{"id":2026,"date":"2010-09-13T17:00:51","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T22:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.com\/blog\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2010-09-13T17:00:51","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T22:00:51","slug":"romans-930-not-attained-by-pursuing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-930-not-attained-by-pursuing\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 9:30 \u2013 Not Attained by Pursuing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Romans 9:30 <\/span><\/strong>– Not Attained by Pursuing<\/span><\/h2>\n

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Righteousness comes as a result of faith, not works.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cPursue<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek verb di\u014dk\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto actively and intentionally go after something.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greek word translated \u201ch<\/span>ave attained\u201d is katelaben<\/span>,<\/em> which is made up of kata<\/em><\/span>, used as an intensifier and a form of lamban\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto take.\u201d So in its root form this word means \u201cto take aggressively\u201d or \u201cto seize with eagerness.<\/em>\u201d There is another Greek word that is translated \u201cattained<\/span>.\u201d It is phthan\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto come suddenly upon something\u201d or \u201cto arrive at a goal.\u201d Thus, we see that Paul is referring to the Gentiles having taken possession of a prize rather than having reached a goal that they were pursuing.<\/p>\n

The word \u201crighteousness<\/span>\u201d is from dikaiosune<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from the noun dikaios<\/em> <\/span>meaning \u201cone who does what is right or just.\u201d The ending sune<\/em><\/span>, makes it an abstraction, so it refers to \u201cthe character or quality of being righteous or of having obtained righteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf<\/span>\u201d is from the Greek word ek<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cout of\u201d or \u201cas the result of.\u201d The righteousness that is recorded in God\u2019s book is not the result of any action on our part. It is the result of faith, believing God\u2019s promise to us.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cWhat shall we say then?\u201d With this rhetorical question, Paul begins his summation of this entire chapter. Even though he spent a great deal of time and energy making the case for God\u2019s sovereign choosing (election), that has only been a supporting point of his argument. The main point is that the Gentiles have received the prize of justification (righteousness) without constantly pursuing after it, and the Jews, who constantly pursued righteousness, have not received it.<\/p>\n

You see, the Jews had vigorously pursued righteousness by seeking rigorous adherence to the Law, but they did not obtain it. They believed they had to do something. They believed so strongly that righteousness came by obedience that they consumed their entire lives in being obedient to God\u2019s commandments. The Gentiles, on the other hand, did not pursue righteousness but have now been declared righteous by God through faith. They did not pursue righteousness by doing works or by following all the rules; they simply believed the gospel message. Those who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He died on the cross to pay for their sins are declared as righteous in God\u2019s record book and only they will be permitted in God\u2019s presence without condemnation.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

When God chooses those who will be saved, He does not give them a magic formula of things to say or do. He gives them faith to believe His promise of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. This only serves to strengthen Paul\u2019s argument that God chooses whom to save and He does so through the gift of faith. (see Ephesians 2:8<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2010 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 9:30 – Not Attained by Pursuing What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; Truth to Learn Righteousness comes as a result of faith, not works. Behind the Words \u201cPursue\u201d is from the Greek verb di\u014dk\u014d, meaning \u201cto actively and intentionally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-wG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}