What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30-33)
Because many of the Jewish people were blind to the fact that they needed God’s mercy, they thought they could earn salvation.
Gentiles Attained to Righteousness.
The Gentiles - who had not pursued righteousness, as Paul made clear in Romans 1:18-32 - attained righteousness.
Why?
What’s implied by Paul in Romans 9:32 is that the Gentiles sought it by faith - and not by works of the law. When they heard the gospel of Christ, many Gentiles eagerly received and submitted to it (Acts 13:42-48).
Israel Has Not Attained to Righteousness.
Israel, on the other hand, while they pursued the law of righteousness, they had not attained that law of righteousness.
Why?
Because they did not seek it by faith - but by the works of the law. When Jesus Christ came, and the gospel of Christ was proclaimed (Romans 1:16-17), the Jews - for the most part - rejected it. They didn’t believe they needed the mercy of God. They believed they could earn their salvation through “the works of the law.”
They “stumbled” over the “stumbling stone” (Matthew 21:33-46).
Justification Does Not Come by the Deeds or Works of the Law.
We must go back to Romans 3 to remind ourselves of this point.
After emphasizing that both Jews and Gentiles were all under sin, Paul told them what that meant about trying to be justified by the law.
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
The deeds of the law could justify no one who had sinned - the law could only condemn them.
Justification was offered to sinners (Jew and Gentile) by the grace of God through His Son.
…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:24-28)
The righteousness of God can only be attained one way by sinners. That way is not by pursuing the works of the law - for the law brings knowledge of our sin and condemns us to the fate we have rightfully earned (Romans 6:23).
That way of righteousness is by faith in Jesus Christ - by humbly submitting to Christ's gospel and being cleansed of our sins by His blood through immersion into Him (Romans 6:1-7).
As Paul will go on to describe in Romans 10, it’s such a sad thing to notice that many of the Jewish people were chasing after righteousness - and never found it.
The reason why is what Paul will talk about more in Romans 10.