In what sense does Israel seek to establish their own righteousness?

Explanation:

When Paul writes that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness, it is important to discern whether he has Israel as a nation or individual Jews in mind. For if he has individual Jews in mind, then his meaning is that individual Jews sought to establish their own righteousness in the sense that they tried to make themselves right before God in a way that was not prescribed by God. In fact, we can detect from the first clause of Romans 10:3 that Paul does have individuals in mind. There he says that Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness, and instead sought to establish their own righteousness. By contrasting God and Israel’s righteousness, Paul makes clear that the problem he identifies is one of source.⁴ The Israelites failed to understand God’s source for righteousness, and sought to make themselves a source of righteousness. That is, they each individually sought to establish their own righteousness by the works of the Mosaic law, instead of through faith in Christ.

Counterargument:

Paul uses the masculine plural form of the verb to seek, suggesting that he has corporate Israel in mind. This is a problem for the above argument, which contends that if Paul has individuals in mind, then his point is that individual Jews sought to establish their own righteousness by upholding the law. For if Paul has corporate Israel in mind, then he is likely saying that Israel as a nation sought righteousness for themselves, which is to say they excluded Gentiles from the covenant.⁵

Response to counterargument:

The plural form of to seek does not overturn this argument. For we can use the plural form to refer to a collection of individuals. So Paul is saying that a collection of individuals failed to understand God’s righteousness, and instead sought to establish their own. The contrast between God’s righteousness and the collection of individuals strongly suggests a contrast between God’s righteousness and a collection of individuals who tried to establish their own righteousness.

Explanation:

Paul says that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness. He likely has in mind that there are individual Israelites who tried to make themselves righteous by doing the works of the law. We can detect this is Paul’s meaning because there is a parallel between what Paul writes and certain Old Testament themes. Specifically, in Deuteronomy 9:4–6 we read that Israel is reminded that it is not because of their own righteousness that God is giving them the Promised Land. Rather, it is because of the wickedness of the people living in the land. For, Moses reminds them, the Israelites are not righteous but are a stubborn people (Deuteronomy 9:6). Paul has the same idea in mind in Romans 10:3. That is, the Israelites have failed to understand God’s righteousness, which is presented in fullness through Jesus Christ (Romans 10:4), and instead sought to make themselves individually righteous by doing the works of the law.

Counterargument:

This view argues that the Israelites tried to make themselves righteous by following the Mosaic law, and this was a mistake. It is hard to see how trying to follow the Mosaic law could be characterized as trying to establish one’s own righteousness. For, as Paul has already explained, the Mosaic law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). Since the law is holy, righteous, and good, trying to do the law should not be characterized as trying to establish one’s own righteousness, for the law reflects God’s righteousness.

Response to counterargument:

While it is true that the law is holy, righteous, and good, Paul also explains that through the law comes knowledge of sin. Specifically, in Romans 3:19–20 he writes that the law speaks to those under the law, and no one will be justified by works of the law, for through the law comes knowledge of sin. So, the law itself is perfect, but humans are not, and one function of the law is to reveal to humans their sinfulness. Now, if one were to overlook this function of the law and instead believe that the law functioned as a means to righteousness through the works of the law, then one would be trying to establish their own righteousness. And this is what Paul accuses Israel of doing. They try to establish their own righteousness by thinking they can be justified by doing the works of the law.

Explanation:

When Paul writes that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness, Paul is saying that Israel sought to keep the covenant to themselves.⁶ That is, while God opened the covenant to the Gentiles through faith in Christ, Israel sought to keep the covenant to themselves and not share it with anyone else. We can detect that this is what Paul means by the phrase sought to establish their own righteousness, by the verb to establish. Closer inspection indicates that the verb (ἵστημι) was used in the Septuagint to denote Israel’s responsibility within the covenant. In other words, Paul has loyalty to the covenant in mind when he writes that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness.⁷ His point is that Israel sought to maintain righteousness for themselves by promoting distinctively Jewish notions such as circumcision, Sabbath laws, and dietary restrictions.⁸

Counterargument

This argument does not sit well with the immediate context. The context surrounding Romans 10:3 suggests that when Paul refers to works of the law, he means something like keeping the whole Mosaic law perfectly. For example, in Romans 9:31–32 Paul says that Israel pursued a law of righteousness but never reached it, because they pursued it as though it were based on works. Then in Romans 10:5 he says that according to Moses, the righteousness that is based on the law means doing the commands.⁹ Of course, we know from Romans 3:20 that sin prevents this. So the general thrust of Paul’s thought in this section, and in the letter as a whole, is that one cannot be righteous by doing the works of the law. Thus, it is unlikely that when Paul says that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness, he means that they sought to protect the covenant for themselves by excluding the Gentiles. Rather, he likely means they sought to establish their own righteousness through works rather than faith.

Explanation

Paul writes that Israel sought to establish their own righteousness. To understand what he means, it is important to understand the term their own. The term has to do with keeping something peculiar to oneself. This is in contrast to others. Thus, Paul is saying that Israel sought to establish righteousness as something belonging solely to themselves, to the exclusion of all others.

Counterargument

The contrast here is not between Israel keeping righteousness to themselves over against others. Rather, the contrast is between Israel trying to establish their own righteousness over against submitting to God’s righteousness (see interpretation 1, argument 1).¹⁰ This contrast becomes clear when we read all of Romans 10:3. For Paul opens Romans 10:3 by noting that Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness, before saying they tried to establish their own. Clearly the contrast is between God’s righteousness and their own righteousness. Of course, if this is right, then Paul is using their own not to say that Israel tried to keep the covenant to themselves, but to say that they tried to establish their own righteousness over against God’s.

The weakness of this view is that it misses the point that even Israel ought to have faith in Christ for salvation. Paul is not saying that Israel can rely on works of the law, but they should not think the covenant is only their own. Rather, he is saying that Israel’s view of how to be righteous is false, because righteousness is only through faith in Christ, whom Israel rejected.