St. Paul takes this idea of the vessels of mercy who are not necessarily all Israel to define the true Israel and includes Gentiles who believe that Jesus is the Messiah/Christ. Separating true believers from physical descent, or ethnic connection and pursuing a continuity that is given by His call and His sovereign will. Therefore some are called of God who are Israelite and some who are Gentiles. This would have been a surprise to many, perhaps in the same way it is surprising to see a Jew in our day that is a Christian.
Paul is so adamant about this calling of the Gentiles that he uses the illustration of Hosea which speaks of God rejecting and accepting his people back again as an illustration toward the Gentiles who have been included as a people who have received His mercy also. And this is done for no other reason than God wills it to be so, and He has the right. So God creates his people by His call not by physical or ethnic descent. This is a recipe of hope to all who are in despair whether Israelite or Gentile, rich or poor.
The Lord acts in a sovereign way as he reaches out and draws people to himself. Early on it is made clear that those who are ethnically privileged or financially well off are not given special graces. On the contrary His largest population of followers would be the poor and destitute. Not the proud religious sector nor the affluent government figures. For His message would be one to demolish the walls and barriers that separate us. As well as the gender polarization that is prevalent in the biblical society and in our modern day.
Sacred Scripture and the Church teach us that there are God ordained differences and roles that naturally separate the sexes. Although this is known to be true, one gender is not preferred or better than the other in God's sight, nor should this be in ours either. The true division comes when one rejects Christ as savior. 1John 5:12 states, "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." Those who break the covenant cannot reap the privileges of that same covenant until a times come when they change and accept the covenant. So then who is the "us" in verse 24, and who is the true Israel? Paul has included within the term "children of God," "offspring," and "Israel" Gentiles as well. The promises of God have been received by the Gentiles and we are gracefully included as the covenant people through Jesus Christ the Messiah.
St. Paul sheds some more light on this subject, "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you (Gentiles) a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, You will say, "Branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted in." And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. (disbelieving Israel) For if you (Gentiles) have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches (Israelites) be grafted back into their own olive tree." (Roman 11:17,19,23,24) We Gentiles can rejoice that we have been included in the true Israel, the children of God, the vessels of mercy. Our position as gentiles who have been grafted in should be one of thankfulness, to God and the Israelites for preserving such a heritage for us to follow and to benefit from. For Jesus was Jewish and most of sacred scripture was written by Jews and the Church began with Jews. We should follow the example toward the Jew that Paul speaks of in Romans 11:11, "So I ask, have they stumbled (the Israelites) so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
His servants and yours,
Gerard & Yolanda Cleffi Directors
Oratory of Divine Love
We are not able to create salvation by our own efforts. At the same time Paul knew that God's love is not an excuse for a freedom which says that anything goes. He insisted that the baptized Christian really has received a gift of the Spirit and live by the Spirit. We have seen that Paul knows that Christians will not always live up to their ideals. He tells the Galatians that they will have to correct each other and bear with each other's failings. He tells the Christians in Rome that they are not to judge and condemn one another.
Pheme Perkins, Reading the New Testament, New York, N.Y./Mahwah, N.J. Paulist Press Pg.172
Holy Spirit, you create all things and all is yours. Yet you are so silent, so hidden that we never think of your supreme possession and disposition of all the universe. You, together with the Father and Son create all things, rule over all, and summon all to you as our final goal. Deliver us by your wisdom in which all things are made, from all foolish thoughts of possessions and exclusiveness. Let us ever be mindful that we are stewards of all we have until the Master returns. May wisdom teach us to be generous, detached, joyous in giving, and careful in receiving. But most of all, Spirit of Wisdom, call on our hearts by joy and sorrow, in good times and in bad, that we may always seek first that kingdom that never passes away. Amen.
Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., Heaven in Our Hands, Cincinnati, Ohio, St. Anthony Messenger Press, Pg.170