Grace is Grace

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

GRACE IS GRACE

Rom 11:1-6

11:1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"? 4 And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."   5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.  

NIV

We would have to agree with Paul, who of course, is writing this letter under the influence of the Spirit of God, otherwise, it would not have even been considered by so many far more scholarly theologians over the years than we will ever know or become. For God to reject his people would be outlandish even remotely thinking he would. Rejection is counter to love, and we know that if there is one word in our language that can come close to defining God, that word is love. Paul reminds his first readers about what happened in the past when Israel bowed to Baal and was about rejecting God and killing those prophets that brought the word of God to them. Paul said that God reserved for himself seven thousand people. It is interesting that this could be seen as election, however, the Greek word translated as reserved here and in some other translations, although, kept, has always been used. Still, the major interpretation or meaning of the Greek word, kataleipo, is to leave behind or have remaining. Then, it would seem right to think that God told Elijah that he was not alone, that there were still seven thousand who did not bow their knee to Baal. It all boils down to the fact that God insists his grace is the key to all man’s ills. The Jews have tried and many are still trying to live under the law, doing the works they think God requires, with some of their own added rules. However, God says that it is by grace he has this remnant, and it is his grace alone, for nothing they did or did not do is considered when it comes to grace. This translates into our lives as well. If there was anything we could do, any works at all, that we could prove we are worthy of his grace, then it would be a work for grace contract. We should not even boast about anything we do, for in boasting, we are seeking the praise of men, rather than from God. In our modern world of media methods, it is too easy to boast publicly about what we have done or are doing, or will be doing. If we posted how we just did a massive word study on the Greek word, kataleipo, it would be boasting before men. That is never the point, however, it is interesting to discover truth for the sake of our own personal relationship with our Lord, so that we see his grace at the center of all our lives. The one truth we can cling to is that grace is grace, and that we need grace.