Romans 11:25-32
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited. Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; the deliverer will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Is. 59:20-21; 27:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34) As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs and matriarchs, for God’s gifts and God’s call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have not received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound all people over to disobedience so that God may have mercy on them all.
Paul sometimes can be enigmatic in his way of expressing himself, even when he says, “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery…” but the upshot of what Paul says here answers the question, “In light of Christianity and the fact that Jews for the most part have not accepted Christ, are they still the ‘chosen’ people?” Paul’s answer is an emphatic “Yes!” In fact, Paul says, the Jewish rejection of Christ is all part of God’s plan. Their rejection is what opened the door for Gentiles to come in and receive salvation. Let me point out right here that in this section when I speak of Gentiles and of Jewish people I’m speaking of the body of people as a whole not every individual Gentile will be saved, not every Jewish person will be saved.
It is a sad fact that most Christians today fail to realize that Christianity is in reality a Jewish religion. Jesus was Jewish. He never said He came to start a new religion. Christians worship the God of the Jews. The Hebrew Scriptures form the bulk of the Bible. Judaism can stand alone, but Christianity cannot stand of itself without it’s Jewish base. Paul warns that Christians should not be conceited or arrogant in their attitudes towards Jewish people. God’s eternal plan is that Christians and Jewish people all together as a body will be saved.
The Jewish people were not able to accept the gospel, which made them appear to be enemies of God, but God chose them from the beginning and has loved them always. God’s call to them as the chosen cannot ever be revoked, nor can God’s blessings be taken back. Gentiles at one time were disobedient to God in that they had not accepted the Jewish faith, but God was merciful to them. Now the Jewish people are disobedient in that they have not accepted Christianity, but that’s also part of God’s plan, so that they, too, may receive that same mercy. In this way everyone is on a level-playing field, no one better than another. Paul quotes both Isaiah and Jeremiah to demonstrate that what has happened had been predicted by those great Prophets.
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable God’s judgments, and God’s paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of our God? Or who has been God’s counselor?” (Is. 40:13) “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay that person?” (Job 41:11) For from God and through god and to God are all things. To God be the glory forever! Amen.
A doxology is a song or prayer in praise to God. Using quotations again, from Isaiah and Job, Paul shows his faith and trust in God. Paul doesn’t always understand God or what God does, but Paul stands in reverent awe of God’s majesty. In these last three chapters Paul has struggled with trying to make sense of God’s will for Paul’s people. His heart has been heavy at times because he is aware of all that his people have rejected. He began in chapter nine by saying, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers and sisters, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” (Rom. 9:2 & 3a) Now he ends with this doxology saying that while he doesn’t fully understand how God thinks or how God’s plan is laid out, he expresses his trust in God to bring good out of the Israelites’ rejection of Jesus, and to be merciful to his people.
LIFE APPLICATION