Romans 11:11-36
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The question. Did they stumble to damnation?
The question. Did they stumble to damnation?
So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
Sadly this is the 10th and final time Paul uses this phrase, By no means, me genoito.
What purpose did God have in His people rejecting him? Primarily so that we, the gentiles, could be grafted in. This fulfills that promise to Abraham about his offspring blessing the whole world. Through Israel’s disobedience in rejecting the Christ he was crucified for our sins. This was part of God’s plan all along. Did that purpose include Israel being damned and rejected by God? Absolutely not! In fact the Gentile’s salvation will make them jealous so as to return to the lord. Though that will be when the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. aka when Christ returns.
Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
If the bad things God has turned to such good good things, how much more amazing will it be when the goodness of having Israel fully included be?
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
Paul’s desire, like it was when he wished he could be sacrificed for his people, is that the Jews would be jealous and believe Jesus is the Son of God. This is of course the generic about the Jewish people not the speicific for many Jews did have Faith in Christ. The Jew’s rejection happened at Christs first coming which was where the reconciliation of the world occured. In their acceptance, which is the time of the Gentiles being fulfilled, It will be the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. I think that’s what’s in view here. Could Paul just mean they’ll be brought to life in Christ... yes.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Okay… what? Let’s dive in a little and make sure we’re getting the reference here.
“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you and when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.
We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord; also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks; and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”
Okay, so this practice of taking a tenth, a tithe, is the tax that keeps the nation of Israel functioning through the priests who serve. The Levites get the tenth from the people and then they give a tenth of that to the priests, those priests also burn up a tenth of their tenth of a tenth to the Lord. But these offerings of first fruits are taken into the sanctuary, only Holy things go in the sanctuary. Here Paul’s logic is that it means the whole thing is holy. Now we tie that in with the roots being holy, so are the branches. The first of the Jews would be the patriarchs. They would also be the roots of a family tree. They are a holy people set apart by God. In other words you Gentiles don’t get uppity here thinking you’re the latest greatest. When you compare Jew to Gentile, not individually but corporately the Jews are the ones God has made a holy people. Just so Paul’s clear on that… We’re transitioning again from dismantling the Jews to now disarming the Gentiles of pride.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
Okay, got it!? You new gentile Christians? don’t look around you at the Jews and act like you’re all that and a bag of chips. Hello random 90’s reference.
Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
For those who wished to disparage the Jews this is a stark warning. Sure they were broken off but that was their unbelief. You need to stay firmly secure through faith. If they were natural yet still cut off how much easier is it to cut you off who aren’t even an original part of this tree? This again is speaking corporately not individually. This is not some picture of the ways that people lose their salvation, or an example of it. No, this is speaking of the people groups.
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
Again, I don’t want a confusion over salvation. This is of the people groups Gentile and Jew. The olive tree is not the church, the olive tree is the lineage of Abraham, at least spiritually speaking. We are grafted into that covenant. Israel is grafted back into the covenant through Christ when they acknowledge him. We’ll see that as we keep reading.
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
“and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
A partial hardening has come upon Israel. God’s sovereign plan has set aside some part of Israel for a time. Let’s see what Paul is quoting here in Isaiah.
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.
So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the Lord drives.
“And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.
“And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”
It is God whose own arm brought man salvation.
As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
Okay, break this one down a little slower. In terms of the Gospel, the story of Jesus and salvation, the Jews are enemies of God for the benefit of the gentiles. But the way it relates to God’s choice in election means they are beloved because God has chosen them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were put aside temporarily to accomplish God’s will. There seems to be a time that Israel will be save corporately. Don’t misunderstand, every individual must have faith in Jesus Christ to be saved. But God’s choice will one day be the Jews as a group. Paul says:
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
We all following along?
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
All of these quotes could be attributed to Job though other similar ones are elsewhere. We don’t need a context on these they’re self explanatory. Who knows the mind of God? Who gives God advice? Who gives the creator of the world anything that He didn’t already have? I thought about this on my birthday actually. Eric saw that I didn’t have any presents ( I don’t particularly like presents, I’d rather just get something I actually want myself) but he went and got a dollar from his room and later that day he gave me a dollar and said happy birthday. He doesn’t have much money but really wanted to give me a dollar for my birthday. I almost broke that moment… I almost gave it back and said you don’t have to do that. After all, I probably gave him that dollar, I’ve certainly given him plenty of dollars over his life in any case. Instead I thanked him sincerely and took that dollar. He didn’t put me in debt to him with his gift of a dollar. He offered it as a loving son who wanted to honor his father. Likewise our gifts to God aren’t something that puts God in debt to us. They’re offerings to honor and bless His name.
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
