So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined (appointed KJV) to do. 1 Pet 2:7-8
Disobey is apeithéō– unbelief. Destined or appointed is títhēmi. In this context it means to make (or set) for one’s self or for one’s use, to set, fix establish, to set forth, to establish, ordain.
Wait! Some people were appointed to disobey?
That’s what it says.
Interestingly we don’t struggle as much with the idea of being chosen to be blameless.
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Eph 1:4
Calvinists and Arminians will continue to debate until Jesus returns. Yet as we discussed in our previous post both scripture and quantum physics declare that creation is not as most of us perceive it to be. The more I study creation in the context of God’s word and science the more I feel like coining a new theological term called “Heisenbergism” after the quantum physicist Werner Heisenberg.
The moment you think you know, you don’t.
Only those rooted and built up in him and established in the faith…Col 2:7 will avoid being disturbed by the paradoxical goodness and severity of God. Rom 11:22 and
Just say
Paul speaks of the very same Jews in Romans 11 that Peter names as “appointed to disobey” in 1 Pet 2:7-8. These were the Pharisees and Sadducees who chose Barabas over Jesus Mat 27:15-26 and demanded that Jesus be crucified. These are the same Jews who deny their Jewish Messiah today. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. Rom 11:28
I remember packing for our trip to Israel in 2018 and being so excited to meet our Jewish brethren whom we loved and supported as Americans and Christians. I was naive of course and I soon learned that many if not most orthodox Jews despised and even hated Christians. This was largely due to the failure of the church to be the church through the ages. Too often instead of provoking the Jews to jealousy, Rom 11:11 many believers remained silent and or were complicit in their persecution. It’s a strawman of course as you don’t judge a book by who reads it but by its author. Still, it’s an emotionally charged strawman.
There are a lot of interpretations of the role of the Jewish people in God’s kingdom. The belief spectrum goes from Judaizers who teach the strict observance of the Torah in Jesus’ name thus nullifying grace, Rom 11:6 to supersessionists who believe the gentile church superseded or replaced the Jews thereby nullifying God’s word regarding His irrevocable covenant with Israel. Rom 11:29 Deut 5-6, Deut 28, Deut 29 The remainder of the Bible is the story of His goodness and severity, the wooing and discipline of His chosen albeit adulterous people to fulfill His covenant.
Afterward, the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. Hosea 3:5
As Romans 11 explains our being grafted in as Gentiles along the way is not because the Jews (the natural branches) are rejected or condemned and we Gentiles have taken their place. Rather it was part of His plan to keep His word from the start.
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy,salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! Rom 11:11
You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. Rom 11:19-23
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:“The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” Rom 11-25-27 Isaiah 59:20-21
Once again, speaking of the same Jews, Peter named in 1 Pet 2:7-8 Paul states, For God has committed (destined, appointed) them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Rom 11:32
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Rom 11:33-36
If that doesn’t bolster your faith in our sovereign God, then I don’t know what will.