Sermon Tone Analysis

Rom 11:11-16

Key Verse:

Romans 11:15 (HCSB)

For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

Is Israel’s failure to receive Christ irrevocable?

…’[God] does not intend their fall to be permanent’ Schreiner, 577

Paul is speaking directly to gentile believers (vs 13)

Paul asks if God’s action in giving Israel eyes that cannot see, and ears that cannot hear, and causing them to stumble was intended to cause them to fall ‘beyond recovery’.

When Israel rejected the gospel, she ‘stumbled over the stumbling stone’ placed in Zion (9:32–33).

Paul’s question is whether this stumbling will result in a fall from which there is no recovery, a rejection by God and therefore spiritual ruin.

To this question Paul replies: Not at all! (an expression he uses for emphatic denial and found here for the tenth time in Romans; see the commentary on 11:1).

παράπτωμα.

It is a question whether we should see this as a continuation of the metaphor of stumbling (as Moffatt, “by their lapse …”).

But Paul’s habitual use of this word is for a sin, and it is better to see his normal use here.

The word is cognate with πίπτω, not πταίω.

The Epistle to the Romans (2.

The Restoration of Israel, 11:11–24)

The idea of purpose comes in at the end of the verse with to make Israel jealous.

This verb is a strong one (cf.

Deut.

32:21).

Paul is saying that the salvation of the Gentiles was intended in the divine providence to arouse in Israel a passionate desire for the same good gift.

vs 15 ‘life from the dead’ refers “to the physical resurrection of the dead.

That is, the salvation of all Israel (cf.

11:26) will be the climax of this age and will be followed by the resurrection.”

Schriener, 582.

“‘Reconciliation’ as in Rom 5:11 … refers to God’s act of bringing sinners into peaceful relationship with himself.”

Moo, 693

Reconciliation is one of the striking expressions Paul uses to interpret Christ’s saving work (5:10–11; 2 Cor.

5:18–20; Eph.

2:16; Col. 1:20–22); indeed, he can speak of his whole ministry as one of reconciliation (2 Cor.

5:18–19).

Leon Morris, The Epistle to the Romans, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1988), 410.

Romans 11:16-24

Numbers 15:17–21 describes an offering made from the first grain harvested and ground.

The cake presented to the Lord consecrated the rest of the batch.

Paul wrote that if the dough offered as firstfruits was holy, then the entire batch was holy.

In this metaphor the “dough” represents the Jewish believers who had accepted Christ (the remnant of v. 5), and the “whole batch” would be those who would come to believe.

The metaphor changes to a tree with its branches.

If the root is holy, so are the branches.

In this case the “root” represents the patriarchs (esp.

Abraham); and the “branches,” the nation that follows.

The point is that if the patriarchs were holy (and they were), so also were the Jewish people (in the sense that the positive effects of the patriarchs reached to them (cf. 1 Cor 7:14).

God’s rejection of the Jewish nation was neither complete (Rom 11:1–10) nor final (11:11–24).

“Ethnic Israel is not cast off but still remains the elect people of God because of the promise made to the fathers (vv.

28-29).”

Schreiner, 585.

The ‘holiness’ of the patriarchs is not referring to their behavior - which was often sinful - rather their holiness “consists of their having been set apart bo God for this salvation - historical role.”

Moo, 701

This is the first of five references to the root/branches metaphor in this chapter (11:16, 17, 18, 19, 21; cf.

11:24; 15:12).

At a metaphorical level Paul is saying that if the root of a tree is sound, its branches will be sound also.

In one of the subsequent uses of the metaphor (11:17) Paul makes it clear that he is thinking of the root and branches of an olive tree, a symbol used to denote Israel (cf.

Jer 11:16–17).

“In the OT Israel is described as an olive tree (Jer 11:16-19; Hosea 14:6-7) and is often characterized as God’s planting or olive tree....” Schreiner, 588.

wild olive trees “notoriously unfruitful” Moo 702

The danger of pride is very real.

When God claimed Abraham and the early Hebrew patriarchs as his own, he also claimed their descendants: “For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too” (11:16).

When their final return to God comes, it will bring unspeakable rejoicing to all who know God throughout the world, for it will bring about the final day of resurrection (11:15).

If God’s rejection of the Jews results in the outpouring of his eternal blessing on Gentiles, how much greater will the worldwide blessing be when God accepts his own people back?

It will mean nothing less than the full experience of eschatological glory!

Furthermore, this is only part of an even larger story—the story of God’s Christ-centered plan for the universe as a whole.

Though we catch only glimpses of this larger vision from Paul, it is clear that God’s desire is to gather for himself a group of people—a “family,” including both Jews and Gentiles—who, by the Spirit of his Son living within them, will grow to become like his Son and one day share his Son’s full glory (8:29–30; Col 1:27).

In the end, God’s desire is to unite the entire universe under the authority of his Son, to the endless praise of his own glory and grace (Eph 1:9–12; 3:5, 10).

When we think of God’s work of salvation, then, we must think of it in the larger context of his ultimate plan for the entire universe.

Roger Mohrlang, Gerald L. Borchert, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 14: Romans and Galatians (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), 175.

This passage is reminiscent of one of the major themes of the prophet Ezekiel.

Ezekiel emphasizes that it is not the past that defines our relationship to God but the present.

The question is not how we used to live and walk with God but how we live and walk with him now.

No matter how disobedient or wicked people may have been in the past, if they turn around and begin to obey the ways of God, “They will surely live and not die.

All their past sins will be forgotten, and they will live” (Ezek 18:21–22).

At the same time, he warns, if righteous people revert to a life of sin, they will surely die.

No matter how righteous they may have been in the past, “all their righteous acts will be forgotten, and they will die for their sins” (Ezek 18:24; cf.

33:12–16).

Paul, like Ezekiel, emphasizes that we must never presume on God’s grace because it is always our life and faith in the present that defines our relationship to God—not our experience of him in the past.

This does not negate what he says elsewhere about the believer’s security in Christ’s grace (8:31–39; Phil 1:6) but simply highlights the need for believers to continue trusting in that grace.

We are secure as long as we remain firmly trusting in Christ’s unmerited kindness toward us.

Roger Mohrlang, Gerald L. Borchert, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol 14: Romans and Galatians (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), 176–177.

Vs 21-22 are not a prediction, but rather a warning.

“The antidote to pride is fear, and the object of fear is God himself, particularly his kindness and severity.”

Schreiner, 590.

see 1 Cor 10:1-12; Gal 5:2-4; Col 1:23; 1 Thess 3:1-5

“…basic to the whole metaphor is the unity of God’s people, a unity that crosses both historical and ethnic boundaries…there is only one olive tree, whose roots are firmly planted in OT soil, and whose branches include both Jews and Gentiles.

This olive tree represents the true people of God.” Moo, 709.

It is crucial that those who profess faith in Christ feel the full weight of their responsibility to remain faithful to Christ and not turn away, lest they face the judgment of God.

In other words, when Paul emphasizes God’s sovereignty, it is the positive side that he highlights—God’s saving grace for the elect.

When he emphasizes human responsibility, it is the negative side that he highlights—the dire consequences of not believing or not living out one’s professed faith.

Generally speaking, salvation is the result of God’s sovereign grace, but God’s judgment is the consequence of unbelief and sin.

Romans 11:25-32

the word ‘mystery’ does not refer to “a riddle or puzzle that surpasses human comprehension…it refers to a secret element of God’s plan that had been hidden from human beings but has now been revealed.”

Schreiner, 595.

This section brings all of Rom 9-11 to a conclusion.

There is a tension between “Israel’s current relationship with God … and God’s expressed and irrevocable promises to Israel.”

Moo, 712-713.

The ‘mystery’ to which Paul refers is a “divinely given insight…into the way in which God’s purposes are working themselves out in salvation history.”

Moo, 713.

This is an unusual use of the word ‘mystery’, for normally Paul employs it to refer to the mystery of the gospel ‘hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known’ (16:25–26; cf. 1 Cor.

2:1, 7; 4:1; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19; Col 1:26, 27; 2:2; 4:3; 1 Tim.

3:9, 16).

However, he sometimes uses it to denote something mysterious or hard to understand too (1 Cor.

13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Eph 5:32; 2 Thess.

2:7).

It is in this latter sense that he uses it here in 11:25, where he speaks of the ‘mystery’ of the hardening that has come upon Israel.

Paul found indication of this final salvation of Israel in the words of the prophets.

Isaiah promised that a Redeemer would come to those in Zion who repented of their sins (Isa 59:20), and Paul applied the prophecy to the coming of the Messiah.

When he came, he would banish ungodliness from Jacob.

This was the covenant he made with the descendants of Israel when he took away their sin (Isa 59:21).

Jeremiah described a new covenant in which the law of God would be written on the heart, controlling life from within.