28:23-29 What clear teaching is revealed here?
28:23-29 What clear teaching is revealed here?
This clearly refutes the claim by some in the church that Isaiah's prophecy, which Paul quoted in V26-27, means that God sovereignly hardened the hearts of the Jews to prevent them believing in Jesus because He had already determined not to save them.
The word therefore in V28 looks back on V26-27 and proves that it was not God who prevented the Jews from believing because He had already determined not to save them, but that the Jews themselves deliberately refused to believe.
They rejected the gospel of their own volition, and it was for this reason alone - therefore - that God rejected them and gave the gospel to the Gentiles (CP Ac 13:44-49; Ro 9:30-33; 10:19-21; 11:1, 7-10, 13-24).
This truth is found also in the parables Jesus told of the marriage feast in Mt 22 and the great supper in Lu 14 (CP Mt 22:2-14; Lu 14:16-24).
See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 13:10-11, 20:16; Jn 3:15-16, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40, Ac 2:37-38, 13:48; Ro 3:24-26(A), 8:28-30, 9:7, 9:10-13, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2 11:4, Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10, 1Th 1:4; 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2, 1Jn 1:10, and author's studies Salvation - a Free Will Choice or Predestinated? and Chosen by God? in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1).