La situación privilegiada de Israel en su rechazo de Cristo, según la epístola a los Romanos (Capítulos 9-11)

Abstract

The study of Rom 9-11 helps us understand fullly the position of Saint Paul with respect to his brethren according to race, his erstwhile companions according to religion; this can contribute in no small manner towards the ecumenical cause, that is, to the closing of the gap between Christians and Jews. Chapters 9-11 are a canto to the unfathomable mystery of the divine plans for salvation. The history of Israel seems to carry with it a paradox which at first sight is unexplainable. The great gifts which God pours upon Israel -authentic privileges: covenants, legislation, promises, cult- were granted in order to prepare the advent of the economy of salvation. However, this people, so admirably prepared by God, refused to accept the Messiah. Not only is there no opposition between the Old and the New Testament, but indeed an admirable cohesion is to be found between them, as is made evident in the declarations of many Jews converted to Christianism. These converts discover that the entire history of Israel operates in function of the Coming of the Messiah, that this constitutes its reason for being, but that the chosen people has not been able to discover this truth. The Apostle tries, in these chapters, of the Epistole to the Romans, to distinguist the role played by the people of Israel in the unfolding of the history of salvation. The blindness of the chosen people will play a fundamental role in salvation: God will use their incredulity to draw the Gentiles to salvation. This incredulity does not entail treason on God's part with regard to his promises -since the beneficiary of his promises is not identified simply with the totality of the Israelites as a race- nor does it entail injustice on God's part because we can not speak of injustice when we are dealing with the gift -absolutely free- of the faith. On the other hand, the incredulity of the Jews is temporary and will be followed by the adhesion to Christ on the part of the ensemble of the chosen people. God, who has used the voluntary rejection of Christ carried out by the Jews in order that the Gentiles might accede to salvation, will in turn use the conversion of the Gentiles to spur on the incredulous Jews and to lead them to the Christian faith.