Simple things wouldn’t be worth it.
Romans 11:25-32 (ESV)
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
What Paul’s saying here is that this mystery is such a skull-cracker that it will keep you from being wise in your own sight. In other words, don’t expect to understand it; it’s designed to humble you.
A lot of folks have a problem with this. They have the wrong reaction to not understanding something. They think that if it doesn’t make sense to them, it doesn’t make sense at all. Thus, it must be wrong.
This form of pride is the mother of all kinds of stupidity. So, Paul warns us that we’re not going to understand this mystery, and to take that in the right way.
And what a mystery it is. God’s plan for Israel is a partial hardening, which will bring in the gentiles, and in this way all Israel will be saved.
Furthermore, as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
This seems impossibly strange, but remarkably similar to lots of other parts of the gospel.
No one expected the messiah to be born in a manger either.
This passage displays God’s unique priorities. It’s an understatement to say that God’s ways are higher than our ways. He has a different concept of higher.
This is the foundation of worship. Anything we can understand isn’t worthy of worship—admiration, maybe, but not worship.
God isn’t just good; He invented goodness. What He is, is holy—a word that’s hard to define. It means something like “other” or “separate.”
Don’t expect to understand. It’s why we worship.
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