The Jews objection to the writings of Paul
Notes
Transcript
During his letter to the Romans Paul get on the Jews in Rome very hard and has a lot of correction for them.
They are still (as we have talked about the last few weeks) leaning on their nationality and the fact that that they are Gods chosen for salvation.
Now at the rate Paul has been pounding the gospel into them through others he knows that before he goes to Rome himself that he needs to clear up a few objections that the Jews have about what he has been saying.
The fact is true that the Jews are the chosen people of God and this has not changed even after the death of Christ.
However it does change the way they need to look at salvation, just like Paul they should have the clear view of salvation because they know the law and the prophecies.
While yes the Jews were Gods chosen there is not another people group on the planet that has suffered as much tragedy as they have.
In spite of the reality that they are such a noble strain of humanity and chosen by God, their history has been a saga of slavery, hardship, warfare, persecution, slander, captivity, dispersion, and humiliation.
Here is a time line:
They were slaves in Egypt for some 400 years.
They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until a whole generation died out.
They split into 2 kingdoms
One was destroyed
One was taken into captivity
Not long after they rebuilt their homeland, they were conquered by Greece.
Under Roman rule:
10s of thousands of Jewish rebels were publicly crucified.
Under Herod the Great scores of male children were killed when Christ was born.
In 70 AD The Roman General Titus Vespasian under the order of Caesar utterly destroys Jerusalem including the temple and most of the cites citizens
According to Josephus over a million Jews of all ages were butchered and some 100,000 of those who survived were sold into slavery or sent to Rome to die in the coliseum.
2 years before this Gentiles in Caesarea had killed 20,000 Jews and sold many more into slavery.
During this same time inhabitants of Damascus cut the throats of 10,000 Jews in one single day for no reason.
In AD 115 the Jews of Cyrene, Egypt, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia rebelled against Rome. When they failed the Emperor destroyed 985 towns in Palestine and killed at least 600,000 Jewish men.
So many Jewish men were sold into slavery that the price of an able-bodied male slave dropped to that of a horse.
In the unparalleled Nazi holocaust in the 1940’s at least 6,000,000 Jews were murdered.
After having demolished the false securities on which most of the Jews relied, Paul anticipated the strong objections his Jewish readers would make.
The truth he sets forth in the book of Romans he had taught many times before in many places, and he knew what the most common objections in Rome would be.
The 1st objection by the Jews: Paul attacked Gods People (vv1-2)
The 1st objection by the Jews: Paul attacked Gods People (vv1-2)
Pauls accusers continually charged him with teaching that the Lords calling of Israel to be special people was meaningless.
If that were so, then Paul blasphemed the very character and integrity of God.
The Jews are in fact the Lords chosen People.
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.
21 the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.
Because of these passages and many more the a lot of Jews thought that in itself being jewish made them acceptable to God.
Paul says that being a Jew was a good thing but it did not bring salvation alone. Salvation was still through Jesus Christ.
The Jews as a people had been adopted by God as His children, with whom He had made several exclusive covenants.
He had given them His Holy law and promised that through their lineage the savior of the world would come.
The Jewish people were indeed special in Gods eyes.
They were blessed, protected, and delivered as no other nation on earth.
But most Jews paid little attention to the negative side of Gods revelation to them.
HE proclaimed of Israel, “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth” but God immediately went on to say “therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2
2 “You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
With high privilege also came high responsibility.
Jesus also addressed the relationship between God and Israel in Matt 22:1-9
1 And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.” ’ 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
This parable shows Israel as the intended guest but they do not come, so the King invites the rest of the town.
The people who came to the party represent the chruch, people in general who acknowledge Christ as Gods Son and received Him as Lord and Savior.
Pauls main point was that the Jews were entrusted with the very words of the one and only true God, Gods revelation of Himself and of His will had been entrusted to the Jews and that gave them great privilege as well as great responsibility.
But what did they do with it.
The bigger question is what do we do with the gospel today?
we have been given the complete work of God do we use it or do we hide it, or do we profane it?
The 2nd Objection by the Jews: Paul Attacked Gods Promises (vv3-4)
The 2nd Objection by the Jews: Paul Attacked Gods Promises (vv3-4)
The Jews felt that what Paul was teaching was going against God’s promises
This is how far out of wack that the Jews view of God had gotten.
Pauls teaching was both explicit and implicit about the blessings of God on the Jews.
God never promised that any individual Jew no matter how pure his physical lineage from Abraham was or from another OT saint was no one could claim security in Gods promises apart from repentance and personal faith in God thought Jesus Christ, resulting in obedience from the heart.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Paul was simply pointing out that the only way for Jews to enter Heaven was the same as the Gentiles, they were still the chosen people, the savior had came through them and He will come again one day and sit on the throne of David.
The 3rd Objection of the Jews: That Paul Attacked God’s Purity (vv5-8)
The 3rd Objection of the Jews: That Paul Attacked God’s Purity (vv5-8)
What the Jews were saying about Paul was that him preaching the gospel of salvation by grace, through faith alone undermined God’s law but granted license to sin with impunity.
Meaning you could do anything you want and as long as you ask for forgiveness then it was ok.
That in Gods eyes He was ok with sin and that God could not be this way.
They were accusing Paul of the same thing that they were doing.
They had muddled up the law so bad that they could do what ever they wanted and feel like they never broke the law.
Both of there view points were wrong they were looking at salvation through Christ in the same way they looked at salvation through the law, if your vantage point is bad it does not matter what you see it will all look bad.
The Jews were saying Paul faith was wrong because they were looking at it through the same lens they used to pervert the law for over 1000 years.
Benedictions 082 Benediction
082 BENEDICTION
May the God Who is our refuge and our strength,
Our ever-present aid,
The Lord of Hosts who is at our side,
Though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea,
And the earth should change,
May the Lord of Hosts be with you and the God of
Jacob your stronghold.