In the midst of his glorying in the good that God works for those who believe in him, Paul has to deal with the state of Israel. Paul is a Jew, through and through. But he sees that gentiles are putting their faith in Jesus at a much larger rate than Jews. What does this mean? What about my fellow countrymen, God’s chosen people.
And at the beginning of this chapter, Paul shares his anguish over their rejection of Christ. And as he continues, he fleshes out how this situation has occurred, especially dwelling on the fact that there are two ways to look at the descendants of Abraham — those of the flesh, and those of the promise — and those of the promise are the ones entering into this new relationship with God through Christ.
But is this just? Paul says two things about this. One is that it is God’s prerogative to give mercy to whom he chooses. The other is that Israel has pursued God’s righteousness in the wrong way — not by faith, but by works. It can’t be done.
but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it.32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Romans 9:31b – 32
Since Paul is writing this to the church in Rome, I don’t think he has given up on Israel, but is expressing to the church how the Jews must change in order to accept God’s mercy, delivered by Jesus through faith in Jesus.
