1I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God 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"? 4And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8as 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." 9And David says:
"May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever."
11Again 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. 12But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If 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.
17If 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, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22Consider 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. 23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After 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!(NIV)
Main Points and Discussion Questions
1. Israel has not been abandoned by God (vv.1-6, 11-16).
Even if not all ethnic Israelites are part of "spiritual" Israel, there are certainly some who are, including:
a) The Apostle Paul himself (v.1)
b) The 7000 in Elijah’s time who did not bow down to Baal (vv. 2-4; cf. 1 Ki 19:1-18)
c) a chosen remnant from Paul’s time until now (v.5)
-This reality of a ‘remnant’ is not the end of God’s mercy to Israel; rather, it points to God’s large-scale redemption of ethnic Israel in the future (vv. 11-16, 25-29)
Discussion Question 1: How can we reconcile God’s pronouncement of envy as a sin with Paul’s intent to arouse his own people to envy, when they see him win Gentiles for Christ?
2.Presently, Israel stands under God’s judgment, but this is not meant to be God’s last word to them (vv. 7-10).
-Paul cites Old Testament Scriptures which prophesy the judgment upon Israel (Deut 29:4, Isa 29:10, Ps 69:22-23)
- in the longer discourse of Moses from which Deut 29:4 is taken (Deut 29:2 –30:20), there is hope that, one day, God will circumcise the hearts of Israel (30:6)
-These Scriptures bring up the difficult matter of God’s “hardening” of Israel – this does not mean that God “implanted” evil that wasn’t there, but more likely that God “gave them over” to their sins without restraint, just as He has done, in a sense, with the whole world (Rom 1:24, 26, 28)
3. As they ponder their inclusion among God’s people, Gentile believers must fear God appropriately and not become proud (vv. 17-24).
-In Rom 2-3, Jews received stern warnings from Paul – here in Rom 11, it’s the Gentiles’ turn to receive them.
- Verses 20 to 22 are for all believers and are meant to be taken seriously – we are commanded throughout the New Testament to persevere in the faith in order to obtain final salvation from our sin (Mt 24:12-13; 1 Co 10:1-14; Col 1:22-23)
- But doesn’t this contradict all of the assuring promises of Romans 8?
-No. God uses our heeding of both promises (2 Pe 1:3-4) and warnings (Ex 20:20; Jer 32:40) as some of the means by which He completes the good work He started in us (Jn 17:17; Rom 8:30; Php 1:6).
Discussion Question 2: In verse 22 we are asked to consider the “kindness and sternness” of God. What are the dangerous frames of mind we can fall into if we give attention to one at the expense of the other?
