EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON ROMANS CHAPTER 11
(Quotes from Scripture are taken from the NIV)
1I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"[a]? 4And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."[b] 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.[c]
Paul continues to stimulate our thinking by asking another question: Did God reject the Jews because of their obstinacy and disobedience? He says definitely not! He confirms that by stating that he himself is an Israelite, and says which tribe he comes from. The very fact that he is a Christian believer as well as a Jew, proves that God has not rejected the people whom He chose to carry His Law and His Word through the ages. Paul says that God foreknew the nation of Israel. He planned its foundation and put it in the geographical location of His choice.
Paul then quotes the example of Elijah, who in his depression believed that he was the only person left in Israel who truly obeyed God. God reminded him that there was a remnant left in Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal. This did not happen by accident. The Scripture says that God reserved a remnant for Himself. That means that He planned it that way. Paul brings this to the present by saying that by the same token there is a remnant left in Israel who are chosen by grace.
Now this brings up the issue of predestination. The Scriptures imply that God knew who was going to be saved before the foundation of the world, and that those He foreknew, He chose and called to be Christians. The ones He did not choose were doomed to condemnation. Many have tried to define this more fully, and many have rejected the doctrine of predestination because they cannot conceive of a God, who is willing that none should perish but that all may come to repentance, would deliberate choose who was going to be saved and who was going to be lost, without the people saved or lost having any say in the matter.
It has to be concluded that predestination is largely a mystery. We will never be able to fathom the full truth of it. How that free choice and predestination can work together (which it does in practice) is something that is not fully revealed to us. Perhaps we are not given to know how it works, but be content that predestination works in tandem with people having free choice to accept or reject Christ as Lord.
So, although the offer of salvation through the grace of God, as preached in the gospel, is open to all, God knows who will be saved and who will be lost. This is how we can talk of God calling and choosing those ones who are going to be saved through the preaching of the gospel.
Paul goes on to say that if salvation comes through grace, then it cannot be by works. If people were saved through works, that is, the keeping of the external Mosaic Law, then grace would not longer be grace. Paul defines "grace" as the unmerited favour of God. This means that the salvation that God offers through Christ is unearned. We do not earn it by doing good works. We receive it by the grace of God through our faith in Christ.
7What then? What
Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were
hardened, 8as it is written:
"God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes so that they could not see
and ears so that they could not hear,
to this very day."[d]
9And David says:
"May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10May their eyes be darkened so they
cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever."[e]
These are sections which many Christians find difficult to understand. Paul seems to be implying predestination where people do not really have the choice of whether they can be saved or not. He says that Israel sought God so earnestly, but it did not obtain the righteousness that God required of them. He seems to be saying that God deliberately put hindrances in their way so they would not be able to hear and understand the gospel. He seems also to imply that the "elect" were the remnant of Israel who were distinctly chosen and the Gentiles who accepted Christ. He says that the others were hardened. It is hard to see whether they were hardened before they had an opportunity to hear the gospel, or the hardening came after they rejected it. The Scripture reference that Paul quotes seems to imply that God did it deliberately.
11Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
Now Paul asks another question to stimulate more thinking. He says that Israel, although they stumbled, they have not fallen beyond recovery. He makes the predestination issue a little clearer by saying that Israel stumbled because of their transgression. So it was their transgression and disobedience that hindered the calling and choosing of God to come to them. But this still preserves the mystery between human choice and the providence of God in accepting or rejecting the gospel. We have to accept this mystery, and continue to believe that anyone who hears the gospel and believes the word of Christ, is saved, and therefore called and chosen of God before the foundation of the world. It is the classic chicken and egg issue (which came first?) of whether God chose the person and therefore he was able to hear the gospel and believe it; or whether the act of believing the gospel put the choice and calling of God for that person into effect.
But the effect of Israel's transgression was that the opportunity arose for salvation to come to the Gentiles. Here is another mystery, because we are invited to believe that God planned salvation for the Gentiles as part of His overall plan of salvation for the world; and yet through Israel's transgression, which does not seem to fit in with God's ideal standard that He might have always wanted for Israel, the Gentiles were given the opportunity to enter into the same equal place that Israel would have had if the whole nation accepted Christ.
Paul thinks that the Gentiles accepting salvation and the blessings that came with it, would make Israel envious and probably motivated to lay aside their disobedience and obstinacy and to seek God through Christ for their own salvation. Paul sees the transgression of Israel as bringing riches for the world, and their loss riches for the Gentiles; but he also see that if Israel had not transgressed, then the Gentiles would have been brought in anyway, and the world would have been much richer for it.
13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Now Paul directs his remarks away from the Jews to the Gentiles. He gives them the reason why, as a Jew and a supporter of Israel, he sees his ministry to the Gentiles as been very important and significant for the future of the Christian church. He wants the Jews to see what is happening to the Gentiles who were not previously favoured by God. He wants them to see how the grace of God is poured out on the Gentiles, and he wants them to know that if the grace of God is poured out so much on the Gentiles, how much more would that same grace be poured out on the Jews who decide to accept Christ as Saviour and Lord?
Paul sees that their rejection of the gospel brings reconciliation to the world, then their acceptance will bring what would be seen as a great miracle, equal to someone being raised from the dead. He sees that the remnant of Israel who have accepted Christ is compared to the small amount of dough that is used as a starter for a new mixture of dough for a loaf of bread. That small starter piece of dough will cause the whole loaf to rise, and it will be lost in the final result. He uses another example: of the root of a tree. He says if the root is holy, then the branches will be, because it is the root that gathers the sustenance for the tree and assists its growth. The root is an essential part of the tree.
17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Paul is speaking of Israel coming under a penalty because of their disobedience and rejection of Christ, and Gentile believers being admitted into the kingdom of God. Paul warns the Gentiles not to boast over the branches that were broken off, because they need to remember that they do not support to root, but the root supports them.
This is an object lesson for those who are quick to condemn the Jews. There has been a lot of persecution of Jews by Christians over the ages, and in some areas it still takes place. This is because of the misconception that because the Jews rejected Christ and had Him crucified they deserve to be discriminated against and continually punished for it. Paul is teaching differently, and those who are persecuting and punishing Jewish people are arrogant in his eyes.
He says that the branches of the Jews were broken off because of their unbelief, and the branches of the Gentiles were grafted in because of their faith. Paul warns that the Gentile believers should have a godly fear because if God did not spare His chosen people the Jews when they disobeyed and rebelled against Him, then He will not spare Gentiles who rebel against Him.
22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
Although Jesus presented the Father and His love to the Jews, Paul is careful that we do not forget that God has a stern side to His nature as well. As long as we remain in the love of God and walk in love, guided by the Spirit, we will always experience the love of God toward us. But for those who decide to be disobedient, they will very quickly see the stern nature of God. To continue to experience the kindness of God, we need to continue in His kindness. Paul is quite clear that those who decide to adopt of lifestyle of disobeying God will be cut away from the branch.
This seems to go against the "once saved always saved" doctrine. Paul seems not to support that concept. He is quite clear that as long as a person is guided by the Spirit there is security in God's love and kindness. But when a believer stops being a believer and resists the prompting of the Spirit, he could find himself cut off from God's kindness.
But even that state is not permanent, because a believer who ceases to be a believer and is cut off, when he becomes a believer again, is able to be regrafted back in. This gives hope to the Jews also, because all Jews who have been unbelievers will be grafted in also. Paul says that it will be much easier for Jewish people to be grafted in to the root because they are the natural branches. The natural branches of a tree are more easily grafted into the tree if they were cut off that tree to start with. It is harder to graft in branches from a wild tree.
Paul is actually saying that when the Jews give up their unbelief and choose to accept Christ as the Messiah, they will be more easily accepted into the kingdom of God than were the Gentiles who chose to believe. Paul sees the Jews as the natural branches of the tree.
25I do not want
you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited:
Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles
has come in. 26And so all Israel will
be saved, as it is written:
"The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27And this is[f]
my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."[g]
Paul is talking to the Gentile believers here. He is making the position of Israel before God quite clear to them. He is speaking like this to them so that they will not become arrogant about the fact that they were admitted into the kingdom of God on the backs of the unbelieving Jews. Paul hints at the hardening of Israel as part of the plan and purpose of God to give opportunity for the Gentiles to come to Christ in faith. He points to a time when all Israel will be saved, so that there will be a godly nation of Israel in the future. How this will take place, we do not clearly know, but Paul quotes from the Old Testament Scripture to support his point.
Therefore, it is implied that the ministry of Jesus toward Israel is not yet finished. The "deliver" coming "from Zion" is obviously Jesus. The Scripture says that He will turn the rebellion and unbelief away from the nation of Israel and make a covenant with them. This is an event of history still yet to come.
28As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now[h] receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. 32For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Paul is talking about something that is not usually taught in the Christian church. Many in the church see Israel as being steeped in unbelief, and the signs are that the Jews will never accept Christ as Lord and Messiah. So Paul is saying that as far as the gospel is concerning, they are at present enemies to it. This was shown in Paul's time by their relentless and merciless persecution of the Christian church.
But Paul is talking about something different. He is talking about election - that is, the calling and choosing of God. God still loves the Jews and has not given them up. He is remembering the unique and special place that the patriarchs have in the history of God's dealings with Israel. The patriarchs include Abraham, Jacob and the sons of Jacob. Paul is saying that the gifts of call of God are irrevocable. Even though Israel, as a nation, has been cut off at present because of their unbelief, God has not abandoned them, because He is still true to His call and gifts to them.
He then compares the Gentiles he is presently teaching, how they were once disobedient and have received mercy from God, when they see the love of God poured out of the Gentiles, they will come to realise that if God pours His love so freely on the Gentiles who accept Christ, they will get the revelation and receive the mercy of God even more readily because they are the "natural branches", the chosen and called of God, and guardians of the Word of God from the beginning.
The end results is that Jews and Gentiles are all in the same boat. They are all debtors to God's mercy. All were disobedient at one time, and their disobedience has given opportunity for God to have mercy on them.
33Oh, the depth of the riches
of the wisdom and[i]
knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the mind of the
Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"[j]
35"Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"[k]
36For from him and through him and
to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
[Paul now quotes Old Testament Scripture as a form of praise to the Lord for His great wisdom and knowledge that He has put His plans and purposes into place and worked them out through the ages. He is realising that no one can really know the mind of God and be able to fathom out His motivation for doing the things He does. There are many things which happen which we will never fully understand, but we can only trust in the faithfulness of God to us. In the face of these things, Paul can only stop his teaching and give God the glory for the great things He has done.
Footnotes:
[End of Chapter 11]