At the end of Romans 9, Paul writes

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

This might lead readers to think that the issue for Israel was a “method of salvation.”  But it is important to remember that “faith” here is personasl: trust in king Jesus rather than confidence in the sufficiency of the Mosaic Covenant.  The quotation from Isaiah 8.14 and it is, in context, quite obviously about Jesus.  Thus the Apostle Peter writes,

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

The Gospels themselves portray Israel’s spiritual problem in this way.  They want a king who affirms their righteousness rather than demanding that they understand their calling to serve the nations.  Jesus himself appeals to Psalm 118.22:

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Notice that the reason for judging Israel was not that they didn’t value good works (“fruit”) but that they didn’t want to produce any because they didn’t believe they needed to do so.  When we come to the decision of the crowd in Jerusalem to reject Jesus, it comes as a choice between Jesus and another “son of the father,” BarAbbas–an insurrectionist and murderer.  Such a patriotic enemy of Rome was far more attractive to the Israelites and they were happy to force Pilate to release him and allow Jesus to be crucified.  The same reason that made Pilate believe Jesus should be released made the Jews believe that Jesus wasn’t worth saving from crucifixion.

After all, didn’t Phineas kill just like Barabbas did? And God had counted Phineas’ act as righteousness, and even made a covenant with him.  So the crowd cried out for the release of Barabbas.  In so doing they were crying out for their independent nation and a sanctuary not under the domination of a Gentile empire.  They were pursuing their covenant status as if the Mosaic Covenant was perpetual.  (In fact, they had even added laws to keep out Gentiles when the Mosaic Law permitted Gentiles to offer sacrifices through the Levites just like all other Israelites.)

But Paul has a far different vision of what Israel’s king was supposed to be like.  Precisely because the God of Israel is the God of the whole world, and the promise to Abraham is that he would inherit the cosmos, the King of Israel has to be the true world emperor, a challenge both to Israelite arrogance and to Caesar:

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”