11th Chapter of Romans
Romans 11:1 (all verses are from the New International
Version)
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
HAS NOT REJECTED HIS PEOPLE
Paul offers himself as proof that God has not rejected His people.
Here he was, an Israelite of Israelites, and understood and was participating
in God’s eternal plan. Paul described himself as a true Israelite, using the
distinction he had made before in Romans
2:28-29, where he describes the true Jew as being one inwardly, seeking
the praise from God and not from men. This is the kind of Jew God has not cast
off! Paul’s appeal to them using his Jewish background is similar to the appeal
he makes to the Philippian church:
Phil
3:4-6 NIV If anyone else
thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised
on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew
of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the
church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
So the conclusion the Spirit is seeking to make here is that God
never casts off individuals, particularly when they seek Him. What God cast off
was the law and the nation the Jews had built around it. Those who were still
“His people” always remained so, even in the midst of captivity as we see in
the examples of Joshua, Daniel, Esther, etc; and especially those who listen to
His Son Jesus Christ.
Romans 11:2-3
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: "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I
am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?
Again, the point is made that these people God did not cast off
were those whom He foreknew would remain loyal. Israel as a nation had already
abandoned loyalty to God since the days of Samuel:
1
Sam 8:7 NIV And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people
are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me
as their king.
But there was that remnant that remained faithful as we will see
in the following verses.
Paul uses Elijah’s cry of desperation to illustrate that even in
those days God had distinguished the true Jews from the nation of Jews that had
abandoned Him:
1Kings
19:9-11 NIV And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you
doing here, Elijah?" 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the
LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have
rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death
with the sword. I am the only one left,
and now they are trying to kill me too." 11 The LORD said, "Go out
and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to
pass by."
Then God tells Elijah in verse 18: “Yet I reserve seven thousand
in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have
not kissed him.”
The apostasy of Israel was so complete under Ahab, during the days
of Elijah, that Elijah was convinced that God had no people at all except
himself. Ahab, the head of the Jewish state, had murdered the prophets of God,
overthrown the worship of God, and led the nation into total rebellion, as a
nation, against God, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Samuel that Israel,
through their demand of a king, had indeed rejected God from reigning over them
(1Sam 8:7).
The existence, along with Elijah, of 7,000 faithful persons as the true Israel
during those terrible days when Jezebel sat on the throne in Jerusalem was
revealed to Elijah by the Lord for his encouragement; but the existence of the
true Israel even at that time was totally separate and apart from the nation,
as such, for the nation was God's unqualified enemy. Still, the true Israel was
throughout that period concealed in and mingled with the other Israel. – Coffman
Elijah had gotten to the point where he was so discouraged because
it seemed that it was only him who acknowledged the Lord. It seemed that the
entire nation was lost. However, things are not always as they seem and the
Lord encouraged him by revealing the number of a remnant. Paul’s use of this
account was to remind the Jews in Rome that what was happening now to Israel
was no different than what had happened in the times of Elijah! God always has
a remnant of the faithful whom He knows about!
Romans 11:4
And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself
seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
Notice
the quality that separated the remnant from the rest of the Israelites. This
remnant was faithful and obedient, refusing to give into the mass delusion of
Baal at that time.
Obedience
is man's own free act, to which he is never moved by any prior election of God.
Choosing, on the other hand, is God's free act, prompted by favor and
conditioned upon obedience. This obedience, it is true, God seeks to elicit by
the proper motives; but to this he is led solely by the love of man, and never
by previous choice. True scriptural election, therefore, is a simple,
intelligible thing, when suffered to remain unperplexed by the subtleties of
men. – Coffman
Likewise,
today, God’s remnant is amongst those who refuse to follow the principles of
the world and who refuse to give into the flesh – remaining loyal and faithful,
obedient to Jesus.
Romans 11:5
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Remember
the previous arguments of Paul:
Rom
9:6
NIV For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Rom
2:28-29
NIV A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely
outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written
code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.
This
remnant is chosen by grace – as they demonstrate their true love by their
obedience and faithfulness to God despite their circumstances. They are not
chosen by an arbitrary, whimsical election process, but because God chooses to
respond to their faith by grace. In other words, the remnant knows nothing is
owed to them except death – they don’t expect God to repay them nor do they
work for meritorious salvation. They simply want to please God by their obedience.
Paul
asserted God’s intention to preserve for Himself a remnant from the nation
Israel. God brought believing Gentiles into the church along with the people of
Israel who accepted Christ. Therefore, those who trust Christ from every nation
make up Christ’s body, God’s true remnant. – Disciples Study Bible
Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace
would no longer be grace.
Paul
clarifies that if it is by grace this remnant is chosen then works of law are
not needed. This was the problems the Jews were having. They were expecting God
to owe them something for the way they observed the law. They were treating
their status before God as something they earned by works, something owed to
them – forgetting that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life only in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23)!
The
fact that the remnant is chosen by grace does not mean there is no obedience,
for it is a conditional grace – conditional upon obedience. People on both
extremes of this argument will never be able to be chosen since, those on the
far left will say they don’t have to do anything for God has chosen them by His
grace and those on the far right will say they earned this grace by their
ritualistic follow of tradition. One group fails for lack of obedience and the
other fails due to lack of humility. If God demanded you keep the law perfectly
then grace is not needed. If God demanded you do nothing then obedience is not
needed. Only God's love is unconditional, but grace and righteousness are
conditional upon obedience
Romans 11:7
What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the
elect did. The others were hardened,
So
what the Jews were seeking, a status based on works, they failed to obtain (Rom 10:3).
They only got what they wanted to have – they got to be like other nations in
the world, with kings, wars, territory, and some glory and eventually were
conquered and held captive when their glory days were over. All this time they
failed to obtain real glory, honor and immortality – which is what God wanted
for them all along (Rom 2:7-10). And so now, only the elect, the
remnant, have obtained it in Jesus Christ. As a result of this, the unbelieving
Jews were hardened even more towards the message of the Gospel.
The
spirit here divides Israel into two camps by introducing the term remnant and also by saying that the rest
(those who are not part of the remnant) were hardened.
How Does Hardening Occur?
Jesus
speaks of the hardened of Israel on these two occasions:
Mat 23:37 NIV O
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but
you were not willing.
Mat
13:14-15
NIV In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but
never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear
with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal
them.’
This
substantiates Paul’s former argument about the sovereignty of God's mercy in
chapter 9. We can clearly see here from this quote in Isaiah, quoted by Jesus
nonetheless, that God's desire is to heal people, no matter how hardened
they’ve become. The fact
that they are hardened is a phenomenon they bring on themselves by refusing to
see, hear and understand. These are things people decide to do on their
own without God's intervention. If they refuse to see, listen and understand
the message of the Gospel then they harden their own heart to the presence of
the Gospel. All God does is brings the Gospel to them – they get hardened all
on their own, as Paul discussed in chapter 9 concerning Pharaoh.
Another
phenomenon also occurs when people desire so much to believe in something other
than the Gospel: God Himself aids them in their delusion since they refuse to
believe the truth and desire so much to believe the lie:
2Th
2:9-12
NIV The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan
displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in
every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused
to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that
they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have
not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
God
pleases us to the point that if we want something so badly He gives it to us.
Be careful of what you desire!
Satan
also plays a secondary role in the hardening of people:
2Co
4:3-4
NIV And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4The god
of this age has blinded
the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
In
light of these passages it is crucial to understand that neither God nor Satan
is at fault for hardening people. People do it to themselves. God only gives
them what they want so much (their own false gospel) and Satan blinds their
minds when they have chosen not to believe the truth. Only those who chose
truth are safe from any delusions that Satan may bring.
What is it that hardens hearts?
Ephesians
4:17-19
NIV So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer
live as the Gentiles do, in
the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to
the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have
given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity,
with a continual lust for more.
Hebrews
3:12-15
NIV See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living
God. 13 But encourage one another
daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold
firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said: "Today, if you
hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
From
these two passages we can get a good idea of what things can bring you to
having a hard heart. It is all on you!
1.
Futility of
thinking
(Pointless, senseless thinking: what’s the best car to drive, how much money
can I make – all having to do with serving yourself)
2.
Ignorance to the
truth,
which is the equivalent of also ignoring or refusing the truth when presented
to you
3.
Sinful,
unbelieving heart
(attitude) that turns away from God. This is the same as admitting guilt when
caught, not before you’re caught. This is a heart that believes there are no
consequences to sinning and so enjoys sinning.
4.
Deceitfulness of
sin.
All sin is deceitful – promising what it cannot deliver. The rewards of sin are
a short temporary rush and long term condemnation!
5.
Turning away from
God's voice
– the Word of God (The Bible)
Romans 11:8
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."
Paul
substantiates his argument with this quote from Deut 29:4. Here the context
is the same as Pharaoh’s in chapter 9. It was not God who intentionally caused
them to have this spirit of stupor. His message has caused it because they
refused to see, hear and believe it. It is a direct result of their sin and
because of that, God gave them over to the spirit of stupor.
This
declaration was made to a generation that had witnesses perhaps the greatest
miracles and signs God has ever shown – the deliverance of Israel from Egypt,
the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, etc.
Romans 11:9-10
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."
Paul
calls David as another witness to Israel’s hardness:
Psalm
69:22-23
NIV May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and
a trap. 23 May their eyes be darkened so
they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
1.
Their
table (kingdom) flowing with milk and honey had become their stumbling stone: a
snare and a trap
2.
Their
salvation had become retribution and a trap
3.
Their
enlightened eyes were now darkened
4.
Their
proud backs were now bent in slavery (this could be referring to their physical
slavery under captivity and also to slavery of sin as Jesus mentioned in John 8:31-34)
Mat
23:38
NIV Look, your house is left to you desolate.
Acts
7:51-52
NIV You stiff-necked people, with
uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy
Spirit! 52 Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They
even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you
have betrayed and murdered him…
Romans 11:11
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.
Paul
asks “Are they lost forever now, with no chance of ever entering God's fold?
Not at all!” We know that as long as a soul is alive and willing to repent from
dead works and be saved by the blood of Jesus God accepts them (Luke 15:7,
10). God's desire is for all men to come to the knowledge of the
truth in Jesus and be saved (John 3:16; 1Tim 2:4).
The
spirit explains that God presented salvation to the Gentiles explicitly to make
the Jews jealous (refer back to Romans 10:19) and in doing so, us Gentiles
now have received salvation. So their hardening resulted in blessings for
another peoples.
Acts
13:46
NIV Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of
God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of
eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.”
Rom
1:16
NIV I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the
salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
Romans 11:12
But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss
means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness (full inclusion-ESV) bring!
So
out of this tragedy, the spirit continues, comes a blessing. And know Paul
presents another a fortiori argument:
if the hardening of the Jews has brought upon such greater blessings on all the
rest of the nations, how much more will the salvation of the Jews in Jesus
Christ bring?
This
is not referring to some future event whereas multitudes of Jews will get into Jesus;
it is referring to the current number of Jews being saved at the time and ever
since! Remember that for the first ten years the church was exclusively Jewish
until the conversion of Cornelius in acts 10. After that the apostles realized
even more than the Gospel was intended for all, not just for the Jews.
The
remnant chosen by grace from Israel was saved!
Romans 11:13-14
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the
Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my
own people to envy and save some of them.
INGRAFTED
BRANCHES
Now
Paul addresses the Roman Gentiles. He still has the roman Jews in the audience,
so as to spite them as he comments on this topic. He is imitating what God
himself did with Israel in those prophecies we read. Paul, a Jew, ministers to
the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Gal 2:7) so as to cause the Jews to be
jealous and perhaps save some of them. How is causing jealousy able to save
somebody?
1-
To
be jealous is to be envious (spiteful; resentful)
2-
Often
these emotions can cause a person to examine themselves a little deeper and
take inventory of their emotions
3-
In
doing so they may arrive at the truthful conclusion of their selfishness
4-
If
they don’t, they are hardened even further by their pride and prejudice
Paul
realized that his work could cause Jews to become even harder and at the same
time his work would cause some to seek salvation. Do you think it would be a
majority or a minority that would seek salvation? What does Jesus say here?
Matthew
7:13-14
NIV Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate
and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Keep
in mind that if you want to save the most, you may need to do some very
unpopular things. If you do what is popular you may attract the most people,
but save the fewest who are really looking for the truth.
Romans 11:15
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will
their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Since
the nation of Israel was already morally and judicially dead to God, causing
reconciliation to be available to the rest of the world, then every Jew saved
through the Gospel was a life brought back from the dead!
2Co
5:17
NIV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come!
John
5:24
NIV I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to
life.
What
was Paul saying? He had just mentioned the possibility of saving a few Jews;
and it was of them that he said, "What the receiving but life from the
dead"! Every Jew Paul converted was viewed by him as one baptized out of a
cemetery. The hardened, judicially condemned and sentenced nation (fleshly
Israel) was morally and judicially dead. Yet even from THAT NATION some were
being saved, and the converts were indeed as life from deadness! -- Coffman
Romans 11:16
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.
The
firstfruits (aparche: a beginning of sacrifice, that is, the (Jewish) first
fruit (Num
15:20): the first portion of the dough, from which sacred loaves
were to be prepared; hence term used of persons consecrated to God for all time
- persons superior in excellence to others of the same class) referred
to here are the first 3000 that were baptized on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41).
Remember we spoke of the firstfruits also in Rom 8:23? Paul’s argument
is that if these firstfruits are holy, then the whole batch from where they
come, the Jewish remnant, is holy as well. This means that there are more from
where they came from.
This
shows that if God had accepted the first converts as holy, He would likewise on
the same conditions accept all Israelites as holy. All Jews who are saved must
be saved in exactly the same way as were the first converts, that is, by
obedience to the gospel. -- Riggs
There
is also a throwback here from John 15:1-8, where Jesus mentions:
John
15:1-4
NIV I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me
that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes
so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the
word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain
in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it
must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
The
root is Jesus Christ. Jesus is holy and every branch that remains in Him is
also holy. All those branches that didn’t bear fruit (hardened Israel) were cut
off.
Romans 11:17-18
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 boast over those branches. If you
do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Specifically
addressed to the Gentiles, Paul warns them not to rejoice upon the demise of
Israel as their own benefit since they could easily be cut off as well if they
do not bear fruit according to Jesus. The Gentiles as described as a wild olive
shoot, grafted (converted through obedience of the Gospel) into the holy tree,
Jesus Christ. Now that the Gentiles can be grafted in through Jesus we share in
the holiness of the root of the tree along with any other branches, whether
they are grafted in or natural branches. The branches are nothing in and of
themselves (John
15:4): without the root they cannot bear fruit and they will
wither and die. The branches need to remain attached in order to bear fruit.
The branches are supported by the root.
This
illustration shows how God can take something that was not holy and not even
part of the same thing and make it not only holy, but sharing in the nature of
what it was not:
2
Peter 1:4
NIV Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that
through them you may
participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world
caused by evil desires.
Therefore
all that is now part of the root is the same: sharing in the nature of the root
and receiving all the nourishment and benefits the root can give.
Gal
3:27-29
NIV …for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with
Christ. 28 There is neither
Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise.
Eph
1:3
NIV Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the
heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Romans 11:19-20
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 be afraid.
This
is the wrong thought about why the branches were broken off. This is a self
righteous way of thinking, totally against the holy nature of the root of the
tree. The branches that were broken off did not bear any fruit. In order to
graft new branches in there was no need to break some off. There is plenty of
room in God's house for all – there not need be any substitutions. God's plan
was for His Gospel to be spread amongst the Gentiles from the beginning. Our
standing as Gentiles in Jesus Christ is by faith, not by merit (pride). We need
to revere the opportunity given to us, not be arrogant.
Heb
4:2
NIV For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the
message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not
combine it with faith.
Romans 11:21
For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you
either.
The
natural branches, that is, the Israelites, were not spared because of their
persistent unbelief. Even though God is able to graft the Gentiles in, He did
not do it in place of the Israelites, and it doesn’t mean the Gentiles are
better or permanent. The permanence depends upon the faithfulness of the
branches. As Jesus says in John 15:4 – “Remain in me, and I will
remain in you”.
2Peter
2:4-10
NIV For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell (tartarus), putting them into gloomy
dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world when
he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, and seven others; 6 if he condemned the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy
lives of lawless men 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after
day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and
heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the
unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10 This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful
nature and despise authority.
More
than anything, these verse (both Rom 11:21 and 2 Peter 2:4-10) show the
conditional nature of our salvation (relationship with God). It should not be
hard to understand since all of our relationships are conditional in nature.
The fact that the relationship is conditional does not invalidate such
principles as mercy, grace or forgiveness. You can show mercy, love and even
forgive someone and yet limit or dissociate them from you depending on their
response. God is always looking for a response and our response to His grace is
what determines whether or not we are declared righteous in Jesus. Abraham
responded with obedience and it is no different for us today. Faithfulness,
obedience, loyalty and dedication are the right responses to receive mercy and
forgiveness – righteousness through Jesus Christ.
God
was looking for these responses in the Jews and then turned to the Gentiles to
see if they would respond to His grace.
1
Kings 8:61
NIV But your hearts must
be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands…
2
Chronicles 16:9
NIV For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those
whose hearts are fully
committed to him.
1
Peter 1:22
NIV Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers,
love one another deeply, from the heart.