Romans 11
God Has Not Rejected Israel
In this section, Paul addressed the accusation that God had completely forsaken His people and forgotten His promises to them. And, if He had, could believers in Rome be sure that nothing could separate them from the love of God if His special people had been allowed to wander so far?
“Well, then what about the Jews? Weren’t they also God’s chosen people? And clearly they’ve fallen away from the love of God. They rejected Jesus! How was this not a failure on God’s part? And if God failed with them, how can we be sure he won’t fail with us also?” - JD Greear
A Remnant Chosen by Grace
Vs. 1 - I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not!
Vs. 5 - In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.
Paul explained that God has not rejected His people because the true Israel has always consisted of people of faith. He illustrates this in two ways:
First, he said, “Look at me! I’m a Jew, and I’m following Jesus.” Then he recalled what God said to Elijah (1 Kings 19) to remind his readers that God has always preserved a “remnant chosen by grace.”
Romans 9:6 - ...not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
Romans 9:8 - That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise.
Vs. 7 (NLT) - So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened.
Again, Paul holds, without apology or explanation, to the tension that some have been excluded from the way of salvation both because they have refused to believe and also because God has rejected them. While many readers see a contradiction, Paul consistently referenced both the sovereignty of God and the free will of man in tandem.
He also quoted Moses (Deuteronomy 29:4) and Isaiah (29:10) to explain how many in Israel had experienced this refusal and rejection in the past. And he quoted a psalm of David (Psalm 69:22-23) to illustrate the devastating effects of this exclusion.
The Jews regarded Psalms 69 as Messianic in Paul’s day. The quotation from this psalm records David’s desire. He wished that his enemies’ table (i.e., blessings) would become something that they would stumble over. The enemies in view were the Lord’s enemies as well as the king’s since David was the Lord’s anointed. This is really what had happened to the Israelites who had set themselves against God by rejecting His Son. Inability to see clearly and bondage to the Law had resulted. - Thomas Constable
Salvation to The Gentiles
Rejection and Reception
Vs. 11 - ...by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles
God’s judgment on the people of Israel does not mean that they are now without hope. Their rejection of Christ has resulted in the enrichment of the world, through the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles and the growth of God’s people into a vast international community. - Don Fleming
In many instances, the gospel only went out to the Gentiles after the Jewish people rejected it (Acts 13:46, 18:5-6, 28:25-28). In this sense, the rejection of the gospel by the Jews was riches for the Gentiles.
It wasn’t that the Jewish rejection of Jesus as Messiah caused Gentiles to be saved. It merely gave more opportunity for the gospel to go to the Gentiles, and many Gentiles took advantage of this opportunity. - David Guzik
Wild and Natural Branches
Vs. 24 - For if you were cut off from your native wild olive tree and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these—the natural branches—be grafted into their own olive tree?
Paul used an olive tree metaphor to illustrate God’s inclusion of both Jews and Gentiles into the family of faith.
The great family of God is compared to an olive tree. Until now this tree had been Jewish in its roots, trunk and branches. God broke off cultivated Jewish branches because of their unbelief, and in his kindness grafted in wild Gentile branches instead. But if the Gentiles become arrogant, God can break them off also. If God can do what is contrary to nature and graft wild branches into the tree, he will have no difficulty in grafting cultivated Jewish branches into the parent tree again. - Don Fleming
All Israel Will Be Saved
Vs. 12 - ...how much more will their fullness bring!
Vs. 26 - And in this way all Israel will be saved
Paul previously laid the groundwork for this section. His point so far was that God is able to restore Israel. That is, He can restore the nation of Israel, which now has many natural branches (unbelieving Jews) broken off, to its former condition as a fruitful nation in the world. Now we learn that He is not only able to do it, but He will do it. This section is the climax of everything Paul wrote in chapters 9-11. - Thomas Constable
Paul believed, based upon how he understood the prophets, that God was not finished with His people. A future day of salvation was coming for Israel. Some commentators believe these verses allude to a future repentance and national revival further explained in the book of Revelation.
Isaiah 59:20–21 - “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 - “Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin.
At some point in the future, Israel as a nation will come back to God, leading to a worldwide gospel movement. So, to sum this up: Has God failed to keep his promise to make Israel a blessing to the nations? Not at all. Many Jewish people have been saved, and even their rejection has led to Gentile salvation. But the best is yet to come. - JD Greear
Vs. 23 - And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, because God has the power to graft them in again.
Again, Paul stressed that the condition of the covenant was belief. Both Jews and Gentiles had always been included in this way, and the invitation to follow Him in faith was still extended.
Vs. 31-32 - Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.
The conclusion of the matter is this. As everyone has been disobedient, Gentiles and Jews alike, so God will show mercy to all as well. That is, He will show mercy to all without distinction, not all without exception. This is a great ground of assurance. - Thomas Constable
Ethnic Israel has a future because God will accomplish salvation for Israel according to his new-covenant promise. This awaits the fullness of the Gentiles, when Israel’s hardening will be removed and when Gentile provocation will have taken its course. All Israel will be saved in such a way that God’s mercy will be evident to all. - J. Lanier Burns
God’s Unsearchable Ways
Vs. 33 - Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
At the conclusion of Paul’s complex explanation of how he believed God will continue to pursue His chosen people, he launched into a song of exultation and submission to the immeasurable knowledge and wisdom of God. He quoted Job and Isaiah to describe God’s unfathomable depth and sovereignty in salvation. We may not fully understand His ways, but we can fully trust His wisdom. All things have originated from Him, operate through Him, and are obligated to Him.
Job 41:11 - Who confronted me, that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Isaiah 40:13 - Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or who gave him counsel?
Paul never wrote a more characteristic passage than this. Here theology turns to poetry. Here the seeking of the mind turns to the adoration of the heart. In the end, all must pass out in a mystery that man cannot now understand but at whose heart is love.
To Paul, God was in control. Nothing moved with aimless feet. Not even the most heartbreaking event was outside the purpose of God. Events could never run amok. The purposes of God could never be frustrated. - William Barclay
