Romans 9:20–32

If God hardens a man, how can the man help himself, and how can God find fault with the man? The Apostle's first answer to this objection is very blunt. He asks, "Who are you to find fault with God?" Suppose you do not understand — is God to give you an account of His matters? We have to remember that we are only men and that God is God, and we do well to give Him His place as God. God is the One who forms. Man is the thing formed. Shall the thing formed complain to the One who forms, "Why have you made me like this?"

It has the sense of "yes, indeed, if you talk of that."… Romans 9:20, "Ah, indeed, you talk of calling God in question; who are you then?"

If the creature is to be allowed to judge the Creator, there is an end of all government in the vast universe of God. So we hear men daring to pronounce judgment on the ways of God. They undertake to decide what is or is not fit for God to do. One great question always comes first: "Who is to be judge?" Is man to judge God, or is God to judge man? If man judges God, there is no God at all. If God judges man, then man must bow his head in reverent silence and admit his utter ignorance and folly.

Men may reason and argue on and on. Why did God permit sin to enter? Why did He not at once destroy Satan and his angels? Why did He allow the serpent to tempt Eve? Why did He not hold her back from eating the forbidden fruit? In short, the hows and whys are endless. But the answer is one.

Does the potter not have absolute power over the clay? He may make one vessel for honour, or, if he wills, a vessel for dishonour. In this way the Apostle establishes God's absolute right to act as He will, without giving man an account of His matters. The illustration of the potter asserts God's absolute right to do as He pleases in the strongest way. Yet it does not teach that God has made any vessel for dishonour. The illustration only asserts and maintains God's rights.

The purpose of God does stand. In the end every creature serves His will… But should this weaken our moral judgment of the creature's wickedness? Does it deny the fact that Satan and man are responsible for all they do against Him, or that both must be punished for it? So Peter charges the men of Israel with the guilt of crucifying the Messiah… How different is the holy and perfect word of God! Everything is in its place — not one side only, but both.

Man may think his question is quite reasonable, little realizing the actual deceit in it. But it is completely dishonourable. God closes the discussion with a strong statement of His sovereign right to do as He pleases. If man, like a stubborn child, will not learn by instruction, God tells him at once who is in authority… man's voice is silenced: there are no more objections. God has the final word.

Man complains about God's righteousness when it touches him. He dislikes just as much the grace that justifies others freely and absolutely. This is what the question comes down to: is God to judge man, or is man to judge God? The apostle's answer has three parts. First, he maintains in all its strength the right of the sovereign God — the authority He has to do just as He will with His creatures.

The language is holy and bold, yet it never leans to one side or the other... The apostle does not say that God has used the right which He clearly has; but God's title stays whole... How seldom do those who talk about rights seem to think that God has any! They are taken up with themselves, with man: God is in none of their thoughts. Yet if any rights deserve respect, surely His come first — His sovereign will gave us our being and everything we have.

Notice, it is not a statement, but a question — "Has the potter no right over the clay?" and so on. Is God not sovereign? It does not say that He has made some for dishonour.

While the illustration of the potter asserts in the strongest way God's absolute right to do as He pleases, it does not teach that God has made any vessel to dishonour. The illustration simply asserts and maintains God's prerogatives.

Nothing can surpass the power and grandeur of the words of Romans 9. They lay all human pride low. They show how completely man depends for blessing on God's sovereign mercy. The illustration of the potter makes plain that everything depends on sovereign power. Out of the very same lump that supplies vessels to dishonour, He chooses to produce vessels to honour.

In Jeremiah 18 we see God's ways with the nations. In Romans 9 we learn something of His ways with individuals. Every individual, like every nation, is a marred vessel in the hand of the Potter. We have all become marred by sin, and by taking our own evil way. Some, like Israel, will not listen to the word of God through His servants, the word of mercy proclaimed in the gospel. God has the power to make these marred vessels into vessels of wrath. Others, like the people of Nineveh, listen to God's message and turn from their evil ways to Him, and God makes them vessels of mercy.

Further on in chapter 9 we read of the potter's power over the clay to make vessels to honour and to dishonour. It speaks of God's patience with vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction. But it never says God fitted them for destruction. It says only that He endured them with much patience. Yet in the next verse, where it speaks of vessels of mercy, it says plainly that God prepared them beforehand for glory.

The vessels of wrath fitted themselves for wrath, by their own sins. But God prepared the vessels of mercy, for in truth no man prepares himself for glory. Grace alone does His work for those He has chosen.

In Romans 9:21 Paul asked whether the potter has power over the clay. In 2 Timothy 2:20-21 we have the other side of the matter. There Paul sets out not the sovereignty of God, but the responsibility of the Christian.

In the entire answer there are three propositions. First, the apostle maintains, in all its strength, the right of the sovereign God — the authority He has to do just as He will with His creatures. Does the potter not have power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? Next, he comes to the facts. He shows us that God, even when He meant to show His wrath and make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction — vessels which He did not fit, but had long endured. Thirdly, there is the revelation that He had prepared vessels of mercy beforehand for glory.

God's purpose was to display His wrath in this evil world and to make known His power where men easily and willingly forget Him. But the way He chose was admirable and worthy of His nature. There was nothing arbitrary about it, but "much long-suffering."… Could man then fairly charge God with having no compassion for him, or with being quick to mark his sins? It is impossible for a holy God to share in evil or be indifferent to it! But He does not quickly blot these rebellious creatures out of this life, though they make the world a field of constant war against what they know of God. Instead, the whole history of the world since nations began is the fullest proof that God endures.

He made His power known, not by fitting the vessels of wrath for destruction, but by enduring them with much longsuffering.… God endured the Amorites of old with much longsuffering until their sins came to the "full" and they had fitted themselves for destruction. Then the judgment fell (Gen. 15:16).

The vessels of wrath are said to be "fitted for destruction." But it is neither said nor implied here, or anywhere else, that God fitted them for it. They were fitted by their sins, and most of all by their unbelief and rebelliousness against God. But when we hear of the faithful, the wording is completely different: "vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory." The evil is man's, never God's. The good is His and not our own.

The word katartizo (Rom. 9:22) means to correct, repair, mend; then in its participial form, fitted, prepared. The word does not suppose a decree of God, but a work of man.

Look at Matthew 25:34. Here the King says to those on His right hand, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Now contrast the words to those on His left hand: "Depart from me, you cursed." He does not say "of my Father." Then comes "into the eternal fire prepared" — not for you, but — "for the devil and his angels." Romans 9 speaks the same way… The grand truth of election is fully established. The repulsive error of reprobation is carefully avoided.

Once you allow that all blessing rests on the sovereignty of God, the Gentile must come into the blessing as well as the Jew.

There is a difference here, small but very real, and no reader should overlook it. Of the vessels of wrath it says "fitted for destruction." But it is neither said nor implied here, or anywhere else, that God fitted them for it. Their own sins fitted them, and most of all their unbelief and rebellion against God. When we hear of the faithful, the wording is quite different: "vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory." The evil is man's, and in no case is it from God. The good is His and not our own.

It is striking to see how Scripture guards against the repulsive doctrine of reprobation. Look, for example, at Matthew 25:34. There the King says to those on His right hand, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Contrast with this the address to those on His left hand: "Depart from me, you cursed" — He does not say "of my Father" — "into the eternal fire prepared" — not for you, but — "for the devil and his angels." So also in Romans 9. The grand truth of election is fully established; the repulsive error of reprobation is carefully avoided.

He picks up and fashions vessels of mercy, in which He will display His riches of glory. Vessels of mercy! Poor, wretched sinners, who could do nothing but own their guilt and shame, and be debtors to mercy alone. Oh, to think that He prepares such — by His grace — for glory!

In connection with His redeemed saints, called "vessels of mercy," God will make known "the riches of His glory." This is not simply a single attribute of God. It is a term so broad and full that time and space would not allow us to list such riches. In these riches the vessels of mercy receive an eternal inheritance, and its wonder and joy will never fade. What comfort and peace it brings our souls to know His supreme majesty at work in counsels so glorious — counsels in which we, poor redeemed sinners, have such a part.

Not the saints, but God prepared the vessels of mercy for glory. More exactly, He prepared them beforehand with glory in view. It was not their own preparing while on earth, with God's part starting only when the glory arrives. It was His doing. No one doubts that by grace they became obedient and holy, and so morally like Him. But the Holy Spirit saw fit to speak here only of God's preparing of the vessels of mercy beforehand for glory.

God's own power forms and fits these vessels for His presence, and makes them fit to be the companions of His own dear Son. Even now, as they pass through this world, the saints of God carry a wonderful heavenly treasure in their earthen vessels... but soon what God has worked within them will be enshrined in a "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." ... Among the ruins of the old creation God is working in new creation. He is forming and shaping the vessels that will display His glory and the surpassing riches of His grace in the ages to come.

From the moment God falls back on His own sovereignty the ground is as open for a Gentile as for a Jew. God is not sovereign if He may not choose whom He pleases. If He is sovereign, then it is only natural that His sovereignty should show itself where it would stand out most. The call of the Gentiles gives that occasion. If they were the worst — and they certainly were utterly degraded — then for that very reason they were the fittest objects for God to show His sovereign grace upon.

The apostle now begins a new section of the letter, Romans 9-11. Its main aim is to show how God's call of Gentiles and Jews together fits with the special promises made to Israel. In doing this he tears down the empty pride of those who rested on nothing but a line of natural descent from Abraham. He proves that special promise has been God's principle from the first. He points to sovereign mercy as the only hope for a people such as even Israel had shown themselves to be.

He is sovereign in Himself, preparing for glory "even us," says the apostle, "whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles." He forces the Jew to admit that God is sovereign. If not, the Jew must let in the Ishmaelites and the Edomites, and admit that he himself would have been cut off — all but Moses and Joshua. Then he shows that God uses this sovereignty to call Gentiles, who had no claim by promise, and Jews, who had forfeited theirs.

The moment God falls back on His own sovereignty, the ground is as open to a Gentile as to a Jew. God is not sovereign if He may not choose whom He pleases. And if He is sovereign, it is only natural that His sovereignty should show itself where it can be seen most clearly. The call of the Gentiles gives that occasion. If they were the worst — and they had truly sunk that low — then for that very reason they were the fittest objects for God's sovereign grace.

Grace takes for granted that the Jews are as worthless as the Gentiles, and so it goes out and calls in from Gentiles as well as from Jews. Distinctions have their place while there is still hope for man and the testing goes on. It is different once the testing of the most favoured has ended in guilt beyond repair and ruin beyond help. Then the door opens for mercy. He calls in grace, freely to all and closed to none — from Jews certainly, but from Gentiles too.

Vessels of mercy! Poor, wretched sinners, who could do nothing but own their guilt and shame, and be debtors to mercy alone. Oh, to think that He prepares such people — by His grace — for glory! And that this wonderful grace reaches out, not to sinners of the privileged Jews alone, but of the outcast Gentiles also!

It is a call that comes from mercy, and yet mercy that shows no favouritism. It can take in both Jews and Gentiles — yes, souls from every nation under heaven — mercy available for all who will have it. But the call spoken of here is the call that sinks into the soul. It works repentance. It makes us own our need of mercy and receive it with thanks, in Christ Jesus.

Of the vessels of mercy, Scripture says plainly that it is God who has "prepared" them for glory (v. 23). But of the vessels of wrath it does not say that God prepared them, or fitted them, for destruction. It says only that they are "fitted for destruction" (v. 22). Pharaoh, unbelieving Israel, and all who refuse to believe have fitted themselves for destruction. But this does not stop God from showing His abundant mercy.

The prophet receives a name for her — Lo-ruhamah, which means "not having obtained mercy." The Holy Spirit gives this passage in two interesting ways in the New Testament. Romans 9:25 renders it "not beloved," and 1 Peter 2:10, "had not received mercy." God was now going to withdraw His love and mercy from Israel, and take them away completely.

In Romans 9, Paul treats all the history of Genesis as the word of God. He quotes the account in Exodus first as declaring that God spoke to Moses, and then about the history of Pharaoh. And here it is Scripture that says it. For Paul this is the same as God saying it. Next he quotes Hosea as the word of God: "He says in Hosea."

From the moment God falls back on His own sovereignty, the ground is as open for a Gentile as for a Jew. God is not sovereign if He may not choose whom He pleases. If He is sovereign, He will naturally show it where it stands out most. The call of the Gentiles gives that occasion. The Gentiles were the worst, completely degraded, and for this very reason they were the most fitting objects for God to show His sovereignty in grace. It is clear that the apostle takes verse 25 as the future call of Israel, their reinstatement as God's people on a better footing than ever in sovereign grace. But he applies verse 26 to the Gentiles.

The question is about the precise aim of the Spirit. For myself I cannot doubt that He had both Jews and Gentiles in view in the two quotations from Hosea. If He meant only the Gentiles in both, why quote them in such a strange order? Why place the piece of Hosea 1:10 after the piece of 2:23? Suppose instead He means to show grace calling the Jews first under the gospel, even though they had lost their distinctive name of relationship. Then nothing could be more natural and fitting than quoting Hosea 2:23 before 1:10.

The prophecies clearly apply only to Israel. But it is Israel at the same distance from God as though they had been Gentiles — "not My people." If God could have mercy on Israel after calling them "not My people," then He could be merciful to Gentiles too. They were in exactly the same class. What admirable wisdom! What blessed grace! Could Israel escape the plain, though humbling, force of this? And God does more than restore them to the standing of His "people." He also gives them the sweet name "beloved."

Lo-ammi is the symbolic name of a son of Hosea, meaning "not my people" (Hosea 1:9). Because of the sin of Israel they are for a time outwardly not God's people. God has not changed His purpose concerning His ancient people, Rom. 11:29; He has only changed His manner toward them. Hosea 2:23 adds, "I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'" That will happen when God's set time arrives to bring them into blessing again.

Symbolic name of a son of Hosea, meaning "not my people," Hosea 1:9. Because of Israel's sin they are, for a time, outwardly not God's people. God has not changed His purpose about His ancient people, Romans 11:29; He has only changed His manner toward them. The wording of Hosea 1:10, quoted in Romans 9:26, leaves room for the Gentiles as "sons of the living God."

Look closely into these quotations from Hosea. Peter, who writes only to converted Jews, takes just the passage at the end of Hosea 2. Paul quotes that one too. He also quotes the one at the end of Hosea 1: "In the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called" — not "my people," but — "the children of the living God." It is this last passage that he applies to the Gentiles called by grace.

If the Spirit meant only the Gentiles in both, why quote them in such a peculiar order? Why place the fragment of Hosea 1:10 after that of 2:23? But suppose He means to illustrate the call of grace under the gospel to the Jews first, despite their having lost their distinctive name of relationship. Then nothing could be more natural and fitting than His use of Hosea 2:23 before 1:10.

From the moment God falls back on His own sovereignty, the ground is as open for a Gentile as for a Jew. God is not sovereign if He may not choose whom He pleases. If He is sovereign, then it is only natural that His sovereignty should show itself where it would be most striking. The call of the Gentiles gives this occasion. If they were the worst — and they certainly were utterly degraded — for this very reason they were the most fitting objects for God to exercise His sovereignty in grace. The apostle clearly reads verse 25 as the future call of Israel — the people of God put back on a better footing than ever in sovereign grace. But he also applies verse 26 to the Gentiles.

God avoids the word "people" and uses "sons" instead. By that change He signals through His prophet, with the most admirable fitness, that when He was going to work in grace He would work in a way worthy of His name. He would bring Gentiles not merely into the place of Israel, but into a better standing. Granted they were the vilest of the vile: even so, grace could and would raise them into the nearest relationship to God Himself. Then they should be, not a mere substitute for Israel, but "the sons of the living God."

The context makes it clear that the question is one of standing — a relationship God owns. So, as we would expect, it is "sons" and not "children" as in our version.

The Gentiles were always "Lo-ammi," and He says to Israel, "Lo-ammi"; so all are "Lo-ammi." But now we get a new principle. "In the place where it was said to them, Lo-ammi, there they shall be called the children of the living God." And this is going on now. When Israel is restored, it is as "the people of God."

The prophets did not lack the assurance of mercy for the Gentiles. They spoke even more of warnings of judgment on Israel. So this was not the new testimony of grace that the Jews resented as interfering with their ancient privileges. Let them beware of fighting against God. He had taught both these truths in the living words He entrusted to them. Those words were their boast, though they understood them so little. So if they quarrelled with such a sentence, their quarrel was not so much with Paul as with Isaiah and the Holy Spirit who inspired him.

The prophet looks on to the close of the sorrowful history of the chosen people... It is the great crisis of prophecy, the end of the Lord with His people. They prove Him to be very compassionate and tender in mercy, whatever the rough roads and stormy skies along the way. Israel's numbers may have been ever so great; yet not the mass but the remnant shall be saved.

Now Isaiah 10:22-23 and Isaiah 1:9 show the two kinds of vessels formed from the same lump of sinful, disobedient Israel. On one side is a remnant that submits to grace. On the other is a vast body of them resisting grace, and cut off in judgment.

The Lord spared this remnant only because of His sovereign grace... But for grace they would have been wiped out.

Does anyone object to what God is doing today, calling out by the gospel a chosen people from both Jews and Gentiles? The answer is that God is only doing again in our days what He has done in the past. What is more, the prophets had expected that He would act like this. Both Moses and Isaiah had foretold that only a remnant of Israel should be saved. They also foretold that God would call into favour a people He once did not love.

It is a prediction concerning the future. When this age closes, they will pass through a time of judgment. In that period God in sovereign power and mercy will call a remnant of His people. It is the remnant so often seen in the prophetic Word and in the book of Revelation. That remnant will be saved and will become the nucleus of the coming Kingdom.

In the day that is coming it is said, "all Israel will be saved" (Rom. 11:26). But when we examine the prophecies that deal with that time, we find that only a very small "remnant" of Israel will be blessed. The great majority of the nation is cut off in judgment... This remnant, however, gets the place and blessings of Israel, and so it represents the nation.

A remnant is smaller than the whole it comes from, and it carries the features of the original. Think of a carpet, for instance. But this does not mean it is of less value. God values the minority who keep the character of God's people.

The prophet looks forward to the close of the sorrowful history of the chosen people... However many Israel may have been, it is not the mass but the remnant that will be saved. For He is finishing and cutting the matter short in righteousness. Then it will be no question of patient mercy; the Lord will cut the matter short on the earth, or land.

He will have the last word in the affairs of men. He has said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." When He does step in, He will finish the work — that is, He will settle the account — and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.

God would finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness. His patience reaches its limit, even though most of Israel are still unrepentant. He will make short work of their proud independence. Righteousness must be done, and even patience will not push it aside. A solemn lesson for men who think of patience as passing over sin altogether!

There will be chosen souls on earth during the tribulation, and for their sake it will be cut short... the Lord will make "a short work… upon the earth," so that a remnant may be saved. Today God is giving out mercy through the Gospel, and He has made a very long work of it, stretching over nineteen centuries. When He gives out wrath He will work fast, cutting it short in righteousness. A short three and a half years will cover it, as other Scriptures show. So the goodness of God will be shown both in mercy and in wrath.

In the end a remnant will be saved — not the whole nation, but a remnant... When this age closes they will pass through a time of judgment. In that period God in sovereign power and mercy will call out a remnant of His people, the remnant seen so often in the prophetic Word and in the Book of Revelation. God will save that remnant and make it the core of the coming Kingdom. Unbelieving Israel, having turned away from Him, will be swept away in judgment.

If any object to what God is doing today, calling out by the Gospel a chosen people from both Jews and Gentiles, the answer is simple. God is only doing again in our days what He has done in the past.

This was not the new testimony of grace that the Jews resented so strongly as interfering with their ancient privileges. Let them beware of fighting against God, who had taught both these truths in the living words entrusted to them... So if they argued with such a sentence, they were arguing not so much with Paul as with Isaiah and the Holy Spirit who had inspired him.

We do not meet with this name until 1 Samuel 1:3. It came in with prophetic testimony. Faith took hold of the Lord's glory at a time when Israel had corrupted themselves and were weak and low. Scripture reveals a mighty heavenly host, and rulers and powers in the unseen world. God is the God of them all, as well as God of all the elements of nature, which He has often used to punish His enemies... The same title occurs in the New Testament as the LORD OF SABAOTH, Romans 9:29 (in a quotation from Isaiah 1:9), and James 5:4.

As to Israel, they were more guilty than the heathen, as bad as the worst. So it is no longer the doom, but the abominations of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Verse 29 quotes an earlier prophecy of Isaiah — from Isaiah 1:9, confirming the truth of mercy for a remnant only. Here he speaks of "a seed" — a small part. The verse quoted uses the term "a very small remnant." If the Lord had not preserved this feeble seed, the destruction of Israel would have been as complete as that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice too that these quotations come from the "gospel prophet." He, more than all others, tells of grace and mercy for the poor, the thirsting, the blind. But he is clear that "not all" "who are of Israel" will have part in this.

This shows both the need of sovereign grace and the justice of the judgment: "If the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom." Man is past moral correction. He is incorrigible and incurable.

God's pure compassion proved to be Israel's only hope, for they had set up the golden calf! So every claim to the promises as a right was gone — whether by descent from Abraham or by obeying the law. The sovereignty of God was the only resource that remained. But if God was sovereign, a Jew had no more right than a Gentile... Isaiah does not support the Jews' claim. He states all too plainly that, however many the sons of Israel might be, God would save the remnant — not the mass.

Isaiah 1:9 reveals that only a small remnant existed that God could recognise. Had that remnant not been there, a judgment like that of Sodom and Gomorrah would have fallen on them. This is always God's way. Again and again in the past He had kept a small remnant for Himself in the middle of general departure. He has done so through the church's history. He is doing so today.

The apostle sums up his argument. He shows that the Gentiles have obtained the blessing on the principle of faith. Israel has missed the blessing by seeking it on the principle of law. Trusting in their own righteousness they refused grace and rejected the One who came in lowly grace.

And Gentiles have received it, though they had not followed after righteousness. By grace they have still attained righteousness, receiving it in the gospel. For the gospel does not ask for righteousness: it brings it, and faith takes it. Simple, yet profound truth!

Gentiles, for all their dark ignorance and complete indifference to God, were brought into the right way. It was not a way of law, but righteousness on the principle of faith — righteousness outside themselves, by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The Gentiles believed, and so gave glory to God. The Jews clung to works, though they were far from what the law demanded. So they exposed their own empty self-righteousness, and they also stumbled at the stumbling-stone, despising their own Messiah. The law is not of faith, but the blessing is. So the blessing is open to the Gentile who believes, not to the Jew who does not believe.

Grace goes out openly to the lowest and most careless. It gives and forms what is good, and it puts away the evil, to the praise of divine mercy. Yet it does all this righteously. This is no righteousness of law; it is righteousness of faith. So it is open to those who never knew the law. It is open too to those in Israel who broke down about themselves, and whom God taught to receive only of His grace in Christ.

But Israel had followed after the law of righteousness. They only proved the sad truth that pursuing is not attaining. They still seek to follow, but it is a pathetic sight. Hobbling on their lame legs, they have dropped so far behind that righteousness is only a dim speck in the far distance. Refusing it as a gift, they still vainly pursue it as a goal.

The Jews sought righteousness by keeping the law, but never reached it. Is it not so to this day? All who take Jewish ground, and seek to be righteous by keeping law — no matter what law — never reach it. They can never be sure they are righteous enough for God to justify them, and so they never attain peace with God. The more religion an unconverted man has, the harder it is for the gospel to reach him.

A man's religion may be his ruin. His very strictness of life may land him in destruction. Why? Because the religious man tends to take pride in his religiousness, and the moral man in his morality. So he goes completely blind to the truth that he is a real sinner before a holy God.

Their own prophets were quite enough to explain the state of things around them. They also proved that Jewish rebelliousness against God was foretold just as surely as Gentile acceptance of His mercy. These are the great and unchanging marks of the present time. Christianity assumes these marks; Judaism denies them. In the Gentiles grace shows itself and triumphs; the Jews for the present refuse it and slander it.

It is interesting that the apostle Paul, in Romans 9:30-33, takes up this passage to explain how Israel failed. Israel pursued a law of righteousness. Gentiles did not pursue it, yet they attained it. The Gentiles believed, and so gave glory to God. Israel clung to works, though they were far from what the law demanded. So they exposed their own empty self-righteousness. They also stumbled at the stumbling-stone, despising their own Messiah. For the law is not of faith, but the blessing is, and so it is open to the Gentile who believes, not to the Jew who does not believe.

Verse 31. "A law of righteousness" — such a thing, not "the." So they did not attain to any.

They misused the law. They treated it as a ladder to climb up into righteousness, instead of a plumb-line to test all the righteousness they thought they had. Israel had missed righteousness by law, and Gentiles had reached righteousness by faith.

But Israel had followed after the law of righteousness — only to prove the sad fact that pursuing is not attaining. They still seek to follow, but it is a pitiful sight. They limp along on lame legs. They have dropped so far behind that righteousness is only a dim speck in the far distance. Refusing it as a gift, they still vainly pursue it as an object.

Israel then has not come to a law of righteousness. "Why?" As it was through no lack of privileges from God, so it was through no lack of their own efforts in pursuing it. But they pursued wrongly. They overlooked both God and themselves, as unbelief always does. They forgot what is due to His majesty, and what flows from His nature. They forgot too what sin has done to man: the moral ruin and helplessness, as well as the guilt.

The Jews sought righteousness by keeping the law, but never reached it. Is it not so to this day? All who take Jewish ground and seek to be righteous by keeping law — no matter what law — never reach it. They can never be sure they are righteous enough for God to justify them, and so they never attain to peace with God. The more religion an unconverted man has, the harder it is for the gospel to reach him.

A man's religion may be his ruin. His very strictness of life may land him in eternal ruin. Why? Because the religious man tends to be proud of his religion, and the moral man proud of his morality. So he becomes completely blind to what he really is: a sinner before a holy God.

Israel, then, has not arrived at a law of righteousness. "Why?" It was not for lack of privileges from God. And it was not for lack of their own effort in pursuing it. But they pursued wrongly. They overlooked, as unbelief always does, both God and themselves. They forgot what is due to His majesty, and what flows from His nature. They also forgot what sin has done to man: his moral ruin, his inability, and his guilt. … The last thing a sinner likes is to take all the blame for his evil on himself. Of all men, the Jews were the least willing to do it, and the most stubborn in their own thoughts. Why, they reasoned, should we have the law of God, if not to gain acceptance with God by faithfully keeping its commands? What else is its value and its use?

Israel stumbled at that stumbling-stone, which was Christ. They also misused the law. They treated it as a ladder to climb up into righteousness. But it was a plumb-line, meant to test all the righteousness they thought they had. Israel had missed righteousness by law, and Gentiles had reached righteousness by faith.

They flatly rejected God's principle of faith, and so they stumbled at the Stumbling Stone. That stone was Christ in His grace, come low enough for men to trip over Him. His humiliation expressed both His perfect grace and the need that grace came to meet. In their condition, that very grace became a stumbling block to them, and God had declared it would be so… The nation was filled with self-righteousness. To such men, the fullness of God's love shown in Him could be nothing else. They did not know their need. So they rejected the very goodness that met it — grace — because it was grace.

The Messiah had indeed come, but in a form completely unexpected. They had looked for a King, and here was a carpenter's Son! What is more, He hinted from time to time at His coming death… "They have stumbled over the stumbling stone," the Apostle said later (Rom. 9:32). Those who followed the Lord Jesus for merely earthly reasons gave it up at once. If death really lay before Him, there was nothing in Him to interest them.

The Jews sought righteousness by keeping the law, but never reached it. Is it not the same to this day? All who take Jewish ground, and seek to be righteous by keeping law — no matter what law — never reach it. They can never be sure they are righteous enough for God to justify them, and so they never come to peace with God. The more religion an unconverted man has, the harder it is for the gospel to reach him.

Unbelief of grace — self-righteousness — is far more inexcusable now than in the past. For Christ the Son of God has come, and He has accomplished redemption… But men still stumble at the stone of stumbling, the Lord Jesus, just as Israel stumbled. Even baptized men stumble. If they felt their real state, how they would bless God for such a Saviour! But they were proud, and blind as well. They were satisfied with their own obedience, or at least with their own efforts. They stumbled at the stumbling-stone; but the same Christ delivers the believer from hurt, from shame, from confusion.