Chapter 11
Paul discusses the current standing of Israel before God - as His chosen people, and as a nation.
Paul asks rhetorically if God has rejected Israel? Of course not. Paul uses himself as an example. He is of Israel in every way, and he is preaching the gospel, and saved by grace. Then he quotes Ezekiel where God says even though it seems all Israel has been rejected, He has reserved 7,000. And in Paul's day, this is also true, there is a remnant saved not by works (Law) but by grace. In our day too this is so.
However, for most of Israel, there is a "hardening" in effect. An inability to see the truth of the gospel. This is God's wrath for the sins of Manasseh, and then for their rejection of His Son. Their tickets are invalidated. They will not get in. What an awful fate, but the fate also of any who die without Christ. There will be no entry to heaven for those who die in their sins.
2025 - Paul's point is that Israel is not excluded from grace. God is angry with Israel still, but not to the point of sending that whole nation down through time into hell. Paul uses himself as an example of a Jew saved by grace. The further intimation is that even for the Jews in Paul's time, salvation was only through grace, through the completed work of Christ. The Law is not mentioned because it is completely gone, completely useless to Jew and Gentile alike. And one more note...God did not save "all Israel" in the past. He is not saving all Israel now. But looking ahead to vss 26-27, He absolutely WILL save all of Israel in the future.
2021 -
8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." [Rom 11:8 ESV]
vss 7-10 make it very clear that Israel is under a God-ordained "stupor" (the ESV word) such that they cannot comprehend grace - it's meaning, it's reason, it's person. It is not about intelligence, or familiarity with the word, or anything like that. They are as capable as Gentiles when it comes to the intellect. But the "connecting circuits" between Law and Grace are not there. They are shorted out. For the most part, then, Israel is "stuck" under the Law. No matter what you say or how you say it to someone like this, they will not understand because God won't let them understand. Such a terrible situation. And it is the same for all the non-elect. If God would blind his chosen people, why would he not blind the Gentiles? Perhaps this is the reason we should support Israel despite their problems. Out of pity for a whole people blinded to God's gift of grace. How can we not feel bad for them? We complain and whine that there is no justice in this world, but look at Israel. Look at the justice heaped on them for century upon century because of their idolatry and rejection of God. Millions have died in their sins with never a real chance to accept. There is justice in this world, too, and for my part, I would rather just rest on grace, thank you. I do not want justice for myself in this world, I want God's grace. If I want that for me, isn't it only right to want it also for "the other side"? Shouldn't I want grace for Biden and Pelosi and that whole lot if grace is what I choose for myself? Maybe the right way to pray is to ask for grace for the lost, both friend and enemy - NO MATTER who they might be, and add this prayer to it - 31 If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner! [Pro 11:31 ESV].
2025 - How do we interpret the "when" of this stupor? Paul is quoting from both Deuteronomy and David's Psalm 69. Is Paul making the point that the Jews have been blinded since Moses' time and that David reiterates this position, or is Paul saying that both Moses and David prophesied about the present condition of the Jews? And I still think it was with the sins of King Manasseh that God sort of "set aside" the Jews. The use of 1Ki 19:18 in reference to 7000 in the remnant during the time of Baal worship would imply that they were blinded and deafened long long ago. Blinded in very great measure, and yet the purity of Abraham's bloodline still preserved in those 7000. And surely all 12 tribes were represented in that...as all 12 will be represented in the 144,000.
11 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. [Rom 11:11 ESV]
The "stumble" was the rejection of Jesus as Messiah. Even though they messed this up, they are not forever fallen, forever under wrath. In fact, this was inevitable, required to fulfill the prophecies about how Jesus would die and who would be responsible, and required to open the gospel to the Gentiles - as part of God's wrath against Israel, they lose the exclusivity and favoritism that they had always boasted of. They are now just like everyone else. The further purpose of all this is to provoke Israel's jealousy in that Gentiles now have what was once only theirs, and they don't have it at all anymore. In the last days, it is this realization that God will use to bring the Jews to Jesus in great numbers. But until the age of the Gentiles is over, they are mostly blind.
2022 - In this verse, stumble is the translation of "eptaisan" (G4417) and fall is the translation of "pesosin" (G4098). They are very clearly contrasted as "separate" things. One can stumble without falling. Eptaisan is used only five times in the mGNT, and also in the KJV. Three of those times it is translated offend, once stumble, and once fall. Here are the definitions BLB shows for the word:
to cause one to stumble or fall
to stumble
to err, make a mistake, to sin
to fall into misery, become wretched
So it can mean fall in the sense of irrecoverable. It can have both meanings. A simple stumble or a total fall. That is disappointing. Hmm...the root word starts with pi. In this form, starting with epsilon, there is only this one occurrence.
Pesosin, on the other hand, has a very long list of possible meanings, but unlike eptaisan, they all have a sense of greater severity. I was going to leave them out because they're long, but here they are. They are important to see the contrast in these two words:
to descend from a higher place to a lower
to fall (either from or upon)
to be thrust down
metaph. to fall under judgment, came under condemnation
to descend from an erect to a prostrate position
to fall down
to be prostrated, fall prostrate
of those overcome by terror or astonishment or grief or under the attack of an evil spirit or of falling dead suddenly
the dismemberment of a corpse by decay
to prostrate one's self
used of suppliants and persons rendering homage or worship to one
to fall out, fall from i.e. shall perish or be lost
to fall down, fall into ruin: of buildings, walls etc.
to be cast down from a state of prosperity
to fall from a state of uprightness
to perish, i.e come to an end, disappear, cease
of virtues
to lose authority, no longer have force
of sayings, precepts, etc.
to be removed from power by death
to fail of participating in, miss a share in
These are serious possibilities. Just "fall" doesn't seem to be nearly a strong enough word to convey what the Greek word really indicates. This word, G4098, is used 90 times in the KJV. It is translated "fall" in 69 of those places. The house built on the rock did NOT fall(4098).
This is a VERY worthwhile word study, but 90 occurrences will take some time to get through. Putting it on my list. I think this is one of those words...no, this equal translation of extremely unequal words...is likely a source of much confusion. I would like to find out where those are.
This verse makes it very clear that Paul's audience has shifted somewhat:
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. [Rom 11:13-14 ESV]
Paul is telling the Gentiles that he is wielding God's own plan for the Jews to try and win some of them by the level of success he has with Gentile conversions. The numbers are what make the Jews jealous....Paul is "giving it all away to the unworthy".
2025 - No, the 2022 note below is just wrong. His purpose is to save all who will come to him, Jew and Gentile alike. We cannot discard the verses that talk about there being neither Jew nor Gentile but that all are the same. Under grace at least, under the New Covenant, we are not second class. We must fear God, we must maintain our faith, but if we do so, we are as much Jew as a physical descendant of Abraham. This is what the church is. All one, all the same body. Each just as absolutely saved and as much a son as any other in the body.
2022 - Another example of just how "second class" we really are. Paul says he's only preaching to us so Jews will get jealous and be saved. His purpose isn't really about us. We are just a tool he uses to manipulate "real people", meaning Jews. We're only dogs to them after all.
2022 - And then Paul reminds us that even though we barely qualify for grace, it is only because of the Jews that we get it at all. We might call vss 17-18 anti-Semitism verses.
And this verse, admonishing Gentiles not to get boastful about their own place in the whole scheme of things:
18 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. [Rom 11:18 ESV]
This dire warning to the Gentiles:
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. [Rom 11:21 ESV]
God blinded the natural branches. If the Gentiles - as a whole - get to the point of rejecting God as the Jews have - God will cut the Gentiles off just as severely as he did the Jews. Is this the trigger that will usher in the Tribulation? The great "falling away" will be a falling away of the Gentile nations of the world, with the result that God hardens Gentiles then even as he opens the eyes and hearts of the Jews. It will flip flop yet again. That is why the conversions during the tribulation will mostly, almost exclusively, be the Jews. With the Gentiles hardened, and Gentiles aren't even God's chosen but just people who got lucky when the chosen messed up, they will refuse to convert even in light of the escalating judgements God sends on the world. They will not convert, and will receive the stored up wrath of God against the world even as He saves the Jews who are in it. The church, made up almost exclusively of saved believing Gentiles, will be raptured out somewhere near the beginning of this time period, and very few more will be saved.
Don't believe it can happen this way? This verse:
24 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. [Rom 11:24 ESV]
This needs to be on the website. First the verse about hardening, then verse 11 showing our entre' and the reasons for it, and then the warning of what is going to come. I don't think it will work on FB, but it will on the website.
26 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"; 27 "and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." [Rom 11:26-27 ESV]
This is about the Millennial. The Deliverer in Zion is Jesus in the Millennial reign, and the covenant is the one that says "I will put my law in their hearts, and they won't need to be taught, and their stony (hardened) hearts will turn to flesh. This seems to corroborate the interpretation above. The Gentiles will be hardened for the tribulation, and the Jews will come in great numbers and populate Jerusalem in the Millennial, since God will have saved them out of tribulation by hiding them in the desert.
2022 - Note the exact wording though: "...he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.". That sounds like ALL the Jews alive at the beginning of wrath are going to be saved. NOT just the 144,000, NOT just most of them, but ALL the remaining Jews.
Wow! The Bible is a spectacular book. Who could ever doubt its source?
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. [Rom 11:29 ESV]
This verse is NOT about perseverance of the saints per se. This verse is about God's promises to Israel ultimately being fulfilled. They are His chosen people. He will be their God and they will be His people. This is irrevocable.
32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. [Rom 11:32 ESV]
The Jews disobedient that the Gentiles can be saved. The Gentiles disobedient so that the Jews can be grafted back in. Each is "assigned" a period of disobedience deserving of God's wrath so that the other might be prompted to repentance.
2022 - Fits also with the inherited corruption from Adam's sin. That makes ALL disobedient and in need of mercy. It is humanly insurmountable and locks us away from the presence of God. This verse is his reason for making sin universal.
2023 - And the reason that sin had to enter the world? You cannot be merciful to the uncondemned. You cannot appreciate mercy if you have never needed mercy. Mercy is elevated as a virtue if it is sorely needed. Every everyone is fatally infected, and the cure is mercy, how valuable does mercy become, how much to be sought after? We think of hell as God's justice, but just look at how much he poured into showing us His mercy!
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! [Rom 11:33 ESV]
This is what I tried to say above, starting with "Wow!". Paul says it a lot better.