Chrissy's Day ?: Biology vs Promises

Okay. Here goes.

Romans 9: 1-17

Romans 9 starts off by with Paul saying he is gutted that the Jews have gone so wrong with God. But thats not God's fault, he says. God's people are defined by his promise not biology. God demonstrated this when he turned Esau and Jacob's birthright's upside down.

But we shouldn't deduce that God is unfair (I admit, that was my first reaction when I read this). God is mercy and compassion - he created it and defines it.

Reflection

Okay, finally after a long time of having this sitting in the back of my mind. Ignoring it cause I didn't understand. I think I'm getting a little clarity on some of it. Woop woop!

I think Paul is explaining that God's been doing some tricky stuff so that people (Jews in particular) can't claim that they have saved themselves. He's flipping things around and standing stuff on it's head. God's trying to say - It's not about biology or anything else that you might to - it's about me!

The example he gives is Jacob and Esau. God switched their birthrights. The reason he did this was to show that his purpose is based on his decisions not on anything that people do. As verse 11 says "not because of works but because of him who calls".

Another reason for switching the birthrights is to forshadow that the 'younger kid' would get the goods from God. That's us Gentiles! God decided to let us in the door and bless us.

It's helpful to look forward to chapter 11 to help understand this. The Message version talks about the Jews walking out the door and the Gentiles walking in:

11-12 The next question is, "Are they down for the count? Are they out of this for good?" And the answer is a clear-cut No. Ironically when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if their leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God's kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back! What a homecoming!

So yeah, I'm beginning to understand a bit more of this :) Yay!

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for helping me to understand this passage.
Thank you for the enlightenment you've given me today.

Please continue to whisper gently in my ear,
Please keep guiding me and teaching me.

I want to be your servant, your vessel.

Amen