13 Sept. Paul urges his fellow Jews to be made right with God
"Brothers and sisters, the thing I want most is for all the Jews to be saved. That is my prayer to God."
"I can say this about them: they really try to follow God, but they do not know the right way. Because they did not know the way that God makes people right with him, they tried to make themselves right in their own way."
"So they did not accept God's way of making people right. Christ ended the [Jewish] law so that everyone who believes in him may be right with God."
"Moses describes how to be made right by following the [Jewish] law. He says, 'A person who obeys these things will live because of them.' [Leviticus 18:15] But this is what the Scripture says about being made right through faith: 'Don't say to yourself, "Who will go up into heaven?"... and do not say, "Who will go down into the world below?"' This is what the Scripture says: 'The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.'" [Deuteronomy 30:12-14]
"This is the teaching of faith that we are telling. If you use your mouth to say, 'Jesus is Lord', and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved."
"We believe with our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we use our mouths to say that we believe and so we are saved."
"As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.' [Isaiah 28:16] That Scripture says 'anyone' because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him, as the Scripture says, 'Anyone who calls on the Lord will be saved'." [Joel 2:32]
(Romans 10:1-13)
In this section of his letter, Paul addresses his fellow Jews. He stresses that his utmost desire is that all his Jewish brothers and sisters should be made right with God. But he explains that they don't understand how this happens: "Because they did not know the way that God makes people right with him, they tried to make themselves right in their own way." (Romans 10:3)
Paul points out that they have tried hard to make themselves right with God by keeping the Jewish law handed down to them by Moses. But no one can keep all the minutiae of the Jewish law, and no one can 'earn' forgiveness from God by trying to do so.
So the only way to gain acceptance with God is by having faith in Jesus. "If you use your mouth to say, 'Jesus is Lord', and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)
And to emphasize the point, Paul points out that this way of being put right with God applies equally to Jews and to non-Jews "because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all and gives many blessings to all who trust in him." (Romans 10:12)
The photo (by Willy Horst) shows a scroll containing the Jewish law - the Sefer Torah at Glockengasse Synagogue, Cologne.
You can read more from Paul's Letter to the Romans @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/…/persecution-by-the-jews/