Paul found God’s inclusiveness throughout the Scriptures

In one of his earliest letters (cf. Galatians 2:7-8), the apostle Paul said he and the apostle Peter had agreed on a clear division of primary responsibility: Peter to Hebrew people (“the circumcised”), Paul to Gentiles. Christians with Hebrew backgrounds often struggled to accept Gentile believers who came from different environments. Paul spoke to some of that tension in Rome (cf. Romans 14:2-6) with four passages from the Hebrew Scriptures about God’s desire to reach all people, including Gentiles.

• “In [Romans] 1.1–5, Paul sets out the gospel he has been commissioned to announce to all the nations.… Jesus as the son of David who is also the son of God, Jesus who has risen from the dead, Jesus who is now the Lord of the whole world…. Beginning in 15:9, he quotes passage after passage to show that God always intended to bring the nations of the world into equal fellowship with his chosen people, Israel.” * How did Paul use his vast Biblical knowledge to emphasize how inclusive God’s kingdom is?

• Paul’s message had big “real world” meaning in Rome. “The word [‘rise’] in the version [of Isaiah 11] Paul quotes is one of two regular ones he and other early Christians used for the resurrection …. Paul is putting down a cheerful but direct challenge to the one whom most of the known world of the time… saw as ‘the ruler of the nations.’ Jesus is the reality; Caesar is just a caricature, a sham.” ** Can you see Jesus as the true “ruler of the nations” today, and give him your deepest allegiance?