Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. – Romans 10:1
Paul’s Burning Question in Romans 9–11
Paul wrote Romans 9–11 to answer this question:
If Israel is God’s chosen people, and if he gave to them the sonship and the glory and the covenants (9:4), and yet by and large they have rejected the Messiah and are cut off from Christ (9:3), then has not the word of God fallen? And if the surety of God’s word to Israel has fallen, how does it stand with us who hope in the promise that those whom he called he will also glorify?
This was a burning question for Paul. All his hope as a Christian, all the purpose of his apostleship, hung on this question: has God’s word to Israel fallen? Have all the glorious purposes of God for this people aborted because of their unbelief?