As some of you may know, I am daily reading through Scripture in its order. Today’s devotion included Romans 9:27-33.
“27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;
28 FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.”
29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
“UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY,
WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”
30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 just as it is written,
“BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,
AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” Romans 9:27-33
In his article, “Your Own Personal Jesus”, fully linked below, Michael S. Horton critically describes “American Religion” with lament as follows: “Ultimately, it’s what I do alone with God that matters, not what God does for me together with his covenant people through public, earthly, material means that he has appointed. … The individual believer, alone with his or her Bible, was all that was necessary for a vital Christian experience. Bloom quotes Mullins’ axiom, “Religion is a personal matter between the soul and God.”
… it is surely the orthodoxy of American Religion.”
So, why does Jesus continue to be “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”?
Calvin, in his Commentary on Romans 9:32 states:
“For they have stumbled at the stone, etc. He confirms by a strong reason the preceding sentence. There is indeed nothing more inconsistent than that they should obtain righteousness who strive to destroy it. Christ has been given to us for righteousness, whosoever obtrudes on God the righteousness of works, attempts to rob him of his own office. And hence it appears that whenever men, under the empty pretence of being zealous for righteousness, put confidence in their works, they do in their furious madness carry on war with God himself.
But how they stumble at Christ, who trust in their works, it is not difficult to understand; for except we own ourselves to be sinners, void and destitute of any righteousness of our own, we obscure the dignity of Christ, which consists in this, that to us all he is light, life, resurrection, righteousness, and healing. But how is he all these things, except that he illuminates the blind, restores the lost, quickens the dead, raises up those who are reduced to nothing, cleanses those who are full of filth, cures and heals those infected with diseases? Nay, when we claim for ourselves any righteousness we in a manner contend with the power of Christ; for his office is no less to beat down all the pride of the flesh, than to relieve and comfort those who labour and are wearied under their burden.” (Emphasis added).
Tying this all together, “works” in this Scripture equals this American Religion: “Ultimately, it’s what I do alone with God that matters”. Although this American Religion may discard “The institutional church, with its ordained ministry, creeds, preaching, sacraments, and discipline, (which) was alienating-like the body, it was the prison-house of the individual soul”, American Religion still is all about “what I do” (works) rather than what Christ has done.
Horton states, “Pelagianism leads to Christless Christianity because we do not need a Savior … Pelagianism and Gnosticism combine to keep us looking to ourselves and within ourselves. We’re a self-help people and we like our gods inside of us where we can manage them. Together, these heresies have created the perfect storm: the American Religion.”
In conclusion, the “STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE” trips up and offends these American Religionists, as it does the Jews in this Scripture. Scripture teaches us that the only thing within ourselves is “Total depravity” (The “T” of “TULIP”). Our only “chance” for salvation is “Unconditional election”, “Limited atonement”, “Irresistable grace”, and “Perseverance of the saints” (the “ULIP” of “TULIP”). This fact of salvation, this Person, Jesus Christ, is this “STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”.
This fact of salvation, this Person of Jesus Christ, offends many and causes many to stumble, because they all want to prove their own righteousness through their own works whether they be Jews described in the above Scripture, or whether be a similar group of “christian” fundamentalists, also looking inward to find the knowledge of the Law and the free-will willpower to obey it, or whether they be the more liberal, “law-free” group “christian” gnostics, also looking inward to find and be sufficiently connected to their own spirituality (their own personal “Jesus”). As Calvin stated about Christ, this Stone of Stumbling and this Rock of Offense: “his office is no less to beat down all the pride of the flesh“.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 