Romans 9:4-5 “Accountable”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴ones who are Israelites, of whom [is] the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the [temple] service and the promises. Of whom [are] the fathers, and out of whom [is] the Christ (that [is], according to the flesh), the One being God upon all, blessed into the ages. Amen.

One last observation I’d like to record from this passage: Jesus Himself said, “To whom much is given, much will also be required” (Luke 12:48). As we have been studying, the Jewish people are an almost unbelievably blessed people. If I read again Paul’s list here in this passage which I’ve tried to literally translate above, it is astounding to think that one people could have been so blessed in this fallen, sin-cursed world. None of us deserves anything yet these people were allowed to actually hear the voice of God and see the Shekinah glory. Out of all the families on earth, theirs was chosen to be the Lord’s special people. What more can we do than to just stand back in awe of so much blessing?

However, back to Jesus’ words, what does all this blessing mean for them? Of course it offers to them all the love and joy and peace that our good God would pour out into their lives. He Himself called to them and said, “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it,” however, as He went on to say, “But you would not” (Ps. 81:10,11). And therein lies the problem. As Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much will also be required.” I have observed before, basically the OT is, in many ways, a sad account of the Jewish people’s nearly complete failure to embrace God’s blessings. It is certainly a glaring testimony to the utter failure of legalism. However, beyond that, it would warn us all what a mess we can make of our world when we take for granted the wonderful blessings that are ours from the very hand of God.

It makes me very sad to think how badly this world has treated the Jewish people. I, for one, cannot watch movies and documentaries regarding the Holocaust. When I do, I find myself still depressed three days later. I just can’t bear to see such cruelty against what I perceive to be innocent people. Yet I step back with this passage before me and Jesus’ words ringing in my ears, and I regretfully have to acknowledge there is justice in it all. To be so blessed is to be very accountable. “To whom much is given, much will also be required.” Looking again at Deut. 28 and realizing the enormous blessings they were offered in the first part of the chapter, it only makes sense that the horrible cursings in the last part are a just punishment for those who spurned those blessings.

Again, it honestly causes some kind of really deep hurt in my heart to even acknowledge these things. Jewish people have been and are such a blessing to the rest of us. It makes me want to only wish them good and it hurts to think how much they’ve been mistreated. No wonder Paul has “such great sorrow and unceasing anguish” in his heart! At some point, I have to rise up out of all that heartache for them and ask, what would the Lord want us to learn from it all?

As I ponder on it, I seem to hear Nathan’s words ring down through the centuries, saying to me, “You’re the man.” Yes. I am the man. Am I blessed? Gracious, if I think about it, I (we) actually enjoy blessings of which even Daniel himself could have only dreamed. Daniel had a good part of the Old Testament to study, but that was it. I have a completed Bible! I have all of the books of the Old Testament and then the New to boot! Daniel could only look ahead and believe the promise of a coming Messiah. I get to read Jesus’ very words! The best Daniel could hope for was that the Holy Spirit would be “upon” him. I get the Holy Spirit dwelling in me!

Really, stop and think about it. As New Testament Christians this side of the Cross, are you and I more or less accountable than the Jewish people? I suppose someone could argue that point, but the bottom line of it all is to realize you and I are enormously accountable. Am I enormously blessed? Then I’m enormously accountable! As I think about it, I realize it’s not just the spiritual blessings we enjoy today. God gave me life itself. He let me be born to two parents who loved me. In this cruel world with so many mean, hurtful, neglectful parents, I personally get to swim in a sea of living where there has honestly never been even one second when I had to wonder if my parents loved me. The longer I live, the more I realize what a blessing that is. I had a wonderful childhood with seriously “more fun than a barrel of monkeys!” Then the Lord gave me a beautiful wife, who gave me three wonderful children, who’ve given me four wonderful grandchildren!

Of course, I could go on and on…and on and on and on, but isn’t that the point? Yes, I am very blessed. Nathan is still staring me in the eyes and saying again, “You’re the man.” Yes, like the Jewish people, I need to seriously realize that makes me very accountable. “To whom much is given, much will also be required.” Peter asked Jesus, “What about him?” (referring to John), and what was Jesus’ answer? “What is that to you? You follow Me!” (Jn. 21:22). “So then, each of us will stand and give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).

What about me? What about you?

I hope I am not taking the Lord’s blessings for granted. I hope I’m making good on them in every way I can. As I sit here, though, I feel like the question runs so deep, the only thing I can do is to take it to prayer and then leave it there. I know my own heart is “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.” That passage (Jer. 17:9) then asks, “Who can know it?” and the very next verse answers, “I the Lord search the heart.” Yes. The Lord knows. So I can pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts and cares. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” What can we do but run to Heb. 4:16 and hide in His promise, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need!”

Rather than being critical of the Jewish people, we all need to realize we’re cut from “the same bolt of cloth” and, if not even more accountable, at least as much as them. May we all today live with hearts filled with thankfulness and acknowledgment of so much blessing, then honestly ask the Lord to help us make the best of it all, to love well because He does, to live well because He’s given us so much!