I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
I ask, then or say therefore, depending on your translation, connects Paul’s thoughts in chapter 11 with his concluding statements of chapter 10 describing Israel as a disobedient and rebellious people (10:21). The majority of the nation had rejected the Gospel and Jesus as the Messiah while simultaneously spoke against them. The opening words of verse one indicate that Paul meant for his letter to be read out loud to those gathered in the small churches throughout Rome by a trained scribe employed by Phoebe (16:1).
Since Israel at large had rejected Jesus as the prophesied Messiah, they were still looking to hurry the Messiah’s coming through certain religious acts and obedience (10:6-7). Because of their blatant rejection and continued rebellion, both Jewish and Gentile converts must have wondered if God had rejected or cast off the very people He had chosen for Himself.
Many passages in the Old Testament express the unwavering and irrevocable commitment of Yahweh to Israel (1 Samuel 12:22; Psalm 89:31-37, 94:14, 105:8-10, 106:44-45; Nehemiah 9:26-27, 30-31); Jeremiah 30:10-11, 31:10)! These Scriptures allow Paul to confidently and emphatically answer this question with, “Of course not!” This phrase that Paul uses to answer the posed question expresses disgust at the possibility. God’s grace always surpasses His people’s sin! Paul proceeds to give reasons for his answer.
Without mentioning any Scriptures about God’s covenant with Israel and His faithfulness to them in the past, Paul uses himself as an example to show that God has not abandoned His people. Paul reminded his audience that he was an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Paul implies an unbroken line of succession by being a descendant of Abraham, the father of Israel, humanly speaking. Being from the tribe of Benjamin connects him to King Saul, Israel’s first king, as he was also from the tribe of Benjamin and to one of the most essential prophets to the Jewish people, Elijah. By being a descendant of God’s people, Paul uses himself, as one believing in Jesus as the Messiah, as proof for God not having cast off His chosen people entirely.
2 No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”[a]
No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Paul cites 1 Samuel 12:22 and Psalm 93:14-15 in the opening sentence of 11:2 with a couple of changes to apply the Scriptures to his day and current situation. Paul changes the verb tense from future tense in the Old Testament passages to present tense here in 11:2. This change clarifies that God has not broken this promise He made, even in the case of the Jews who had and were still presently rejecting the Gospel. Secondly, Paul uses God instead of Lord to remove the possibility of anyone thinking that Jesus spoke these words.
It is also vital for us to remember that God does not have an unselect button for those He has chosen from before the foundation of the world. This foreknowledge and choosing of God cannot be undone. Being reminded of God’s unbreakable chain of salvation in Romans 8:29-30 is support enough of this truth. Our God has entered into a covenant with us, and just like He hasn’t abandoned Israel, He will not leave us but will finish in us what He has started (Philippians 1:6).
Paul continues to build his case for God not abandoning His people by calling his hearers to remember the account of Elijah. Paul assumes that what he is about to say is common knowledge to his audience, indicated by the sentence, “Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this?” Paul uses the exact phrasing in Romans 6:16 when speaking about general knowledge, but here, he uses it concerning a specific Scriptural and historical event. The question’s form requires all hearers to give a positive answer. They must answer with, “Of course we do!” Paul moves in for the spike and match point following the perfect set.
Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” After the unquestionable defeat of Baal and his prophets on Mount Carmel, Elijah goes into hiding, fearing Queen Jezebel and her desire to kill him (1 Kings 19:1-3). This depressed, runaway prophet hid in a cave on Mount Sinai. Romans 11:3 is virtually identical to 1 Kings 19:10, but some differences need to be considered. Lord is absent from the beginning of the Kings’ passage, though we know that Elijah is conversing with the LORD (1 Kings 19:9-10). Paul is letting us know that Elijah was praying by including Lord at the beginning of his citation. This verse will continue to build Paul’s case for God not abandoning Israel, but it also teaches us that prayer, among other things, is simply a conversation with our Heavenly Father.
Paul gives Elijah’s answer to the LORD after being asked by God why he is hiding in the cave. Elijah tells the LORD that the people of Israel had killed all His prophets and torn down His altars; now their sites are set on him, the last prophet! In Paul’s usage of 1 Kings 19:10 in Romans 11:3, he switches the order of the people’s sins. In Romans, Paul places the killing of God’s prophets before the tearing down of His altars, whereas in 1 Kings, the order has the tearing down of Yahweh’s altars followed by the murdering of His prophets. Since there was nothing equal to the tearing down of Yahweh’s altars during Paul’s day, he emphasizes the Jews who continued to reject Jesus and persecute those who accepted and followed Him as indicated in Paul’s word usage, just like they did Elijah and other prophets in the past. Elijah believed himself to be the only one faithful to God at the time while being Israel’s most wanted; perhaps he thought the LORD had abandoned His people. Despite what Elijah might have guessed, God was working out His electing purposes in history with an Israel within Israel (9:6) and graciously preserved 7,000 prophets.
4 And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”[b]
Paul knows that his audience remembers God’s reply to Elijah. Once again, Paul masterfully leads his hearers to where they need to go to understand that God has not cast off His beloved people. The Apostle reminds his listeners that God had preserved a remnant of 7,000 prophets who had never paid their respects or prayed to Baal. The sheer number of loyal prophets is proof of God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel and a testimony that God will and can carry out His redemptive plan for all history. Even though most Israelites had rejected Yahweh during Elijah’s time, there was a faithful remnant. Paul mentioned this remnant in Romans 9:27, as he quoted Isaiah 10:22-23. At no time has the entire nation of Israel been true to God, yet God has been faithful to Israel by always preserving a believing remnant for Himself, the spiritual children of Abraham (2:25-29; 4:1-5).
5 It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel[c] have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. 6 And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.
Just like the remnant during Elijah’s day proved God’s covenantal faithfulness, Paul and other believing Jews during the time of his writing were proof that God was still being true to His promises. Messianic Jews are Jews who have believed in and accepted Jesus as Messiah and are living proof of this same truth today. Paul and other Messianic Jews, the 7,000 loyal prophets of Elijah’s day, and present believers can remain faithful to God because of His undeserved kindness in choosing His people.
To avoid risking the chance of leading his audience down a pathway of error, the Apostle wanted to make sure anyone hearing or reading his words understood that even the thousands of prophets chosen by God during Elijah’s lifetime had not done anything to merit their choosing by God as His faithful. The sixth verse of Romans 11 provides a complete definition of grace. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve out of His choosing and loving-kindness. Once again, we see the attribute of God’s sovereignty mentioned by Paul and the doctrine of election, specifically in verse 5. God’s choosing us should cause great peace and assure us of our right standing before Him. After all, if we didn’t initiate our relationship with Him, what makes us think we can sustain our relationship with Him? Paul has already reminded us that God is faithful, and because He is reliable, He will do what He says He will do concerning those who are His! Again, while this teaching of Scripture should cause great joy within the believer concerning themselves and their relationship with God, now and for eternity, we may continue to wrestle with the issue of fairness regarding God and Him rescuing people from their sin.
Since Paul zeros in on grace in verse five, I think it appropriate to mention that it is essential to remember God’s grace when we think about God’s election. According to Romans 3:23, everyone has sinned and continually fall short of God’s glorious or perfect standard. What every person deserves, better stated, earned, for breaking a holy and eternal God’s law is death. A physical death that leads to an eternity separated from God in hell (6:23a). This is what we deserve; this is what we have earned. Yet, the gift of life is through Jesus Christ our Lord (6:23b). Gifts are given out of a loving kindness someone has for another person, often underserved, with the exception of a thank you gift. This gift of life through Jesus to sinners is always underserved, offered by God’s grace, and received through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9). God doesn’t have to rescue anyone from their sin, but because He is gracious, He chooses some to escape judgment and enjoy Him both now and forever.
7 So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened.
8 As the Scriptures say,
“God has put them into a deep sleep.
To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see,
and closed their ears so they do not hear.”[d]
9 Likewise, David said,
“Let their bountiful table become a snare,
a trap that makes them think all is well.
Let their blessings cause them to stumble,
and let them get what they deserve.
10 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see,
and let their backs be bent forever.”[e]
As a result of God’s graciously choosing some, the majority of Abraham’s physical descendants through Isaac have yet to find the favor of God they so diligently seeking (10:2-3). The ones that have found this favor of God have done so because they have placed their faith in Jesus, their Messiah, the one who kept the law in every way and by doing so have been made right with God (10:4). In the latter part of verse seven, we have God’s work of choosing of some for salvation and the hardening the hearts of others. The way that Paul describes the hardening taking place of the unbelieving Israelites’ hearts is done by an outside force. This outside power is God as proclaimed by the law and the prophets (Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10). God prophesied through His Word that it was His plan to harden the hearts of those who harden themselves by rejecting the Gospel. God’s judicial hardening on a person’s heart is never separate from the effort of one hardening their on heart (Exodus 4:21, 8:15, 8:32, 9:12, 9:34, 10:1, 10:21).
Paul cites Isaiah 29:10 and Deuteronomy 29:4 in the eighth verse of chapter eleven. Isaiah 29:1-4 speaks of the difficulty that the residents of Jerusalem will experience because of the coming siege and attack by Assyria. However, in 29:5, we see that God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will act on their behalf, and this is what happens in Isaiah 37:36-37 when the Angel of the LORD killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers! After Isaiah prophesies about the coming siege and victory, he points out their willful blindness to the things of God (29:9) that leaves them hopelessly staggering like a drunken blind man. Since they refused to see God’s holiness, their sinfulness, and need to return to covenantal faithfulness, the LORD put them into a deep sleep. In the same way, God judged the generation of Israelites in Isaiah’s day by giving them as a whole a heart unaroused by Him or His Word; He caused those who refused to understand, see, and hear His revelation of Jesus, His Son, and Messiah, to become unaffected at all by the offer of salvation through the Messiah.
In Deuteronomy, Moses reviewed the covenant with the generation of Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land. The prophet reminds Israel of what they have seen God do on their behalf before warning them of God’s judgment for disobedience once in the land. Before arriving at the curses they would experience for breaking the covenant, Moses reminded some of what they had experienced firsthand in God’s mighty deliverance of them from Egypt. Following this reminder, Moses states, ” But to this day the Lord has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!” Why did the people experience such a dullness to God’s revelation of Himself? Perhaps because they hadn’t seen the need to ask Him for such understanding, God didn’t provide such wisdom; this might have been the reason for Moses’ statement concerning their spiritual condition. God’s chosen people didn’t see their need to know the LORD and fully understand His known ways for His glory and their benefit. Moses would remind the people of everything the LORD had promised, both blessings and cursing, to spark a desire to know their God and therefore ask Him for a mind to know eyes to see, and ears to hear Him better.
In both Old Testament circumstances, the nation of Israel had refused at worst or ignored God’s revelation of Himself at best. Many of the Jews during Paul’s time were also guilty of rejecting God’s final revelation of Himself, Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-2). May we humble ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to grant us a mind for understanding, eyes to see God rightly, and ears to hear His voice clearly so that we might know Him better and become more like His Son. By making this a regular prayer, we can avoid God’s discipline of causing us to become spiritually dull.
Paul finishes our passage of Scripture by quoting from Psalm 69:22-23. Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm and expresses grief over the Messiah’s suffering. The Psalm also pronounces judgment on those enemies of God who cause the suffering and pain of His Anointed One. A person’s table describes a place of safety, feasting, and sustenance. However, the Jews (and anyone else for that matter) who seek to earn God’s favor through a diet of religious acts, family heritage, good works, another way besides Jesus, etc., will be left in danger of experiencing God’s wrath, spiritually famished and spiritually empty.
Because Israel as a whole refused to see the things of God, especially those pertaining to Jesus as their Messiah, God legally rendered her as a nation blind. Their backs being bent might refer to the hunched-over position of a blind person walking while groping for things as they feel their way down an unknown path and to an unseen destination. To this day, the majority of Israelites still reject the truth that their Messiah has already come and offers a right standing with God through Himself. Because of this rejection, they walk around in spiritual darkness. However, God has not cast the people He once accepted away but is still calling those descendants of Abraham chosen in Christ in eternity past to Himself. Paul, Paul’s fellow believers, and Messianic Jews today and throughout history are proof of God’s faithfulness to Israel as His own. One day, all of Israel will be saved when God removes the sleep from their eyes, and they see Him, the One Whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10). Since He is faithful to His promises He made to Israel, we can be confident that the LORD will also be devoted to keeping those He has made to us, His bride, His Church.
Footnotes
- 11:3 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.
- 11:4 1 Kgs 19:18.
- 11:5 Greek for a remnant.
- 11:8 Isa 29:10; Deut 29:4.
- 11:9-10 Ps 69:22-23 (Greek version).
Additional Resources for Romans 11
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