Romans 9:30–10:4 (ESV)
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued
a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as
it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
10 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer
to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking
to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Paul looks backward to God’s sovereign choice in Israel’s history (9:1–29) and forward to the necessity of faith and the guilt of unbelief (10:5–21). Every effort to get right with God by works
of the Law, however sincere, is doomed to failure. God is the giver of righteousness to everyone who believes.
I pray: “O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame” (Ps 25:2). Amen.
Edward A. Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 1928.