Life Project Blog

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.

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.

One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

Romans 9:19-21

It is important that we not forget the passage just before this, the one we covered last time; God can choose who will serve His purpose. This falls within a larger context of the paradox of Israel that Paul made clear in 9:1-5. Although Israel has had so many blessings from God, they for the most part, have rejected Him by refusing to follow His Son. While keeping these things in mind, also recall that even though most Jews rejected Jesus, there was a number who have followed Him, and who have been persecuted for doing so.

This section is Paul’s third supporting point in his larger discussion concerning the distinction between ethnic Israel and spiritual Israel. Here Paul’s mention of God’s faithfulness with Israel is in answer to the question he posed in verse 19: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”

In verses 20-21, Paul indicates that even asking such a question isn’t entirely proper, for not only does God have every right to choose who will serve His purpose and how they will serve it; it is not for humans to question how God goes about His business.  In the verses that follow, Paul develops a fascinating idea:

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

Romans 9:22-24

Paul uses an interesting persuasive technique here, for he carries on as though he were debating someone. He posed their question in verse 19, and answered a part of it in 20-21, telling them they have no business questioning God, and then shoots back his counter in verses 22-24 in the form of questions. Since a person wondering or questioning along the lines of verse 19 would have to be Jewish, the counter-questions would cut deeply, for they would also know enough about the history of Israel to know that Paul was unmistakably describing Israel as the ones who deserved God’s wrath and who were shown God’s mercy. They would also easily recognize that Paul was referring to those Jews and Gentiles who had received God’s mercy through Christ, and that God had a purpose in setting things up the way He did. He drives his point home with four quotes, two each from Hosea and Isaiah:

As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Romans 9:25-26

The Hosea quotes support Paul’s assertion relating to the Gentiles; the Isaiah quotes relate to the Jews:

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Romans 9:27-29

The Isaiah quotes tell the story, only a remnant of Israel will be saved by faith in Christ, and sadly the vast majority would reject Him. Yet God’s purpose was served and the Law had done its work as intended, for without it, Israel would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, and for all of its faults, Israel was never like that.

God established ethnic Israel for His purpose of paving the way for His Son to redeem all Mankind and to prepare a core group of people who would respond to the Gospel of Christ with faith. The Law made plain their need of a Savior, the experience of the Nation made clear their need of a Savior, and the Prophets foretold of a Savior who was to come, and many responded when He came. Yet the majority of the people saw the Law as merely an outward work, and they gloried in their outward righteousness, but in the end, they chose the work of the Law over the Truth of God’s redemption, for they placed a higher priority on their own accomplishments than they did on the promises of God.

So we are left with one final question: Did God foreordain that most of the people would be lost; did He cause them to be lost; was it God’s sovereign will that caused them to reject their Savior?

If you aren’t clear on that question, then you will want to be sure and return next time, for it is the subject of the next main section of Romans. By the way, remember our working theory about this section? It was God is faithful in His dealings with Israel.

I would suggest that this is precisely the point that Paul has addressed in 9:6-29.