ROMANS: Justification By Faith
by J. W. Jepson, D.Min.
Copyright © 2007 by J. W. Jepson.
All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof: The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this book in whole or in part, without changes or alterations*, and with the author’s name and copyright information intact, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes. *Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New King James Version.
(NKJV) Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible, New King James Version are copyright © 1990 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
(NIV) Scripture quotations from the Holy Bible, New International Version are copyright © 1973, 1978, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
(NASB) Scripture quotations from the New American Standard Bible are copyright © 1972, The Lockman Foundation.
Scripture quotations from the Amplified Bible are copyright © 1958-1987, Zondervan Corporation and The Lockman Foundation.
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Contents:
11. God Knows What He Is Doing (Romans 9:1 – 33)
12. Believe–Call–Be Saved (Romans 10:1 – 21)
13. The Olive Tree Connection (Romans 11:1 – 36)
11
God Knows What He Is Doing
Romans 9
Romans chapters nine through eleven form what is called a theodicy. A theodicy is an explanation and defense of the ways God deals with man. In this theodicy the issue is God's dealings with Israel.
Paul had just established that the Jews as well as the Gentiles are under the power and guilt of sin. The Jews had a special covenant relationship with God with all the obligations, privileges and blessings of that relationship. Yet as a nation they forfeited it by their disobedience. They had the Law Of Moses; yet they did not attain to the righteousness that is embodied in that Law. By sinning under that Law they incurred its penalty instead of its blessings.
As a nation, Israel failed. Does that mean God failed? Was God's purpose in Israel defeated? Were all the promises of God concerning Israel abrogated and voided? Did God's faithful dealings with the covenant people over the centuries come to nothing? Did God arbitrarily change His mind, abandon His purpose to produce a righteous nation, and declare the whole effort a colossal failure?
As we shall see, the answer is a resounding NO!
Romans 9:1-3
1I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
Paul begins the theodicy by a triple declaration of his intense burden for Israel. That triple declaration is rooted in the truth of Christ, guaranteed by Paul's personal integrity, and confirmed by the witness of the Holy Spirit in his own conscience.
Let it be understood that Paul is not expressing disdain for the Jews. He is expressing grief over Israel.
Although Paul was an apostle to the Gentiles, he still carried in his heart a heavy burden and continual sorrow for those who were his fellow Israelites “according to the flesh.” That unceasing grief was so great that he was “at the point of wishing” that he could forfeit his own salvation for theirs—take their place in hell and give them his place in Heaven—were that even possible. This brings to mind Moses's same selfless love for Israel (see Exodus 32:31 - 33).
Paul's intense love for “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6) drove him to deep intercessory prayer and intense efforts to save as many of them as he could.
Romans 9:4 and 5
4who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
Paul continues by listing Israel's seven special covenant privileges (see also Romans 3:1, 2). These lead up to the consummation of God's Old Covenant purpose in Israel, and to the reason for the seven-fold privileges He bestowed on them—to be the human, social and cultural matrix for the coming of the Messiah. Their seven-fold heritage culminated in one hope—the Messiah—the God Who is over all, eternally blessed! Amen—it is an eternally established fact. The question of who Jesus is is settled once and for all. All controversy and speculation to the contrary is an exercise in futility.
How blessed indeed Israel was. The greatest blessing of all was that God would bring about the Incarnation—the hypostatic union of God and man in Jesus Christ—in Israel. The humanity of Jesus was Jewish.
Romans 9:6 - 8
6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 8That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Israel's promised and prophesied destiny was not nullified. God's word cannot fail or be nullified. God's word concerning Israel did not fail to take effect. Rather, it is in full effect.
The key: divine election. This involves the identification of “Israel” as defined by the word of God—the word of promise, as we shall see in verse 9. Promise is the defining word and the determining principle (see Galatians 3:29 and context).
Not all who are the physical descendants of Israel (Jacob) and not all who are members of the human polity of Israel are truly Israel as God recognizes and designates them. Remember Romans 2:28 and 29. God knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2:19). God knows His “Israel”—as defined by His word—and all of His sovereign purposes in Israel concerning election, righteousness, and salvation are fulfilled in them. The unbelieving Israelites failed (especially when they rejected the Messiah), but God did not fail and neither did His covenant dealings with Israel through the centuries.
God's covenant children—not merely the biological children—have always been the children of promise. The children of the promise are the true “seed” of Abraham.
Romans 9:9 - 13
9For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
This principle (that the promise is determinative) is illustrated by God's sovereign election at the earliest events in the nation's history. Abraham fathered many sons (Genesis 25). The determinative promise to Abraham was that Sarah would have a son. What made Isaac unique was the promise. Only Isaac was the chosen and promised seed. This election of Isaac excluded Ishmael from the promise. It also excluded all of Abraham's other sons from the promise, even though they were Abraham's physical descendants.
The promise given by divine election was narrowed even further. When Rebekah was pregnant by Isaac, God spoke to her that the elder of her two sons (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob). See Genesis 25:23. This was before the twin boys were even born, and long before they came to the age when they would be able to do any good or evil.
The reason? “That the purpose of God according to election might stand.” God did not wait to see how Jacob and Esau would turn out before He made His choice. God knew ahead of time what kind of person each one would become, and, being sovereign, He has the right to take that foreknowledge into consideration in His determinative election. He knows where to grant His grace effectively. The point here is that God does not react to us, our choices, and our works. He is proactive in His calling.
In verse 13 Paul quotes Malachi 1:2 and 3. God loves all human beings as persons. He desires and works for their highest and greatest good. Some have made themselves hateful to God and so have placed themselves under His total disapproval unless and until they repent.
So, why did God love Jacob and hate Esau before they were even born? Because God foreknew them. He foreknew how each would turn out. He foreknew not only what they would do but also what they would become.
God's sovereign election is never arbitrary. Election is conditioned by foreknowledge, not the other way around (Romans 8:28 and 1 Peter 1:2).
Romans 9:14
14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
Here Paul anticipates a likely question and summarily dismisses it. Based on God's revealed character, the obvious answer is “May it never be!”
The question arises from the mistaken notion that sovereignty equals arbitrariness. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God's sovereignty means that He does not have to ask anyone's permission to do what He does, and He does not have to explain to anyone why He does it. That does not mean that God does not have sufficiently good and wise reasons for His sovereign purposes and decrees. He most certainly does. Given the natural and moral qualities of God, reason requires us to believe that God acts in full accord with all of His natural and moral qualities, including love, foreknowledge, and wisdom. It is nonsense to assume that God's sovereignty requires Him to act arbitrarily in opposition to His character and without regard to His foreknowledge and wisdom.
We have solid ground for complete confidence in God in all things. We must never form our concept of God out of the raw materials of our life experiences. If we do, we will always come up with a false view of God. A mental image of God is just as false as a metal image. We must build on God's self-revelation. God loves us; He knows what He is doing and what He allows to happen, and why; He makes everything work together for good to them who love Him (Romans 8:28). Settle this in your soul, and nothing that happens in life will shatter your faith.
Romans 9:15 - 24
15For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Even though election is according to foreknowledge, it is still sovereign. From the firm negative answer in verse 14, the apostle proceeds (verse 15) to reaffirm divine sovereignty by quoting God's statement to Moses in Exodus 33:19.
God has mercy and compassion on whom He chooses. The fact that it is mercy means that God does not owe anything to anyone. If He did, His favor would be an obligation of justice, not an act of mercy. Grace is getting what we do not deserve; mercy is not getting what we do deserve.
Verse 16 says that God's mercy and compassion on us do not originate in our will and actions. The ground—the origin and originating cause—is God's mercy. Believers cannot boast that they made the first move, that they came to God by their own initiative. Left to ourselves, we would never be saved. In order to save us God had to overcome our reluctance—our stubbornness—by effectively applying the truth to our minds and hearts by His Spirit.
The conclusion is that people are elected to salvation because of what God did, not because of what people do. That is, God did not choose us because we became willing; we became willing because God chose us. Had God left us to ourselves and had the choice been left entirely up to us, we would never have turned to God on our own initiative. God took the initiative in our salvation. God's mercy on us was not His response to our “willing” and “running.”
It is a practical impossibility to come to God by our own will while we are in a morally unregenerate state—that is, we cannot do what we refuse to do as long as we keep refusing to do it. We have free will. The “will” is the essential voluntary function of the soul. Left to ourselves we invariably use that free will to become voluntary slaves to sin. We come to God only when God in His mercy turns our will by drawing us to Himself, away from the selfish set of our will. To do this God employs the moral, persuasive influences of His Spirit, His church, and His word. He also uses a whole combination of influences and life situations in the difficult task of waking us up and moving us to repentance and faith.
The person who thinks “I'll turn to God when I am ready” is kidding himself/herself—and worse. That person has set his or her will in the wrong direction (no, we were not born that way; we did it ourselves). That person is already resisting every gracious appeal of the Holy Spirit, reason, conscience, the church, the gospel, godly family and friends, and every other positive influence. And will that “will” left to itself ever turn to God? That person has two options: dream on and wake up terrified in hell, or wake up now and run to Christ.
Yes, the will yields (and eagerly so!), but only after it has been fully awakened and persuaded by God's merciful influences.
Pharaoh.
God's sovereignty in both election and reprobation is further illustrated by what God did to and through Pharaoh. In verse 17 the apostle quotes Exodus 9:16.
The historical narrative says that sometimes Pharaoh hardened his heart and sometimes God hardened his heart. What does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Does it mean that God forced Pharaoh to choose and act as he did? At those moments did Pharaoh cease being a free moral agent and become a temporary robot?
Of course not. First of all, God never hardens the heart of anyone who has not already hardened his or her own heart. Pharaoh was already a hardened sinner before Moses and Aaron arrived on the scene. When God “hardened” Pharaoh's heart, He merely withdrew any special divine influences and allowed Pharaoh to be his own sinful self, think his own sinful thoughts and make his own sinful choices.
It was as though God were saying to Pharaoh, “Go ahead, Pharaoh. Do what you want to do. I won't stop you. In fact, I will use what you are going to do to show My power and declare My Name to all the surrounding nations. I am the One who providentially put you in your position as ruler over Egypt. I know—as I have always known—what a proud, hard-hearted person you would make of yourself. I could restrain you, but instead I will remove My restraint and let you go ahead and be as hard-hearted as you are determined to be. I created your free moral agency, and now I will let you use the moral abilities that I gave you to further your own depravity. I will let your selfish, evil thoughts run loose.”
This is called “judicial blindness.” God shuts the “eyes” of those who persistently refuse to see. He does this out of love for them. Some people are determined to go to hell. God knew before they were born who and what they would make of themselves. So the more light they have, the greater will be their condemnation for rejecting it. So God deliberately withholds light from them so they will have less light to sin against in this life and less to give account for at the judgment.
So God has good and wise reasons for having mercy on some and hardening others. He knows where to invest the resources of His grace effectively and where not to allow those resources to be trampled under feet.
The conclusion is re-emphasized in verse 18. Yes, both election and reprobation are facts clearly taught in The Scriptures. From Romans 8:29 and 1 Peter 1:2 we are told that this is according to God's foreknowledge.
In verse 14 the apostle asks the question, “what shall we say?” and then answers it. Now in verse 19 he anticipates what some objector will say (and many do say). This is not necessarily a “dumb” question. Rather, it arises “logically” out of a misperception of the sovereignty of God.
In response the apostle does not refer back to what he had already established in 8:29—that divine election and by implication also reprobation are according to God's foreknowledge. Instead, he continues to press the truth of divine sovereignty.
“Who are you . . .?” Think about who He is whose justice you are calling into question! Find out something about God; learn who He is; know Him and His character; understand His ways. If you do, you will not question Him.
The question anticipated in verse 19 is a libelous assault on the very character and integrity of God. It assumes that God does not act out of love, that God is arbitrary, that He does not have sufficiently good and wise reasons for what He sovereignly purposes.
The Potter And The Clay.
In verses 20 - 24 Paul refers to the potter and his clay to illustrate the truth of God's sovereignty. The potter can take clay and make a beautiful vase. Out of the same batch of clay he can make a trash receptacle. It is his choice.
The human potter has the right and the ability to make different containers out of the same batch of clay. Likewise, God has the authority to do what He chooses with the human beings He has created. God is the Creator; we are the created. He is the Potter; we are the clay. God can do with us whatever He has chosen. The assumption is that the human “creator” knows what he is doing and why. The assumption is far greater in regard to God, the divine Creator. God knows what He is doing and why.
The analogy of the potter and the clay contains both a comparison and a contrast. Jesus did this in the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow (Luke 18). The comparison is this: the earthly potter and the heavenly Potter each uses the same clay to produce different results. The contrast is this: the earthly potter uses clay from the same batch arbitrarily because no potential difference exists between the clay used for one purpose and the clay used for the opposite purpose. The clay is an inert, passive substance. On the other hand, the common “batch” of human “clay” that the heavenly Potter uses does have a potential difference for the contrasting ways it is used. The human “clay” actively participates one way or the other in its response to the Potter.
On both sides of the analogy the potter/Potter acts sovereignly. The human potter acts arbitrarily in his sovereignty. The heavenly Potter does not act arbitrarily in His sovereignty. The natural and moral qualities of the heavenly Potter are fully involved in His purposes and providences. God's foreknowledge wisely and justly conditions His sovereign choices.
Any analogy between the human use of inanimate objects (clay) and God's use of human beings has an inherent limitation. Inanimate objects do not have a will; human beings do. In verse 21 Paul rises above this limitation. A human potter does not have to “endure” (bear with) self-willed resistance and rebellion from the clay he is working with. The exact opposite is the case with God's dealings with human beings. We do have a will and we are exercising it vigorously either in loving obedience or selfish disobedience.
In 2 Timothy 2:20 and 21 the inspired apostle again brings up the analogy of the contrasting types of vessels and emphasizes the role of our free will in the matter. “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Thus our free will conditions how God in His sovereignty deals with us. God never exercises His sovereignty in violation of or at the expense of the other qualities of His being and His character: love, wisdom, and justice. Also, in the exercise of His sovereignty God never violates the laws of our God-given being by forcing our will. A “will” that is forced is no will at all.
So then, although willing to show His wrath and make His power known, in the wise and judicious conduct of His sovereignty God “endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (verse 22).
Verses 22 through 24 form one long question. “What if God . . .?” The “what if” is His sovereign purpose. In His foreknown purpose God anticipated both the character and the behavior of the “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” He also foreknew the effectiveness of His work of grace in the “vessels of mercy which He had prepared beforehand for glory.” “Vessels” (containers) denotes purpose of use.
The character of the “vessels of wrath” did not take God by surprise. He foreknew them, their character, and their behavior. In His eternal purpose God “prepared” them for destruction because He knew that is how they would prepare themselves. God had to endure them with much longsuffering, enduring even their rejection of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Their only usefulness to God in the overall scheme of things is to give Him an occasion and means to demonstrate His judicial wrath on sin and to reveal His power. That in itself provides a valuable instructive deterrent to any potential future destructive rebellion against Him and His just and benevolent moral rule. Their purpose is to serve as an everlasting warning.
God knew that they would not repent, and He will not force them. So why does God put up with them? Why did God give Noah's generation so many years to repent? Why would He have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if only 10 righteous had been found there? Why did He put up with the Amorites over a 400 year period until their iniquities were full (Genesis 15:16)?
“To show His wrath and make His power known.” Remember, “vessels” signifies usefulness for a purpose. God can even make the wrath of man to praise Him (Psalm 76:10). Even the reprobates (the ones who by their own persistent disobedience seal their own doom in God's foreknowledge) are not totally useless to God.
By contrast, God's sovereign foreordained purpose in saving the “vessels of mercy” gave Him the perfect occasion and means to “make known the riches of His glory.” As God's just judgment on the vessels of wrath provides a powerful negative deterrent to sin, so His mercy on the “vessels of mercy” provide a powerful positive motivation for eternal loving obedience.
So two things God wants to make fully known once and for all to the universe of moral beings: the full guilt of sin by His absolute judicial opposition (wrath) on those who practice sin, and the riches of His glory on the “vessels” of mercy.
“Called” in verse 24 takes us back to 8:28. It refers not to the universal call of the gospel but to the effective call of the elect (“the called”). These are the foreknown elect. These are the product of God's mercy through Jesus Christ. God's saving mercy is contrasted to our own works. That sovereign divine mercy is the theme of the entire Theodicy (chapters 9 - 11).
God's purpose is to reveal the riches of His glory on the “vessels” of mercy. The “called” are the showcase of the fullness of God's love in all of its many-splendored wonder and beauty.
This ties in with Ephesians 3:8 - 11. When Satan and his angels rebelled and also when mankind sinned, the holy angels saw a fearful demonstration of the holiness and justice of God. Such a demonstration of the justice of God without a corresponding demonstration of His mercy would have left them forever with an incomplete and unbalanced knowledge of the character of God. Satan rebelled. Adam and Eve sinned. The human race except for Noah and his family were wiped out by the Flood. Israel seemingly failed. What is God doing? Then God revealed His many-splendored wisdom in the Church. The principalities and powers in the heavenlies saw it and from then on and forever they now have a revelation of the whole character of God that they never would or could have had otherwise.
Verse 24 ties this section to the main subject of the Theodicy. The “vessels of mercy” include all who accept God's mercy in Jesus Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. Now we understand that God's dealings with Israel through the centuries were not a series of failures and frustrations interspersed with occasional seasons of temporary renewal. All along God had a purpose. That purpose was revealed in the coming of the Messiah—the Christ. The Jews who received Him received God's mercy and became the heirs of “the riches of His glory.” Out of all Israel they alone received the blessings of Abraham and inherited the promises. They are the remnant of Israel (see verse 27). They do not possess this mercy alone, for God through Jesus Christ opened the door of mercy to all who will believe, both Jews and Gentiles. This fact is emphasized in the prophecies of Hosea and Isaiah.
Romans 9:25, 26
25As He says also in Hosea:
“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26”And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
To demonstrate that this was God's purpose and plan from the beginning, Paul corroborates it by Old Testament passages. He refers first to Hosea 1:2 - 10 and 2:23.
Paul does not quote the entire passage in Hosea. Instead he calls attention to two verses: Hosea 1:10 and 2:23. These verses represent the prophetic message of the passage as a whole.
Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel during its decline and prior to its captivity in 721 B.C. Hosea's own tragic family life reflected and projected God's heartbreak and grief over Israel. Hosea's wife bore him a daughter to whom God gave the name Loruhamah, meaning “not having obtained mercy.” The child's name meant that God would no longer have mercy on the northern kingdom of Israel because of their intransigent spiritual “adultery.”
Hosea's next child was a son. God told Hosea to name him Loammi, meaning “not my people.” Thus these two children bore names that made them a living declaration that God no longer recognized the apostates in Israel as His people and therefore no longer recipients of His continued mercy.
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered . . .” (verse 10a).
How would this happen? If the unbelieving Israelites are no longer God's people, how can the number of the children of Israel become immeasurable?
The answer is the very point Paul is making in Romans 9. God turned to those who had not been His people and had not obtained mercy. That is, through Jesus Christ God opened the door of mercy to the Gentiles and brought all who believe on Christ (Jews and Gentiles) into the New Covenant as “sons of the living God.”
The apostle Peter declares the same truth in 1 Peter 2:9 and 10 when he writes to New Covenant believers, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” Peter's reference to Hosea is clear and definite.
Romans 9:27 - 29
27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
29And as Isaiah said before:
“Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.
As further attestation from the prophets, the second Old Testament passages Paul cites are found in Isaiah 10:22 and 1:9. These are strong and definite.
Isaiah 10:22 affirms the “remnant principle” (see 2 Kings 19:30, 31; Isaiah 11:10 - 16; 37:31, 32; Jeremiah 23:3; Joel 2:32; Micah 2:12, 13; 5:2 - 8; 7:18; Zephaniah 3:13). Paul returns to the “remnant principle” in Romans 11 (see 11:5).
So far as covenant relationship is concerned, only a remnant of Israel would be left. These are the ones who receive the Messiah. This “remnant principle” was declared by the Lord Jesus Christ when He warned the unbelieving Jews of His day, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matthew 21:43). We hear the echo of this in Peter's reference to believers in Christ as “a holy nation” (1 Peter 1:9). In fact, much earlier Peter had warned his fellow Jews that if they rejected the Messiah, the Prophet whom Moses foretold, they would be cut off from the people, excommunicated from Israel (Acts 3:22, 23, quoting Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19). Stephen also referred to this just before those who heard him stoned him to death (Acts 7:37).
Isaiah 1:9 is cited as even further evidence that God has always regarded the obedient among Israel as His true covenant people. The immoral idol worshipers certainly were not.
Romans 9:30 - 33
30What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33As it is written:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
The conclusion begins with verse 30. The Gentiles historically did not pursue righteousness. They were more interested in philosophy than in morality. They pursued passion, not piety. When the gospel was introduced, the believing Gentiles attained to (overtook and seized) true righteousness. It was not a process of self-improvement. It happened suddenly—by faith. The moment they repented and believed the gospel, they were made righteous before God!
Israel? They had been pursuing the law of righteousness but never arrived at it. It was an endless treadmill of external works, a “carrot-and-stick” pursuit.
Why? Verse 32 tells us. They pursued it by works, not by faith. They trusted their own religious and legal observances rather than trusting and obeying God from the heart. They missed the principle of righteousness by faith, even though it was plainly taught in The Scriptures (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4).
Faith in Christ alone for righteousness was a huge obstacle for them. They rejected it and therefore it became their “stumbling stone.” Millions of Jews have stumbled over it—over Him, as we see in the passage Paul quoted (Isaiah 28:16).
Jesus said it would happen, as we read in Matthew 21:42 - 44). Peter also quoted the passages in Isaiah that prophesied it (1 Peter 2:6 - 8).
“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” That is the good news. Jesus Christ will never disappoint those who truly and fully put their trust in Him. God will deliver on every promise He made to those who come to Christ. The riches of His glory are theirs both now and forever, always increasing, never ending!
12
Believe—Call—Be Saved
Romans 10
Romans 10:1
1Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
In all that he writes about Israel's failure to attain righteousness under the Law of Moses, the inspired apostle has no hostility toward the Jews as such. In fact, he himself was a Jew, a “Hebrew of the Hebrews” and a Pharisee (see Philippians 3:4 - 6). He had experienced personally the failure and frustration of the “wretched man” of Romans 7:24, the person whose passions defeated his reason and enslaved him. In Jesus Christ Paul found “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17), and he longed and prayed that his fellow Israelites also would be saved.
By “Israel” Paul means “Israel after the flesh” (1 Corinthians 10:18), his “kinsmen according to the flesh” for whom he was at the point of wishing himself accursed from Christ (Romans 9:1 - 5), in contrast to those who are defined as Jews “inwardly” (Romans 2:29) and “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16; Romans 9:6).
We notice that Paul did not pray for Israel's political freedom, cultural preservation, or national destiny. He prayed for them to be saved—to find true righteousness in Jesus Christ. Justification by faith is the theme of the epistle, and in that theme—that context—we find Paul's meaning in all he says in the epistle. This is essential to a right hermeneutic, especially when we come to Romans 11.
Romans 10:2 - 4
2For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Zeal without knowledge. As they directed their religious zeal toward the Law of Moses, the Jews who rejected Jesus the Messiah and only Savior failed to come to the full realization that they are giving their devotion to the very Law that condemns them because of their sins.
Jesus made this fact very clear. He warned the Jews who were hostile to Him, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:45 - 47). Not only did they break the Law Of Moses and thus incur its penalty; they also rejected what Moses wrote about Jesus (Deuteronomy 18:18), and thus they rejected their own Messiah and only hope of salvation.
Support for a law implies support for its penalties. A person can be justified by the Law only if that person never breaks the Law. Once a person violates the Law, he or she incurs its penalty. Since we have all sinned against the Law Of Moses, and more specifically the universal moral law embodied in it, enthusiasm for the Law is only enthusiasm for one's own eternal punishment.
The person who claims to live by the Ten Commandments does not realize what he or she is talking about.
One can achieve a certain external “righteousness” by observing the letter of the Law. This is a rightarian legalism that has no love in it. The rich young ruler did this (Mark 10:17 - 22). He did everything “right,” but when Jesus put His finger on the idol in the young man's heart, he went away sad.
Paul himself testified that before his conversion he was blameless “concerning the righteousness which is in the law” (Philippians 3:6), yet at the same time he was a “wretched man” (Romans 7:24) breathing out religion-inspired hate and violence (Acts 9:1).
Religion without righteousness. By living under the Law of Moses and giving their religious devotion to it, the unbelieving Jews ignorantly try to achieve righteousness by their devotion to their accuser. In their futile efforts to establish their own righteousness by works (impossible for those who are already condemned under the sentence of the Law), they totally miss the “God-kind” of righteousness that is by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17). They miss it because they refuse to submit to its basic requirement—faith, faith in the Messiah, faith that surrenders pride and humbly receives the gift.
Christ is the end (telos) of the Law so far as righteousness is concerned to everyone who believes. Telos means terminus ad quem, the terminal point. Christ brought an end to the Law as a means of attaining righteousness (salvation) because the Law failed to do so (Romans 9:31). Christ succeeds where the Law failed. Christ is the “destination” to Whom the Law led us (Galatians 3:24).
Romans 10:5 - 13
5For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
The Law requires perfect obedience; therefore, the person who chooses to be justified by the Law must never break the Law. That person must commit himself/herself to live by every precept of the Law. No disobedience; no failures. Any violation of the Law incurs its penalty.
The apostle quotes God's own words through Moses (Leviticus 18:5). Paul referred to the same words in his earlier epistle to the Galatians (Galatians 3:12. See also Ezekiel 20:11, 13).
Because all have sinned (Romans 3:23), justification (righteousness) by the Law is no longer an option. We forfeited that possibility. Only one Person perfectly obeyed the Law (both the universal moral law and its embodiment in the Law of Moses). That was Jesus Christ.
That leaves only one way to be justified (made righteous) before God—faith—faith in God's provided way. This has always been the only way to be made righteous. We find this principle in the Old Testament. Abraham was justified by faith (Genesis 15:6. See Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:3). Habakkuk 2:4 says that the just shall live by his faith, a fact repeated three times in the New Testament (Galatians 3:11; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38).
This is a living faith. By this living faith we are justified before God apart from works (Ephesians 2:8, 9). This living faith also produces works (James 2:14 - 26).
Paul cites Deuteronomy 30:12 - 14 in support of the principle of righteousness by faith. In that passage Moses was referring to the Law. Paul points out that even when he was referring to the Law, Moses stated clearly the principle of righteousness by faith. That is, the Law was not still up in Heaven or far across the sea. It was in their mouth and heart. It was given to be a confession of faith that comes from the heart.
The principle of Deuteronomy 30:12 - 14 applies to Christ and has its ultimate meaning in Christ, the living Word. We do not have to bring Christ down from Heaven to bring us salvation. He already did that. We do not have to bring Christ up from the dead. He already arose. Both are established facts, accomplished once-for-all.
Now we have the written word concerning the living Word. It is the word of faith proclaimed in the gospel. As Deuteronomy 30:14 says, it is in our mouth and heart.
What do we confess with our mouth “unto salvation”? Jesus is Lord! This is no glib statement. It is a confession of a life commitment, a confession that has cost many people their very lives. They sealed their confession with their blood. Roman soldiers died because they said “Lord Jesus!” instead of “Lord Caesar!” In some cultures today believers makes this confession at the risk and even the cost of their lives. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and “loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).
Full trust and full confession are no light matter. Both are vital to salvation. Confessing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is the most serious confession one can make.
What do we believe in the heart? God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. This is not a symbolic “resurrection” with a “spiritual” meaning. It is a real time-space event. It involves the body of Jesus of Nazareth coming out of the tomb on the third day. Anything else is theological “fluff.” This is a heart faith, not merely a head opinion. A heart belief moves the soul (will) and transforms the life.
We cannot believe on Jesus Christ as Savior and not confess Him as Lord. The saving word of faith includes both. It believes both. We believe in the heart and confess with the mouth: Jesus is Lord! This is total faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else is. It is a full trust, a total and open commitment.
Jesus made it very clear. “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. And whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32, 33 KJV). That confession can bring the most serious consequences on earth, consequences that the believer might never be called on to endure but nevertheless is willing to endure. The believer who has to face the firing squad does not have to wait until then to make the decision; the decision was made at the time of salvation. Believers have already settled the issue. Consequences be what they may—Jesus is Lord!
Paul quotes the last clause of the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 28:16 as further support for the principle that righteousness is by faith. Believers in Jesus Christ are justified by faith and therefore will not be put to shame before God or man.
Righteousness is by faith and not by the Law. This places Jews and Gentiles on the same footing and opens the way of salvation to all. All the riches of Christ are available to all who call on Him in faith. He is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4). Romans 2:4 speaks of “the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering.” Romans 9:23 says that He has made known the riches of His glory (see also Ephesians 3:16). We have “the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:17; 2:7). Colossians 2:2 speaks of “the riches of the full assurance of understanding.” Colossians 3:16 urges believers to let the word of Christ live in us richly. And Ephesians 3:8 says that the riches of Christ are “unsearchable.”
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out” (Romans 11:33 KJV).
How do we receive the unsearchable riches of Christ? Call on Him, for “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (verse 13, quoting Joel 2:32). The promise of justification by faith springs right out of the Old Testament prophets and flows freely to all who will call in faith on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ puts us into a right relationship with God and opens up to us all the riches of God. This is a complete, full, and glorious salvation! It is worth both living for and, if need be, dying for.
Confess—acknowledgement: Jesus is Lord
Believe—commitment of faith.
Call—personal response, personal relationship
Result—salvation!
All four happen together.
Romans 10:14 - 17
14How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Action follows belief. Calling follows belief. Because we believed, we called. Calling on the name of the Lord was the logical and necessary response of our faith in Him. We hear; we believe; we call.
How shall people hear? Someone has to bring the message to them. God could thunder the message of the gospel right out of the heavens. He could write the message across the sky in words of flaming fire. He could send angels to bring the message. However, these are not His methods. God uses people to reach people. They who receive the riches of this great salvation should be the very ones who are ready and eager to tell others about it. It has been said that evangelism “is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” People who have found the bread of life and the living water are eager to share the discovery with all who are dying of spiritual hunger and thirst.
True, God in His sovereign grace speaks to individuals in dreams and visions, as He did to Cornelius (Acts 10) and as He often does today in societies that are closed to the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Even in these cases usually a human witness is or has been involved somewhere. In Cornelius's case it was Peter. In closed societies the miraculous visitations were and are usually preceded by some awareness of the faith of Christ, propagated by believers through personal contact or the media.
These inspired words of the apostle Paul echo the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ, recorded in Matthew 28:18 - 20, Mark 16:15 - 18, Luke 24:47, and Acts 1:8.
Whether personal or worldwide, evangelism has been committed to believers. God has brought His Church, His people, into full partnership with Himself in this massive undertaking. He could do it by Himself, but that would leave us out, and people who share God's love cannot and will not be silent or idle. The same love that moved God to give His Son for our salvation also moves us to tell the good news to others. If love moves the heart of God, it moves the hearts of those who love God.
God calls willing people to go. He also raises up willing people to send them. Worldwide evangelism is a cooperative endeavor. A church without a missionary vision is a sick church. As it has been said, a sick church needs to be put on a missionary diet. The same is true of sick saints. A missionary diet will restore robust spiritual health.
Again the apostle refers back to the Old Testament roots of New Testament truth. In verse 15 he quotes the gist of Isaiah 52:7. Some of the old New Testament manuscripts omit the words, “preach the gospel of peace.”
In verse 16 Paul is still focused on the universal message of the gospel. Chapter 1:20 says that the witness of natural revelation to God's “eternal power and Godhead” have been given to everyone “so that they are without excuse.” In addition, cultures and nations that were contemporary with Israel were aware of God's special revelation to Israel and how that revelation contrasted to their own pagan religions and resulting low moral conduct. The message of the Law and the prophets was not hidden.
Also, at the time of the writing of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the gospel had been preached extensively for over two decades. Not all had heeded the gospel and responded to it. This reflected the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Who has believed our report?” (Isaiah 53:1 NKJV).
Verse 17 emphasizes the necessity of content—that is, the word of God. God justifies us by faith. Faith in what? Faith in faith? Faith in anything? Faith as a positive attitude and outlook on life?
No. God justifies us by faith in revealed, propositional, and authoritative truth—His word, the message of the gospel of Christ. Saving faith is based on the truth concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. The message points us to the Person. We receive Christ because we believe the message; we believe the message because we hear the message; we hear the message because someone brought us the message—the good news.
Romans 10:18 - 21
18But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:
“Their sound has gone out to all the earth,
And their words to the ends of the world.”
19But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:
“I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
20But Isaiah is very bold and says:
“I was found by those who did not seek Me;
I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
21But to Israel he says:
“All day long I have stretched out My hands
To a disobedient and contrary people.”
In verse 18 the focus shifts back to the universal witness of natural revelation (see Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19 - 21). The term “yes indeed” in verse 18 in the Greek means literally “indeed therefore at least.”
Like a mighty cosmic orchestra, all the witnesses of nature resound throughout the earth, carrying the words (rhemata) of natural revelation throughout the inhabited world (oikoumene).
In verse 19 the spotlight is turned once again on Israel. If the universal words (rhemata) of natural revelation (natural theology) pervade the whole of the inhabited world so that they are without excuse, can Israel, who had also the special revelation of the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets, plead ignorance?
“Did not Israel know?” This is a rhetorical question. The answer is obvious. Yes, with both natural revelation and special revelation Israel certainly did know. They heard. They knew. They disobeyed.
Now the call of God through the gospel is universal. Many Gentiles as well as some Jews are hearing, believing and being justified by faith in Jesus Christ. What God is doing is provoking the unbelieving Jews to jealousy and anger. Paul himself had so reacted before his conversion. Later he encountered against himself the same strong and even violent reaction (see Acts 13:45; 17:5; 22:21, 22). This reaction by Israel was not unanticipated. Paul supports this by quoting the prophecy given by Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21.
By reaching out and bringing gentiles into the New Covenant by faith, God is taking to Himself those who had been “no nation” and “a foolish people.” This terminology reminds us of the prophecy of Hosea 1 and 2, referred to in Romans 9:25 and 1 Peter 2:9 and 10. It reminds us also of the words of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 21:42 - 44).
Paul then brings to bear the divine statement boldly proclaimed by the prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah 65:1 and 2). The Gentiles had not sought the true and living God, the God of Israel, but now in responding to the gospel they have found Him. They had not asked for Him, but now in Christ He has revealed Himself to them. But to His own covenant people God speaks sadly and with a broken heart, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
13
The Olive Tree Connection
Romans 11
Romans 11:1 - 6
1I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3”LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
The theme of Romans 10 carries right on into Romans 11. In verse 1 Paul asks a logical question: has God cast (pushed, thrust) away His people? That is, has God closed the door of salvation to Israel, the people of His ancient covenant? Has God excluded them from the universal call of the gospel? Have the Jews who rejected Jesus the Messiah forfeited their chance to repent and be saved? The answer is a strong and definite no: “may it never be!” The gospel call is going out to everyone, Jews and Gentiles.
At this point it is essential to understand that the inspired apostle is not referring here to Israel's cultural future or national destiny. Whatever that might be, it is not the subject of this text. Remember, the entire Epistle To The Romans is not about prophecy; it is about justification by faith—salvation and righteousness and particularly personal salvation and righteousness. Justification by faith is not only the subject of the entire epistle but also the immediate context of this passage. Every Bible passage must be interpreted within its context. As the saying goes, “a text without its context is a pretext.”
If this passage were referring to the destiny of Israel as a nation, Paul's reference to himself as an example would make no sense at all. It makes perfect sense when we recognize that Paul is speaking of himself as proof that unbelieving Jews can repent and be saved. If Saul of Tarsus (Paul) could turn to Jesus the Messiah and be saved, any Jew can.
Here as before Paul goes back to the Old Testament roots of New Testament truth. This time (verse 3) he quotes the prophet Elijah's complaint to God about the unbelieving, Baal-worshiping Israelites of his day (1 Kings 19:10). Then, in verse 4 he quotes the divine response (chrematismos, a hapax legoumenon). Out of all Israel, God still had 7,000 in Elijah's day who refused to bow the knee to the image of Baal. They were the ones who were true to the Covenant and were living in it. So then, who were the true Israelites, the true covenant Israel, in Elijah's day? The Baal-worshipers? No. The true Israelites were the ones who did not bow the knee to Baal. They were the remnant of Israel at that time.
Paul affirmed the “remnant principle” in Romans 9, especially verse 27. We have it here in Romans 11. We find it again in Revelation 12:17.
This leads us to the salient point (verse 5): “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” At the time of the writing of the Epistle To The Romans the new covenant Church contained a large number of Jews who had received the Messiah. These early “messianic Jews” were the remnant of Israel “according to the election of grace.” The same “remnant principle” applies to this day.
Again Paul emphasizes God's gracious election according to foreknowledge. Righteousness is totally by grace. It could not be otherwise in view of the fact that all—Jews and Gentiles— have sinned and therefore come under condemnation. Because election is by grace, it is no longer by our works. Guilty people cannot become “not guilty” by anything they can do. We can repent, and we are commanded to do so as a necessary condition of salvation; nevertheless, our repentance does not earn any merit and it does not remove our guilt. Our guilt is removed only by a gracious and merciful act of God through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice on our behalf.
If salvation were by works, grace would no longer be grace. In that case, salvation would be something we earned, something God owed to us on the basis of something we did. That certainly is not the case.
The remainder of verse 6 in the King James Version is not part of the original text. Probably it was a marginal note in an early manuscript that copyists placed into the text.
Romans 11:7 - 10
7What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8Just as it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”
9And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
10Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”
This passage is about Israel's blind stumbling. Paul asks the logical question that arises from the truth that has just been established. “What then?” What is the logical conclusion, with its implications and applications? Israel has not obtained what he (the nation personified) seeks. And what is that? Chapter 9, verse 31 tells us—”the law of righteousness,” a right standing before God in conformity with the moral law. God brought the elect into a right standing and moral state by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:2). Israel never achieved that through the Law.
What has happened, then, to the unbelieving Jews, both in Paul's day and today? They were blinded—hardened. This is “perceptual sclerosis.” It is mentioned again in verse 25.
Who did this? God did, as the apostle establishes from Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10. He cites also verses 22 and 23 in the Messianic portion of Psalm 69, one of David's imprecatory psalms. Israel's “table” means what is on the table, what they feed on.
We considered God's sovereign act of “judicial blindness” (hardness) in the example of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart (Romans 9:17). God is not obligated to overcome willful spiritual imperception. He does so only in grace by His Holy Spirit (John 16:7 - 11). God left the unbelieving Jews to their own “perceptual sclerosis.” The reason is found in the following passage.
Romans 11:11 - 15
11I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
13For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
The apostle Peter also speaks about Israel's “stumbling” (see 1 Peter 2:6 - 8). This passage here in Romans is about the restoration of repentant Jews to the covenant relationship. It begins with an anticipated yet shallow question: “have they stumbled that they should fall?” It is answered by a definite “certainly not!” (may it never be).
Salvation came first to the Jews (John 1:11). The gospel was proclaimed first to the Jews (Acts 1:8). The apostles presented the gospel first to the Jews (Romans 1:16). If the Jews in general had accepted the gospel of the Christ, the focus would have remained on them for a longer period of time. This would have built a much broader and stronger base for the eventual evangelization of the (gentile) world. However, that is not what happened. The general Jewish rejection of Jesus the Messiah brought the gospel to the Gentiles early. This had a two-fold effect: the Gentiles received the gospel right away, and the Jews reacted with jealousy (and anger). Provoking the unbelieving Jews to jealousy (see10:19) was one of God's sovereign purposes in His foreknowledge of what the reaction of the Jews would be. He did so in order to save some of them (verse 14).
God's purpose was not that they should fall (hina pesosin), but that through their fall (to auton paraptomati—transgression, trespassing, tragic mis-step)—the gospel would go directly to the Gentiles, provoking the Jews to jealousy (parazelosai, “excite to rivalry”). The worst thing that could have happened to the unbelieving Jews would be for them to reject the Messiah and be indifferent about it. God's purpose is to save many of them, and to do so he had to make them jealous. Otherwise they would have “slumbered on” in their spiritual “stupor” (verse 8, from Isaiah 29:10) and been lost.
If the fall (paraptoma—trespass, falling aside) and failure (“diminishing,” loss, defeat) of the unbelieving Jews has resulted in the gentile world receiving the riches of Christ earlier than otherwise, how much more will the fullness of the elect Jews coming to faith in Christ enrich the whole world? Yes, God is bringing Jews to Christ, and they are enriching the Church and the whole world, including “Israel according to the flesh” (1 Corinthians 10:18). We will consider the meaning of the word “fullness” when we come to verse 25.
In verse 13 the apostle speaks directly to gentile believers. Because he is an apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 15:16), Paul glorifies his ministry.
Paul wants to provoke the unbelieving Jews to jealousy (verse 11) and save some of them (verse 14). Paul's success among the Gentiles, the mighty miracles, the evident blessing and approval of God, the spiritual and moral transformation of the gentile (as well as Jewish) converts, the joy of the believers' new life in Christ, the establishing and growth of the Church—all of this had the effect of provoking the unbelieving Jews to jealousy. The believers in Jesus, the Messiah, possessed and enjoyed God's favor and blessing, and the unbelieving Jews did not. This stirred them to jealousy and anger. They thought it should belong to them; they missed it and wanted it back. Paul's desire was that this very strong jealous reaction would move some of them to come to the Messiah and be saved.
This leads again to the main point. God did not throw away His people, that is, the Jews whom He foreknew would be saved (verse 2). It is true that the unbelieving Jews were cast away (verse 15: apobole, from apoballo to throw off or away, a different word from the word in verse 2). Their fall (transgression, tragic mis-step) led to the early evangelization of the Gentiles. What then is the receiving of the Jews who later repent, believe in Jesus, the Messiah, and are saved? It is life from the dead—a spiritual resurrection.
In saving Jews who come to faith in Jesus the Messiah, God receives them back to life. Jews coming to the Messiah is a cause of celebration!
Romans 11:16 - 24
16For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
“Firstfruit” means the first of the dough. This takes us back to Numbers 15:17 - 21. When Israel came into the land of promise, they were to offer up a cake made from the first of their dough as a “heave offering” to the Lord. They were to do this throughout their generations. This first of the dough was “holy,” that is, dedicated to God and offered to Him. It symbolized the fact that the entire harvest was also “holy”; it belonged to God and was blessed by God.
This first of the dough became a type of the first Jews to receive their Messiah, Jesus. Thus it represents the early Jewish believers. If they are “holy,” the whole “lump” (batch) is also “holy.” That is, if God saved the early Jewish believers, He will certainly receive “back from the dead” any and all Jews who also will believe.
“Holy” has several meanings. Its broad definition is “set apart for a sacred purpose.” In some cases it means to be set apart from a common use to a sacred use, such as the “holy” and “most holy” places in the tabernacle and later the temple, the “holy” garments of the high priest, the “holy” utensils used in worship, and the “holy” anointing oil. In the personal moral sense it means to be morally pure before God, set apart from sin and to a personal relationship with God, including one's character and behavior. It is a specific application of the broader meaning of “set apart for a sacred purpose.”
When it says in verse 16 that the “lump” is also holy, it certainly does not mean that every Jew was and is holy in the personal, moral sense. It means that God has a covenant people set apart to Himself for a sacred purpose. That elect covenant people began with Abraham, continued through the following millennia, and will continue until the fullness of the elect come into it.
After applying the type of the first of the dough and the rest of the lump (batch) from Numbers 15:17 - 21, the apostle introduces another metaphor, the olive tree, and develops it at length. “If the root is holy, so are the branches” (verse 16).
God created a “lump” (batch) of dough. It is also represented as an “olive tree.” That is, God permanently established a covenant people. From time to time the arrangements of the covenants and even the covenants themselves have changed. God started with Abraham and established with him and his “seed” the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15 and 17). Later, God established the Mosaic Covenant, the Law (Exodus 24 and 34), then the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 23:4; Psalm 89:3). Finally God established the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, foretold by the prophets (Isaiah 55:3; 59:20, 21; 61:8; Jeremiah 31:31 - 33; 32:40).
The roots of the New Covenant are in the Old. The New Covenant is the fulfilling of the previous covenants. In fulfilling the previous covenants the New Covenant superseded them and by so doing did away with their temporary provisions, particularly the “ceremonial” parts of the Law (see Ephesians 2:13 - 17). Also, what was once written on tablets of stone is now written in the hearts of believers.
God started with a man (Abraham), expanded and extended the Covenant to his family (Isaac, Jacob, the tribal patriarchs), then established it with the whole nation (Israel) that emerged from the family.
Throughout His dealings with His covenant nation, God at times “pruned away” the disobedient. At times judgment came or was imposed on individuals and even large numbers of sinners. God commanded that people who deliberately disregarded Him and His Covenant were to be excommunicated from among the people (Deuteronomy 17:12, 13).
God also brought others into the covenant body, for example Rahab and Ruth. This goes as far back as Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, the wives of Jacob, and the wives of some of the patriarchs themselves. Asenath, the wife of Joseph and mother of Ephraim and Manassah, was an Egyptian.
At one time the true covenant people consisted only of the 7,000 who refused to bow the knee to the image of Baal (1 Kings 19:18). Nevertheless, the promises of the Covenant continued to encompass the nation as a whole “for the fathers' sake” (verse 28. See Exodus 32:13).
When the Messiah came, all who rejected Him were excommunicated from the covenant people. They became branches broken off from the olive tree. Moses prophesied that this would happen (Deuteronomy 18:18 and 19). Isaiah said that a remnant would remain (Isaiah 10:22, mentioned earlier in Romans 9:27). Hosea foretold it (Hosea 1). Jesus warned that it would happen (Matthew 21:43). The apostle Peter declared it (Acts 3:22 and 23).
The “root” (God's covenant purposes, promises, and provisions) of the olive tree goes clear back to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. That “root” is “holy”—set apart for God's purposes. Therefore, the “olive tree” (Israel) that grew out of that “root” is also “holy,” and the individual branches are “holy.”
God did not uproot the olive tree or cut it down. He changed its constituency. The unbelieving Jews (branches) were broken off and the believing Gentiles were grafted in among the remaining branches (the Jews who received Christ). Now the believing Gentiles are by far the largest number of the living branches in the “olive tree.”
From verse 17 through verse 24 the apostle uses the second person singular, “thou,” addressing the individual gentile believer who might “boast” over the “branches” that were cut off.
In modern English no distinction is made between the second person singular and the second person plural. “You” could mean one person or it could mean many. (In the south of the United States, however, such a distinction does exist; the singular is “y'all,” and the plural is “all y'all.”)
Some of the individual branches were broken off of the olive tree and the gentile believers were grafted in and now share in its rich historic covenant blessings and benefits. The gentile believers were of a “wild” olive tree. They had been “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise” (Ephesians 2:11 - 13). The gentile believer is not to boast against the branches that were broken off; that is, they were not to take an attitude of spiritual pride and superiority, to glory over them and treat them with disdain. The apostle reminds the boasting gentile believer that he does not support the root but the root supports him in the covenant relationship.
God's plan of salvation has its roots in His covenant dealings with ancient Israel. The olive tree (God's covenant-based people) has its roots in the sovereign gifts and callings of God that began with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Out of those roots emerged the “olive tree” of His covenant people. Its “trunk” was established and endured through the centuries, even the millennia. The unbelievers were pruned away and the believing Gentiles were grafted in. The olive tree still grows and is being expanded by the addition of gentile believers and the Jews who believe on the Messiah.
The Church began as the remnant of Israel after the unbelieving Jews were broken off (Acts 3:22, 23). At its inception the Church was composed entirely of Jews. The remnant of Israel constituted the Church; it was the entire Church at that time. The Church did not “replace” Israel; Israel became the Church. The olive tree was still in place, standing with most of its branches broken off.
“You (singular) will say then” (verse 19). The gentile believer Paul addresses is reluctant to give up his disdainful attitude toward the unbelieving Jews. Paul anticipates his retort and answers it. He agrees with what the boasting gentile believer says as a matter of fact, then goes on to remind him that the unbelieving branches (Jews) were broken off because of their unbelief and that he, the gentile believer, stands (perfect tense) by faith (see Romans 5:2). He is not to be haughty, but fear. He is not to be presumptuous and smug in his supposed “security.” He is to maintain a healthy sense of humility and reverence, knowing that if God did not spare the individual “natural” Jewish branches because of their unbelief, He might not spare the gentile “graft” for the same reason. He is reminded that individual election is conditioned on continuing in the faith.
Paul urges the boasting gentile believer (verse 22) to look seriously at both God's goodness and His severity. A balanced view will correct his presumpuousness and instill in him a healthy godly fear. God dealt severely with the Jews who fell (tous pesontas) because of their unbelief. God showed His goodness to the believing gentile. God's goodness to the believing gentile is conditioned on the believing gentile's continuing in God's goodness. If the believing gentile does not continue in God's goodness, he also will be cut off. Believers are to take such “ifs” seriously and not circumvent them by theological maneuvering.
In verse 23 Paul brings us to the answer to the question posed in verse 1. God will graft back into the olive tree any Jew who does not remain in unbelief. Belief is a personal decision and being grafted back in is a personal, branch-by-branch restoration.
If the gentile believer was cut out of the “wild” olive tree of his or her pagan culture and was grafted contrary to that pagan culture into the olive tree of God's covenant people, how much more will the “natural” branches—the Jews who have Israel's rich covenant heritage (Romans 3:1, 2; 9:4, 5)—be grafted back branch-by-branch when they give up their unbelief and personally receive the Messiah? This is a rhetorical question, one with an obvious answer.
Romans 11:25 - 32
25For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.</