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Romans 11:1-12

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There are those that teach that the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people and that the Jews no longer benefit from the promises of God. However, Paul explains in this chapter of Romans that this is not the case. God has not given up on Israel and will still fulfill every promise that He has made to them “for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (v. 29).

In chapter 9 Paul explained that God’s promises to Israel are still valid despite the fact that the majority of the Jews had rejected Christ. There was still a remnant of believing Jews that God had chosen to be the recipients of those promises. In chapter 10 Paul also explained that when it comes to salvation, there is no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles, for God is ready to save anyone who comes to Him in faith. Here in chapter 11 Paul addresses God’s purposes during the period of time that we are now currently in: a time when Israel has rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah and God has turned His attention to the salvation of the Gentiles.

1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people?” – After quoting a few OT passages pointing to Israel’s rebellion against God at the end of the previous chapter, Paul asks what might be a natural question.  Has God decided to cast away the Jews because of their current state of rebellion against Him and refusal to accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah? Does this mean that Jews cannot be saved through faith in Christ?

“God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” – The answer to the question is “no” and Paul offers himself as evidence. Paul reminds his readers that he is a believing Jew and lists his Jewish pedigree as a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin to prove it. Paul had rebelled against God and rejected Christ for a time before encountering Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 8:1-3, 9:1-22). After that encounter, Paul believed on Christ and is proof that God still redeems Jews.

2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

“God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew [to know beforehand]” – The Greek word for “foreknew” is the same compound word used in Rom. 8:29. The word implies more intimate knowledge than merely knowing the facts. When God chose Israel as His people, He already knew about their eventual disobedience and rebellion and yet He chose them anyway. The present rebellion of the Jews is no surprise to God and does not nullify the choice that He made. God will fulfill every promise that He has made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants.

“Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias?” – Paul now uses an OT event in the life of Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-18) to demonstrate that despite their rebellion, God’s purpose for Israel has not been defeated because He has preserved a believing remnant that belong to Him.

“how he maketh intercession [to pray] to God against Israel” – Elijah prayed, complaining about how Israel had turned from the LORD and had gone into idolatry.

“saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life” – Israel had rebelled against God by worshiping Baal, killing the prophets of God and destroying the altars that had been used to worship God. Elijah felt like he was the only one left in Israel that still served God and now his life was in danger (1 Kings 19:10, 14).

4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

“But what saith the answer of God unto him?” – Paul wants us to remember what God said when He responded to Elijah’s prayer.

“I have reserved [to cause to be left over] to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal” – God told Elijah that despite the fact that the vast majority of Israel had forsaken Him, He had kept for Himself 7,000 men who were still faithful and had not engaged in the worship of Baal (1 Kings 19:18). The Greek word used for “reserved” implies that God had protected these 7,000 men so that they did not go astray and follow the majority of Israel into idolatry. These men represented the true Israel that would receive the promises of God (Rom. 9:6b “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel”).

“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election [choice] of grace” – Just as it was in Elijah’s day, God had reserved in Paul’s day a remnant of Jews who had a saving faith in Christ. Paul says this remnant exists according to (in accordance with) the “election of grace.” Some Bible translations render this phrase as “chosen by grace.” The idea is that God graciously chose to protect these people from being lured away into idolatry and rebellion against Him just as He did in Elijah’s day. They were not chosen because of any virtue or goodness within them but purely by God’s grace. Paul is saying that even though it looks like Israel is away from God and will never return, God is still in control and has preserved a remnant of Jews that still love Him. God will fulfill His promises to Israel through them.

6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Paul now presses the point that this remnant is being preserved by grace by showing that grace and works are mutually exclusive and cannot overlap in any way. Adding any works to grace violates the very definition of grace. Likewise adding any grace to works contradicts the definition of works. If you had a bottle of pure water and added the least bit of some other substance to it, the water ceases to be pure. Salvation is purely by God’s grace or else it is purely by the works of man. If by God’s grace, then man cannot contribute toward it. If it is by man’s works, then that man has to complete it on his own (an impossibility) without any grace from God to help. Salvation is either all of God or else it is none of God.

7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

“What then?” – What conclusion can we draw from these facts or what can we say in light of these facts?

“Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for” – The context of the last few chapters has been obtaining the righteousness through which we can become acceptable to God. Israel sought for righteousness but had not obtained it because they were seeking to earn their own righteousness by keeping the law.

Rom. 9:30-33 “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. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;”

Rom. 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”

“but the election [chosen] hath obtained it” – Israel as a nation had not obtained righteousness. On the other hand, the remnant of Jews that were chosen by God have obtained it through faith (v. 5).

“and the rest were blinded...unto this day” – If we temporarily ignore the portion in parenthesis, we see what Paul is saying. The Jews who are not part of God’s election had been blinded in Paul’s day and this blindness continues through to our present day. God has judicially blinded the Jews that are not His chosen because of their rejection of Christ. This does not mean that some individual Jews cannot be saved, but that the Jewish nation as a whole will not be saved until God removes their blindness (2 Cor. 3:13-16).

John 12:37-40 “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 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.”

“(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;)” – Returning to the portion in parentheses, Paul pulls from two different OT passages to show that what he is teaching is in agreement with the OT. The first part (“the spirit of slumber”) is from Isa. 29:10, a prophesy predicting judgment against Jerusalem because of their rebellion. The judgment will take the form of God allowing the enemies of the Jews to come against Jerusalem and a blindness upon the Jews so that they will be oblivious to the danger they are in. The second part (“eyes that they should not see…”) comes from Deut. 29:4, a passage where Moses is reminding Israel of how the LORD delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh with signs and miracles, and yet they have wandered the wilderness for the past 40 years because of their rebellion against the LORD. The verse that Paul draws from says “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day,” indicating that God had not allowed them to understand the significance of their sin enough to repent and be restored to the LORD, and for that reason they had spent 40 years in the wilderness.

9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

Paul quotes from a psalm of David talking about the consequences that the wicked bring upon themselves because of their sin: Psa. 69:22-23 “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.” The table was a place where one could sit and relax to partake of a meal, but the table of the wicked will become a place of downfall for them and they will not understand why or see it coming.

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

“I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall?” – The Jews have rejected Christ and God has rewarded them by blinding them so that they cannot believe. Paul asks if this situation is permanent.

“God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles” – Paul’s answer is “no” because God has a purpose in blinding the Jews for a period of time. Remember that the over-arching theme since at least chapter 8 has been the purposes of God. God’s purpose in the spiritual blindness of the Jews is to turn His attention to the salvation of Gentiles.

“for to provoke them to jealousy” – God’s purpose is that the Jews will see the Gentiles enjoying the riches of God’s grace and mercy and become envious. That envy will cause them to investigate and finally see that salvation comes through faith in Christ.

12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

If the rebellion of the Jews has resulted in the Gentiles becoming rich in the blessings of God, how much more will the Gentiles benefit when the Jews return to God and receive the blessings of the promises that God has made to them in full? This will happen during the millennial reign of Christ on earth and will continue throughout eternity.

Verses 13-36: Paul warns that Gentiles should not consider themselves superior to the Jews because the blessings they are receiving are rooted in the promises that God has made to Israel. It’s only by God’s grace that the Gentiles have been included and He could easily exclude the Gentiles from the blessings of Israel. The time of the Gentiles is temporary because the time is coming when God will remove the blindness from Israel and restore the Jews as His chosen people. All this serves God’s purpose and no man is able to question the wisdom of God for doing things this way.