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Paul’s Concern for the Jewish People - As a Christian, I’m telling you the truth. I’m not lying. The Holy Spirit, along with my own thoughts, supports me in this. I have deep sorrow and endless heartache. I wish I could be condemned and cut off from Christ for the sake of others who, like me, are Jewish by birth. They are Israelites, God’s adopted children. They have the Lord’s glory ...
All that has gone before is integrally tied to what is now being proclaimed and taught by the apostles. In Paul’s estimation, a faithful Jew would count Jesus as Lord. Such a belief, though, would (and did) bring Paul into deep conflict with the Jewish leaders of the day. As for Gentiles, Paul sees Gentiles as heirs of the promise, too.
For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
From a cursory reading of Romans 3, this was not Paul’s concern, for Paul was worried about how it is that we can understand the negotiation of a religious identity (being Jewish) in light of its radical reformulation in light of a new, pressing concern (the expanding of the gospel to include the Gentiles). Salvation is not primarily about who we are or what we do, but about who God is and ...
Given what Paul says elsewhere in Romans (especially Chapter 6), one can argue that we humans are involved somehow, not as a way of taking away from God’s glory but rather as a way of showing God’s glory in a particular (and I believe compelling) way: That God saves from within (rather than simply outside of) creation is a sign of God’s power. That God allows us to be involved to some ...
Above all, might not the same Jewish Christians object and assert that it is Paul's reputed disdain for Jewish tradition that has made the conversion of Jews virtually impossible! It seems to me that a close reading of Romans and in particular Romans 9–11 suggests Paul is seeking to convince his readers that his gospel neither impugns the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob nor denies the elect ...
May 25, 2006 · In verse 23, he says, “now this I do for the gospel’s sake that I may be a partaker of it with you.” “For the sake of the gospel,” Paul says, “I am motivated to accommodate the weaknesses of the weak, the Jewishness of the Jews, and the unceremonialness of the Gentiles.” He wants to be of service to the gospel of Christ.”
