The glorious heights of invincible prevailing love in Christ throw into stark relief the shadowy depths of the separation of all without Christ. The emotions continue to run high, but now it is the flipside of grace that finds expression. The intense agony that Paul personally experiences over the condemnation of his Jewish kinsmen who reject Christ is nowhere more powerfully disclosed than here. Yet even this serves a deeper purpose. Like nowhere else, Paul shows Christ to be vindicated in all the fullness of His glory, though despised and rejected by His own people. Romans extols the gospel that presents sinners justified in Christ. And when sinners are not justified, Christ is.
Part one focused on the Heart of Christ manifest in Paul. This second part takes a more concentrated look into the Heritage of Christ and the Height of Christ. It considers the high privileges of Israel as a nation and the depth of her failure. Crowning the whole is the centrality and exaltation of Christ. Christ, though rejected by Israel, is vindicated in all the fullness of deity. Indeed, the first step to understanding Romans 9 is an understanding of the exaltation of Christ.
