An important question we ask concerning this remarkable part of Romans is: Why did Paul write this letter? The answer has much to do with Israel. We are about to discover something remarkable. Although Romans chapters 9, 10, and 11 deal explicitly with Israel, the subject does not begin there. Israel’s place in God’s redemptive plan is woven throughout the entire letter to the Romans. From the very first chapter, Paul lays a foundation that reaches its fullest expression in these three chapters.
Before that, let us consider the condition of the world at that time. When we open the Book of Romans, something immediately strikes us; in so many ways, the world of the first century was remarkably similar to the world in which we live today.
First, there was a widespread wave of antisemitism, very much as we see in our own day.
Second, Israel itself was living in survival mode, struggling for its very existence. Only fifteen years after Paul wrote this letter, Jerusalem, the Temple, and the nation would be devastated by the Romans in A.D. 70. And as students of prophecy, we know that the scriptures predict a similar pattern before the Second Coming of the Messiah.
Third, there were deep divisions within Israel itself, especially between the religious leadership and the people. Again, this is something we see in Israel today.
Fourth, there was great unrest throughout the world. Paul lived during what historians call the Pax Romana, the so-called “Roman Peace.” But the first century was anything but peaceful.
Revolts, persecutions, political turmoil, and wars were common throughout the empire. Rome maintained peace, but often by the sword. In many ways, that unrest mirrors the instability we see around us today. Romans 9–11 is not a theological interruption; it is Paul’s answer to a historical and spiritual crisis, much like we are living in today.
Let us now consider the city of Rome itself, where this congregation was located. Just six years before Paul wrote this letter, in A.D. 49, the Jewish population was expelled from Rome. This event is noticed in the New Testament. In Acts 18:1-2, we are told that when Paul arrived in Corinth, he met a Jewish couple, Aquila and Priscilla, who had recently come from Rome because Claudius had expelled all the Jews from the city. Paul became very close to them, not only because they shared the same faith, but also because they shared the same trade; they were all tentmakers.
But this was not the first time the Jews were expelled from Rome. Nearly thirty years earlier, in A.D. 19, during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, the Jews had already been expelled from the city.
And so, long before Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, the Jewish community in Rome was already living under a heavy burden of suspicion, hostility, and rejection. Antisemitism was rampant.
It was into this atmosphere that Paul wrote this remarkable letter and the others as well. But the situation in Rome was not unique. Take Egypt, for example. The Jewish philosopher and historian Philo tells us that there were about one million Jews living there in his day. Yet, from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D., Egypt became a major center for anti-Jewish literature. Hostility toward the Jewish people was not only tolerated, it was often promoted and encouraged. This is very much like it is today, when so much of this type of literature is being promoted in the media.
Then, in A.D. 38, only about seventeen years before Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, one of the worst anti-Jewish riots of antiquity broke out in Alexandria. Many synagogues were desecrated and destroyed. Philo, in his work Against Flaccus, describes how the Jews were driven out of their neighborhoods and confined to a very small section of the city, something very much like what we would today call a ghetto.
Now think about this for a moment. This was the world in which Jesus lived. He was fully aware of this growing wave of hostility toward His own people, for He Himself was Jewish. He was about 12 years old when there was a riot against the Jews in Egypt, the same age as Philo. He was aware of the mounting antisemitism in the world.
So, this only adds to the pain and grief Paul so passionately demonstrates in this very powerful and unusual passage of Romans 9:1-3, which reads, “I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites…”
Notice how Paul begins. “I am telling the truth in Messiah, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit.” Paul calls upon three witnesses to attest to the sincerity of his love for Israel: Messiah Himself, the Holy Spirit, and his own conscience.
First, he lists Messiah. The truth of Paul’s words rests upon Yeshua, who is Himself the Truth, the Word of God. Second, he mentions the Holy Spirit, who bears witness to the truth and confirms it in the heart of the believer. And third, Paul refers to his conscience. The conscience is like an inner alarm system placed within us by God. It warns us when we are wrong and affirms us when we are walking in the light. Paul’s conscience is clear, not because he trusts his own feelings, but because his conscience stands in harmony with Messiah and under the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
But why does Paul go to such great lengths to speak about the place of Israel? Surely because of the fierce persecution against Israel and the rising unlikeliness of God’s love for this nation because of her rejection of the Messiah. And so he insists on this point. In effect, he is saying: “Do not doubt me for a moment. I love my people. My heart breaks for Israel. There is not the slightest shadow of doubt about it.”
Go to the video – Romans 9-11 – The Forgotten Chapters : God’s Unfinished Plan for Israel