Chapter # 10 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
May 20, 2018
Humble, Texas

• I. Israel's Ignorance.
  • A. As the issue in seeking righteousness through the Law.
    • 1. In Romans 1:17 Paul began his presentation of his Gospel by declaring that there is, in the Gospel, a "righteousness of God" that is "revealed" to be "from faith to faith" (as the Authorized Version puts it) as Habakkuk 2:4 declares.
      • a. This "righteousness of God" is, more accurately, a "righteous from God to men". Obviously, it is also God's righteousness, but the point is that the Gospel makes it possible for men to obtain it "from God".
      • b. Paul's last "what shall we say then?" in Romans 9:30 focused upon this awesome promise of men "receiving" righteousness (which establishes the "righteousness from God" thesis) and it followed the 1:17 presentation of Habakkuk's "righteousness by faith/for faith" statement by eliminating the methodology of "works" as the "way" to obtain it. The Gentiles were not "working" and the Jews were and the Gentiles "received" and the Jews did not.
    • 2. Thus, the issue is not the "what", but the "how": that the righteousness involved is God's (thus the recurring theme in Romans of whether God is "unjust") is assumed; but the way for men to come into a legitimate possession of it is the crucial issue.
      • a. Paul's earlier arguments are given over to proving men are not righteous in their behavior (Romans 3:9; all are under sin) so that he may "conclude" that no one has ever been justified by their works (Romans 3:19-20).
      • b. This is the area of "ignorance" that resulted in Israel's lack of ability to "receive" a declaration of righteousness from God (i.e., God saying to them, I have determined you to be righteous). This is what Paul declared in 1 Timothy 1:13 when he claimed he was the chief of sinners out of "ignorance".
  • B. As focused upon two major issues.
    • 1. The first is that upon which the above material rests: the righteousness is God's perfection in holiness; a kind of righteousness that no man can ever hope to obtain in this life by works.
    • 2. The second is more subtle and pernicious: it is that which caused the "stone of stumbling" to be effective and the "rock of offence" to be offensive.
      • a. This second issue has a central core: the belief that man has a core-ability to actually live up to the standards of the righteousness of God.
      • b. This core is ridiculous on the very face of it. Men glibly say, "No one is perfect" and then turn right around and claim they can live up to the righteous standards of God. Jesus sought to turn men from this craziness on many occasions, but one stands out above the others: He told his hearers that those who seek righteousness through works of Law will be faced in the day of judgment with every word they have ever spoken to see if those utterances of the mouth that spring out of the abundance of the heart are actually rooted in true righteousness (Matthew 12:36 and its preceding statement in 12:34).
• II. Israel's Pursuit.
  • A. In 9:31 Paul clearly stated that Israel was pursuing a form of "righteousness". This indicates at least some degree of dedicated effort.
  • B. In our current text, this "pursuit" is a major point.
    • 1. Paul's use of the word translated by the Authorized Version as "going about" in Romans is instructive.
      • a. In 2:7 he uses it to declare the level of effort that is required by the accomplishment of a declaration of legally established righteousness from God: "patient continuance in well doing", "seeking (this is our word) for glory (from God, not men) and honor (again, from God, not men) and immortality (obviously from God since man cannot confer such a thing upon anyone). Thus, "seeking", or as our text has it, "going about to", is no small level of serious effort.
      • b. In 10:20 he uses it to strongly highlight the point made in 9:30 that the Gentiles were not even giving the pursuit of righteousness before God the time of day, let alone any kind of diligent effort.
      • c. In 11:13 he uses it in a quote from Elijah regarding the level of effort being made by his enemies regarding their desire to kill him.
    • 2. The object of this "pursuit" is declared to be "to establish a righteousness of their own".
      • a. The first issue of crucial importance about this objective is that it deliberately rejects "the righteousness of God": Israel preferred to not stand in the righteousness of their God, but to stand in their own as an equivalent righteousness as to quality and degree.
      • b. And the second issue of crucial importance is the answer to this question: Why would they have such a preference?
        • 1) There can only be one answer: over weaning pride of accomplishment. They preferred to prove that they could be as righteous as their God without His input.
        • 2) This was their adamant position: I neither need, nor want, God's input regarding both my life and my destiny; I will "establish" my own basis for possessing His regard and blessing. In other words, He will have to yield to my success in achieving a legitimate possession of a righteousness which He will have to accede is an equivalent to His own. To quote from an ancient psalmist, "He that sits in the heavens shall laugh..." at their pride and absolute failure to prove their point.
      • c. And the final issue is the inevitable: they refused to "submit themselves to the righteousness of God.
        • 1) The concept of "submission" is that of being under the authority and direction of another. In our text, Israel refused to align themselves (or "be aligned"; the verb is a passive voice translated as a middle voice) under the Promise/Faith methodology wherein God provides all things necessary for life and godliness.
        • 2) This is high-handed rebellion against the Cross. The Cross is the greatest display of the mercy of God that creation has ever seen, or will ever see. The death of the Son of God for the sake of sinners is one of those "beyond comprehension, extreme solution" concepts. No mortal will ever be able to plumb the depths, or climb the heights, of the reality of the Creator voluntarily submitting Himself to Death for the sake of a creation in hateful rebellion.
        • 3) This is the proof that Israel needs to be saved; for if not they will surely perish as the most wicked of men. Paul characterized his own participation in this arrogance as qualifying him for the title of "chief of sinners".