Paul’s Burden for the People of Israel

Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”

“Brethren” = fellow believers

Paul’s desire is that Israel, the Jewish people, would accept Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, and turn to Him for their salvation. The Greek for the word prayer comes from a root meaning “to beg (as binding oneself).” This gives strength to the word desire; it is a deep longing. Paul feels this so intensely because he was once in their position of unbelief.

Romans 10:2 “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”

Paul is very aware, through past personal experience, that the Jewish people (and especially their leaders) were zealous/passionate about God. The problem was that their passion was not based on “recognition, full discernment” (from the Greek) concerning Him. The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) words it this way, “But it is not based on correct understanding.”

Paul gave a prime example from his own life in the book of Acts as he spoke before Agrippa.

Acts 26:9-15 “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

I believe that has been the truth of “Christians” throughout history as well, e.g. the Crusaders. They have acted with zeal to support/defend a wrong understanding of God and His will/purposes.

Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

“ignorant” = not to know (through lack of information or intelligence), to ignore

I’ve always defined ignorance as lack of knowledge, but never associated the word ignore with it; that would include a conscious decision to refuse or reject the facts. When Jesus taught the righteousness of God in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), it was a revelation of how differently God looks at things vs. how men look at things. Through the centuries the spiritual leaders of Israel had developed an interpretation of the law that was far from the original intent of the Lawgiver; they had “established their own righteousness.” The ministry of Jesus was full of examples of His revealing the error of that system. Matthew 23 contains one of His strongest accusations of the spiritual leaders; verse 23 emphasizes their wrong understanding of God’s law. They were focused on outward acts of obedience with no understanding that it is the character of the inner man that is the key issue.

Matthew 23:23-25 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”

They were so caught up in their own “wisdom,” that they ignored the wisdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ. They refused to accept the facts/proofs that He gave of His position as the Messiah, the Son of God. They did not recognize Him because they revered the teaching of men more than the teaching of God through the scripture. They should have recognized Christ at His coming from the teaching of the prophets.

Matthew 16:1-3 “The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

Luke 12:54-56 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”