This chapter opens in some degree a new train of thought and argumentation. Its main design probably was to meet objections which would be alleged against the positions advanced and defended in the previous parts of the Epistle. In the previous chapters, Paul had defended the position that the barrier between the Jews and Gentiles had been removed; that the Jews could not be saved by any external advantages which they possessed; that all were alike guilty before God; and that there was but one way for Jews and Gentiles of salvation - by faith in Jesus Christ; Rom. 1; 2; 3. He had stated the benefits of this plan Rom. 5, and showed its bearing in accomplishing what the Law of Moses could not effect in overcoming sin; Rom. 6; 7. In Rom. 8 he had stated also on what principles this was done; that it was according to the purpose of God - the principle of electing mercy applied indiscriminately to the mass of guilty Jews and Gentiles. To this statement two objections might arise: first, that it was unjust; and second, that the whole argument involved a departure from the promises made to the Jewish nation. It might further be supposed that the apostle had ceased to feel an interest in his countrymen, and had become the exclusive advocate of the Gentiles. To meet these objections and feelings, seems to have been the design of this chapter. He shows them,
(1) His unabated love for his countrymen, and regard for their welfare; Rom_9:1-5.
(2) he shows them from their own writings that the principle of election had existed in former times - in the case of Isaac Rom_9:7-13; in the writings of Moses Rom_9:15; in the case of Pharaoh Rom_9:17; and in the prophecies of Hosea and Isaiah Rom_9:25-29.
(3) he takes occasion throughout the chapter to vindicate this principle of the divine administration; to answer objections; and to show that, on the acknowledged principles of the Old Testament, a part of the Jewish nation might be rejected; and that it was the purpose of God to call others to the privileges of the people of God; Rom_9:16, Rom_9:19-23, Rom_9:25-26, Rom_9:29-33.
The chapter, therefore, has not reference to national election, or to choice to external privileges, but has direct reference to the doctrine of the election to salvation which had been stated in Rom. 8. To suppose that it refers merely to external privileges and national distinctions, makes the whole discussion unconnected, unmeaningful, and unnecessary.

Answer 6

"The adoption of democracy is fatal to good government, to liberty, to law and order, to respect for authority, and to religion, and must produce chaos from which a NEW WORLD tyranny will arise. You can never have revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have democracy in order to have a revolution" ― Robert Welch - Republics and Democracies pg. 7
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What the Church has been for medieval man, the public school must become for democratic and rational man. GOD WOULD BE REPLACED BY THE CONCEPT OF THE PUBLIC GOOD." ― Horace Mann, father of public education
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“Humanism is the denial of God and the total affirmation of man. Humanism is really nothing else but Marxism.” ― Karl Marx, Economic Politigue et Philsophie
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"It is absurd to say that one is a humanist but not a feminist. Feminism is the last evolutionary development of humanism. Feminism is humanism on its most advanced level." ― Raine Eisler, Humanist Magazine Nov/Dec 1980, Author of Equal Rights ERA Handbook.
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“The next century can be and should be the humanistic century. We stand at the dawn of a NEW AGE, a secular society on a planetary scale. As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity. We deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds. Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a WORLD ORDER based upon transnational federal government. The true revolution is occurring.” ― Humanist Manifesto II, published in 1973
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At the 1991 Bilderberg meeting, David Rockefeller thanked the media for covering up elite plans for the "supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers." “It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years."
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"The International government of the (UN) United Nations, stripped of it's legal trimming, then, is really the International Government of the United States and the Soviet Union acting in Unison." From the American Jewish Committee's official magazine "Commentary" of Nov. 1958, Pg. 376

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"The invisible Money Power is working to control and enslave mankind. It financed Communism, Fascism, Marxism, Zionism, Socialism. All of these are directed to making the United States a member of a [One] World Government ..." -- AMERICAN MERCURY MAGAZINE, December 1957, pg. 92.
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"We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right MAJOR CRISIS, and the nations will accept the NEW WORLD ORDER." ― David Rockefeller — Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)



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Answer 7

You will love this reference
http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/romans/romans9.htm