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For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n We can obtain mercy from God when we believe Him.<\/p>\n The grammatical construction that ties this verse with the following one is the use of the Greek word kai<\/em> <\/span>in both these verses. This word is most often translated as \u201cand\u201d or \u201calso.\u201d But in the case of these two verses, the use of kai<\/em> in both verses represents a construction called \u201ccorrelative conjunction.\u201d That means that the ideas in the two verses are tied together. This is sometimes translated as \u201cboth \u2026 and \u2026\u201d Paul is going to show us that our ability to believe is a direct result of the Jews\u2019 lack of belief.<\/p>\n The word translated \u201cdisobedient<\/span>\u201d is apeithe\u014d<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of the privative a<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cnot\u201d and the verb peith\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cto persuade.\u201d So, literally, this word means \u201cnot to persuade.\u201d When used in the passive voice, as it is in this verse, it means \u201cnot willing to be persuaded, not willing to believe, or unbelieving.\u201d This really gives a different meaning to this verse. It could be translated as:<\/p>\n For as you were once unbelieving in God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unwillingness to believe.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMercy<\/span>\u201d is translated from elee\u014d<\/span>, meaning \u201cto have compassion\u201d or \u201cto show mercy.\u201d This word is also expressed in the passive voice, so it means \u201cto be shown compassion or mercy.\u201d<\/p>\n In this verse and the next, Paul is going to show that the Jews who are now alienated from God will one day be restored. And \u00a0in a similar manner, we Gentiles were once alienated from God and are now under God\u2019s blessing through the gospel message.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at what the correlation is between these two verses. Paul says \u201cFor as you were once disobedient to God.<\/span>\u201d As we just learned, this means, \u201cFor as you were once unbelieving in God,<\/span>\u201d which refers to a time when the truths about God were delivered to and held by the Jews, and we Gentiles did not have the truth. And, since we didn\u2019t have the truth, we didn\u2019t believe in it. In Acts 14:16<\/strong><\/span>, Paul and Barnabas expressed it in these words,<\/p>\n (God) who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, there was a time when we Gentiles did not believe in the one true God, therefore we walked in our own ways instead of God\u2019s ways. The second half of the current verse goes on to say, \u201cyet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief;<\/span>\u201d that is, we who previously did not believe in God now can believe in God and walk in His ways. And our belief is a direct result of the unbelief of the Jews who rejected the Messiah when He first came.<\/p>\n In the next verse we will see the conclusion of how Paul is correlating these two verses.<\/p>\n God has shown His mercy to us because the Jewish people did not believe the Messiah when He came. Now that He has come and paid for your sins with His blood, do you believe in Him? If so, does your lifestyle demonstrate it to others?<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\nTruth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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