The Stone of Stumbling

Key Passage: Romans 9:32–33

Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 65: The Stone of Stumbling
Text: Romans 9:32–33

Introduction

Romans 9:32–33 says, “Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Paul has just declared that the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith, while Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness. Now he answers why. The failure was not because God’s word failed. The failure was not because the law was unrighteous. The failure was not because God suddenly changed His mind about Israel. The failure was that they sought righteousness “not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.” Israel stumbled over the very One to whom the law pointed. They tripped over Christ while holding Moses in their hand, which is like starving to death while clutching a map to the bread.

This passage brings the argument of Romans 9 to a sharp point. The issue is Christ. The Lord Jesus is the dividing Stone. To faith, He is the sure foundation. To unbelief, He is the stumblingstone and rock of offence. The same Christ who saves one man exposes another. The same Stone that supports the believer trips the self-righteous. The same Rock that shelters the humble crushes the proud. God laid Him in Sion, not in a corner, not in secret, not as an accident, but openly in fulfillment of prophetic Scripture. Israel did not stumble because Christ failed to appear. Israel stumbled because Christ appeared and did not match their self-righteous expectations. The problem was not that God hid the Stone. The problem was that unbelief hated where God put it.

Romans 9:32–33 also speaks directly to every religious heart that thinks effort can substitute for faith. Israel had zeal. Israel had heritage. Israel had law. Israel had temple service. Israel had promises. Israel had fathers. Israel had covenants. But when Christ came, many stumbled because they sought righteousness as though it could be obtained by works of law. That error is not locked in the first century. It is alive and well every time a sinner trusts baptism, sacraments, commandment-keeping, church membership, moral reform, religious sincerity, family tradition, ritual, denominational loyalty, or personal effort instead of the righteousness of God in Christ. The question that divides all men is not, “How religious are you?” It is, “What will you do with Christ?” A man’s eternity turns on that Stone.

Chapter One: Wherefore?

Paul begins verse 32 with one word: “Wherefore?” He has just stated a startling contrast. Gentiles attained righteousness by faith, while Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain to it. The natural question is why. How could the people with the law miss righteousness while Gentiles outside the law receive it? How could those with the oracles of God, the covenants, the fathers, the temple service, and the promises stumble while outsiders came in by faith? Paul does not leave the matter hanging in the air like a mystery no one is allowed to touch. He answers it plainly. Their failure was tied to the way they sought righteousness.

“Wherefore?” is an important word because it shows that Israel’s failure has an explanation, and the explanation is not unrighteousness in God. Paul already asked, “Is there unrighteousness with God?” and answered, “God forbid.” He already said the word of God had not taken none effect. He already showed the remnant principle and Gentile mercy in the prophets. Now he explains the immediate spiritual reason Israel missed righteousness: they sought it not by faith. The nation’s privileges did not remove the necessity of faith. The law did not cancel the need for Christ. The sacrifices did not save apart from the blood they pictured. Moses never intended to become a substitute Messiah.

This “Wherefore?” also keeps men from blaming the wrong thing. Religious flesh wants to blame doctrine, history, election, sovereignty, mystery, culture, politics, or circumstances—anything but unbelief. Paul brings the matter home. Israel stumbled because they did not seek righteousness by faith. That is where every lost religious man must be confronted. He may complain about church history, hypocrites, difficult doctrines, bad experiences, confusing teachers, or the sins of others, but at the bottom is this question: will he receive the righteousness of God by faith in Christ, or will he keep trying to establish his own? “Wherefore?” strips the smoke away and points to the fire.

Chapter Two: Because They Sought It Not by Faith

Paul answers, “Because they sought it not by faith.” There is the fatal defect. Faith was not the principle by which they pursued righteousness. The Scriptures had already taught faith. Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Habakkuk said, “the just shall live by his faith.” David described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. The law itself, when rightly understood, pointed beyond man’s performance to God’s mercy, sacrifice, blood, and promise. Israel’s problem was not that faith had never been revealed. Their problem was that they missed the point while standing under the sign.

Faith receives what God gives. Faith believes God’s testimony. Faith stops arguing with the divine diagnosis and submits to the divine remedy. In salvation, faith does not strut up to God with a basket of human virtue. It comes empty-handed and lays hold of Christ. The righteousness of God is not pulled down by effort; it is received by faith. Romans 3:22 says, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 4:5 says, “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” That is not difficult unless the flesh insists on being paid.

To seek righteousness not by faith is to reject the only way a guilty sinner can be justified. A man may be sincere, disciplined, zealous, sacrificial, religious, and morally respectable, but if he does not seek righteousness by faith, he will miss it. That is the insult of grace to the pride of man. Grace tells the best religious runner that he cannot outrun his guilt. It tells the most polished moralist that his righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It tells the temple worker, the church member, the sacramental loyalist, and the commandment keeper that righteousness before God is not a wage. Faith is not God’s compliment to man’s effort. It is man’s surrender to God’s Son.

Chapter Three: As It Were by the Works of the Law

Paul says Israel sought righteousness “as it were by the works of the law.” That phrase is careful. Paul does not say the law itself promised justification by human works to sinners who kept it imperfectly. The law revealed righteousness, exposed sin, condemned transgression, governed Israel, and pointed through types and shadows to Christ. But Israel pursued the law of righteousness as though righteousness could be attained through works of law. They turned a mirror into a ladder. The law showed them their face, but they tried to climb it into heaven. That is what religion always does when the flesh gets hold of holy things.

The works of the law cannot justify because the flesh cannot meet the law’s righteous demand. Galatians 2:16 says, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Romans 3:20 says, “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” The law is holy, but the sinner is not. The commandment is just, but the flesh is weak. The law can tell a man not to covet, but it cannot remove covetousness from his heart. It can condemn the thief, but it cannot regenerate him. It can expose the wound, but it cannot become the blood that cleanses it. The law is a perfect scale, but it cannot make a light man heavy enough for glory.

“As it were” also shows the deceptive nature of religious pursuit. Israel’s effort had the appearance of righteousness. There were sacrifices, sabbaths, feasts, washings, prayers, Scripture readings, and zeal. Outwardly it looked like pursuit of God. But when Christ came, the pursuit was exposed. They stumbled at Him because He contradicted self-righteousness. He received sinners. He rebuked religious hypocrisy. He declared the need for the new birth. He presented Himself as the way, the truth, and the life. He did not come to polish the ladder of human works. He came as the only door. That offended men who had spent their lives bragging about their climbing.

Chapter Four: They Stumbled at That Stumblingstone

Paul says, “For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.” The stumblingstone is Christ. Israel did not merely stumble over an abstract doctrine. They stumbled over a Person. The Lord Jesus stood in front of them as their Messiah, their King, their Redeemer, their Rock, their Saviour, and they tripped over Him because unbelief does not like God’s way of righteousness. John 1:11 says, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” That is the national tragedy in one sentence. The Stone God laid in Sion became the Stone over which the nation stumbled.

To stumble at Christ means to be offended by Him, to reject Him, to refuse Him as the foundation of righteousness. Israel did not stumble because Christ was sinful, false, weak, or insufficient. They stumbled because He did not flatter their righteousness. He exposed it. The Pharisee wanted recognition; Christ demanded repentance. The legalist wanted credit; Christ offered grace. The national zealot wanted a crown without a cross; Christ came first to suffer. The ritualist wanted the temple system without the Lamb to whom it pointed; Christ declared Himself greater than the temple. When men prefer their own righteousness, Christ becomes an obstruction to their pride.

This stumbling is not limited to Israel. Every unbeliever stumbles at Christ in one form or another. The intellectual stumbles because Christ demands faith in revelation. The moralist stumbles because Christ says morality is not enough. The religionist stumbles because Christ will not share saving glory with ritual. The libertine stumbles because Christ calls sin what it is. The pluralist stumbles because Christ says, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The proud stumble because the cross humiliates them. The sentimental stumble because Christ speaks of hell and judgment. Men do not stumble over Christ because He is unclear. They stumble because He is in the way of their rebellion.

Chapter Five: Behold, I Lay in Sion

Paul quotes Scripture: “As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence.” The Stone was laid by God. That matters. Christ is not man’s invention, Israel’s accident, Rome’s victim only, or history’s tragic reformer. God laid Him in Sion. The incarnation, presentation, rejection, cross, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ stand in the purpose and foreknowledge of God. Acts 2:23 says Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” Men rejected Him wickedly, but God was not improvising. The Stone was laid.

“Sion” points to the Jewish setting of Messiah’s presentation. Salvation is of the Jews. Christ came through Israel according to the flesh. The prophets spoke of Him. The promises pointed to Him. The temple service foreshadowed Him. The sacrifices preached Him in blood. The priesthood anticipated Him. The kingship of David looked forward to Him. God laid the Stone in the very place where Israel should have recognized Him. The issue was not lack of witness. The issue was unbelief. The builders rejected the Stone, but the Stone was laid by God.

“Behold” calls attention. God did not whisper Christ into history. He announced Him through prophets, types, covenants, promises, miracles, preaching, resurrection, and apostolic witness. Isaiah had spoken of the Stone. The Psalms had spoken of the rejected Stone becoming the head of the corner. Daniel spoke of the Stone cut out without hands that smites the image. The witness was there. Israel’s leaders were not innocent men deprived of light. They had the Scriptures and missed the Subject. A man can own the Book, kiss the cover, memorize the verses, and still stumble over the Christ it reveals if his heart is set on his own righteousness.

Chapter Six: A Stumblingstone and Rock of Offence

Christ is called “a stumblingstone and rock of offence.” The same Lord who is precious to believers is offensive to unbelief. First Peter 2:7–8 says, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed… a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.” Christ divides men. He does not merely invite admiration. He demands a verdict. A man cannot remain neutral toward the Stone God laid. He either builds on Him or stumbles over Him. Neutrality is just unbelief wearing soft shoes.

Christ offends self-righteousness because He leaves no room for boasting. If salvation is by grace through faith, then man contributes no saving merit. If righteousness is in Christ, then the sinner’s own righteousness is rejected. If the blood is necessary, then human morality is insufficient. If Christ is the only way, then every other way is false. That offends the religious marketplace where every booth wants equal respect. The cross does not enter the fairgrounds to rent a table beside the other options. It condemns the whole fair. Christ is not one spiritual consultant among many. He is the Rock, and rocks do not move because men file complaints.

He is also a rock of offence because He reveals what men truly love. The man who loves truth will come to the Light. The man who loves darkness will hate the Light because his deeds are evil. Israel stumbled because Christ exposed the emptiness of law-pursuit without faith. The world still stumbles because Christ exposes every false refuge. Education without Christ becomes refined blindness. Religion without Christ becomes perfumed rebellion. Morality without Christ becomes a clean shirt on a condemned man. Christ offends because He tells the truth. A lying age will always call truth offensive.

Chapter Seven: Whosoever Believeth on Him Shall Not Be Ashamed

Paul closes the quotation with the gospel promise: “and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” There is the open door. The stumblingstone becomes the sure foundation to the believer. The rock of offence becomes the place of safety. The issue is faith in Him. Not faith in law. Not faith in heritage. Not faith in zeal. Not faith in religion. Not faith in self-improvement. “Whosoever believeth on him.” That “whosoever” is large enough for Jew and Gentile, moral and immoral, near and far, religious and pagan, broken and proud if they will humble themselves and believe on Christ.

“Shall not be ashamed” means the believer will not be confounded, disappointed, or put to shame in the final outcome. Faith in Christ will never end in embarrassment before God. The man who trusts Christ will not stand at judgment and discover the foundation failed. He will not find that the blood was insufficient, the resurrection uncertain, the promise unreliable, or the Saviour unable to save. Every other foundation will shame those who trusted it. Works will shame. Ritual will shame. Heritage will shame. Religious sincerity will shame. Self-righteousness will shame. Christ will not. The Stone God laid will bear the full weight of every believer who rests upon Him.

This promise also gives the final division. What will you do with Christ? That is the question. Israel stumbled at Him because they sought righteousness as it were by the works of the law. Gentiles attained righteousness by faith. Today the same division remains. A man may stumble over Christ in pride or believe on Him unto righteousness. He may be offended by the Rock or saved by the Rock. He may reject the Stone and be broken, or build upon the Stone and never be ashamed. Eternity does not turn on whether a man had religious heat in his bones. It turns on whether he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Romans 9:32–33 explains why Israel failed to attain righteousness. They sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. That is the fatal error of religious flesh. The law was holy, but it could not justify sinners. Zeal was real, but it was not according to faith. Heritage was significant, but it could not provide righteousness before God. Israel stumbled because the nation, in its unbelieving majority, pursued righteousness in the wrong way and stumbled over the very Christ to whom the law and prophets pointed. The failure was not in God’s word. The failure was in unbelief.

The Lord Jesus is the stumblingstone and rock of offence. God laid Him in Sion. He came according to the flesh through Israel. The prophets announced Him, the sacrifices pictured Him, the promises pointed to Him, and the Scriptures bore witness of Him. Yet the builders rejected the Stone because He contradicted their self-righteousness. That same offence remains today. Christ still offends pride, religion, pluralism, legalism, moralism, and every sinner determined to bring God a homemade righteousness. The Rock does not adjust Himself to the stumbling foot. Man must bow.

But the passage ends with mercy: “whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” The Stone over which unbelief stumbles is the sure foundation for faith. The same Christ who exposes self-righteousness saves believing sinners. Jew or Gentile, religious or irreligious, moralist or prodigal, the command is the same: believe on Him. The final issue is not how hard you ran, how much law you admired, how much zeal you displayed, or how religious your heritage sounds. The final issue is Christ. What will you do with the Stone God laid? Stumble over Him in unbelief, or rest on Him by faith. Every soul meets that Rock. One way or another, Christ divides the room.