The Surprising God

This post exegetes Romans 10:1-21, providing context for the Epistle reading on August 9, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News  for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." The Apostle Paul (public domain) Introduction Chapters 9-11 of Romans address the God’s relation to Israel. Chapter 9 looks at the past aspect of this relationship, emphasizing God’s sovereignty. Now in chapter 10 Paul emphasizes the present aspect of this relationship, emphasizing human responsibility in Israel’s continuing rejection of the gospel. He explains the reasons, the remedy and the results of that rejection. In studying this we learn a lot about the nature of saving faith and of the imperative to preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. The reasons for Israel’s rejection  Romans 10:1–13 You would think that Israel as a nation would have been eagerly expecting the arrival of her Messiah and been prepared to receive Him. For centuri...

This post exegetes Romans 9:1-33, providing context for the Epistle reading on August 2, 2026. Insights are drawn from "Romans: God's Good News for the World" by John Stott, and from "The Expositor’s Bible Commentary." “Apostle Paul,” by Lievens (PublicDomain via Wikimedia Commons) Introduction Romans chapters 9-11 address relations between Jews and Gentiles, and particularly the position of the Jews with respect to God’s purposes revealed in the gospel. How could God’s chosen people fail to recognize their Messiah? How could their unresponsiveness be reconciled with God's covenant and promises? How did the conversion of the Gentiles, and Paul's unique mission as an apostle to the Gentiles fit in with God's plan? And what was God's future purpose for both Jews and Gentiles? Each chapter handles a different aspect of God's relation to Israel—this post exegetes Chapter 9, which deals with Israel’s fall from the historic (past) perspective of he...