‘God is for us’, a key theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans, is also the title of one of the most engaging books I have read.

A joy to explore

And I have just finished re-reading it, having first picked it up shortly after its publication in 2013. But since I wasn’t involved with Prophecy Today at the time, I didn’t think about reviewing it. So here goes now.

The book is a study of Romans in 52 chapters; it is thus ideal for spreading over the course of a year – except that Simon is a great story-teller, and it’s so well-written and bursting with undiscovered treasure that you might struggle to put it down in spite of its 450 pages (and that’s without the extensive notes and bibliography).

Full of lively anecdotes and personal experiences to help readers understand the text of what is thought to have been one of the longest letters written in the ancient world, God Is For Us a sheer joy to explore. And as all good pastors should do (Simon is on the staff of St Aldate’s in Oxford), he succeeds in really building up one’s faith.

Beautifully composed in a flowing style that is almost musical at times, the book is hugely powerful, challenging and sharp.

Many, including myself, tend to avoid tackling heavy tomes on theology. But this is certainly not in that category. Beautifully composed in a flowing style that is almost musical at times, it is hugely powerful, challenging and sharp. Again and again, the author comes up with wonderfully memorable phrases that are so very apt.

The root that supports the branches

Key to his message is the place of the Jews, and of Israel, in God’s purposes. Simon more or less says, as I have done in the past, that this is the very purpose of the epistle in addressing the mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles at Rome. Simon emphasises that God has not finished with the Jews, that they are still an essential part of his plans and that one day “all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:26).

The author helpfully points out that God’s inseparable love for us, expressed in chapter 8, is clearly linked to the next section. For chapters 9-11 which focus on the Jews, conclude that “nothing can separate God’s first covenant elect people Israel from God’s faithful covenant-keeping love”. Simon unequivocally states: “Israel is the root that supports the branches of the church” (Rom 11:18), adding: “The gospel is for the Jews first and last. They were first to be offered it and will be the last… If we love the Jews, we must seek to share the Messiah with them.”

Simon pulls no punches about the Church’s role in anti-Semitism over the centuries.

Simon pulls no punches about the Church’s role in anti-Semitism over the centuries, as he also outlined in an explosive series of talks he gave at the CMJ (Church’s Ministry among Jewish people) Conference that year, which had a profound effect on me, and has influenced my thinking ever since. So uncomfortable were his conclusions that an article I wrote about it was deemed unacceptable by the nation’s leading Christian magazine.

Nevertheless, I appreciate Simon’s view that while “journalists are bringers of bad news, Christians are different. They are evangelists, bringers of… the greatest news ever told.” I really like that.

‘God is For Us’ (480pp) is published by Monarch Books, and is available from Amazon, where cheap second-hand copies can also be acquired.