In Romans 11, Paul develops a crucial point in his argument. In verses 1-10, he presents a panoramic view of God’s plan for Israel, past, present, and future. God has preserved a remnant, and His election is by grace, no longer of works. The grace of God and works for salvation are mutually exclusive.
Paul has established that Israel cannot plead ignorance because the good news has been preached to them through the prophets and the writings. Israel has not understood the message it has received and has been disobedient. This leads to the question in Romans 11:1, “Has God rejected his people?” Paul answers himself, “By no means!”
Paul does two things to buttress his answer. First, he gives himself as a proof of God’s faithfulness. He lists his credentials as an Israelite in verse 1 and concludes that, “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew”. Paul’s point is that God has not rejected his people. His statement alludes to a line in 1 Samuel 12:22.
In that context, Israel has asked for a king, signalling that they have forsaken God. Samuel prays for them and assures them that that, “the Lord will not forsake his people.” This recalls Paul’s earlier argument in Romans 3:1-6, particularly, “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means!”.
Second, Paul grounds his answer with a story about Elijah. King Ahab has killed God’s prophets. Elijah escapes, dejected because he is the only one remaining who has refused to worship Baal. But God promises Elijah to preserve a remnant of 7,000 Israelites who refuse idolatry. Here is a pattern for the way God shows faithfulness to Israel by preserving a remnant by grace.
At the end of chapter 10, it almost seems that Israel has hopelessly and eternally rejected Christ, effectively ending God’s plan and purpose for Israel. But Paul himself is proof that God is not through with Israel. Paul was from the tribe of Benjamin, a Jew who had believed in the Messiah. And just as God reserved a remnant in Elijah’s day, even when Elijah thought he was the only faithful person left, so in Paul’s day and beyond, God has preserved a remnant, according to the election of grace. Although the nation had rejected Jesus, thousands of individual Jews had come to faith in Him. God did not choose this remnant because of its foreseen faith, good works, spiritual worthiness, or racial descent, but solely because of His grace. Those whom God graciously had chosen in turn sought and found His righteousness.
The remnant, having been saved by grace through faith, are clearly discernible among those natural-born sons of Abraham who, unlike their father, choose to seek justification through their works rather than the way ordained by God. The more they have resisted the grace of God, the harder their hearts have become, until, like Pharaoh, their hearts have arrived at such a state that God has hardened them.
The believing minority have obtained God’s righteousness, but the rest-the blinded majority-stay blind because of unbelief. Because of their rejection, God brought on the Jewish people to the disaster David had prayed would fall on his enemies. The nation of Israel at the time of Paul’s ministry was a stumbling nation that had not completely fallen. Or, to use boxing parlance, they were “down but not out,” and God had no intention of letting His people be “counted out.” What, then, was His purpose in allowing Israel to openly reject His Messiah and live on in the resultant darkness and hardness? Paul’s answer is as striking as it is unexpected. God is trying to make Israel jealous by turning to the Gentiles to offer them what Israel has refused.
God has not withheld his promises to all people on earth, to those who continue to disbelieve, to those who have understood, to a disobedient and contrary people, and even to those who didn’t ask for God. In light of God’s purpose of salvation, Paul asks the rhetorical question: “Has God rejected his people? By no means!” Paul knows the reality of God’s promise and word of revelation as “an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.” Paul, the former persecutor and called by God to proclaim the gospel of his Son, knows that “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew”
God promised to bless the world through the seed of Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. He also promised to bless the world through the Messiah in Romans 10:19. Believers have that blessing that is theirs now because of what Israel did when they rejected the Messiah. When Israel accepts Him, the blessing will be even more astonishing. So long as there is a man like Paul there is no such thing as a rejection of Israel. Furthermore, the principle “whom He foreknows He predestines” applies. Knowing everything in advance, God has the advantage of seeing the end from the beginning, and with this knowledge His determining of the outcome is sure.
Because Israel’s rejection of their Messiah was so tragic, their acceptance of Him will be as vivid as one being resurrected from the dead. Picture the open valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-6. These bones will have life from the dead, which also will be true of believing and restored Israel during the Millennium. To acknowledge Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and be God’s witness nation resulted in the Gentile church being given that privilege.
Paul believed Israel’s rejection was temporary. He draws on Old Testament illustrations. If the firstfruit of the offering (Abraham and the Patriarchs) was holy, then the lump (all of it) was holy. If the root (the people of Israel) is holy, then so are the branches (Gentiles). Whatever comes first contributes its character to what follows.
The branches broken off are the unbelieving Jews. They rejected the faith and were broken out of the stream of God’s blessing, so He grafted the Gentiles into the tree. Abraham is not only the father of the Jewish nation but the spiritual father of all who believe. The root is the source of life according to John 15:2. People do not support the root; the root supports them.
In Romans 11:22-24, the word “you” is singular but refers to Jews and Gentiles. God will graft the natural branches (Israel) back into the root, but He will also keep the wild branches (Gentiles) there. Warming to his theme of the Gentile opportunity which became possible through the Jewish rejection of the gospel, Paul thinks aloud about the “riches” that have reached the world through the fall of Israel and then begins to dream about the possibilities of blessing when the people of Israel finally come to acknowledge the Savior.
By drawing a sharp contrast between Jew and Gentile and by showing how he was trying to provoke the Jews to jealousy, Paul was running the risk of provoking both Jew and Gentile to more than jealousy. He seems to sense this because, having spoken to the Jews in terms which they could readily have found offensive and having addressed the Gentiles in such a fashion that they might well become arrogant, he promptly sets about redressing the balance. He speaks warmly of the privileged position of the Jewish people and reminds the Gentiles of their relatively inferior position, thereby in one fell swoop pricking the potential Gentile balloon and smoothing the potentially ruffled Jewish feathers. Then he gathers both Jew and Gentile together by the use of two deft illustrations.
The first expression is no doubt a reference to the ancient practice of presenting to the Lord a loaf or cake baked from the first flour to come from the threshing floor. The idea behind the ceremony was that if the first cake was offered to the Lord, the whole batch would be special in the Lord’s eyes and, accordingly, in the people’s stomachs. The second illustration draws from the common Old Testament picture of Israel as the vine, and it points out that because root and branch are one, thus if the root is holy so also is the branch.
Despite all her faults, Israel has never been less than God’s chosen means of bringing blessing to the world, and everything else that He has chosen to do must be seen in that context. The temporary setting aside and hardening of national Israel is a mystery to Paul. But it is temporary-only until the fullness of the Gentiles is seen in salvation history. Then Israel will again receive its promise. God is not working through Israel now, but He will; their future is assured. The word “all” means just that. Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20-21 and Isaiah 27:9 as confirmation.
There is something awesome about Paul’s description of God’s dealings with His Vine. He shows the mighty power of God as He relentlessly works according to His own righteous principles and will continue to do. Paul speaks of God’s power to establish Israel as the Vine purely on the basis of His own choice. But then he adds that He will use His power to break off some of the branches if they refuse to come to Him in humble faith. At the same time, God has no reluctance at all in taking wild branches and grafting them into the old stock, provided, of course, that the wild branches would do what the natural branches refuse to do—namely, come to Him in faith. But the wild branches must not overlook the fact that when natural branches refused to believe, God reserved the right to remove them, and He will not hesitate to do the same with wild branches. There is no room for complacency, only humble trust. It is the continuance in belief that is the true evidence of genuine faith in the same way that the story of the saints” reminds us that true saints do persevere.
Israel was eager to lay claim to its special status as a nation with God, but reluctant to accept the responsibility of faithful obedience to Him. Yet God has given an unconditional promise to His people, and He is not going to renege on His promise.
Gentiles should not criticize God because of His plan to bless Israel in the future. God chose Israel so Gentiles could receive and enjoy salvation. Once you have placed your faith in Him, God will never cast you away. He will never abandon you, reject you, or turn you away. As a loving Father, He will discipline you, but He will never throw you away.
(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Romans 11 verses 1-32 God’s Plan For Us-Past, Present, and Future)
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1569-1560)
- Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 202-210)
- Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
- MacArthur, J.F., Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
- Elizabeth Shively, “Commentary on Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
- Paul S. Berge, “Commentary on Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
