Life Project Blog

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:32-35

When we began this section, Romans 9-11, we began with a working theory that Paul was writing it to demonstrate that God has always been faithful in His dealings with Israel. In spite of the paradox that Israel had become, Paul has demonstrated clearly in these chapters that God is in fact faithful to Israel, even though Israel hasn’t always made it easy for God to do so.  In case you missed it, the paradox was that even though Israel had been God’s covenant people, when God sent His Son to redeem them, most Jews rejected Him and found themselves at odds with God.

We have seen Paul lay out the history of God’s dealing with Israel, we have seen the paradox, and we have seen the mystery of the present age unfolding before our eyes, the mystery by which God hardened those Jews who chose not to follow Him so that God might also save the Gentiles and redeem all Mankind who would accept His favor, and how that would in turn help many more Jews to come to repentance in the process.

Without a doubt, God has, and continues to do a mighty work of grace right out in the open for all to see. Thus, here at the summit, with this great scene spread out before him, Paul gives us a song of praise to God for His awesome work to reconcile all peoples to Himself. I don’t know about you, but I am inclined to join Paul in giving God the glory and praise He so richly deserves.

Our text here is Romans 11:25-32, and as I mentioned last time, they follow the context set up in 17-25. This is very important to keep in mind, especially for those who use the NIV. The reason I say this is that the NIV has left a word out, the word gar which means “for or because”. Verse 25 begins in the NIV, “I do not want you…” and the Greek (as well as the NASB, KJV and many others) actually says, “For I do not…” I am pointing this out because that little word “for” connects 25 ff. with 17-24 and the metaphor of the olive tree.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”

Romans 11:25-27

The mystery Paul refers to here is the same as the olive tree, the means by which God brings all peoples together through Christ. Old Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, meaning that those among the Jews who had rejected the Son have been hardened to allow the Gentiles to enter God’s family. Thus “all Israel” comprised of both Jew and Gentile may be saved by faith in Christ. This is followed by a fascinating quote from Isaiah 59:20-21 that so clearly refers to the New Covenant (see also Jeremiah 31:33-34). If this seems hard for you, remember that the Old Covenant Law does not take away sins and can only condemn a person. When we put this together it is clear that “all Israel” must refer to those who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, and cannot refer to ethnic Israel.

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 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. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Romans 11:28-32

If you only read this paragraph, then your understanding of it will be quite different than if you have been following along with us through the whole of chapter 11; you will probably conclude that Paul is saying that all Jews will be saved in the end whether or not they have believed, and some actually teach it that way.

But they are mistaken.

Remember, Paul is elaborating on the olive tree metaphor of 17-24 which is a warning to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are the branch from the wild olive tree that was grafted into the cultured tree after old branches were torn away because of their unbelief, and they must not become arrogant or they too can be torn out (11:22-23). Taken all together, these verses tell much the same story as do verses 11-16.

Verse 28 carries a meaning similar to that of 11:23-24. Some of the branches of the olive tree have been cut off for their unbelief, but even though they have chosen to be God’s enemies by rejecting the Gospel, God still cares for them because they were called to His service through the patriarchs, and if they will only repent, He will take them back in a New York minute, because His goal in all of this is to give His mercy not only to Gentiles, but to all people if they will only believe Him and His offer of grace through faith.

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, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Romans 11:17-21

Moving into Paul’s next point, we have an olive tree being used as a metaphor for judgment and hope. In these first several verses, Paul is addressing Gentiles who are likened to a wild olive branch that has been grafted into a cultured olive tree. The grafting has taken place so that these wild branches can take the place of the original branches that were broken off from the tree.

The tree represents the Israel of God, and when those new branches (Gentiles) are grafted into the tree, it is the tree that supports and nourishes these new branches and not the other way around, thus the new braches must not think themselves superior to the old ones (17-18). The old branches were torn away from the tree by their unbelief; the new branches were grafted in by their faith (19-20). Now comes the warning: If those new branches allow themselves to become arrogant and superior, they too can be broken off and replaced (21).

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. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 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!

Romans 11:22-24

The warning for Gentiles continues, and the message of hope for the Jews is given in these verses. If the unbelief of hardened Israel does not continue, they will be welcomed back to the tree of faith, and it will be easier to graft the branch back to the tree from which it came, then it was to graft in the wild branches. What is the point?

To the Gentiles, Paul is warning them that they must continue in their faith with humility before God, and to the Jews Paul is saying that they are welcome to come home in faith whenever they choose to do so. Essentially, this is what he has been teaching throughout this larger unit of Romans and this metaphor is being used to begin to sum things up as we near the close of the unit. In the next section, verses 25-32, he will drop the metaphor and tell his readers in plain language about God’s Kingdom strategy. It is very important that we bear this in mind when we study it, for if we don’t, we are likely to come up with all sorts of erroneous conclusions.

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. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

Romans 11:11-12

Paul’s next point is that the hardening described in the last section will be a blessing for both Gentiles and Jews. Here he begins by repeating his earlier point that the hardening of unbelieving Israel is not irreversible. As a result of the hardening, the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles, something not likely to happen if all of Israel had listened and accepted it. Again he makes reference to Deuteronomy 32:21 and its assertion that Gentiles coming to God will make Israel envious; will Israel repent when they see so many Gentiles blessed by God? If they do, the reunion will be sweet indeed!

I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 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.

Romans 11:13-16

As the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul seems to understand better than anyone the power and possibility of what was happening in the Gentile world. Most of his own people had rejected God’s Son, and as a result God hardened them so that they would not want to hear the message. Then the Gospel was taken to the Gentiles, and many had responded to it and been blessed, which n turn would be likely to get the attention of many Jews who had not been willing to listen before. Again, Paul of all people knew that they were not “bad” people; their hearts were in the right place, for they sincerely wanted to follow God, and they thought that they were following God by rejecting the Gospel. The root cause for their rejection was error to be sure, but they had been blinded by their own traditions; they could only comprehend following the Law by their own strength as a means to righteousness, and as we know, this was never God’s intention.

When these well-intentioned people saw the way God was working among the Gentiles, they would surely come to their senses− and a great many did just that, to the glory of God.

What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”

Romans 11:7-10

My oh my, isn’t this an interesting little bit of text! Yes, it is Paul’s contention that God has hardened those within Israel who have rejected faith in Christ. Before we start pulling our hair out, I’ll let you in on what comes later in this chapter: First, God did not cause them to reject grace; the hardening was after they had made their choice. Second, the hardening was neither final nor irreversible, and third, the hardening would paradoxically lead not only to the saving of many Gentiles, but to many of those who had been hardened.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the verses. The thing Israel had sought was righteousness before God by their work of following the Law. As we have already seen, this was futility itself, for righteousness before God comes from believing God, not from our own work. Notice the word “elect” in verse 7; this may confuse many because of our earlier discussions, so it is important for you to know that the Greek word for “the elect” (eklektos) is NOT present in this sentence. The word used here is ekloge which refers to a “choice election”. What seems to be taking shape here is that there are those who have chosen to receive grace, and the others who did not, a theme that carries forward through the rest of this chapter.

Next, Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10 in verse 7, and from Psalm 69:22-23 in verses 9-10 to support his contention that God has hardened those who have rejected His message of grace. For our purposes here, I would remind you that this is a supporting point for a larger assertion on Paul’s part; this is not the end of the story. There is a context and a background and we mustn’t forget them.

Remember that Paul has already told us that God called Abraham’s descendants (Israel) to a purpose; they would serve God’s purpose by being the people from whom Messiah would come, and they would provide a core group of believers who would begin the process of spreading the Good News of salvation throughout the world; this was a calling to service. Messiah has already come by the time Paul wrote this passage, there was in existence that core group of Jews who had decided to believe God’s message and follow Jesus Christ; Paul was one of them, as was Peter and many others. At the same time, many other Jews had determined not to believe God’s salvation message; they had rejected Jesus and by doing so, they rejected the One who had sent Him. This was by their own choosing.

Yet God was still working His purpose through them, even though they had rejected His message, for Israel had been called to God’s service and He was still using them for His service, even though they didn’t yet realize it. In order for God to use the “others” it was necessary for them to be hardened.

How this is to be accomplished is what Paul will explain when we get together next time.

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. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?  And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”  So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 11:1-6

As chapter 11 begins, Paul moves into his next supporting point in this main section comprised of chapters 9-11. Our working theory for this section is that he is trying to prove that God has been faithful in all of His dealings with Israel, which is an issue because Israel has for the most part, rejected Christ bringing condemnation upon itself. In these verses, Paul seeks to document the obvious fact that a remnant of the Jews of his time have received the message of Christ and thus have received the grace that seems to have eluded the majority of their brethren.

The existence of this remnant is obvious for Paul himself is part of it, and is thus living proof of its existence. The question comes down to this: Did God reject Israel? Paul’s answer is a resounding “no”. Sadly, Israel has rejected God.

Paul’s wording in verse 2a begs a question; here is what Paul said: God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. The question is: Did God foreknow only some of Israel, or did God foreknow all of Israel? I realize that there are at least two main teachings on this question, but I would suggest that Paul is making the point that all of Israel were chosen and foreknown by God, but when the time came, some chose to accept God’s grace and the majority chose to reject it and turn away from God, a view that is consistent with what Paul has been teaching all along in this section.

Verses 3-4 remind us of the story of Elijah from 1Kings 19. In those days, Israel had also turned away from God, had killed His prophets and were coming for Elijah, but then as in Paul’s time, there was a remnant of people who remained faithful to God. In verse 5, Paul says: So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. Personally, I prefer the rendering of the NASB: In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but the reason I prefer the NASB for this verse is that they translated all of the Greek words, while the NIV left one out. The word they left out is ginomai meaning “came into being”. It may seem like a very small matter, but I think it makes “God’s glorious choice” much easier to follow, for we are once again facing the question of whether God selected some for grace and rejected others. You might recall that in earlier sections we discovered that God called all of Israel (descendants of Abraham) to serve His purpose. We also saw that all of Israel has served God’s purpose, even though within Israel some people followed God and many others did not both in Paul’s day, and all through Israel’s history. Paul’s point in these verses is entirely in harmony with previous sections of Romans: God knew in advance that some Israelites would choose to follow Jesus and that others would reject Jesus. He knew that in Paul’s day, there would be a remnant of Israelites remaining faithful, while most went their own way, in other words, and there was nothing new in this situation. God had never excluded anyone from following Him, and He wasn’t excluding anyone now; quite the opposite in fact.

Finally, verse 6: And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. Once more, Paul points out the contrast between the two camps within Israel, those who follow God by faith and those who follow by Law. Those who follow God by faith have believed His message of grace and have been saved. Those who believe in Law and their own works have not believed God’s message of grace and have rejected it and God as well.

Romans 10:14-21

Paul has made it abundantly clear up to this point that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We are still in his fourth main point that is dealing with his assertion that God has always been faithful in His dealings with Israel, but Israel has for the most part, not accepted God’s grace through Christ. In these verses, Paul makes his case that they have no excuse for their failure to believe.

10:14-15 make the point that in order for someone to respond in faith, they must first hear the message about Jesus Christ. Verses 16-18 make the point that Israel has in fact heard the message of Jesus Christ, and has not accepted it.

Now it gets really interesting because Paul is going to tell us why they would not believe:

Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” (10:19)

He begins by quoting from Deut. 32: the Gentiles have heard and believed the message: Horror! Apparently there were many among the Jews of those days who were not going to do anything Gentiles were doing; their prejudice was getting in the way.

And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” (10:20)

Isaiah 62 brings the point home; the Jews didn’t want grace, so God went to the Gentiles: an insult to their pride.

But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.” (10:21)

Isaiah again; it would seem that the rejection of grace was nothing new for Israel, for they had been all too eager to turn their backs on God throughout their history God had stretched out His hand to them time and time again with the same result. You might recall that God was stretching out His hands when He sent Isaiah to warn them centuries before, at the time these verses were first written down. Did they receive Isaiah’s message?

No they didn’t; if memory serves, didn’t they saw him in half to silence the message God was sending?

God has always been faithful to Israel; He was never the problem, for it was always the people who were the problem.

Before were let ourselves feel superior to anyone, let’s stop and remind ourselves that we Christians have not always been the shining beacons of godly love that we are supposed to be. I might just add that our stubbornness and disobedience has been just as inexcusable (probably more so in fact) than that of the Jews. Rather than smirking, maybe we should also take these warnings to heart lest we put the Gospel to shame in the eyes of those around us.

When we get back together, we will see what Paul has to say about the salvation of the true Israel.

Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Romans 10:4

This verse follows from the prior section; many, if not most scholars will place it in that section as a conclusion, and they wouldn’t be wrong to do so. However it also marks a topical change, for what follows in 10:5-13 are verses that support the assertion of this verse, so I see it as a beginning and not a concluding point. The larger view of the passage indicates that Paul is building his supporting points into a larger conclusion, which is very persuasive argumentation.

In support of Paul’s statement in verse 4, he offers verses 5-13:

Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,  for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Essentially, this paragraph presents a contrast between law/works righteousness and believe/faith righteousness to support the assertion that righteousness is by believe/faith. To put it another way, Paul is making the case that we come to righteousness by trusting in Jesus and not by trusting ourselves. Verse 5 illustrates the utter futility of finding righteousness through law, for living by law can only bring about condemnation. Verses 6-7 make an illusion to Deuteronomy 30:12-13 where Moses was telling the people that the Law was not something they couldn’t grasp or that was so far off they couldn’t understand it; all they needed to do was obey it. Paul makes a similar point about grace, only Paul isn’t talking so much about the knowledge of grace as he is about the possession of it. It is as though he was telling his readers, “look gang, this isn’t difficult, you have this grace right there with you, just grab onto it!”

It is this point that the remaining verses elaborate upon; grace is right there, take hold of it; that’s all you need to be saved. You may recall that we have discussed the fact that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness, and that Paul has made the point that the righteousness that brings salvation to humanity is the righteousness that comes from believing God; this he is again pounding home.

This is troubling for many people, both then and now because it’s too easy; surely salvation must be hard to get: Surely this text must have a hidden agenda!

There is no hidden agenda in the text, for as is usually the case Scripture isn’t that complicated- until we decide to complicate it. Grace is not hard to obtain, for God does not want anyone to perish, but to have eternal life, and so He did the work for us through Jesus Christ, so that all we need to do is to make a decision to believe God and profess our faith.

What is so hard about that?

We have arrived at Paul’s next supporting point in this main section that deals with God’s faithfulness with Israel. Last time, we were left with the question of whether or not God was the cause of Israel’s unbelief, in this supporting point that extends from 9:30-10:21, Paul answers that question; Israel has made a choice.

This section has three supporting arguments, the first of which is our subject now, and is found in 9:30-10:3. The supporting argument is that there is a difference between personal righteousness and the righteousness of God.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 9:30-33

You would think that this should end any debate, but among Christians today, the debate rages on. The Law cannot lead a person to righteousness, and it is the very purpose of the Law that we reach this conclusion. Laws, rules and violations, as well as traditions and ceremonies are often near and dear to us, for they form something we can all get our arms around; they are in a sense, tangible things. It is easy to comprehend a rule book, and it is comforting to see someone else break a rule and point fingers at them and take attention away from ourselves. Faith, on the other hand, is intangible and often uncomfortable, for it requires that we really believe that what we believe is really real, even if we don’t always feel like it; it is counter-intuitive.

Being righteous because of merely following the rules is quite different than obtaining righteousness by believing God as Abraham did. The Gentiles who were saved, as well as the Jews who were saved, were saved because they believed the Gospel even though they had not kept all of the Law, all of the time. Those whose faith was in their ability to keep the Law and follow the customs and traditions of their people could never accomplish their goal of righteousness in God’s sight.

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Romans 10:1-3

Does it strike anyone as odd that Israel, because of their zeal for God and His Law failed to obtain His righteousness? If we are inclined to legal thinking, we might assume that this happened because they broke a rule or two, but I suspect there is another reason. Yes, God gave them the Law, but the Law was never His purpose, it was a step in achieving His purpose, but it was never the purpose itself. When God created Adam, did He give Adam the Law?

No, He did not.

God created humanity for relationship and purpose, not for keeping a bunch of rules, traditions and ceremonies. God wanted His people to love Him and to trust Him, which means believing Him; Israel chose its own way, the way of earning righteousness by following the Law by their own strength, rather than by believing God and seeking relationship with Him, for they did not realize the difference between personal righteousness and the righteousness of God. I daresay that quite a few Christians are confounded by the same thing today.