Romans 11

Romans 11:1-6

Romans 11:1-6 : I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel: Lord they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him?

I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. “I say then, Did God cast off his people?” Paul’s critics might claim that he was teaching God’s utter rejection of all Jews. “Be it not so.” Paul certainly would not propagate a theory that would put himself outside the pale of salvation. He gives himself as an example that the rejection of the Jewish nation had nothing to do with the salvation of individual Jews. “For I am also an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” God did not, and does not, with-hold salvation from any obedient Jew. “God did not cast off his people which he foreknew.” Let us not get confused over this word foreknew. In the New Testament this verb know, when it has a person for its object, means to recognize, or accept. And Paul’s language does not mean that God knew, or accepted, certain people before they were born; his language refers to those he accepted as his people under the former dispensation–that is, the obedient Jews.

The connection, as well as the language itself, shows this to be his meaning. He uses the complaint of Elijah and God’s answer to him to illustrate his point.

 

Although the great mass of Israel had forsaken Jehovah, and were not therefore acceptable to him, there were yet seven thousand whom he could and did accept. Paul’s language seems to indicate that there had always been some of Israel that were acceptable to Jehovah. “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” This refers to those Jews who had become obedient to Christ. God had rejected the whole Jewish system, and would soon destroy what government the Romans had so far left to them; but he had not barred the door of salvation against any Jew that became obedient to the gospel of grace through Christ. Under this system of grace he makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile. “But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.” No amount of works can blot out sins already committed. Forgiveness is a matter of grace, no matter how many conditions one must fulfill in order to be forgiven. If a man’s works had always been perfect, he would have no sins to be forgiven; he would stand justified on his own merit.

There is no grace when a man merits justification. Works by which a man merits justification, and commands which one must obey to be saved, are distinct matters.

It is unfortunate that many religionists cannot, or will not, see this distinction, which should be plainly seen by any Bible reader. Because they fail to make this distinction they conclude that a sinner must do nothing in order to be saved. A man has no real understanding of either works or grace when he thinks conditions of forgiveness make salvation a mat-ter of works and not of grace. Nothing that a sinner can do merits salvation. Many things are of grace, and yet conditional. Is anyone so simple as to think Naa-man’s healing of leprosy was any less a matter of grace because he had to dip seven times in the river Jordan?

Is any so blind that he cannot see that giving sight to the blind man was a matter of grace, even though he had to go wash in the pool of Siloam? If so, he needs his eyes opened as badly as did the blind man.

Romans 11:7-8

Romans 11:7-8 : What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened: according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day. Here it seems that Paul begins to sum up his argument concerning Israel and God’s dealings with them. The most of them had sought righteousness by the works of the law; but righteousness by works of law required perfect obedience to that law, and all had at some time sinned against that law. The law does not forgive; it cannot make the guilty righteous, or, what is the same, cannot justify the guilty. A remnant had sought forgiveness through Christ; these were the election, or the elect, that obtained righteousness. “The rest were hardened” that is, dulled or blinded.

Their will was hardened; their understanding was dulled. They, and not God, brought that condition upon themselves. Compare Matthew 13:14-15 : “And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should turn again, and I should heal them.”

 

Jesus did not offer the Jews what they wanted they, therefore, turned a deaf ear to his teaching. They did not see in him anything they desired. They would not hear and they would not see, and, therefore, did not understand and that condition prevailed to the time Paul wrote the Roman letter, arid has not improved even until now. In verse 8 Paul makes a free translation of Deu 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10.

Romans 11:9-10

Romans 11:9-10 : And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and recompense unto them: let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow thou down their back always. “Their table” was put for their religious food. Instead of being led to Christ by the law they were entrapped by their blind adherence to the law; they were caught as in a snare. And their blind adherence to the law would be their recompense, and that would amount to condemnation. Their rejection of Christ and their blind devotion to the law was their ruin. Paul said such people judged themselves unworthy of eternal life (Acts 13:46). In clinging to the law and rejecting Christ, the Jews were wearing a yoke which they were not able to bear (Acts 15:10). Their course brought upon themselves the destruction of their na-tion and hard servitude.

Romans 11:11

Romans 11:11 : I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy: Commentators usually make Paul’s question mean something like this: Did they stumble so as to fall away completely and finally, never to be restored? But that is making Paul say more than he really said. Now, in classic Greek the conjunction here translated that introduces a final clause of purpose, but we are told that in the New Testament it “ranges in its use from definite purpose to simple result.” Let it here have its primary meaning, and Paul’s question would have this meaning: Did they stumble in order that they might fall? Was that their purpose? Certainly not, but it led to their fall; that much is certain.

Was it their final doom? As a nation, Yes. Whether any of them as individuals were brought back into favor with God depended on their own choice in the matter. Now, the only way to favor with God is through Christ, and that is an individual matter.

 

So long as the law stood, Gentiles as such could not have covenant relationship with God. The law stood as a barrier, a wall, between Jew and Gentile but that wall was taken out of the way that God might make of Jews and Gentiles one new man, one new church (Ephesians 2:13-18.) The Jews broke the covenant, and it was abolished (Hebrews 8:7-9). Jews and Gentiles then stood on an equal footing; God makes no difference between them now. In fact, it had been God’s purpose all along to offer the blessings of salvation through Christ to the Gentiles. To Abraham God said: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). This promise refers to Christ (Galatians 3:16).

Read the Great Commission, “Make disciples of all the nations,” “Preach the gospel to the whole creation,” and learn that the prophets had said that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Because of the hardness of the,Jews at Antioch of Pisidia, “Paul and Barnabas spake out boldly, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. Seeing ye thrust it from you, and judge youselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46).

This spreading of the gospel among the Gentiles did provoke the Jews to jealousy; but it was jealousy for Judaism, not for the gospel. Yet some commentators think Paul meant that the Jews would become jealous of the great blessings the gospel brought to Gentiles, and would, therefore, become Christians but that view is not in line with Paul’s argument nor with the effects preaching to Gentiles had on the Jews. When Paul was rescued from a mob by the Roman soldiers, from the stairway of the castle he made a speech to the angry Jews, in which he said: “And it came to pass, that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance, and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem because they will not receive of thee testimony con-cerning me. . . . And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles” (Acts 22:17-21). These last words of Paul sent these Jews into an insane rage. In Romans 10:19 Paul quotes this from Deuteronomy: “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding will I anger you.”

Romans 11:12

Romans 11:12 : “Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? The fall of the Jews and the abrogation of the law of Moses opened up the way for the blessings of the gospel to be carried to the whole world. The first meaning Liddell and Scott gives to the word here translated “loss” is defeat, and we are told by an eminent scholar that there is no justification for translating it by “loss.” Anyway, it is a fact that the Jews were defeated in their effort to destroy Christ and his teaching by .crucifying him, and in their efforts to destroy the church; and they were defeated in their efforts to please God by the course they pur-sued. Because of their defeat in all these efforts the riches of the blessings of salvation were offered to the Gentiles–in fact, to all the people of the earth. “How much more their fulness?” “Fulness” in what way? Commentators seem to take it for granted that Paul was speaking of the full–complete–return of the Jews to the favor of God, but Paul’s reasoning in this chapter does not contemplate such a thing as the conversion of the Jewish nation. Besides, he was speaking of the fall, or defeat, of the Jews and not their conversion.

Might he not, therefore, have meant their full and complete degradation which resulted in their full and complete destruction as a nation? Their complete over-throw as a nation did contribute to the spread of the gospel.

The majority of the Jews, both in Palestine and in foreign countries, had been the bitterest enemies Christianity had. In foreign countries where they had a synagogue, they did all they could to stir up the people and Roman authorities against Christians; but their active persecution of Christians ceased when their nation was destroyed. And they lost all influence with the Roman authorities everywhere. And those Judaizing meddlers, who sought to stir up trouble in all churches where there were Gentile members, lost their influence for harm. Perhaps nothing outside the church helped the spread of the gospel among all peoples so much as the full destruction of the Jewish nation.

Romans 11:13-14

Romans 11:13-14 : But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them. Though Paul was discussing at length the fate of the Jews, he would not have Gentile Christians think he was forgetting the Gentile people. He had been chosen as an apostle of the Gentiles, and he gloried in that ministry. He demonstrated that he was sent of God by the miracles he performed. He hoped that his preaching to the Gentiles and his miracles among them would stir some of the Jews to such a pitch of jealousy that they would so investigate the testimony concerning the Christ as to become believers in Jesus as the Christ.

By so doing he would be an instrument in saving those who believed his preaching. By teaching, backed up by a godly life, any Christian may be an agent in saving others. “Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16). Paul did not expect to save all the Jews, only some of them.

Romans 11:15

Romans 11:15 : For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? The casting away of the Jews did not bring about the reconciling of the whole world, nor does “the receiving of them” mean that all Jews would be restored to God’s favor. Rec-onciliation was offered to the whole world, and all Jews have the opportunity to be saved. All Jews were dead to God–dead in their sins, just as were the Gen-tiles. Hence, receiving a Jew back into favor with God is as life from the dead. The conversion of any sinner to Christ is life from the dead. The Jews are not now God’s people any more than are the Gentiles–all are dead in trespasses and sins till they are made alive in Christ.

Romans 11:16

Romans 11:16 : And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. The word holy does not here mean free from sin. The law of Moses said,. “The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God” (Exodus 23:19). “And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land which I give un-to you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then shall ye bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest un-to the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you. . . . And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor parched ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God” (Leviticus 23:9-14). When the first-fruits were brought to the priest, then the whole harvest became holy to the people, that is, devoted to their use. When God accepted the first Jewish converts, the first-fruits of the gospel harvest, then the whole nation was holy, that is acceptable to God on the terms of the gospel. Only in that sense was the whole Jewish race holy.

Romans 11:17-18

Romans 11:17-18 : But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, avast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree; glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee. An illustration must not be pressed so far as to contradict the plain teaching of other passages of the scriptures. This illustration must not be made to teach that some of the Jews were not broken off from God’s favor; “for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin” (Romans 3:9). Many Jews, broken off from God’s favor, had been grafted in again through their faith in Christ. The wild olive tree represented the Gentiles Gentile converts had been grafted into God’s favor, and thereby had become partakers with the believing Jews “of the root of the fatness of the olive tree.” The unbelieving Jews were not partakers “of the root of the fatness of the olive tree,” any more than the unbelieving Gentiles; they had been broken off. They had been broken off for good reasons: they had broken the covenant, which gave them national existence; they had killed the Messiah; they had rejected the gospel, and unmercifully persecuted the Lord’s church.

But even so, the Gentile Christians should not glory over the broken-off branches; neither should they glory over believing Jews, for believing Jews are as acceptable to God as are believing Gentiles. In this illustration, or figure, it seems that Abraham is the root, for all Israel sprang from him. He gained God’s favor by faith, and so do we. By changing the figure, Abraham is said to be “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11). In the true sense now un-believing Jews are not the seed of Abraham (John 8:39).

Romans 11:19-21

Romans 11:19-21 : Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. From what was said in Romans 11:11-12, the Gentile Christian might conclude that the Jews were rejected for the definite purpose of granting salvation to the Gentiles.

 

The rejection of the Jews, which resulted from their sins, did hasten the preaching of the gospel to the Gen-tiles; they were not arbitrarily rejected for the special benefit of Gentiles. The term “unbelief” here stands for all their sin and rebellion. In reality they cut them-selves loose from all relations with God. By their faith the Gentile Christians stood in God’s favor. They did not obtain God’s favor through God’s partiality to them, nor through any merit of their own, but by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jews could obtain that favor in the same way.

There was therefore no grounds nor occasion for their glorying over the Jews. Besides, these Gentile Christians might also be broken off from God’s favor, as a result of unbelief. By a natural birth all Jews had been God’s people they had been born into covenant relationship with God; but that covenant ended at the cross, and that left the Jews in the same condition as the Gentiles. “For they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord” (Hebrews 8:9). This should be a warning to Gentile Christians in fact to all members of the New Covenant, whether Jews or Gentiles “for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.” This shows conclusively that Christians may conduct themselves in such way as to sever themselves from God’s favor.

Romans 11:22-23

Romans 11:22-23 : Behold then the goodness and sever-ity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God’s goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. This saving some through faith, and cutting off others because of their unbelief, shows both the mercy and justice of God, both the goodness and severity of God. And this leads Paul to exclaim: “Behold then the goodness and severity of God.” God dealt severely with the Jews because they fell through unbelief. His goodness would be extended to the Gentile Christians so long as they did not fall through unbelief. In his goodness and in his severity God is neither tyrannical nor whimsical; the display of either his goodness or severity depends on man’s attitude toward him.

Let us not get a one-sided view of God. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). It is equally true that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Because of unbelief the Jews had been cut off from God’s favor. Their only hope therefore was to come back to God through faith in Christ. Any among them could be grafted again into God’s favor, “if they continue not in their unbelief.” God was able to graft them in again; the only hinder-ing cause was their unbelief.

Romans 11:24

Romans 11:24 : But if thou vast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and avast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? A wild olive tree is an uncultivated olive tree, a tree of the woods. Its fruit would be inferior; and it would not be natural to expect to im-prove its fruit by grafting it into a good olive tree. However the fruit of the Gentiles, here represented as of a wild olive tree, would be improved by their being grafted into the good olive tree, that is, into the favor and service of God. And if a branch of a wild olive tree is grafted into the good olive tree, how much more natural is the grafting in of the natural branches.

 

Paul’s olive-tree parable, or illustration, has often been used in an attempt to prove the perpetuity of the church from Abraham on down through the Christian dispensation; and this is done in an effort to prove infant membership in the church. But a careful consideration of the parable, or illustration, shows the argument to be fallacious.

 

1. The language is only an illustration of God’s method of dealing with Jews and Gentiles. To make an illustration do service beyond the point illustrated is to do violence to language and reason.

 

2. The perpetuity of a supposed Abrahamic church was not under consideration Paul was not therefore giving an illustration to prove that point. He had not so much as hinted at such a thought.

 

3. Two olive trees are in the parable. If the tame olive tree represents the church of God, what church does the wild olive tree represent? What is the wild church?

 

4. If the church at Pentecost had been with the Jews all along, who were the hold-over members? Jesus had told Nicodemus, one of the best of the Jews, that he had to be born again. In fact the language of Jesus includes all: “Except one”–tis, any one–“be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Hence a Jew, any Jew, had to be born again to enter–to be grafted in. As if to make sure that Nicodemus and all others would know that all Jews were included, Jesus said, “Ye”–notice the plural pronoun “Ye must be born again.”

 

5. If the church began with Abraham and the olive tree represents that church, then Jews were members by nature, and would not have to be born again to enter it–they were born into it; and all Jewish children are still members of it. If Jews who reached the years of accountability were broken off–turned out of the church–because of unbelief, that would not destroy the fact that they were born into it. If that assumption is correct, then all Jewish children are yet born into it. If not, why not? Can a pedobaptist answer?

Natural branches were broken off because of unbelief, but that would not apply to infants. What broke off the Jewish infants? It will not do to say that Jewish infants were brought into the church by circumcision, but infants are now brought in by baptism, and that therefore unbaptized Jewish infants are now left out; for if Jews became members by circumcision, then they were not branches by nature. Anyone can see this. Hence the pedobaptist argument on the olive tree compels them to say that Jews were members by nature–by a natural birth; but their argument that baptism came in the room of circumcision compels them to say that Jews became members by circumcision. Their arguments cancel each other.

 

6. As all grafting in is done by faith, infants can-not be grafted in–they cannot have faith. And as no Gentiles are born into this supposed Abrahamic church and Gentile infants cannot be grafted in by faith, it is certain that Gentile infant membership in such a church is impossible.

 

7. A parable or any other figure of speech must not be pressed beyond what the writer meant to teach. This is done when it is argued that Paul’s parable of the olive tree teaches the perpetuity of a supposed Abrahamic church. In Ephesians 2:14-16 Paul tells us that God took the law out of the way that he might make of both Jews and Gentiles one new man–one new church. It does not meet the issue to say that the covenants were changed, but the church remained the same, for Paul plainly says the Old Covenant was abolished that the new church might be established.

 

8. The olive tree is God’s favor, God’s goodness, as may be seen by giving attention to Romans 11:22. As a people, the Hebrews had been the special object of God’s favor he had been good to them, till they were broken off because of unbelief, and thereby fell under the severity of God. Gentile believers were grafted in-to God’s favor, God’s goodness; but they also must con-tinue in God’s goodness, or also be broken off. In all the parable nothing is said about a church, or about infant membership in anything.

Romans 11:25

Romans 11:25 : For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. In the New Testament the word mystery usually refers to things not before revealed, but not always. (See 1 Timothy 3:9; 1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Thessalonians 2:7).Things too great for finite minds to comprehend are mysteries. The mystery of this verse 25 is, that “a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” That statement itself is somewhat of a mystery, for Paul does not reveal to us what the coming in of the fulness of the Gentiles is. What Paul does not say, some commentators and other writers fill in with their own assumptions. It is assumed by some that “the fulness of the Gentiles” means that all Gentiles will be finally converted to Christ, and that will be followed by the conversion of the whole Jewish race. Some future kingdom advocates interpret “the fulness of the Gentiles” as the full count of the Gentiles that is, when the Lord gathered out of the Gentiles the full number he wants for rulers in the supposed future kingdom, then evangelism among them will cease, and the Jews will then turn to Christ.

These are baseless assumptions. It is assumed that the preposition “until” shows that this hardening of a part of the Jews would continue only “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” then the whole Jewish race would turn to Christ.

But the preposition “until” does not tell what will follow the event or events mentioned in the phrase it introduces, or governs. Consider a few examples. “And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month” (Genesis 8:5). That does not indicate any change after the tenth month the record shows that the waters continued to decrease for some time. “Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now” (Genesis 46:34). This does not mean that they would quit the cattle business at that time, and turn to something else; but it was to be the basis of a plea to Pharaoh that they be allowed to continue in the same business. “And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death” (1 Samuel 15:35). That implies nothing as to what Samuel did after the death of Saul. “My Father worketh even until now” (John 5:17). And of course he kept on working as he had always done. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together until now” (Romans 8:22).

And Paul did not mean that any change would follow the writing of that letter. The whole creation continues to groan and travail even now as they did before Paul penned those words.

And so, what change took place, or whether any change occurred, after the things mentioned in the “until” phrase, cannot be determined by that phrase, nor by the other part of the sentence. Now, if we must deal in suppositions, and must draw conclusions about “un-til,” why not suppose things that are in harmony with what actually occurred? As the church became more and more made up of Gentile members, hardness among the Jews increased until the church became almost, if not entirely, Gentile in membership–until the fulness of the Gentiles came in; then the hardness among the Jews apparently became complete. If this is not what Paul meant, it is, at least, what really occurred. And aside from inspired interpretations, are not developments the best commentary on a prophecy?

Romans 11:26-27

Romans 11:26-27 : And so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: and this is my covenant unto them, when 1 shall take away their sins. “So” is an adverb of manner; it is here a translation of a Greek word, which means, “in this way (manner), so, under these circumstances.” Paul had shown how Gentiles had been grafted into God’s favor, and how the Jews, the broken-off branch-es, might also be grafted in again. And so, in this manner, or in this way, shall all Israel be saved. Paul had just said that they would be grafted in again, if they continued not in unbelief. The Holy Spirit did not expect all Jews to turn from their unbelief. Paul did not therefore mean that every person of fleshly Israel would be saved many since then have died in unbelief, and unsaved. And Paul did not say that the time would come when all Jews then living would be saved.

And yet some speak as if that is what he said. When Peter said (Acts 15:11) that the Jews would be saved even as the Gentiles, he did not mean that all of either class would be saved, but that all would be saved as others had been saved–salvation was open to all on the same terms. The Deliverer is Christ Jesus. “Jacob” here stands for the descendants of Jacob. Jesus came to turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and did that for all who accepted him. They were to turn from their ungodliness–their impiety, or irreverence, and he would take away their sins, and that was his covenant with them.

Romans 11:28-29

Romans 11:28-29 : As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. The Jews considered the Gentiles so far beneath them, that they considered themselves unclean if they touched a Gen-tile. From the start the Jews opposed the gospel, because it did not meet their expectations, and because it condemned them as sinners and as murderers. To be told that they were no better than Gentiles intensified their enmity. When Paul told the Jews in Jerusalem that the Lord had told him to depart from them and go and preach to the Gentiles, they said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live” (Acts 22:17-22).

The preaching of the gospel to Gentiles, and their acceptance into the church further hardened them from giving it any consideration. Of course no proud Pharisee would think of be-coming a member of a body made up largely of Gentiles. And so, because of the Gentile Christians, the Jews were enemies of the gospel. God had selected the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their descend-ants as the line through which the Christ would come, and he had not repented of that selection; and even though these descendants had so sinned as to be broken off from his favor, they were beloved on account of the fathers, and not on their own account.

Romans 11:30-31

Romans 11:30-31 : For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so have these also now been dis-obedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy. Here it seems that Paul speaks especially to Gentile Christians. Though the Gentiles had not been under the law of Moses, yet they had been disobedient to God. If, as some say, Gentiles were not under any law of God, how could Paul say they had been disobedient to God? The truth is, all people are, and have always been, under God’s eternal moral law, a law inherent in the nature of our relations to one another. The Gentiles, in disobeying this moral law, had sinned against God.

For a list of their sinful practices see Romans 1:18-32. They were therefore under condemnation, as much so as were disobedient Jews. But mercy had been extended to these Gentile sinners; the opportunity to turn from their sins and be saved had been granted to them in the gospel. And this was a guaranty that disobedient Jews also could obtain mercy.

Romans 11:32

Romans 11:32 : For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. This does not mean that God had shut up all, both Jews and Gentiles, under such conditions that they had to be disobedient, but that he counted all as disobedient; “for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin” (Romans 3:9) And for this reason he commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30-31). Christ came to save sinners, not to cause men to be sinners. People are not made sinners by hearing the gospel, but the gospel is preached to them because they are sinners. People are sinners, and they need to realize that they are under condemnation, that they may obtain God’s mercy. In this verse Paul ends his argument on the theme that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

Romans 11:33-36

Romans 11:33-36 : O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. How sublime are these words! They refer to the provisions for salvation as revealed in the gospel, including God’s use of men and nations in the development of this plan of salvation, as had been set forth in this letter, and not merely, as some think, to what was said in Romans 11:30-31.

 

In the Bible use of the term “knowledge of God” that phrase does not refer to what God knows, but to what is known, or may be known, about him; that is, it re-fers to the things revealed about him and his plans. Here are some examples of the use of the phrase: “Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5). " . . . there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1). “Some have no knowledge of God” (1 Corinthians 15:34). Paul prayed that the Colossians be “in-creasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10). “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). (See also Hosea 6:6; 2 Corinthians 10:5 2 Peter 1:2-3; 2 Peter 1:8). In not one passage does the phrase refer to what God knows, any more than the phrase “knowledge of mathematics” refers to what mathematics knows. No uninspired man could search out and discern the judgments of God, nor trace out his ways down through the ages as he used men and nations in working out his plans and purposes. And no one can know the mind of God, save as he reveals it. By man’s unaided powers he cannot find out these glorious things.

“But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth” (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

 

Only as God reveals himself may we know his mind. And no one has ever given anything to God, so as to bring God under obligation to recompense him; for all things are of him, through him, and unto him. We cannot therefore enrich him by giving him that which is already his; but we can, with Paul, say, “To him be glory forever.”