BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

Today’s reading opens with a shocking confession: Paul wants to be “cut off from Christ” (Rom. 9:3) so he can stay with his original family, the Israelites. They’ve rejected Jesus at this point, but Paul loves Jesus. Why does he yearn to stay with Israel?

Israel first received God’s adoption as children, Paul says. They first received God’s covenants, laws, temple, promises, and patriarchs. God calls Israel alone his “treasured possession” (Exod. 19:5). So yes, Paul wants to keep his “treasured possession” identity within Abraham’s family.

But now, God’s treasured-possession people have rejected Christ and are being cut off from God. So Paul clarifies. Being true “Israel” and being Abraham’s biological descendant are different things. God always partners with and blesses those who do his will.

Note: Jesus taught the same. “Who are my mother and brothers?” Jesus asked. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:34-35).

Readers may wonder: Does Israel’s rejection of Christ therefore mean God permanently cut them out of his family? Is God breaking his original promise? Not at all, says Paul (Rom. 9:14). Only Jesus has fully trusted God’s will, so belonging to God now means trusting in Christ (Rom. 10:5-13).

Many Israelites do recognize Jesus as Lord, in community with Gentiles. In Romans 11, Paul envisions this family of God like a living, expanding tree. It first grows through Abraham’s family, whom God cuts off in order to “graft in” all other families. If those non-Israelites previously cut off are now being grafted in by God, then Israel, now cut off from God, can expect the same (Rom. 11:22-24). God’s promises are still good and always trustworthy.

In the end, Jewish and non-Jewish people receive the gift of God’s life, connected to the original, true Israel through faith. This trust in God compels us to do his will. Paul believes that one day his first-chosen people will be regrafted, acknowledge Jesus as King, and experience total renewal—the time when all of Abraham’s multiethnic family walks in love, together with Jesus.

Reflection Questions

• Where else in the biblical story have you seen non-Israelites grafted into the people of God? (Turn to Joshua 2 or the book of Ruth if you need a hint.) What do these stories reveal about God’s longstanding plan to create a new, multiethnic family as his covenant partners?
• Review Isaiah 29:16, Isaiah 45:9-10, and Jeremiah 18:1-10. How might Isaiah’s poetry and Jeremiah’s prophetic field trip to the potter’s house help you understand Paul’s use of pottery imagery in today’s reading?