It is not as though the word of God has failed!?! (Romans 9:6)
With this statement, the apostle Paul introduces what was a huge theological crisis in the first century ecclesia (church), and continues to challenge believers right up to our day: how can the God of Israel, the God revealed in Holy Scripture, be both righteous in His judgement of an unfaithful people, but at the same time faithful to His promises to bless and redeem them?
The problem of the majority Jewish rejection of our King-Messiah, Yeshua, has caused many to doubt the veracity of the hundreds of Old Testament promises towards Israel, the Jewish nation, Jerusalem, etc. Perhaps these words are the outdated, old-fashioned expression of a different religious system that is no longer relevant under the universal grace of the New Covenant? Or maybe we just need to apply these promises in a new, spiritual, in-Christ, universal way to all believers?
As Paul’s ministry developed amidst Jews, and many more gentiles, all these questions came to the fore. In Romans 9-11, the Holy Spirit leads the Apostle to decipher the mystery of God’s grand plan for Jews and gentiles, Israel and the nations together. And through it all, God is shown to be totally righteous and totally faithful to His words through the OT prophets.
In this first in a series, Ariel teaches from Romans 9:1-6, wherein we see that these issues were intensely personal for the Apostle Paul, and how his ministry could be misunderstood from either direction—from the Jewish side or the gentile side.
WATCH today!
