Hermeneutics is the technical name for the science of interpretation. It involves the principles for reading and the methods one practices for understanding what a text means. It comes from the Greek word hermeneuo (ἑρμηνεύω), “I explain” or “help someone understand” (a cognate form of which is found in Luke 24:27 when “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”). Hermeneutics are guiding principles. We have hermeneutics when we read emoji-ridden texts on our phones from our friends, and we have hermeneutics when we read the Word of God.

I’ve been thinking for a number of months that it could be beneficial to have a four or six or something week class on hermeneutics. I do try to model in public how to read and understand Scripture, especially in the sermons that work through a book of the Bible verse by verse. I attempt to show my work, to show how I come to my conclusions by making observations and asking questions trying to get at the meaning of passage. We want to know what God wants us to know in His revelation, and that includes trying to figure out what the original author intended his original audience to understand.

The order is important; reading and interpreting the text lead to conclusions which can be labeled. We aim not to start with a theological system that expects, or explains away, certain interpretations. That’s a hermeneutical distinction; first, read the text in context. The verses make the difference; what does the Word say?

So: Paul’s revelation of God’s purpose in election and reprobation belongs in context. Remember how short the step would be from Romans 8:39 right into Romans 12:1. What’s the purpose of all these paragraphs in between? The purpose is to answer why so many Jews in the nation of Israel rejected Jesus as the Christ. God promised salvation to Israel, God promised a Messiah who would save Israel, and yet when the Messiah came to Israel most rejected Him. “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11).

Romans 9 begins with this question, and Romans 11 finishes the answer. God has made some fantastic sounding promises in the gospel (contained in the first eight chapters of the epistle), promises of being saved by faith alone, promises of having Christ’s righteousness credited to us who believe. That’s a good word, that’s evangel. But what about the promises God made to Israel? What about their salvation? If God has changed His mind about His covenant-promises to them, how can we be sure He won’t change His promise to share covenant blessings with us?

In answering these questions Paul begins with an explanation that God never elected each and every individual Israelite to believe, only some, “only a remnant” as we saw last time in verse 27. The rejection of Christ by many in Israel was part of God’s plan. The plan included including many Gentiles (and we’ll see in Romans 11 that including the Gentiles would be a part toward re-including the Jews). Paul has drilled in on the sovereignty of God in all this, and in Romans 9:30 he continues to make clear how the rejection worked. God purposed it, and here’s how it looked on the ground.

What’s really interesting is that, as part of God’s plan, men misunderstood and misused and misapplied the good things God gave them. It’s ironic, it’s a warning, and it’s damning. Their hermeneutics of faith were bad, and they were judged by God for their passionate ignorance of the Word they should have understood.

Two paragraphs that finish with the same focus, making the same point.

Stumbling over God’s Law (9:30-33)

There are two interactive questions in this paragraph, a What in verses 30-31 and the Why in verses 32-33.

We’ve seen Paul move his argument forward with What shall we say, then? a number of times already in Romans. He had just written that God graciously called Gentiles to be vessels of mercy, which was unexpected by many Jews, and God only called a minimum number of Jews to be vessels of mercy, also unexpected. Here is a summary about what the vessels of wrath did instead.

That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. (Romans 9:30–31 ESV)

As has been the issue from the start of the letter, men lack righteousness. Righteousness is “the quality of being morally right,” so being good, doing justice. Righteousness is meeting the standard, especially we’d think in terms of meeting the legal standards. This is how so many of the Jews thought. They pursued a law, the law defined what was right and they pursued righteousness by pursuing that law.

But there were a couple problems, one on the surface and the other perhaps more subtle but the actual issue. They did not succeed in reaching that law because they did not obey it perfectly, and no partial righteousness satisfies God’s requirement; it’s all or nothing (see James 2:10). And yet the underlying problem is that they did not read the law and interpret that the law was pointing them to depend on someone else.

Gentiles, the kind of people who in the minds of the Jews were unrighteous by nature, attained…a righteousness that is by faith.

The second question and answer is Why? the Jews didn’t attain.

Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
(Romans 9:32–33 ESV)

Faith is how the Gentiles got righteousness, but Israel did not pursue [righteousness] by faith, but as if it were based on works. They thought being right was by doing right, but they didn’t understand that the real right was trusting someone other than themselves. The rightest right was looking to the Christ through the law and the prophets.

It wasn’t necessarily that they came out of the gates hating Christ, it’s that Christ required them to look away from themselves.

In Romans 9:33 Paul mashes up Isaiah 28:16 and Isaiah 8:14, and the same idea is found in Psalm 118:22. It’s a rough quote, but the key is that saving righteousness, faith, and the Cornerstone go together. Self-righteousness and works go with the stumbling stone, the stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. In this context the stone doesn’t offend their unrighteousness. The stone offends their glory. They didn’t want to be vessels of mercy, they wanted to be vessels who fit themselves for riches. So they stumbled, stumbled, stumbled.

If they would have read/interpreted the law rightly they would have pursued righteousness by faith. By presenting their works, their works bring them shame. There is no shame for the believer.

Ignorant of God’s Righteousness (10:1-4)

There’s good reason to start a new paragraph, and actually, there’s good reason to start a new chapter, even though Paul’s original letter had no typographical break. Starting where it does gives a nice parallel to the openings of all three chapters, Romans 9, 10, and 11. But after a personal remark, it’s more of the same problem as the previous paragraph.

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. (Romans 10:1 ESV)

This brothers must be those in the church, and the them are the “my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (9:3). At the beginning of chapter 9 he wished he could be accursed instead of them, here he just states his hope positively. Desire may be an appropriate translation, but the Greek word (εὐδοκία) seems more along the line of “good will” or “good pleasure,” as in, he has a favorable disposition to them; Paul’s not mad at them. And he makes prayer for their salvation.

Here is responsibility on the other side of salvation for the unsaved. Paul knew that God’s purpose of election will stand, and he knew what only a remnant of his kinsmen were elected, but he didn’t know which ones were remnant and/or how big the remnant would be. So he prayed for God to save all of them. Don’t despair about whether or not God has elected the unbelievers you care about, pray to God for them.

The next three verses make three sequential arguments, “for,” “for,” “for.”

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (Romans 10:2 ESV)

Isn’t this saying that they really wanted to be right? Paul himself knew all about this kind of zeal (see Galatians 1:14). Before he transitioned to Christianity, he was killing, in the name of the Lord, those who believed in Christ. He was committed, passionate, and not just in his head. Many Jews had a zeal for God. Their zeal wasn’t a Romans 1 zeal for sensual pleasures and greed and idols and lack of restraint.

But their depth of sincerity damned them because it was wrong. Just because you “mean” something a lot doesn’t make it right. Their zeal was intense but ignorant, their fervor was false.

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. (Romans 10:3 ESV)

This is what I was saying before. Try to see righteousness at two levels of right. The first level is being in the right place, the second level is having gotten there the right way. The law identified the right place, but they missed that the law pointed them to God’s righteousness, not their own. They wanted right the wrong way, which made the whole thing wrong. If they had gotten what they wanted they would have destroyed what they (said they) wanted.

They were ignorant of the things in the center of the page, so to speak, not the small print endnotes.

Seeking to establish their own, perhaps is better than sinning up a storm? But not submitting to where God says to be is still unrighteous, and so is not submitting to how He says to get there. The Jews took the good directions and tried to make the trip on their own.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4 ESV)

The law really pointed them to Christ. Christ is the end of the law, and this is the telos (τέλος), the consummation. He fulfilled it perfectly unlike us, but He is the direction the law pointed to.

Conclusion

How could they stumble over God’s law? How could they be ignorant of God’s righteousness? How could they so zealously do both? They failed to interpret the Scriptures.

There is application for us. Sincerity saves no one. Meaning well by itself means nothing. They had faith, but in the wrong thing: themselves. They searched the Scriptures for eternal life and missed that the Scriptures point to Jesus (John 5:39). Their zeal damned them. Hell is full of righteous ignorance and zeal.

They should have known from Abraham that God counts faith as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3). The law and the prophets (and apostles) point to Christ. Look to Him! Such looking in faith is the rightest right, it is salvation for all who believe.

---

Charge

Be zealous, not to establish that you are right, but to serve the Lord (Romans 12:11). Be zealous, not mindlessly, but in the knowledge of what is good (1 Peter 3:13). The Lord is purifying you as a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:14). Don’t grow weary, grow in grace.

Benediction:

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:18, ESV)