Spiritual Blindness

Introduction

Text: Romans 11:7-10 Premise: We must be careful lest our hearts become hardened or blinded to the truth by materialism, rebellion and religion.

Well, we are starting a new year and picking back up where we left on in our Sunday morning series through the book of Romans. According to my notes, we started this series back in April of 2024 and we have about 4 and a half chapters left to the book. It is helpful for us to have extended series on books of the bible so we can glean as much as we can from the book. Sometimes our attention span doesn’t like being in one book for so long, but if we were to shrink this study, we would inevitable skip over a lot, miss the purpose and connections in the book, and have merely a shallow understanding of the book and the application to our lives.

So far in our study, we have looked at God’s plan for the nation of Israel from Romans 9-11 and seen that God has not forgotten His promises to them as a people. He is not done with Israel, but has reserved a remnant even today. Some day in the future all Israel will be saved and God will fulfill His literal promises to the nation. We looked at atleast 7 unfulfilled promises that await to be fulfilled in Israel.

But the main point of Paul’s writting chapters 9-11 is because of his heart for his people and the questions we are left with when we see so many Gentiles coming to faith and so few Jews doing so. To catch us back up since it has been nearly a month since we looked at this text let’s read vs 1-6. Paul in this section gave us three reasons we can know that God has not cast off Israel:

Paul’s personal testimony

The theology of God’s corporate election

The example of Elijah

This morning, we come to Paul’s conclusion. Notice the first two words of Romans 11:7 “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” Paul is saying what then should we conclude about all of this? His answer circles back to Romans 9:30–31 “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” Isreal sought after righteousness but did not obtain it because they did not seek it by faith. But the elect did? We have already described these elect as those who are part of the people of God by faith. In our text, the primary emphasis is on the elect among Israel, the remnant.

So what about those who aren’t part of the people of God among Israel: Paul says they were blinded. Today we are going to focus on spiritual blindness.

Have you ever tried to witness to someone and it seems like no matter how much you show them from the scriptures how to be saved they just don’t see it? They continue to argue with you and refuse to believe what the bible says. I remember when my family first got saved, we tried to witness to my mom’s family who were Catholics. In the end, they concluded that they would believe the Pope over what the bible says. After all who can truly understand the bible except the Pope? Their minds were made up and they just couldn’t see it.

On a more basic level, have you ever had a discussion with someone and no matter what evidence you brought forth; no matter the fact that they didn’t have any evidence; they would not lbe persuaded by what you have to say. I feel this way sometimes when people cling to what they have always heard and refuse to interact with the evidence that I show to support my conclusions. I don’t want people to believe what I say just because I say it, but I do want them to seriously wrestle with the evidence before rejecting it. It isn’t being a Berean to just hold to what you have always heard.

The Jews had heard the words of Jesus, they had seen the miracles that he performed, they knew their torah; but they still rejected because they were Spiritually blind. Read the text.

What is Spiritual Blindness?

When we worked through Romans 9, we looked at the topic of judicial hardening- the stubborness of heart that results from a rejection of truth and is God’s punishment for that rejection. Blindness and hardening are related. In fact in this passage, they are the same Greek word. In other passages like John 12:40 “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.” There is a separate word for blinding, but not here. The Greek word means to cover over with a thick skin So why is it translated blindness here? Context determines which translation to use. Hardness is often used in the context of the heart while blindness is used in a context where the bible is talking about seeing but both translations are legitimate.

Another synonym used in this passage is Slumber. Slumber means a stupor or insensibility. You are barely conscious of whats going on around you and can’t respond fully. It’s kinda like when you have been laying down and fallen into a deep sleep. If someone comes and shakes you really hard and tries to tell you something, you aren’t fully comprehending what they are saying or able to respond immediately because you are so groggy.

eyes that they may not see, ears that they should not hear- The distinct nuance to the word blindness here is that though they have eyes, they could see, they are unable to understand or fully grasp what is being shown to them. Spiritual blindness is not intellectual immaturity where its just too complicated. It isn’t like trying to teach a fourth grader calculus. That would put the fault on the teacher and the material; rather spiritual blindness is having the faculty or ability to see but not letting it in.

Are we born blind?

While we are on this point, I want to take a detour and ask the question are we born blind? Is spiritual blindness the fact that I am born without eyes like some deep cave salamander or is that my eyes have been closed? Am I unable to see or did I choose not to see and thus became unable to see? This is important to our understanding of human responsibility when it comes to the gospel.

To do that I want us to look at another passage where Paul quotes from the same old testament passage we find here but he says a little bit more:

Acts 28:23–27 “And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

Earlier in the book of Romans, Paul talked about people having a depraved mind a concept related to spiritual blindness, but turn back to Romans 1:21–28 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

These passages seem to indicate that spiritual blindness comes sometime after birth, after we have rejected the light that God has given us. Interestingly Romans 1 clearly declares in vs 20 that the invisible things of God are clearly seen. People have seen, they have knowledge, they have light but they respond by not glorifying God, not thanking God, elevated in their pride, exchanging God for idols and suppressed the witness of the truth in their lives.

Consider also the fact that satan blinds the hearts and minds of the lost. 2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Satan doesn’t have the ability to blind men from birth; rather he blinds those that believe not.

So the conclusion, I believe we must draw is that people have the ability to see the truth and respond to it, but when they reject it, their hearts become hard and their eyes become blinded.

What causes blindness?

So what causes people to be blind to the truth?

As we saw in the previous section, hardening is initiated by our rejection of the truth, but Hardening is passive meaning it was done to them. Whether it were God or Satan, it does not say here in this text and biblically it is both. The basic premise in Romans is as Kenneth Wuest comments on this passage: Light rejected blinds. But I think we can get more information about what leads to spiritual blindness by looking at the quotations Paul uses to support His point. The rest of the text is a string of quotations. Vs 8 smashes two passages from the book of Romans together, but the first is from Isaiah 29; so I want us to turn there. If we keep on reading the context of this passage we are given three reasons why spiritual blindness has come upon Israel.

this people draw near me with their lips- hypocrisy- Playing the game, pretending at Christianity can lead to a hard heart. have you ever met someone who grew up in Church, but when they became an adult they turned their back on the faith and they want nothing to do with. All that time they were just talking the talk. They said the right words. I have seen this in the lives of some who when they are around you, they know what to saw; but the rest of their lives is a stark contradiction to their words. These people were insincere in their faith.

have removed their heart far from me- rebellion- inside they do not desire God. The implication here is that their heart desires something else. They have rebelled and rejected God by pursuing after other things. Some people’s hearts are hardened because they just want their sin. If you were to go up to an drunk on the street and witness to them, you might say now if you get saved at some point Jesus is going to tell you to give up that alcohol. What do you think many of their responses would be? Many would not give Jesus a second thought because they want what they want. This is the danger of a Christianity without an emphasis on holiness. We have created a form of Christianity where everyone thinks they can have their cake and eat it too. We are just perpetuating the circumstances that lead to a hard heart.

their fear is taught by the precept of men- legalism- legalism fits well with this type of religion because it is focused on the externals. It is merely about keeping the rules. When you divorce the heart from holiness you end up with legalism and according to this passage legalism leads to spiritual blindness.

The second half of this verse is a quotation from Isaiah 6. This passage shows us that spiritual blindness is a temporary judgment. Though they have eyes, they have the faculty to see; they won’t see because if they did they would:

hear/see

understand

believe- be converted

be healed

4. their table be a snare- material prosperity- This is a quotation from Psalm 69 which is a Messianic Psalm, but it is also an imprecatory lament on those who oppose the Messiah. Here the Messiah prays that their table would be four things: snare, trap, stumblingblock and a recompense. When the psalm speaks of a table it is talking about the blessings they enjoy. We see here that their blessings become a curse. It traps them, it even becomes a judgment (recompense) on them. Is it possible God’s judgment on America is material prosperity?

Can blindness be fixed?

As we pointed out in Isaiah 6, spiritual blindness is a temporary judgment. It can be lifted or have an expiration date on it. Paul talks about the spiritual blindness of the Jews in another passage that I think is worth pointing out.

2 Cor 3:14-16 describes the blindness of the Jews to understand event their own torah, but vs 16 declares that if their heart turn to the Lord the blindness will be removed

Conclusion

There are two conclusion, as with many of my messages:

You might have been witnessing to someone for a long time. It is frustrating that no matter what you say, they just don’t seem to get it. This may be in part due to spiritual blindness, but their is hope. Blindness can be removed. We don’t have to conclude that God is done with them and there is no hope of seeing them saved. Continue to pray and take advantage of opportunities that arise because you never know what might happen.

This message and this text has been about unsaved Jews, but unfortunately it is possible for a Christian to become hard hearted and spiritually blind as well. It shows up in rebellion, stubborness and unteachableness. For one final example of this, I want us to turn to

Mark 8:17–21 “And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven. And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?”

Here Jesus is talking with his disciples immediately after the feeding of the 5 thousand. They are on a boat and have forgotten bread. Jesus perceiving their thoughts warns them to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. I won’t go into detail there but the point here is they did not understand Jesus meaning. They jumped to human concerns about food. But these believers were according to Jesus having eyes, see ye not? He asks you today, how is it that ye do not understand?

Is your heart hardened, are your eyes blind because of hypocrisy, a desire for sin, legalism or material possessions? The hard heart can be softened, the blind eyes opened if you will turn your heart back to the Lord. If that is you, please come forward this morning and spend some time turning your heart back to God.