Context No. 3333 of 4322 · Romans

Romans 9:27-33: in context

27Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; 28for he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” 29As Isaiah has said before, “Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah.” 30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; 31but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33even as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense; and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”

Paul wrestles with a painful puzzle: the Gentiles, who were not even pursuing righteousness, found it, while Israel, chasing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at it. Why? Not because the law was bad, but because they sought righteousness as if it came by works rather than by faith, and so they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As Isaiah wrote, whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

The stumbling stone is Christ himself, an offense to those who wanted to earn their standing before God. The heart of the matter is faith against works: righteousness is received by trusting God, not achieved by our own performance. There is a hard irony in it, that those who tried hardest to earn a right standing missed it, while those who simply believed received it as a gift. The very effort to deserve God's acceptance became the thing that tripped them up. And over it all the promise stands: whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

Am I seeking to stand right with God by my own performance, stumbling over grace, or receiving his righteousness by simple faith in Christ?

Sources

Romans 9:30: "The Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith."
Romans 9:32: "Because they didn't seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone."
Romans 9:33: "No one who believes in him will be disappointed."