Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Paul began the chapter by relaying the history of the rejection of the Messiah by the Israelites, those whom Paul called his brethren and countrymen according to the flesh. This "countryman" term is used to describe Paul's connection as an ethnic Jew though Paul was an ethnic Jew and a countryman in the flesh, now through the unfolding of the plan and purposes of God concerning redemptive history, it has become clear that his brotherhood and the nation to which he belongs that is supreme is that of the household of God, bound by Christ and the Holy Spirit, such that even at the time of Paul's writing, he could rightly say that the Gentiles, who the Ministry of Jesus Christ had brought in, are also his countryman, by a different qualification, not by flesh, but by the Spirit. In this chapter, Paul harkens back to the beginning (9:1-13) by outlining the nature of the Jews' rejection, how they lost their heart for the kingdom, and the King himself. In contrast, the Gentiles, who were not pursuing the kingdom, at