<H3>Chapter # 10  Paragraph # 1  Study # 3<BR />May 20, 2018<BR />Humble, Texas<BR /><a href="https://www.biblical-thinking.org/DOC-Ro3/audio.php?name=Rom180520.mp3">(Download Audio)</a></H3>

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Thesis:&nbsp;&nbsp;  The ignorance of Israel led directly to determined self-elevation and overt, angry rebellion.

Introduction:&nbsp;&nbsp;  In our last study we considered Paul's explanation of Israel's "zeal for God" and its automatic corollary of "ever learning and never able to come to the threshold of knowing the Truth".  We saw that Paul's desire for Israel's salvation was not because they had a latent "good" in them called a "zeal for God"; rather, it was because he had been precisely where they are in their "zeal" which actually made them adversaries of God.  Because he had been in that enormous alienation from God (while attempting to prove to himself and others that he was "in love with" God and "serving" Him), his sympathy was stirred by Israel's plight and wished for their deliverance.
This evening we are going a step further as we follow Paul's words.  It is his claim that Israel's "ignorance" sponsored an over weaning pride and deep hostility to the Gospel.

<ul><li>I. The Major Concept Involved:  The Righteousness of God. 
	<ul><li>A. <b>Romans 9:3</b> uses the word "righteousness" two times in a verse containing only 17 words. 
		<ul><li>1. In addition to the two overt uses of this word, there is an implied third use in the phrase "seeking to establish their own [righteousness]". 
		<li>2. Thus, we have to conclude that "righteousness" is the major concept under consideration. 
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	<li>B. That it is called "the righteousness of The God" is critical. 
		<ul><li>1. This "righteousness", when attached to the qualifying phrase "of The God", is a reference to a "righteousness" that is infinite, far, far beyond the comprehension of finite man. 
		<li>2. At issue in "righteousness" is the exactly just treatment of another so that the "other" gets precisely what he is due in terms of identity and recompense as an actor in a cause/effect universe. 
			<ul><li>a. The issue of "exactly just treatment" means absolutely no more, nor less, than exact treatment (not one iota more than is just and not one iota less than is just). 
				<ul><li>1) The degree of detail involved was declared by Jesus in <b>Matthew 12:36</b>. 
				<li>2) This "degree of detail" is enhanced by James in <b>James 3:2</b> where he makes man's abilities to be deficient particularly at the "word" level. 
				<li>3) Add to that the words of the author of <b>Hebrews 4:12</b> where we are told that God's evaluations go all the way to the precise identification of thoughts and intents of the heart and we have a level of precision of "justice" that defies man's comprehension. 
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			<li>b. The foundations of "exactly just treatment" are two:  identity and recompense. 
				<ul><li>1) "Identity" is the quality of being an "image of God" person so that what is "just" treatment begins with the fact that the person is created in the image of God in a major distinction from every other created entity. 
				<li>2) "Recompense" is the concept of "repayment for things done" by active agents in a cause/effect world. 
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		<li>3. God, alone, has the omniscience necessary to the task of determining what is "exactly just" seeing as how He alone can tell what a man's actions are going to produce downline and, thus, how those actions ought to be recompensed. 
		<li>4. Thus, for <b>Romans 1:16-17</b> to say that God is willing to visit upon men His own righteousness as a result of "faith" (in Him, not themselves) is a declaration that this infinite, and exactly precise, righteousness is extended as a gift from God. 
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<li>II. The "Problem" of "Ignorance". 
	<ul><li>A. This problem exists, on one level, as an ignorance of the infinity of God's righteousness so that men actually think themselves, as finite creatures, capable of producing a finite equivalent of the infinite. 
	<li>B. This problem also exists, on another level, as an ignorance of the limits of human capacity. 
		<ul><li>1. Men are caught by the tacit awareness that "no one is perfect" while propounding their own ability to produce "perfect righteousness". 
		<li>2. There is an amazing level of blindness. 
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<li>III. The More Serious Problem of "Motivation". 
	<ul><li>A. Israel wished to "establish" a "righteousness of its own". 
	<li>B. There has to be a Love/Faith root for this "wish". 
	<li>C. John declares that this "wish" is rooted in "the arrogance of functional capacity" (translated as "the pride of life" by the Authorized Version). 
	<li>D. This root of "arrogance" finds its identification in the offer of the tempter to possess the capacities of "elohim" so as to be "a free agent, unfettered by the boundaries set by The Elohim". 
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<li>IV. The Inevitable Consequence:  High Handed Rebellion. 
	<ul><li>A. Paul says Israel refused to "submit" to, or be subjected to, the righteousness of The God. 
	<li>B. This refusal was not a refusal to be subject to God's righteous rule so much as it was a rejection of the Gospel's offer of "the righteousness of God" as per <b>Habakkuk 2:4</b>. 
		<ul><li>1. This refusal, Paul says, was the result of "stumbling over the stone of stumbling" and "being offended by the rock of offense". 
		<li>2. All through both testaments God made clear that the Cross as a sacrifice of the Son of God for sinners is the highest of all themes of divine revelation and the Jews simply turned up their noses at it. 
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