The Living Bible (358 page)

Romans
10

Dear brothers, the longing of my heart and my prayer is that the Jewish people might be saved.
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 I know what enthusiasm they have for the honor of God, but it is misdirected zeal.
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 For they don’t understand that Christ has died to make them right with God. Instead they are trying to make themselves good enough to gain God’s favor by keeping the Jewish laws and customs, but that is not God’s way of salvation.
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 They don’t understand that Christ gives to those who trust in him everything they are trying to get by keeping his laws. He ends all of that.

    
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 For Moses wrote that if a person could be perfectly good and hold out against temptation all his life and never sin once, only then could he be pardoned and saved.
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 But the salvation that comes through faith says, “You don’t need to search the heavens to find Christ and bring him down to help you,” and,
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 “You don’t need to go among the dead to bring Christ back to life again.”

    
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 For salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is what we preach—is already within easy reach of each of us; in fact, it is as near as our own hearts and mouths.
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 For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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 For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God; and with his mouth he tells others of his faith, confirming his salvation.
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 For the Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed.
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 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect: they all have the same Lord who generously gives his riches to all those who ask him for them.
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 Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

    
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 But how shall they ask him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
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 And how will anyone go and tell them unless someone sends him? That is what the Scriptures are talking about when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace with God and bring glad tidings of good things.”
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In other words, how welcome are those who come preaching God’s Good News!

    
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 But not everyone who hears the Good News has welcomed it, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed me when I told them?”
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 Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ.

    
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 But what about the Jews? Have they heard God’s Word? Yes, for it has gone wherever they are; the Good News has been told to the ends of the earth.
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 And did they understand that God would give his salvation to others if they refused to take it
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? Yes, for even back in the time of Moses, God had said that he would make his people jealous and try to wake them up by giving his salvation to the foolish heathen nations.
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 And later on Isaiah said boldly that God would be found by people who weren’t even looking for him.
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 In the meantime, he keeps on reaching out his hands to the Jews, but they keep arguing
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and refusing to come.

Romans
11

I ask then, has God rejected and deserted his people the Jews? Oh no, not at all. Remember that I myself am a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and a member of Benjamin’s family.

    
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 No, God has not discarded his own people whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you remember what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet was complaining to God about the Jews, telling God how they had killed the prophets and torn down God’s altars; Elijah claimed that he was the only one left in all the land who still loved God, and now they were trying to kill him too.

    
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 And do you remember how God replied? God said, “No, you are not the only one left. I have seven thousand others besides you who still love me and have not bowed down to idols!”
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 It is the same today. Not all the Jews have turned away from God; there are a few being saved as a result of God’s kindness in choosing them.
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 And if it is by God’s kindness, then it is not by their being good enough. For in that case the free gift would no longer be free—it isn’t free when it is earned.

    
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 So this is the situation: Most of the Jews have not found the favor of God they are looking for. A few have—the ones God has picked out—but the eyes of the others have been blinded.
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 This is what our Scriptures refer to when they say that God has put them to sleep, shutting their eyes and ears so that they do not understand what we are talking about when we tell them of Christ. And so it is to this very day.

    
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 King David spoke of this same thing when he said, “Let their good food and other blessings trap them into thinking all is well between themselves and God. Let these good things boomerang on them and fall back upon their heads to justly crush them.
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 Let their eyes be dim,” he said, “so that they cannot see, and let them walk bent-backed forever with a heavy load.”

    
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 Does this mean that God has rejected his Jewish people forever? Of course not! His purpose was to make his salvation available to the Gentiles, and then the Jews would be jealous and begin to want God’s salvation for themselves.
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 Now if the whole world became rich as a result of God’s offer of salvation, when the Jews stumbled over it and turned it down, think how much greater a blessing the world will share in later on when the Jews, too, come to Christ.

    
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 As you know, God has appointed me as a special messenger to you Gentiles. I lay great stress on this and remind the Jews about it as often as I can,
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 so that if possible I can make them want what you Gentiles have and in that way save some of them.
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 And how wonderful it will be when they become Christians! When God turned away from them it meant that he turned to the rest of the world to offer his salvation; and now it is even more wonderful when the Jews come to Christ. It will be like dead people coming back to life.
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 And since Abraham and the prophets are God’s people, their children will be too. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be too.

    
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 But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree, some of the Jews, have been broken off. And you Gentiles who were branches from, we might say, a wild olive tree, were grafted in. So now you, too, receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in God’s rich nourishment of his own special olive tree.

    
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 But you must be careful not to brag about being put in to replace the branches that were broken off. Remember that you are important only because you are now a part of God’s tree; you are just a branch, not a root.

    
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 “Well,” you may be saying, “those branches were broken off to make room for me, so I must be pretty good.”

    
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 Watch out! Remember that those branches, the Jews, were broken off because they didn’t believe God, and you are there only because you do. Do not be proud; be humble and grateful—and careful.
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 For if God did not spare the branches he put there in the first place, he won’t spare you either.

    
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 Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is very hard on those who disobey, but very good to you if you continue to love and trust him. But if you don’t, you too will be cut off.
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 On the other hand, if the Jews leave their unbelief behind them and come back to God, God will graft them back into the tree again. He has the power to do it.

    
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 For if God was willing to take you who were so far away from him—being part of a wild olive tree—and graft you into his own good tree—a very unusual thing to do—don’t you see that he will be far more ready to put the Jews back again, who were there in the first place?

    
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 I want you to know about this truth from God, dear brothers, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Yes, it is true that some of the Jews have set themselves against the Gospel now, but this will last only until all of you Gentiles have come to Christ—those of you who will.
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 And then all Israel will be saved.

    
Do you remember what the prophets said about this? “There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer, and he shall turn the Jews from all ungodliness.
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 At that time I will take away their sins, just as I promised.”

    
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 Now many of the Jews are enemies of the Gospel. They hate it. But this has been a benefit to you, for it has resulted in God’s giving his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still beloved of God because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
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 For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises.
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 Once you were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his gifts God was merciful to you instead.
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 And now the Jews are the rebels, but some day they, too, will share in God’s mercy upon you.
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 For God has given them all up to sin
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so that he could have mercy upon all alike.

    
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 Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his wisdom and knowledge and riches! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!
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 For who among us can know the mind of the Lord? Who knows enough to be his counselor and guide?
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 And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act?
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 For everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory. To him be glory evermore.