Our Calling
Romans 9:6 NASB
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
Growing up with siblings isn’t for the faint of heart. I’d argue it’s a formative process. You’re constantly learning how to share, how to think about another person, and how to live together. Getting along is one thing. Looking out for one another is another.
Paul has gone to great lengths throughout Romans to describe who we are. And one thing stands out: we are children of God. Coheirs with Christ. That makes us siblings.
And just like any family, we have to learn how to navigate life not separately, but together.
This is part of what Paul is addressing in his letter to the Romans. There was tension between Jewish and Gentile believers. There were questions about who truly belonged to the people of God. Who are God’s elect? Is it the Jewish Christian? The Gentile Christian? What does it mean to be part of God’s family?
And underneath all of these questions is another, much bigger question:
Has God failed?
If God promised something to Israel, and now so many Gentiles are being brought into the family of God, what happened to those promises? Did God change His mind? Did His plan fail?
Paul’s answer is immediate:
“It is not as though the word of God has failed.”
God has not failed.
I think this is a question we still wrestle with today.
We look at the chaos in our world and sometimes wonder: If God is really there, how did we get here?
Some argue that because the world is broken, either there is no God, or if there is a God, He has made a mistake or abandoned us.
But N.T. Wright, a new Testament Scholar, puts it this way:
“But Paul is committed, and Christianity like Judaism is committed, to a different belief: that it is we who have made the blunders, and that to accuse God of them is sheer projection, like a drunkard stumbling into a ditch and accusing the road-makers of tripping him up.”
— N.T. Wright, Romans for Everyone
Paul wants to make one thing clear: it is not God who has failed. It is humanity who has failed.
And specifically in this context: Israel had failed to live out the calling God had given them. They were called to be His people, to reflect Him to the world, to be a light to the nations. But somewhere along the way, they had forgotten what that their calling was really about.
And I wonder if we can do the same thing.
How often do we fail to realize our own calling?
How often do we use the privilege of being God’s people as a reason to sit back and relax?
How often do we think, God has chosen me, so what more is required of me?
First, being brought into the family of God does not make us superior. It does not give us the right to use our identity as a weapon against others.
Second, it certainly does not give us permission to sit back and do nothing.
On the contrary, being brought into the family of God is a calling.
A calling to serve.
A calling to love.
A calling to create peace in our world.
A calling to reflect God to the people around us.
When we forget who we are, we can easily forget what we are called to do.
God’s favor on our lives was never meant to give us permission to coast through life. It was never meant to be something we use to show the world how favored we are. It comes with responsibility.
So to revisit that question once more: has God failed?
The answer, without reservation, is no!
Further yet, God has not failed by making faith as the measure of being God’s people. It is faith that counted Abraham as righteous. It is now faith placed in Jesus that places us in right standing before God. We are God’s elect. And with that privilege comes the great responsibility of being the light of the world.
And that’s the calling I pray we live into.
