Romans 11:12-15

Reconciliation

v.12 - riches - salvation for the world “foreign lands” all others beyond the land around them & salvation for the Gentiles. Essentially we are referring to life from the dead.

came about through the trespass & failure of Israel

v.13 - “talking to you Gentiles” they were the church majority

“I am an apostle to the Gentiles” - in keeping with his calling.

Acts 9:15 ESV

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

“I magnify my ministry” - I take pride/take seriously my ministry

v.14 - Why does Paul take his calling to the Gentiles seriously?

to make his fellow Jews jealous. How?

Was that Paul’s end goal? No, it was that he might save some. How would he do that? What is the correlation between Paul’s calling & suffering?

Acts 9:16 ESV

For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

2 Co 11:25-26 “Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;”

How does his calling to suffer while provoking Israel to jealousy contrast w/contemporary thought today?

v.15 - rejection vs. acceptance

rejection - v.8, 17

acceptance - only mentioned here in the NT; verb form given to us in Ro 14:3 & 15:7 where God & Christ accept believers.

Ro 14:3 “Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.”

Ro 15:7 “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”

Here is v.15 it is not Israel who rejects God nor Israel who accepts God, but God who both rejects & accepts Israel.

Ro 5:10-11 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

John 1:11 “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

His own people did not receive “approve” of Christ as the Messiah

Contrast with

Jn 6:21 “Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”

Jn 19:27 “Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

Back in v.15, the phrase “life from the dead” is not found anywhere else in the Bible.

Why is this important? Hermeneutics.

However, the phrase “from the dead” is mentioned 47x in the NT. every occurence minus 1 occurs within the context of the resurrection.

Ro 6:13 “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”

Here Paul uses the phrase from death to life in a metaphorical sense; however, it closely parallels with v.15. Romans 6:13 gives us that picture of those who are alive out of the dead. They are already alive spiritually.

Paul’s reference in v.15 to Israel’s acceptance meaning “life from the dead” is in relation to an event that is distinct from Israel’s restoration. The resurrection from the dead will include Jews & Gentiles.

1 Co 15:21-22 “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”

1 Co 15:23 “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

Salvation will come to those Jews elected by God after the elect Gentiles have been redeemed and then will come the second of coming of Christ & the resurrection of the dead.