Romans 9.30-The Paradoxical Conclusion-The Gentiles Who Did Not Pursue Righteousness Like The Jews, Obtained It By Faith
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 22, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:30-The Paradoxical Conclusion: The Gentiles Who Did Not Pursue Righteousness Like The Jews, Obtained It By Faith
Lesson # 323
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This evening we will study Romans 9:30 in which Paul presents a paradoxical conclusion based upon his preceding statements that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness like the Jews, obtained it by faith.
A “paradox” is a statement or proposition that is seemingly self-contradictory or absurd but in reality, it is expressing a truth.
The “paradox” in Romans 9:30 is that the Gentiles who unlike the Jews were never characterized as zealously pursing a right relation to God, obtained it through faith in Christ whereas the Jews who did zealously pursued a right standing with God, never obtained because they pursued by through a meritorious system of works.
Now in Romans 9:30 we begin the sixth and final paragraph that appears in the chapter, which ends in verse 33.
In fact, in Romans 9:30-10:21, Paul addresses God and Israel’s relationship from Israel’s perspective in that unsaved Israel’s culpable in other words, they are responsible for their own actions for rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah and will face the consequences in that they will suffer God’s wrath for all eternity.
In Romans 9:6-29, we have seen that Paul speaks of God’s relationship with Israel from God’s perspective in that the national election of Israel was based upon God’s initiative and sovereign grace and totally independent of human merit.
Romans 9:6-29 addresses from God’s perspective Israel’s relationship to the gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
In Romans 9:30-10:21, Paul addresses from Israel’s perspective, their relationship to the gospel of justification of faith alone in Christ alone.
Therefore, beginning in Romans 9:30 Paul is shifting the discussion from God’s sovereign grace to Israel’s volitional responsibility.
Let’s read Romans 9:30-33 and then concentrate on verse 30 for the rest of the evening.
Romans 9:30-33, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
Let’s now concentrate on verse 30.
Romans 9:30, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith.”
The rhetorical question “what shall we say” is introducing the implication of Paul’s teaching in Romans 9:6-29 and in particular Romans 9:24-29.
“Then” is the “inferential” use of the post-positive conjunction oun (ou@n) (oon), which denotes that what is introduced at this point by the rhetorical question is the result of an inference from Paul’s teaching contained in Romans 9:6-29 and in particular verses 24-29.
“Gentiles” is the noun ethnos (e&qno$) (eth-nos), which is used in contrast to the Jews and thus refers to all those individuals who are “not” of Jewish racial descent and thus “not” members of the covenant people of God, Israel.
The anarthrous construction of the word is significant since it emphasizes that the Gentiles are “characterized” as not pursuing the goal of being right with God.
This is not to say that the Gentiles did not have individuals who were moral and did not seek to be right with God.
But typically, the Gentiles did not demonstrate the same desire as the Jews for being right before God.
Romans 9:30, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith.”
“Who did not pursue” is composed of the negative particle me (mhv) (may), “not” and the articular nominative neuter plural present active participle form of the verb dioko (diwvkw) (dee-o-ko), “who did pursue.”
In Romans 9:30, the verb dioko means, “to zealously pursue” and is used with the Gentiles as its subject and its meaning is negated by the particle me, “not.”
The negative particle me negates any idea as well as denying any thought of the Gentiles exerting intense effort to attain a right relation to God.
“Righteousness” is the noun dikaiosune (dikaiosuvnh) (dik-ah-yos-oo-nay), which is used three times in Romans 9:30 and each time it refers to possessing a right standing with God or righteous status with God.
This is indicated by the following:
In Romans 1-8 Paul taught that God declares a sinner justified through faith in Jesus Christ, which the Gentiles adhered to as indicated by his statements in Romans 9:30-10:21.
However, the Jews attempted to be declared justified by God by means of a meritorious system of works as indicated by Paul’s statements in Romans 9:30-10:21.
The Gentiles attained the righteousness of God by means of faith in Christ whereas the nation of Israel did not because they pursued it by means of a meritorious system of works.
“Attained” is the third person singular aorist active indicative form of the verb katalambano (katalambavnw) (kat-al-am-ban-o), which means “to acquire, obtain” and is used with dikaiosune, “righteousness” as its object and the Gentiles as the subject.
Therefore, it indicates that the Gentile who characteristically did not pursue a right standing with God “obtained” this righteousness by means of faith.
“Even” is the “emphatic” use of the conjunction de (deV) (deh), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement that the Gentiles obtained justification with God and intensifies this statement.
The conjunction de is emphatic in that not only is it presenting “additional” information regarding the Gentiles obtaining a justification with God but it also is “advancing” and “intensifying” this statement.
Not only did the Gentiles obtained justification with God but they did so “in fact” by means of faith in Christ.
Romans 9:30, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith.”
“Which is by faith” is composed of the accusative feminine singular form of the definite article ho (o() (ho), “which is” and the preposition ek (e)k), “by” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$), “faith.”
The noun pistis refers to the non-meritorious system of perception of placing one’s “trust” or “confidence in” the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
He is the object of faith for salvation and justification since His spiritual death on the Cross as an impeccable person redeemed sinful mankind from the slave market of sin, satisfied the demands of a holy God that human sin be judged, reconciled the entire human race to God and fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law.
He is also the object of faith for salvation and justification since His physical death dealt with the problem of man’s sin nature, which is the source of personal sin.
That He is the object of faith is indicated in Romans 3:22 and 26.
Romans 3:21-26, “But now, independently of seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law, the righteousness originating from God is being manifested at the present time while simultaneously being attested to by the Law and the Prophets. Namely, the righteousness originating from God through faith in Jesus who is the Christ for the benefit of each and every person who does believe for there is, as an eternal spiritual truth, absolutely no distinction. For each and every person has sinned consequently, they are always failing to measure up to the glory originating from God with the result that they might, as an eternal spiritual truth, be undeservedly justified based upon His grace by means of the redemption, which is by means of the spiritual death of Christ who is Jesus whom God the Father offered publicly as a propitiatory gift through faith by means of His blood in order to demonstrate His righteousness because of the deliberate and temporary suspension of judgment of the sins, which have taken place in the past on the basis of the tolerance originating from the character and nature of God the Father. Correspondingly, in relation to the demonstration of His righteousness during this present distinct period of history, that He Himself is, as an eternal spiritual truth, inherently righteous, even while justifying anyone by means of faith in Jesus.”
In Romans 9:30, the preposition ek is used with the genitive form of pistis as a marker of means constituting a source indicating that faith in Jesus Christ is “the means constituting the source by which” God the Father justifies the sinner.
Paul uses ek not only because he wants to emphasize the means of justification, faith in Jesus Christ but that this means constitutes the source of justification.
Corrected translation of Romans 9:30: “Therefore, what is the conclusion that we are forced to? That the Gentiles who, as an eternal spiritual truth, characteristically do not zealously pursue righteousness obtained righteousness, in fact a righteousness, which is by means of faith as a source.”
So there we can see that Paul is presenting a paradoxical conclusion that the Gentiles who did not zealously pursue being justified by God like the Jews, obtained justification by means of faith in Christ.