Romans 11

Israel’s Limited Rejection

Text: Chapter 11

Verses1-6

2 Corinthians 11:22 “22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.”

Philippians 3:5 “5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;”

Paul strengthens his case by referencing the account of Elijah defeating the prophets of Baal and then due to Jezebel’s threats, he flees for his life to a cave on Mount Horeb. There he starts complaining.

1 Kings 19:18 “18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

chaps. 9–11 is less the fate of Israel than a warning to the Gentiles not to presume on their fortunate position as a wild branch that had been grafted into a historic tree of Jewish origin. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 218–219.

Verses 7-10

The longing for righteousness based on personal merit is deeply embedded in human nature. It is not that people wish to live exemplary lives because that is the right thing to do but that such conduct is thought to provide the basis for commendation when compared with the achievements of others. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 216.

We can see clearly why so many people advocate for a subjective standard rather than a absolute standard.

The larger ethnic Israel could not obtain what they were seeking because they refused God’s plan.

A remnant of the elect (ethnic Israel) obtained righteousness through faith in the resurrected Christ.

DON’T MISS THIS REALITY — No one can have a passive position towards God. You are either disobedient or obedient to God’s command.

Disobedience and obedience will not leave someone in the same condition!

Obedience of faith will draw you into a intimate relationship with Christ while disobedience separates and hardens your heart away from such an relationship.

God has used judicial hardening on Israel throughout the O.T. to provoke them to return to Him at a future time.

Deuteronomy 29:4 “4 Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”

Isaiah 29:10 “10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, And hath closed your eyes: The prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.”

Quote: Spiritual hardening is a terminal disorder for which, in its advanced stages, there is no remedy. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 217.

Verses 11-24 (Israel’s rejection is not final)

Isaiah 42:6 “6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, And will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, And give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;”

Acts 28:28 “28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.”

Verses 11-12

Here is the question: “Has ethnic Israel’s (the elect) failure to believe led to their absolute destruction? Are they irretrievable?…NO!

Their rejection has led to an uncountable of Gentiles to be reached with the gospel and have come to faith.

(v11) “Their fall” refers to all the benefits they had disposed of by way of rejecting God’s plan of faith.

(v12) “Their fulness” refers to the time of their full restoration.

Verses 13-16

Here is where we learn of Paul’s audience since chapter 9.

Paul is also motivated to enlarge his ministry toward the Gentiles in effort to invoke jealousy on his Jewish brethren.

(v15) Paul was speaking of here was a great spiritual awakening of Israel to take place at the end of human history. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 219.

(v16) 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). Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 220.

Verses 17-21

Gentiles are described as the “wild olive shoot” who have been grafted into a cultivated Olive tree (historic Israel).

However, this tree has had some of it’s branches broken off.

These branches were broken off due to their unbelief.

The Gentiles are not to feel somehow superior!

The Gentiles owed their spiritual existence to Israel!

(v20-21) Paul wanted to make sure that these Gentiles knew that many of the Jews were cut off due to UNBELIEF!

The church has always had pretenders within it’s membership.

Verses 22-24

“Goodness” & “Severity”

Many want to only see God as a doting father and forget that He is a strict judge.

(v23) God is able to graft them in! The condition would be not continuing in unbelief.

God will never overpower the unwillingness to believe.

Verses 25-36 Salvation for All Israel

Verses 25-27

The “mystery” = God’s saving activity toward Israel.

The hardening of Israel was limited in scope and time.

(v25-26) “And so all Israel will be saved.” It was only in this way that Israel as a whole would be restored to favor with God. Obviously this was not some unilateral action of God on behalf of his people. Israel’s salvation would be on the same basis as anyone else’s, that is, by responding in faith to the forgiveness made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Earlier commentators tended to take “all Israel” to mean “spiritual Israel,” that is, all believers, Jew and Gentile alike. But throughout this entire section Paul had been comparing Gentile and Jew as separate ethnic groups. It would have been highly unlikely for him to have blurred this crucial distinction when it came time for a summarizing conclusion. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 224–225.

Isaiah 59:20–21 “20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, And my words which I have put in thy mouth, Shall not depart out of thy mouth, Nor out of the mouth of thy seed, Nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, From henceforth and for ever.”

Paul was saying that beyond the current period of Israel’s unbelief there would come a time when believing Jews would turn to Christ in faith. They would join the faithful remnant and believing Gentiles to complete the family of God, which stretches throughout all of redemptive history. From the standpoint of the twentieth century, that time is yet future. Robert H. Mounce, Romans, vol. 27, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 225.

Verses 28-32

Either you are a believer of the gospel or an enemy.

While Israel is a enemy toward Christ’s gospel, they are loved by God. This is largely due to the Jewish patriarchs.

Isaiah 55:9 “9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 40:13–14 “13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or being his counseller hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, And taught him in the path of judgment, And taught him knowledge, And shewed to him the way of understanding?”