009:027 And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, "Though the number
of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea,
only a remnant of them shall be saved;
009:028 for the Lord will hold a reckoning upon the earth, making it
efficacious and brief."
009:029 Even as Isaiah says in an earlier place, "Were it not that the Lord,
the God of Hosts, had left us some few descendants, we should
have become like Sodom, and have come to resemble Gomorrah."
009:030 To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the Gentiles,
who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it--
a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;
009:031 while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law
that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.
009:032 And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should
arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit.
They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;
009:033 in agreement with the statement of Scripture, "See, I am
placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at,
and a rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith
rests upon it shall never have reason to feel ashamed."
010:001 Brethren, the longing of my heart, and my prayer to God,
on behalf of my countrymen is for their salvation.
010:002 For I bear witness that they possess an enthusiasm for God,
but it is an unenlightened enthusiasm.
010:003 Ignorant of the righteousness which God provides and building
their hopes upon a righteousness of their own, they have
refused submission to God's righteousness.
010:004 For as a means of righteousness Christ is the termination
of Law to every believer.
010:005 Moses says that he whose actions conform to the righteousness