In the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of Romans, we are dealing with a Christian philosophy of history. It’s a philosophy that we can ask as a question: “What in the world is God doing?” Or, “What is God doing in world history?” Or even: “What is He doing with me? Where have I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going when I die?” There has never been a more important moment in which to ask these questions, because in our day people have lost, not only the Christian answers to them but even the hope of finding them. The classic carnival man’s cry as the moving wheel of fortune turns: “Round and round and round she goes and where she stops nobody knows.”

This however, is not the Christian view, nor is it the teaching of Romans. The Christian view is not negative, because it sees God at the beginning of history (taking charge of it), the cross of Jesus Christ at the center of history (giving it meaning), and the return of Christ at the end of history (bringing it to a triumphant conclusion). For the Christian, time and history are pregnant with eternal meaning. In one sense that is the theme of the next great section of Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapters 9 through 11. But these chapters are not introduced into a vacuum. They are linked to what has already been written.

Thus far, Paul has discoursed largely on the justification and sanctification of believers. In following through on these themes, Paul introduces some of the most profound and mind-stretching material to be found anywhere in the Bible. We will see, as we study these chapters: (1) the historical advantages of Judaism; (2) the importance and biblical proof of election; (3) the doctrine of reprobation; (4) the justice of God in saving some and passing by others; (5) the glory of God displayed in His judgments; (6) the reason for Jewish failure to believe on Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah; (7) the place and power of gospel preaching in God’s plan; (8) the importance of Christian missions; (9) what God is doing in the present age, and why; (10) the eventual salvation of the Jews as a nation; and (11) the great and indescribable knowledge and wisdom of God that guides it all. All those themes will occupy us in due course.

But, as we begin, it is important to see the overall outline of these chapters as they apply to the central question Paul is raising, namely: Has God’s saving purpose toward the Jewish nation failed? It is the question he raises implicitly in verse 6. Paul’s answer is a firm “No,” for the following seven reasons: (1) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because all whom God has elected to salvation are or will be saved (Rom. 9:6-24). (2) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because God had previously revealed that not all Israel would be saved and that some Gentiles would be (Rom. 9:25-29). (3) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because the failure of the Jews to believe was their own fault, not God’s (Rom. 9:30-10:21). (4) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because some Jews (Paul himself was an example) have believed and have been saved (Rom. 11:1). (5) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because it has always been the case that not all Jews but only a remnant has been saved (Rom. 11:2-10). (6) God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because the salvation of the Gentiles, which is now occurring, is meant to arouse Israel to envy and thus be the means of saving some of them (Rom. 11:11-24). (7) Finally, God’s historical purpose toward the Jewish nation has not failed, because in the end all Israel will be saved, and thus God will fulfill His promises to Israel nationally (Rom. 11:25-32).

We are going to be studying all these points in detail as we move through these great but sadly neglected chapters of Romans. Yet even here it is possible to see something of the vast scope of Paul’s plan. The apostle is showing what God is doing in the flow of human history from the very earliest moments in which He began to save our fallen race, through the period in which He began to work in a special way through the nation of Israel, to the coming of the Messiah, the rejection of Jesus for the most part by His own people, the offer of the gospel to the Gentiles, and the eventual conversion of the masses of Israel so that the two great religious portions of the human race may be saved and joined together as one people in Him. And in all this, Paul is providing what theologians call theodicy, a justification of the ways of God to human beings. In other words, he is not only showing what God is doing but also that He is right in so operating.

The question before us as we begin this section is: “How do we fit in?” What is God doing in your life? If you are a Christian, He is forming Jesus Christ in you so that at the end of time there will be a vast host of believers who will stand before Him as sisters and brothers of His beloved Son. Our problem is that we forget that this is what God is doing. Or we don’t think about this enough for it to matter. Instead, we are caught up in our own little plans, most of which have nothing to do with this purpose and will prove meaningless in the end. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you must know that you are here to be like Christ and to strive to win others to Christ so that they as well as yourself might have a share in this great blessing. What is God doing in history? That is what He is doing. That is a true understanding of historical events.

Romans 9-11 Reflection Questions:

Before you became a Christian, where did you look for meaning and purpose in life?

What kept you from turning to Christ sooner?

Think of something you have made with your hands (a work of art, a meal, a piece of furniture, etc.). What was your purpose in making it? How did you feel about it once it was done?