Romans 10.21-Paul Cites Isaiah 65.2 To Demonstrate That Throughout Her History, Unbelieving, Obstinate Israel Has Rejected God's Offer Of Salvation
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 11, 2009
Romans: Romans 10:21-Paul Cites Isaiah 65:2 To Demonstrate That Throughout Her History Unbelieving And Obstinate Israel Rejected God’s Offer Of Salvation
Lesson # 350
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 10:1.
This evening we will complete our study of Romans chapter ten by noting verse 21 and in this passage Paul quotes from Isaiah 65:2 to demonstrate that throughout her history, unbelieving and obstinate Israel has rejected God’s offer of salvation.
Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
Romans 10:2, “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”
Romans 10:3, “For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”
Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:5, “For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.”
Romans 10:6, “But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: ‘DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down).”
Romans 10:7, “Or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).”
Romans 10:8, “But what does it say? ‘THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart’ -- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.”
Romans 10:9, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:10, “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
Romans 10:11, “For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’”
Romans 10:12, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him.”
Romans 10:13, “For ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”
Romans 10:14, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
Romans 10:15, “How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!’”
Romans 10:16, “However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, ‘LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’”
Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Romans 10:18, “But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; ‘THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.’”
Romans 10:19, “But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, ‘I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.’”
Romans 10:20, “And Isaiah is very bold and says, ‘I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.’”
Romans 10:21, “But as for Israel He says, ‘ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.’”
Romans 10:21 stands in contrast to Paul’s statement in Romans 10:20 in which he cites Isaiah 65:1 to teach that God was found by the Gentiles who were not diligently seeking after a relationship with Him in the sense that they entered into a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ.
This passage also teaches that God permitted Himself to become accessible to the Gentiles who were not diligently inquiring about a relationship with Him in the sense that He permitted Himself to enter into fellowship with them.
In Romans 10:21, Paul quotes Isaiah 65:2 in order to contrast the Gentiles positive response to the gospel with that of the negative response of the nation of Israel towards the gospel.
Isaiah 65:2, “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.”
“Israel” refers to the unsaved citizens of the nation of Israel who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, aka, Israel since Paul is quoting Isaiah 65:2 that predicted Israel’s negative response to the gospel.
“ALL DAY LONG” denotes that God has offered grace and salvation to Israel throughout the entire extent of her existence.
“I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS” is used in an anthropomorphic sense of God the Father in that it is ascribing human hands to Him, which He does not possess in order to convey to our human frame of reference His reconciliatory attitude towards Israel.
It expresses the Father’s desire to have the nation of Israel reconciled to Himself.
Reconciliation is God’s peace treaty with the entire human race and is appropriated by making the non-meritorious decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Reconciliation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that removes the barrier between God and man (2 Cor. 5:18; Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20-21).
2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This reconciliation is presented in the gospel message that God has made a peace treaty with the entire human race and the terms of that peace treaty is accepting the Gospel message through faith alone in Christ alone.
Romans 10:21, “But as for Israel He says, ‘ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.’”
“DISOBEDIENT” is the accusative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb apeitheo (a)peiqevw) (ap-i-theh-o), which is composed of the alpha prefix a, “without” and the verb peitho, “to persuade.”
In Romans 10:21, apeitheo is used to describe the unbelief of unregenerate Israel, which manifested itself in rejecting their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
“OBSTINATE” is the accusative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb antilego (a)ntilevgw) (an-til-eg-o), which is composed of the preposition anti, “against” and the verb lego, “to speak,” thus the word literally means “to speak against.”
In Romans 10:21, the verb is used of the nation of Israel’s “obstinate” behavior towards God in the sense that throughout her history she has been firmly and perversely adhering to her own purpose and opinions rather than God’s purpose and viewpoint.
It denotes that Israel has been unyielding to divine persuasion as expressed through the Old Testament prophets, Jesus Christ Himself and the apostles.
The word speaks of their inflexible and unyielding persistence in seeking to do their own will rather than God’s.
“PEOPLE” is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun laos (laov$) (lah-os), which is used with reference to the unsaved citizens of the nation of Israel.
So in Romans 10:21, Paul quotes from Isaiah 65:2 to demonstrate that Israel rejected God’s offer of salvation.
This passage teaches that throughout her history God the Father has offered a reconciliation to Israel through the gospel concerning His Son Jesus Christ.
However, Israel has rejected this offer of reconciliation through faith alone in Christ alone because she is unbelieving and obstinate.
This verse brings an end Paul’s discussion regarding Israel’s failure to obey the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone and which discussion began in Romans 9:30.