Romans 11
BSASBPaul asks whether God has thrown away Israel after most of Israel refused Jesus. His answer is no. God has always kept a faithful remnant, Israel’s stumbling has opened the door to the Gentiles, and God’s mercy will return to Israel. The chapter ends with praise for God’s unsearchable wisdom.
Romans 11:1
Paul asks the obvious question: has God discarded His people? He answers with a firm no and points to himself. He is a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, and God has plainly not rejected him. His own salvation is living proof.
BSA: reject (“push away, refuse”): The question is whether God has shoved Israel aside, and Paul says He has not.
Greek: ἀπώσατο (apōsato, G683) — “thrust away, shove off.” It is a strong, physical word for pushing something away. Paul denies that God has done this to His people.
See also: Philippians 3:5.
Romans 11:2
God has not cast off the people He knew beforehand. Paul reminds his readers of Elijah, who felt that all Israel had turned against God. God’s loving choice came before their failure, and their failure does not cancel it.
BSA: foreknew (“knew beforehand, chose before time”): God’s knowing here means a loving commitment made before Israel ever failed.
Greek: προέγνω (proegnō, G4267) — “knew beforehand.” In Scripture, to ‘know’ someone often means to set loving attention on them, not just to know facts about them.
Romans 11:3-4
Elijah felt alone. The prophets were dead, the altars torn down, and his own life was threatened. God told him that He had kept seven thousand who never worshiped Baal. What looks like total failure to one man is not the whole picture to God.
BSA: reserved (“left behind, set apart”): God Himself kept these faithful ones. They did not simply hold out on their own strength.
See also: 1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 19:18.
Romans 11:5
It is the same today. Within Israel there is a small group, chosen by grace, who have received Jesus. Paul himself is one of them. A remnant shows that God is still at work among His people.
BSA: grace (“unmerited favor”): The remnant exists because of God’s undeserved favor and not because of anything they achieved.
Greek: λεῖμμα (leimma, G3005) — “what is left over, remainder.” The word describes what God has kept back and preserved. It is both a sign that judgment is real and a pledge that more mercy is coming.
Romans 11:6
Grace and works cannot be mixed. If a gift is earned, it is a wage and not a gift. Paul insists that the remnant is saved wholly by God’s kindness, so no one can claim credit.
BSA: grace (“a gift, not a reward”): Grace is given freely and is never paid out as a wage.
See also: Ephesians 2:8-9.
Romans 11:7
Israel as a nation sought righteousness by its own effort and missed it. The chosen remnant received it. The rest were hardened, meaning they became unable to respond. Paul sees this as part of God’s wider purpose and not as the last word.
BSA: hardened (“made stubborn, unfeeling, blinded”): The picture is of hearts gone numb to God’s voice. elect (“those chosen by God, the selection”): Those who obtained righteousness did so because God had chosen them.
Greek: ἐπωρώθησαν (epōrōthēsan, G4456) — “were made hard, calloused.” The word comes from a term for a hard lump of bone or a callus. Spiritual feeling has been dulled the way thick skin dulls touch.
Romans 11:8
Paul gathers Old Testament words about a people who have eyes and ears but cannot perceive. The sleep-like numbness is not new. Scripture says it has marked many in Israel for a long time, up to Paul’s own day.
BSA: stupor (“a state of numbness, spiritual slumber”): It describes a deep spiritual sleep in which truth does not get through.
See also: Isaiah 29:10; Deuteronomy 29:4.
Romans 11:9-10
David’s prayer pictures a feast turning into a trap and eyes growing dark under a heavy load. Paul uses it to show how people can stumble over the very blessings they treasure. Even good things become a snare when God is not trusted.
BSA: snare (“a trap, a net”): The picture is a hunter’s net that closes on the one who walks into it.
See also: Psalm 69:22-23.
Romans 11:11
Did Israel stumble so as to lie fallen forever? No. Their stumbling carried salvation to the Gentiles, and God intends the sight of Gentiles blessed to stir Israel to a holy envy and bring them back.
BSA: jealous (“envious, desirous of what others have”): God uses Israel’s longing for what the Gentiles now enjoy to draw them back.
Greek: ἔπταισαν (eptaisan, G4417) — “stumbled.” Paul separates stumbling from falling flat. A stumble is something a person can recover from.
See also: Deuteronomy 32:21; Acts 13:46.
Romans 11:12
If Israel’s failure has already enriched the world, what will their restoration do? Paul expects even greater blessing when Israel is brought back in full. God’s purposes for Israel and for the nations are woven together.
BSA: fullness (“completion, restoration”): The word points to Israel being brought back to what God intended for them.
Greek: πλήρωμα (plērōma, G4138) — “fullness, full measure.” The word means something filled up to the brim. Paul sees Israel’s present small remnant swelling into a full company.
Romans 11:13-14
Paul speaks directly to the Gentile believers. He takes his calling to the Gentiles seriously and honors it, partly because he hopes the Gentiles’ blessing will stir his own people to want Christ and some of them will be saved.
BSA: provoke (“stir up, arouse to emulation”): Paul hopes his fellow Jews will be moved to want what the Gentiles have found.
Greek: παραζηλώσω (parazēlōsō, G3863) — “make jealous alongside, stir to envy.” The word is about a godly rivalry. Paul hopes his own people will see Gentiles enjoying what was first promised to Israel and long for it.
Romans 11:15
Israel’s setting aside has meant reconciliation for the world. Paul asks what their welcome back will mean, and answers that it will be like life from the dead. Something thought lost for good will be restored.
BSA: reconciliation (“restoration of a relationship”): The Gentiles have been brought back into friendship with God. acceptance (“receiving, welcoming”): God will welcome Israel back, and Paul compares it to a resurrection.
Romans 11:16
Paul gives two pictures. The first handful of dough offered to God makes the whole batch his, and a holy root means holy branches. The patriarchs were set apart for God, so their descendants remain connected to His promises.
BSA: first part (“firstfruit, the initial offering”): The first portion given to God stands for everything that comes after it. holy (“set apart, dedicated to God”): Holy here means claimed for God and not that anyone is sinless.
See also: Numbers 15:17-21.
Romans 11:17-18
Paul pictures an olive tree. Some natural branches were broken off, and wild Gentile shoots were grafted in to share the root’s life. The Gentile believer has no reason to boast. The root holds up the branch, and the branch does not hold up the root.
BSA: grafted in (“ingrafted, joined”): Gentiles are not a new tree. They are joined into the tree God had already planted. boast (“glory, exult”): Gentiles must not swell with pride over the branches that were removed.
Greek: ἐνεκεντρίσθης (enekentristhēs, G1461) — “you were grafted in.” It is a gardener’s word for inserting a cutting into a living tree. The shoot lives only because the tree already has life.
See also: Jeremiah 11:16.
Romans 11:19-20
A Gentile might think that the branches were cut off to make room for him. Paul answers that unbelief cut them off and faith holds the Gentile in place. That faith is a reason for humility and healthy fear, never for pride.
BSA: stand (“remain, are established”): Standing is a position held by faith, which depends on God and not on self. afraid (“fear, have reverence”): The fear Paul asks for is reverent seriousness before God, not terror.
See also: 1 Corinthians 10:12.
Romans 11:21
If God did not spare the natural branches, no one should assume he will be spared simply because he belongs to the tree. God’s dealings with Israel serve as a plain warning to the Gentile believer.
BSA: spare (“treat leniently, have mercy on”): God did not treat even His own people lightly when they refused to believe.
Romans 11:22
God is both kind and stern. His severity fell on those who fell, but He shows kindness to Gentile believers as they continue in His kindness. Paul does not want his readers to presume on God’s grace.
BSA: kindness (“goodness, benevolence”): God’s goodness is the ground on which every believer stands. severity (“sternness, decisiveness”): God’s seriousness about unbelief is real, and it is the other side of His goodness. continue (“remain, abide”): Faith is meant to keep on trusting and not only to begin.
Greek: ἀποτομίαν (apotomian, G663) — “severity, a cutting off.” The word comes from a verb meaning to cut sharply. It fits the picture of branches being cut from the tree.
Romans 11:23
The cutting off is not permanent. If Israelites turn from unbelief, God can graft them back in. Paul says plainly that God is able to do it.
BSA: persist (“continue or remain”): Unbelief is what keeps a branch cut off, and giving it up opens the way back.
Romans 11:24
If God grafted wild shoots into a cultivated tree, which is against what gardeners normally do, how much more easily can He restore branches that grew on that tree to begin with? Paul finds the return of Israel the easier work for God.
BSA: readily (“easily, naturally”): Restoring the original branches fits the tree’s nature far better than adding wild ones.
Romans 11:25
Paul reveals a mystery: Israel is hardened only in part and only for a time, until the full number of Gentiles has come in. He tells the Gentile believers this so that they do not grow proud and look down on Israel.
BSA: mystery (“a previously hidden truth, a divine secret”): This is something God has now disclosed, not a puzzle that cannot be solved. hardening (“a callousness, a stubbornness”): The hardness is partial and has a limit.
Greek: μυστήριον (mystērion, G3466) — “a secret now revealed.” In the New Testament a mystery is a truth once hidden that God has now made known. It is not something unknowable.
Romans 11:26
Paul says that in this way all Israel will be saved, as Isaiah promised: a Deliverer from Zion will take godlessness away from Jacob. Christians understand ‘all Israel’ differently, as the nation’s future turning to Christ or as the whole people of God. The text points to God’s mercy reaching Israel.
BSA: all (“every single one, the entire nation”): Paul speaks of Israel as a whole people and not of a small remnant only.
See also: Isaiah 59:20-21.
Romans 11:27
God’s promise of a covenant is tied to taking away sins. Salvation for Israel rests on God’s promise and on His forgiveness. It does not rest on Israel’s achievement.
See also: Jeremiah 31:33-34.
Romans 11:28
Two things are true of Israel at once. As far as the gospel goes, many are opposed, and this has opened the door for the Gentiles. As far as God’s choice goes, they are still loved because of the fathers to whom He made His promises.
BSA: election (“God’s selection, choosing”): God’s earlier choice of Israel still stands even while many reject the gospel. enemies (“hostile, opposed to God’s plan”): The word describes their present opposition to the gospel and not God’s final view of them.
Romans 11:29
God does not take back what He gives or the calling He issues. Israel’s disobedience cannot undo His faithful purpose. This verse is the anchor for Paul’s hope.
BSA: irrevocable (“unrepented of, without regret”): God never looks back and wishes He had not given His gifts and call.
Greek: ἀμεταμέλητα (ametamelēta, G278) — “not to be regretted, unchangeable.” The word means that God will never have second thoughts about His gift and calling.
See also: Numbers 23:19.
Romans 11:30-31
Gentiles were once disobedient and have now received mercy, while Israel’s disobedience gave the occasion for it. Now the pattern turns around: Israel too will receive mercy through the mercy shown to the Gentiles. Everyone depends on mercy.
BSA: mercy (“compassion, kindness”): Both groups come to God by receiving compassion they did not earn.
Romans 11:32
God has shut everyone up together in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. No one is left able to boast. Everyone stands in the same need and is offered the same mercy.
BSA: consigned (“shut up, confined”): All people, Jew and Gentile, are shut in together so that only mercy can free them.
Greek: συνέκλεισεν (synekleisen, G4788) — “shut up together.” The word can describe fish enclosed in a net. All are caught together, with mercy as the only way out.
See also: Galatians 3:22.
Romans 11:33
Paul has traced God’s plan through Israel and the nations, and he breaks into praise. God’s wisdom and knowledge go deeper than anyone can measure. His decisions and ways cannot be fully searched out, and we are meant to worship rather than to fully explain.
BSA: unsearchable (“incomprehensible, past finding out”): God’s judgments are beyond human ability to trace to the end.
See also: Isaiah 55:8-9.
Romans 11:34-35
Two questions from the Old Testament show how small we are. No one has taught God anything or advised Him, and no one has given God a gift that puts Him in debt. Everything we have first came from Him.
BSA: counselor (“advisor, guide, one who gives wisdom”): God needs no adviser and has never been taught by anyone. repay (“give back, recompense”): No one can put God in debt, because He is the giver of everything.
See also: Isaiah 40:13; Job 41:11.
Romans 11:36
All things come from God, exist through Him, and are headed toward Him. He is the source, the sustainer and the goal. The chapter closes with glory to God, and the reader is invited to say Amen.
BSA: glory (“honor and praise”): Everything that exists is finally meant to bring honor to God.
See also: Colossians 1:16.