Romans 11:7-24

7-12 13-16 17-24

7-10

7

What then? Throughout this section Paul has been talking about how Israel has not had faith in God but in their works to be able to live up to the law but God had not completely forsaken them and had and still has a remnant that he is keeping. So because the majority of Israel turned their backs on God and trusted in themselves they failed to obtain what God offered and they were hardened, but all those who were elected, still speaking of the Jews, did obtain it through faith in Jesus Christ, either faith in his coming or faith when he was on the earth.

8

The first part of the quotation in verse 8 is from Isaiah 29:10 “For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).” and the second line is from Deuteronomy 29:4 “But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”

9

Verse 9 and 10 is from a Psalm of David, Psalm 69:22–23 “Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.”

10

These Old Testament verses show that God was telling the Jews that they would not listen to what God was saying, they would not have faith as Abraham did but they would trust in their own works, their table was thought to be a place of safety, where they ate and were comfortable, but God had made it a trap and a stumbling block to them. They were comfortable and felt safe in the works that they did in thinking that they were keeping the law but not hearing and understanding that the law was not something that anyone could obtain, so God darkened their eyes and they hearts were hardened.

11

Paul asks that because they have stumbled does this mean that all of Isreal is fallen, then he emphatically answers By no means! God is using their sinfulness and His chastising of them to bring the Gentiles into the family of God so that Israel will become jealous and be restored to His chosen people. God is still keeping his covenants and promises, even when he chastises and corrects, He still has his remnant that has not bent the knee to any false gods.

12

If the sins of the Jews means that the riches of the world, which is salvation, is now offered to the Gentiles, the rest of the world, and their failure being the rejection of Christ in His first coming, how much more will the riches be when God brings the Jews back into the fold of God. Just like the parable of the wayward son, God will welcome them back in with open arms and celebrate their return to their rightful place as God’s son, metaphorically speaking, not as in the same way as Jesus was God’s son. Israel is not completely forsaken to God, He will end their exile and bring them back in to be His chosen people once more, all of the promises and covenants will be kept and fulfilled, in God’s time and according to his will and for His glory.

13-16

13

1. Paul then turns to speak directly to and about the Gentiles who are and will be brought into the family of God. Paul is tasked to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, Acts 22:21 “And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”” Acts 26:15–18 “And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

14

Paul’s ministry is to bring the Gentiles into the flock of God and in doing so accomplish God’s plan of making the Jews jealous of the riches being offered to the Gentiles and through their jealousy open their eyes so that they have faith and are saved themselves.

15

As said earlier their trespasses, their rejection of Christ meant the offer of salvation to the rest of the world, and them in their trespasses means that they are spiritually dead, so when they have their eyes opened and have faith in Jesus they will be born again, and be spiritually alive with the help of the Holy Spirit.

16

Paul uses an example of the firstfruit offerings to the Levite priest from several places in the Old Testament, one is the first part of Exodus 23:19 ““The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” But if this firstfruit or the first portion of the dough that is offered up is Holy so then the rest of the lump or the rest of the dough from which the offering is made is also good and holy. He also uses an olive tree as an example, if the roots of the tree are holy, so then will the branches be, Abraham, Isaac and the forefathers had faith in God and it was counted to them as righteousness, they are the firstfruits, the roots, so the rest of the dough or the branches that have faith like them are also made holy through Jesus Christ.

17-24

17

Paul continues the analogy of the tree and the branches to represent the trespassing Jews, Back then olive trees were very highly regarded and they live for hundreds of years but as they age some of the branches will stop producing fruit so they are cut off and new younger branches are grafted in to keep the tree producing fruit on all of the branches. Here the branches that are broken off are the non-believing Jews and us the Gentiles, the wild olive branch are grafted in and receive the nourishment from the holy roots of the tree.

18

But we, the wild olive branch, should not let this inclusion lead to arrogance toward the original branches, we as Gentiles grafted into the tree are not better than the original branches that remain, nor the branches that were cut off so that we could be brought in. God is the sustainer of everything he is the root who supports us not the other way around.

19-20

Yes it is true that some of the original branches were cut off so that we could be brought in, but they were cut off because of their unbelief of faith in God and Jesus Christ and the belief in their own self and works, and we must always stay firm in our faith and not become proud and arrogant. We must be sure of our faith and figure out our own salvation with fear and trembling of God.

21

God did not spare the natural branches of the tree, the Jews who did not have faith, so then he will not spare the wild branches. Also we must remember that Paul is using an analogy here and this is not saying that the elect of God can lose their salvation. There are many false religions that think that they are saved but when they meet Jesus he will say to them be gone, I never knew you. Just because salvation is now offered to the Gentiles, the wild olive branches, does not mean that salvation is offered to all. It is still God that elects, and causes us to have faith so that we can never boast in any works of our own, Matthew 7:21–23 ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

22

We see the kindness of God, his mercy shown in that he offers us, those who do nothing but sin and blaspheme God and are always at war with Him, He offers us peace and salvation. Kindness is such an understatement and poor word to describe the holy mercy and grace of God. But to know the vastness of this offered and delivered mercy and grace, delivered through Jesus Christ, we must also be aware at the severity of the punishment toward those who have fallen, if we do not understand our peril then we cannot truly understand and appreciate the gift of salvation.

23

And those who have been cut off may not be cut off permanently, while anyone lives there is time and hope for salvation. Anyone, no matter how fallen we think that they might be is too far gone for God to have mercy on and bring about redemption. None of God’s elect will he lose, none will slip or be taken from his hand.

24

Paul then closes this analogy of the tree and the branches saying that if the wild olive branches, the Gentiles, can be removed from the wild tree contrary to nature, removed from our inherent nature of loving the world and our sin which we continuously revel in, how much more can the natural branches, the Jews, be re-grafted back into their own tree. Salvation is to the Jew and Gentile alike, only through faith in Jesus Christ, which is only possible as a gift of grace and a mercy from God.