In chapter 11 Paul reaches the climax of his argument that God has not rejected Israel, but that what we see now is an extended period of wandering from God that will end eventually with the people's acceptance of Jesus as their messiah.
So let's begin with the first division in this chapter's argument:
(a) 11:1-6 God has not rejected his people, whom he chose and called. God's people have always been those who believed and obeyed him. The doctrine of the Remnant.
Text:
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God 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”? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Explanation:
Since most of the disagreement among commentators over this chapter has to do with the definition of what is meant by "Israel," let us begin with this verse, which sets the topic for the following argument. The question is whether or not God has rejected his people (Greek ὁ λαός αὐτοῦ). This can hardly be the largely gentile Church, since what preceded in chapter 9-10 had to do with the possibility of ethnic Israel's rejection because of failure to believe, and because Paul's refutation is that he himself, one descended from the tribe of Benjamin, is a believer. The existence of a believing remnant of ethnic Israel shows God's intention to restore the whole. Throughout the Bible the remnant is not a basis for a new and different people but the basis for the restoration of the whole. The existence of the believing remnant in Elijah's days made possible the newly restored nation that returned from the Babylonian exile under Ezra and Nehemiah. So in Paul's own day the existence of a believing remnant—Jewish believers in Jesus—was a guarantee of the eventual restoration of the whole.
Paul's second argument against God's having abandoned his ancient people is the fact that God 'foreknew' them (v. 2). In Paul's theological vocabulary the verb "foreknow" implies election (“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Romans 8:29 NIV). And in verse 29 he will state that the gifts and calling of God (i.e., his election) cannot be nullified or revoked. The original choice of ethnic Israel was not influenced by anything that people was or would be; it disregarded any merit. For the same reason it cannot be nullified or revoked on the basis of good or bad deeds.
But that doesn't mean that there will never be significant casualties along the way, sometimes huge ones. Paul alludes here to such a case during the reign of King Ahab (in 1 Kings 19), when the king and queen of Israel were worshipers of the Phoenician god Baal, most of the priests and prophets had converted to the worship of Baal, and the remaining minority of true prophets were hunted down and killed. Such an extreme case of a people abandoning its God could hardly be imagined. Yet when Elijah considered himself virtually alone in faithfulness to God, and prayed to God, implying that God should now wash his hands of Israel, God's answer was "I will leave over (or: make a remnant) within Israel: seven thousand who have not bowed their knees to Baal" (1 Kgs 19:18 [Hebrew]). God did not say to Elijah that he would now reject all the others. Rather he would keep the rest because of the existence within Israel of the faithful remnant. Throughout biblical history, the existence of a faithful minority both preserved the unfaithful majority and was the pledge of the eventual restoration of the whole. Paul will write in v. 16:
If 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.
God destroyed Sodom only when he could not find ten righteous people in the city. There will be no universal judgment on the world like Noah's flood so long as believers are in it.
When Paul says in verse 5-6 that there is also at the present time "a remnant chosen by grace", he does not refer to the entire Jewish and gentile church, but to all those who like himself were both believers and members of ethnic Israel: Peter, James, John, Andrew, Thomas, Mary, Martha, Philip, Stephen, and the other Jewish nucleus of the earliest church. The existence of this remnant, this "Israel of God," guaranteed that God would not reject the rest of his ancient people.
And even this godly remnant was not chosen on the basis of their good deeds, but by grace operating through their faith in Jesus.
Application:
So long as there are Jewish believers in Jesus, God will not allow the Jewish people to be totally assimilated with the nations and cease to exist: they remain capable of a massive, corporate repentance and belief in Jesus. In the same way, why doesn't God destroy the ungodly world today? Certainly he has every right to do so. We say it is because he wishes to give them time to repent, but is it not also because of the existence of his believing family within this lost world? Jesus called us "the salt of the earth", and salt is a preservative. We guarantee to the world around us time to repent. We are not only the dispensers of the gospel, but a sign to the world that God has not yet given up on them.
(b) 11:7-10 God hardens those who refuse to believe him.
Text:
What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect [Jews] did. The others were hardened, 8 as 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.” 9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
Explanation:
"What then?" says the text in verse 7. This means: "What was the result of God's choosing for himself a remnant by grace?" The vast majority of the Jews in Jesus' and Paul's times failed to obtain the right standing with God ('righteousness') that they kept seeking. The remnant chosen by God—Peter, Andrew, James, John, Mary, Martha, and the other Jews who believed in Jesus—obtained it by grace through faith. The others were "hardened". They had eyes that 'saw' but did not perceive; ears that 'heard' but did not understand—exactly the situation that God told Isaiah would happen in his own time when he proclaimed God's message to the people. Paul quotes Moses and Isaiah as witnesses of this situation in their own days in v. 8 and David in v. 9. The darkening of the eyes of David's enemies is significant, because Jesus the messiah is "son of David". Their "table"—the very basis on which they enjoyed fellowship with God, most likely an allusion to the Jerusalem temple—would become the trap that ensured their downfall. You remember that one of the principal charges against Jesus and the earliest Christians was that they claimed God would destroy that temple and replace it with a "temple not made with hands".
Application:
I take no pride in being either a Calvinist or an Arminian. Since the Bible teaches both that God is in complete control of all events and guides their course, as well as teaches that we humans have freedom to choose and are held responsible for those choices, I don't try to 'resolve' the seeming contradiction between the two views. It is futile for us puny humans to think we can comprehend—much less correct—our creator! God is ultimately inscrutable to humans. Therefore I cannot avoid affirming what scripture says. Here as in the earlier parts of Romans Paul affirms that all salvation—for Jews and for gentiles—is solely by God's sovereign choice. Some he chooses to enlighten; others he chooses to blind and harden. But it is not up to us to assume we know what he has chosen in individual cases of people we know. We all know some loved one or close friend who once seemed to be a fervent believer, but now denies it all. We wonder how this could have happened. We wonder what we can do to rectify it. My conclusion is that the ultimate answer is prayer. With Samuel we should say, “Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.” (1Samuel 12:23 RSV). This must always be our attitude toward non-believers whom we know and care for. Is your prayer list populated with such people? It should be!
(c) 11:11-15 Gentile salvation is made possible by Israel's stumbling, but will lead to Israel's restoration.
Text:
Again 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. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Explanation:
Earlier (in verse 1) Paul put the question more harshly with the verb "reject". Here he uses a milder term "stumble" to describe Israel's failure to recognize Jesus as the messiah. A stumble is something from which one can recover. Did you ever see the 1981 film Chariots of Fire? If you did, you remember how the Scottish runner Eric Liddell stumbled in the initial phase of a championship quarter-mile race. He fell to the ground and the rest of the runners passed him and gained an advantage of 30 yards! Irrecoverable! But Liddell got to his feet and set out after the field of runners, eventually passing them all and winning the race!
Verse 11 shows one of the very few places in which I thoroughly disagree with the NIV translation. The words "fall beyond recovery" implies that they can recover, but not that they will recover. Whereas the actual Greek text, translated here correctly in the KJV and ESV, is that God did not blind them and cause them to stumble with the intention that they never recover. Rather, Paul's point is that God's intention is that Israel will recover. The presence of the Jewish remnant is God's sign throughout history that this final recovery will happen. This is one reason why I witness to Jewish friends and give and pray for the work of organizations such as Jews for Jesus. This was also why Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, always visited the local synagogues and evangelized before devoting himself to the surrounding gentiles.
Paul's point here is that, it was necessary for Israel to be hardened in order for the gospel to go out to the gentiles. And eventually God's blessing upon the gentile believers will make the Jews envious (v. 11). Paul doesn't say when Israel will show this envy. One assumes that he means it will be manifest at the End Time, when Israel recognizes her messiah. But it is possible that he means even today, and that this takes place whenever a Jewish person decides to believe in Jesus. The testimonies in the literature of Jews for Jesus are replete with personal stories of just such 'envy'.
Verses 12 and 15 give a glimpse at Paul's estimate of what it will be like when the remnant expands to become the whole, when "Israel which is not Israel" becomes the true "Israel of God". If you think that the Church is a great blessing to the world, just imagine what an Israel that believes in Jesus will be! And notice Paul's choice of language: not "how much greater riches might their fullness bring" but "how much greater riches will their fullness bring". Also: "For if their rejecting [Jesus] led to the reconciliation of the world, what will their accepting [him] be but life from the dead?" The same group that was once rejected because of unbelief is the group that will be accepted because of repentance and faith. To Paul there was no uncertainty that this will happen. And just as the "fullness of the gentiles" means the full or complete number of the saved gentiles, so also in v. 12 the words "their fullness" refers to the full complement of Jews as opposed to the present remnant of Jews within the Church. This "fullness" (or "full complement") is the same thing that Paul means by "all Israel" in verse 26.
Application:
There is a real sense in which you and I owe our salvation to Jews who originally lost theirs by rejecting Jesus! I don't seriously mean that we should be grateful to them, as if they voluntarily sacrificed their own eternal happiness in order to give it to us. But in a historical sense it is true that God used the one to accomplish the other. And we should let that sense of "guilty gratitude" energize our loving witness to Jewish friends and associates, of whom I have many.
(d) The image of the olive tree (16-24).
16 If 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. 17 If 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, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22 Consider 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. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After 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!
Explanation:
We are all familiar with how Paul branches off periodically into a related topic. This is usually because some word or thought in his argument seems to require further elaboration. In this case it is the word "branches" in v. 16.
When he begins that verse, he seems to be comparing the Jewish remnant with the unfaithful majority. The remnant is the part of the dough offered as the firstfruits, the acceptance of which by God allows the Israelites to use the rest of the dough for their sustenance. The priests argued that by consecrating the smaller portion first, the people made the rest of their dough "holy" and therefore permissible for them to eat. When we tithe by giving God the firstfruits of our income, he allows us to use the rest of our income for our sustenance. The whole income has become "holy". But when he adds a second image—that of root and branches—this reminds him of another way in which the present state of unbelieving Israel should be seen by gentile believers.
One of the many agricultural images for Israel in the OT was an olive tree. It was a beautiful image, because the olive tree is one of the most beautiful trees that grows in the Middle East, and because its yield of olives and olive oil was one of the basic staples of the diet. In this image the root of the tree was Abraham, the first to believe the LORD. The trunk or body of the tree was the people of Israel. And the natural branches were individual Israelites. Paul depicts the relationship of gentile believers to the tree of salvation as unnatural branches grafted in because of their faith. The tree on whose life the gentile believers drew was faithful Israel. Paul warns gentile believers who were beginning to boast that they, not Israel, were the true "people of God" not to be so arrogant. Ironically, in verse 19 the hypothetical gentile believer describes his situation accurately, when he says, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in", which is why Paul replies "Granted" in v. 20. That was the purpose of God in hardening Israel. If you ask me why this was necessary, I will answer you that so long as the Bible doesn't specify why, I will not be so foolish as to guess. It is part of the mysterious purpose of God. In verse 21 Paul seems to predict that in the End gentile branches will be broken off in order for Israelite ones to be grafted in again. Whether this means a wholesale apostasy of the gentile "Church", I will not speculate. Again notice Paul's precise language: not "he might not spare you either" but "he will not spare you either"—which implies a future reality. Since God never breaks off believers, it is clear that the breaking off of Jewish branches in Paul's day and the future breaking off of gentile ones in the End Times, refers to persons who appear to be faithful worshipers of God, but are not true believers in Jesus.
Application:
There is both a promise and a warning in these verses. A promise to those who do not yet believe but whom God loves tenderly, and a warning to those who profess to believe and are arrogant. The lesson is a simple and an old one, but nonetheless profound and important: God will leave the ninety-nine in order to pursue and bring back the one lost sheep. He loves lost people. This is the parable of the Prodigal Son. Israel is God's prodigal son. We gentiles in the church must not be the "older son" in the parable who despised his brother who left home.
(e) 11:25-32 In the End All Israel will be saved
Text:
I 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. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As 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, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Explanation:
For the first time in this argument Paul suggests that the answer to the question cannot simply be deduced from present facts or even the apparent meanings of the scripture. Instead it is a "mystery" which God is now revealing. The word "mystery" in biblical parlance is not just something inscrutable, but something that was previously inscrutable, but now made clear by God. The content of this particular mystery is that the main body of Israel has experienced a "hardening"—what elsewhere the scripture refers to as a blinding—but that this hardening will not last forever. It has befallen Israel "until the full complement of gentiles has been saved." The Greek adverb houtōs translated "and so" in verse 26 can also be rendered "and then", which is how many NT scholars understand it and how I would prefer to take it. After the full number of gentiles is saved, then "all Israel" will be saved. As F. F. Bruce rightly observed in his commentary on Romans, Paul probably understands this to occur immediately prior to the Second Coming of Jesus.
If, however, one insists on the translation "and so", it can be understood to mean that, just as it was necessary for the larger body of Jews to be hardened so that large numbers of gentiles could come into God's family of believers, "just so" at the End after the full number of gentiles have come in, it will be time to lift the hardening and allow for the fullness of the Jews, which is what Paul earlier in this chapter says will be so spectacular—like life from the dead! That "fullness" of Israel is what Paul means here by "all Israel". This may not be the total number of Jews alive at that time, but it might. If it doesn't, it means all the Jews that remain whom God has chosen. I am inclined to the view that it means a huge number, simply because of what Paul wrote in verse 15 about it being so spectacular, like "life from the dead." By using the words "like life from the dead", Paul has in mind the prophetic vision of Ezekiel 37, in which the valley-full of dry bones representing Israel is brought together, covered over with skin, and brought to life. to God's question to Ezekiel "son of man, can these bones live again?" Paul answers emphatically, "Oh yes! They will live again!"
Although this truth is a "mystery", Paul is able to cite some OT passages that allude to it. He quotes from Isaiah 59 and Psalms 14 and 53. The identical wording of the verses from the two psalms refers to this banishing of ungodliness from Jacob in terms of God bringing them back from exile, whence they had been sent on account of unbelief. The Deliverer mentioned is obviously Jesus. He comes "from Zion" in the sense that he is humanly speaking the Kinsman Redeemer born in Israel, i.e., Zion. He can redeem Israel, because he is himself a part of the Jewish remnant as well as their messiah. On the eve of his crucifixion he said to Jerusalem, "You will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'" (Luke 13:35). They will say that, and they will see him again. If you want to get an impression of what that day will be like, read Psalm 118, which is the psalm that sentence is quoted from, as well as Isaiah 53, which is the libretto of Israel's future national repentance.
Application:
“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry. “Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”” (Luke 15:20-32 RSV)
In the original gospel setting, the younger son represented the non-Pharisaic Jews—prostitutes and tax collectors—who knowing they were sinners, welcomed Jesus and believed in him. the older brother represented the critics of Jesus' ministry—Pharisees and temple officials. But one can see how at the End Time there can be in Paul's vision a kind of reversal: the older brother representing proud gentiles who refuse to allow God to rescue the people whom he first chose. God is free to have mercy: this is his glory.
(f) 11:33-36 God's plan was and is infinitely wise and just.
Text:
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and 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?” 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Explanation:
Paul closes this section of his letter with a hymn of praise to God. It encompasses all that he has written about from chapter 1 through chapter 11. The theme is God's great and wise plan for the redemption of his lost creation. It is also about grace and mercy, as verse 35 makes clear. But Paul focuses on the infinite wisdom of this plan. Only an infinitely wise God could have devised a plan whereby he could undo the wreckage of sin caused by the fall of Adam and Eve and elaborated upon by each generation of humans since then. Only an infinitely wise God could devise a plan that would include Israel as his chosen people, allow the majority of them to be hardened while he gathered in the gentiles, and finally to restore them in a final turn of events as dramatic as a massive resurrection from the dead.
The goal of this drama of redemption will be myriads of the redeemed along with the angels, singing the glory of God. To him be the glory forever!
Application:
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?" highlights the surprising mystery that God intends nothing less than the long-delayed "restoration of Israel" as the icing on his redemptive cake. "Who has been his counselor?" underscores the unlikelihood that any human being would have predicted—much less devised—such a plan. How much easier it would be for God just to drop Israel like a bad egg. In a similar vein, how much easier would it be for God to abandon earth and just make the eternal state be "heaven". But the Bible tells us that the eternal state will consist of "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Peter 3:13), in other words a new version of the original "heavens and earth" that God created according to Genesis 1. You see, God is a recycler. Nothing is wasted. Thank God. Otherwise, you and I would have been thrown out to become land fill!
[A good friend sent me these links to helpful articles about Romans 9-11, and about the experience of Jewish believers in Jesus. If you like, you can double-click on one or more of them and download or view them in PDF form.]
http://media.cjfm.org/pub/
http://media.cjfm.org/pub/
http://media.cjfm.org/pub/
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