Things that make you go “hmm…”
In Romans, Paul is struggling with the full inclusion of both Gentiles and Jews. Indeed, to community to which he writes has fully embraced the Gentiles as followers of Jesus, but the question remains whether the Jews are still the chosen ones of God.
Paul responds, in part, “11So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!”
What Paul is saying is that the good news of God’s grace is for all people. And, yes, the chosen stumble, but how great is God’s inclusive grace and love when both the undeserving and the stumbling are embraced by it.
Romans 11:6 “6But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”
Ivan Herman
