Romans 10:1-4
"Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."It would be reasonable if someone asked: Why do we spend time in modern, 21st century thinking about the problem with Israel– especially the problem with ancient Israel in biblical times? It seems so remote – so distant from persecution in Iraq and Sri Lanka, and from terrorism in USA and from starvation in Ethiopia, and from budget deficits and depressed economy and low interest rates.
In Romans 9—11 Paul deals mainly with the problem of Israel’s failure to find righteousness before God and, therefore, salvation and eternal life. The rest of the world – the Gentiles (or us) – come into view starting in Romans 9:24 and stay in view the rest of the time, but they are secondary in Paul’s attention in these chapters. The main issue is, again and again: Is Israel God’s chosen people, and what went wrong?
Now why should this matter to us?
