By
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked
at verses 12-21 of chapter 11.
1.1.1. We finished
up our study of how that the Jews are presently being rejected by the Lord, and
why.
1.1.2. We saw that
Paul told us that Jews and Gentiles alike are today brought to be God’s people
in the exact same way, through saving faith in Jesus Christ.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapter
11, verses 1 – 16.
1.2.1. As we have
mentioned previously in our study, chapter 9 of the book of Romans took a big
turn as Paul went from creating the doctrinal platform for all of the major doctrines
of the Christian religion to discussing the nation of
1.2.2. We have seen
that chapter 9 deals with God’s election of
1.2.3. Though I’m
not quite sure why this has happened, the history of the Christian church
reveals that early on theologians began to believe that the many promises found
in scripture that were made by God to Abraham and his descendants for a land
and many blessings were passed on to the church, and thus these promises were
spiritualized. This then led to the
practice of what has been called “Replacement Theology.” This is where you take every promise for
blessing made to the Jews in the Old Testament and simply write in “Church.”
1.2.4. As was
mentioned in our last study, just as the Jews have stumbled not understanding
the role of the church in God’s plans.
Likewise, the church has by and large stumbled in understanding God’s
future plans for
1.2.5. I should
note that in the last generation with the nation of
1.2.6. Replacement
theology and the A-Millennial view (belief that the book of Revelation should
be interpreted allegorically instead of literally and thus there will be no
literal 1,000 reign of Christ on the earth after the 7 year tribulation period)
have dominated most of church history.
However, history has also shown that this doctrinal position has
likewise led to much prejudice and Anti-Semitism in the church. Tragically, the church has been involved in
as much persecution of Jews throughout history as any other country or
group. For instance, it was not until
after WWII that the Roman Catholic church disavowed support of Hitler and Nazi
1.2.7. On his web
site, concerning the history of replacement theology, Thomas Ice the renown
theologian and advocate for pre-Millennialism and the pre-trib
rapture, writes, “Premillennialist Justin
Martyr was the first to view " the Christian church as ' the true spiritual
Israel' (Dial. 11)" around a.d. 160. Justin' s views laid the groundwork for the
growing belief that the church had superseded or replaced
1.2.8. PHD Michael
J. Vlach has dedicated a web site for listing famous theologians throughout history who
have gone against the church’s trend and held to the view of the future
restoration of Israel as taught by Romans chapters 9-11, and there were many
who did so. Even though the majority of
the church has embraced replacement theology and the spiritual fulfillment of
the promises made to Israel as now belonging to the church, here are some of
the notables who have held that God will indeed bring Israel as a nation back
to restoration to Himself as Romans chapter 11 tells us will happen :
Thomas
Aquinas (1224-1274AD)
"It is possible to designate a terminus, because it seems that the
blindness of the Jews will endure until all the pagans chosen for salvation
have accepted the faith. And this is in accord with what Paul says below about
the salvation of the Jews, namely, that after the conversion of the pagans, all
Thomas Aquinas, "Super Epistolam Ad Romanos"; II.2, available from
http://www.tacalumni.org/Aquinas/TOMA_075.txt; Internet. Translation by John Y.
B. Hood.
John Calvin
"Paul quotes this passage, (Rom. xi. 26,) in order to shew that there is still some remaining hope among the
Jews; although from their unconquerable obstinacy it might be inferred that
they were altogether cast off and doomed to eternal death. But because God is
continually mindful of his covenant, and "his gifts and calling are
without repentance," (Rom. xi. 29,) Paul justly concludes that it is
impossible that there shall not at length be some remnant that come to Christ,
and obtain that salvation which he has procured. Thus the Jews must at length
be collected along with the Gentiles that out of both "there may be one fold"
under Christ. (John x. 16). . . . Hence we have said that Paul infers that he
[Christ] could not be the redeemer of the world, without belonging to some
Jews, whose fathers he had chosen, and to whom this promise was directly
addressed."
John Calvin, "Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah," Calvin's
Commentaries, vol. 8, 269.
" When the Gentiles shall come in, the Jews also shall return from
their defection to the obedience of faith; and thus shall be completed the
salvation, . . . which must be gathered from both; and yet in such a way
that the Jews shall obtain the first place, being as it were the first born in
God's family, as Jews are the first born, what the prophet declares must be
fulfilled, especially in them; . . . it is to be ascribed to the
preeminence of that nation, who God had preferred to all other nations....God
distinctly claims for Himself a certain seed, so that His redemption may be
effectual in His elect and peculiar nation....God was not unmindful of
the covenant which He had made with their fathers, and by which he testified
that according to his eternal purpose He loved that nation; and this he
confirms by this remarkable declaration, - that the grace of divine calling
cannot be made void."
"Epistle to the Romans," Calvin's Commentaries, vol. 19,
434-40.
English Puritans
Iain H. Murray states:
"From the first quarter of the seventeenth century, belief in a future
conversion of the Jews became commonplace among the English Puritans."
Iain H. Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy
(Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1971), 42.
Thomas Ice has
written, “Many Puritans of the seventeenth century taught the restoration of
the Jews to the
William Perkins
"The Lord saith, All the nations shall be
blessed in Abraham: Hence I gather that the nation of the Jews shall be called,
and converted to the participation of this blessing: when, and how, God knows:
but that it shall be done before the end of the world we know."
Quote taken from Iain H. Murray, The Puritan Hope, 42.
Dutch Theologians of the 17th Century
J. Van Den Berg points out that many Dutch Reformed theologians of the
seventeenth century believed in a future salvation of the Jews or restoration
of the Jewish nation:
". . . for virtually all Dutch theologians of the seventeenth century,
'the whole of Israel' indicated the fullness of the people of Israel 'according
to the flesh': in other words, the fullness of the Jewish people. This meant
that there was a basis for an expectation of a future conversion of the Jews-an
expectation which was shared by a large majority of Dutch theologians."
J. Van Den Berg, "Eschatological Expectations Concerning the Conversion of
the Jews in the
Reformed Theology in the 17-19th Centuries
Willem VanGemeren writes:
"Instead of a fixed position on Israel, Reformed theology shows a
remarkable 'fluidity' on the future of Israel in the seventeenth to the
nineteenth centuries."
Willem VanGemeren, "Israel as the Hermeneutical
Crux in the Interpretation of Prophecy (II), Westminster Theological Journal,
vol. 46, #2, Fall 1984, p. 255
VanGemeren writes:
". . . the seventeenth century witnessed a dynamic interest in the Jews
on the part of Continental and British Reformed theologians who hoped for a
large-scale conversion of the Jews and, in some cases, for a restoration of the
Jews to Palestine before or after their conversion. . . ."
VanGemeren, 257
VanGemeren writes:
"Theologians as early as Voetius (1609-1676)
fervently hoped for the conversion of the Jews. He believed that the Reformed
community must deal responsibly with the Jews by giving itself to prayer,
godliness, sound interpretation of the OT Scriptures, and sympathy towards the
Jews."
VanGemeren, 255.
Specific theologians who held to a future restoration of
Van Den Berg, 141-48.
Jonathan Edwards
"Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of
the Jews in Romans 11."
Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1, Banner of Truth
Trust, reprint, 1976, 607.
Charles Hodge
"The second great event, which, according to the common faith or the
Church, is to precede the second advent of Christ, is the national conversion
of the Jews. . . . That there is to be such a national conversion may be
argued. . . from the original call and destination of that people. As the
rejection of the Jews was not total, so neither is it final. First, God did not
design to cast away his people entirely, but by their rejection, in the first
place, to facilitate the progress of the gospel among the Gentiles. and
ultimately to make the conversion of the Gentiles the means of converting the
Jews. . . . Because if the rejection of the Jews has been a source of blessing,
much more will their restoration be the means of good. . . .The
restoration of the Jews to the privileges of God's people is included in the
ancient predictions and promises made respecting them..."The future
restoration of the Jews is, in itself, a more probable event than the
introduction of the Gentiles into the
Charles Hodge, Systematic
Theology, vol. 3, James Clark & Co. 1960, 805; A Commentary on the
Epistle to the Romans, Presb. Board of Pub., 1836, 270-285 passim. Now
Published by Banner of Truth Trust.
Charles
H. Spurgeon
"I think we do not attach sufficient importance to the restoration of
the Jews. We do not think enough of it. But certainly, if there is anything
promised in the Bible it is this."
From first volume of Sermons, 1855, as cited in Iain Murray, The
Puritan Hope, 256.
"The day shall yet come when the Jews, who were the first apostles to
the Gentiles, the first missionaries to us who were afar off, shall be gathered
in again. . . . Matchless benefits to the world are bound up with the
restoration of
Cited in
C. E. B. Cranfield
"It is only where the Church persists in refusing to learn this
message, where it secretly-perhaps quite unconsciously-believes that its own
existence is based on human achievement, and so fails to understand God's mercy
to itself, that it is unable to believe in God's mercy for still unbelieving
Israel, and so entertains the ugly and unscriptural notion that God has cast
off His people Israel and simply replaced it by the Christian Church. These
three chapters [
C.E.B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, in The International Critical
Commentary, vol. 2 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark Limited, 1979) 448.
George E. Ladd
"The New Testament clearly affirms the salvation of literal
George Ladd, "Historic Premillennialism,"
in The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, ed. Robert G. Clouse
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1977), 28.
Karl Rahner
". . . the unfinished role of
Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An
Introduction to the Idea of Christianity. Trans. William V. Dych (New York: Seabury Press, 1978), 338.
Jürgen Moltmann
"There can be no question of God's having finally rejected the people
of his choice-he would then have to reject his own election (11.29). . . .
Jürgen Moltmann, The Way
of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions. Trans. Margaret Kohl
(San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990), 35.
"At the same time this early Jewish-Christian hope for the revival of
the nation of the twelve tribes binds Jesus into a unity with his people which
Gentile Christians must not destroy."
Moltmann, 148.
Herman Ridderbos
"There is therefore no contradiction between the definition of the
essence of the New Testament church as the people of God and holding to
Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology,
trans. John Richard De Witt. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1975), 360.
John Murray
"If we keep in mind the theme of this chapter [ Rom. 11] and the
sustained emphasis on the restoration of Israel, there is no other alternative
than to conclude that the proposition, 'all Israel shall be saved' is to be
interpreted in terms of the fullness, the receiving, the in-grafting of Israel
as a people, the restoration of Israel to gospel favour
and blessing and the correlative turning of Israel from unbelief to faith and
repentance. . . . In a word, it is the salvation of the mass of
John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 99.
Millard Erickson
"There is, however, a future for national
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1999), 1053.
Wayne Grudem
"I affirm the conviction that
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction
to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1994), 861.
1.2.9. On his web
site, Thomas Ice, a well known writer and apologist for pre-tribulation premillenialism has chronicled how that replacement
theology has throughout history led to prejudice and Anti-Semitism. He writes the following there, “What one believes about the
future of
1.2.9.1.
Isaiah 11:11-12:6, “11 Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again
recover the second time with His hand The remnant of His people, who will
remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam,
Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea. 12
And He will lift up a standard for
the nations And assemble the banished ones of
1.2.9.2.
Ezekiel 20:33-44, “33 “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand and with
an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you. 34
“I will bring you out from the peoples
and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and
with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out; 35 and I
will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into
judgment with you face to face. 36 “As I entered into judgment with
your fathers in the wilderness of the
1.2.9.3.
Ezekiel 22:17-22, “17 And the word of the Lord
came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, the house of
1.2.9.4.
Zephaniah 2:1-3,
“1 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without
shame, 2 Before the decree takes effect— The day passes like the
chaff— Before the burning anger of the Lord
comes upon you, Before the day of the Lord’s
anger comes upon you. 3 Seek the Lord, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His
ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In
the day of the Lord’s anger.”
1.2.10.
“This has
been accomplished and the stage is set as a result of the current existence of
the modern state of
1.2.10.1. Deuteronomy
4:30, “30 “When you are
in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you
will return to the Lord your God
and listen to His voice.”
1.2.10.2. Jeremiah
30:5-9, “5 “For thus
says the Lord, ‘I have heard a
sound of terror, Of dread, and there is no peace. 6 ‘Ask now, and
see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on
his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale?
7 ‘Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will
be saved from it. 8 ‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares
the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will
break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers
will no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king,
whom I will raise up for them.”
1.2.10.3. Daniel 12:1, “1 “Now at that time Michael, the
great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such
as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time
your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
1.2.10.4. Zephaniah
1:14-18, “14 Near is
the great day of the Lord, Near
and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the Lord!
In it the warrior cries out bitterly. 15 A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of
destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and
thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the
fortified cities And the high corner towers. 17 I will bring
distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned
against the Lord; And their blood
will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. 18 Neither
their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them On the day of the Lord’s wrath; And all the earth will be
devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a
terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.”
1.2.11.
“Even though
the horrors of the Holocaust under Hitler were of an unimaginable magnitude,
the Bible teaches that a time of even greater trial awaits
1.2.11.1. Zechariah
13:7-9, “7 “Awake, O
sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd that
the sheep may be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8
“It will come about in all the land,” Declares the Lord, “That two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will
be left in it. 9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They
will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my
God.’””
1.2.11.2. Revelation
12, “1 A great sign
appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child;
and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then
another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven
heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And
his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when
she gave birth he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a
son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron;
and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the
woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that
there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the
dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not
strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called
the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the
earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a
loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now
the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of
His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he
who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame
him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12
“For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to
the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great
wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” 13 And when
the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman
who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she
could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time
and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And
the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that
he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth
helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which
the dragon poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged
with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who
keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
1.2.12.
“Through
this time God will protect His remnant so that before His second advent
"all
1.2.12.1. Daniel 12:1, “1 “Now at that time Michael, the
great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such
as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time
your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”
1.2.12.2. Zechariah
12-14, “1 The burden of
the word of the Lord concerning
1.2.12.3. Matthew
24:29-31, “29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky,
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory. 31 “And He
will send forth His angels with a great
trumpet and they will gather
together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the
other.”
1.2.12.4. Revelation
19:11-21, “11 And I saw
heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His
eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and
He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He
is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of
God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From
His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations,
and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the
fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His
thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” 17 Then
I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying
to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come,
assemble for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the
flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the
flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both
free men and slaves, and small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled
to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 And
the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in
his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast
and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of
fire which burns with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with
the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the
birds were filled with their flesh.”
2. VS 11:1 - “11:1 I say then, God has not
rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a
descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”
- Paul asks the rhetorical
question of whether or not God has rejected His people
2.1.
It becomes very apparent to me as I have been reading
chapter 9 and 10 of Romans, that chapter 11 is simply following along the line
of Paul’s logic from the previous two chapters.
In chapter 9 we saw that Paul talked about
2.2.
There is really no way to intelligently discuss
chapters 9 and 10 without seeing that in the scriptures that Paul is talking
about
2.3.
In chapter 10, Paul had written that since the advent
of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that all men may come to salvation
in exactly the same way (believing the gospel message), and that there is no
distinction between Jew and Gentile in that respect, for the gospel message
must be preached and a person come to faith in Christ for salvation. Here in chapter 11, therefore we are
completely established in the fact that in context, Paul has been talking about
2.4.
Likewise, Paul has been appealing to the Jews as
individuals in order to answer their questions and objections that might keep
them from coming to faith in Christ for salvation. So, here in chapter 11 we must see that Paul
is still talking about the Jews as a nation.
2.5.
There are those today who will make the assertion that
in chapter 11, either in total or in part, Paul begins to talk about “Spiritual
Israel.” That is, they think that the Old Testament prophesies concerning
the future of
2.6.
Those who are A-Millenialists
and Post-Millenialists are in that camp that believe
that Paul is talking about “spiritual
2.7.
The theme of Chapter 11 of Romans is the future
restoration of
2.8.
In this verse, Paul first asks the question of whether
or not God has rejected the Jews? To
this question, he answers in the strongest language available to him that God
had not rejected the Jews, ‘May it never be!’, or as the KJV reads, “God
forbid!” God had not totally
rejected those who called themselves
2.9.
Paul was more than just a Jew however, he was of the
tribe of Benjamin, or the cream of the crop as far as the Jews were
concerned. Since the days of the exile,
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin were the prominent of tribes among the Jews.
3. VS
10:2-5 - “2 God has not rejected
His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the
passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against
3.1.
In verse two, Paul says that ‘God has not rejected
His people whom He foreknew,’ which simply means that there were some of
the Jews in Paul’s day who had come to salvation, and were therefore God’s
foreknown and elect people from all eternity.
God has in every generation chosen some Jews to salvation in Christ.
3.2.
In this verse, Paul recounts the prophet Elijah, from
1 Kings 19:10,14, and how that he felt
that all of the Lord’s prophets had been killed and he was left alone, however
the Lord tells him that there were 7,000 men who were serving Jehovah, and not
having fallen into idolatry. Elijah had
slain 450 of the prophets of Baal, however when Jezebel the King’s wife found
out, she vowed to kill him. Therefore,
he fled for his life (He couldn’t endure the wrath of just one woman!) and then
began to feel that he alone stood for God.
Paul writes that even at the present moment in which he was writing
there was a ‘remnant’ of the Jews who were God’s people, having come to
faith in Christ for salvation.
3.3.
There are times when all of God’s people feel like
they alone are standing for the Lord. It
seems as though everyone else has turned aside and forsaken the Lord, and you
are left all alone as one who is serving God, however what Paul writes in this
verse should be a comfort to the Jews that God always keeps a remnant who are
serving Him.
3.4.
We Christians should never allow ourselves to believe
that we are alone in our spiritual struggles here on earth. Sometimes it may seem to us that no one else
is really trying to serve God in the ways in which He desires us to serve Him,
however God’s Word is clear that He always keeps a faithful remnant of people.
4. VS 11:6 - “6 But if it is by grace, it is
no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.” - Paul tells us that if salvation is now by
grace that it is no longer on the basis of works
4.1.
Paul writes in Eph. 2:8-9, salvation is “by faith
through grace” for anyone who calls upon the Lord. In this verse, Paul points out how that ‘grace’
and ‘works’ are opposites, and mutually exclusive, when one trusts in
them for salvation. If salvation is ‘by
grace,’ then it cannot be by ‘grace,’ and visa versa. This is to say that salvation is either to be
by ‘grace’ or it is to be by ‘faith,’ however it cannot be a
combination of ‘faith’ and ‘works.’
4.2.
The problem with trusting in one’s ‘works’ for
salvation is that a person would have to be absolutely perfect in obedience
every single day of his/her life in order to have salvation, which no one could
do. Thus, salvation can only come about
through the grace and mercy of God.
4.3.
There are so many in the churches today who are trying
to be pleasing to God so as to be accepted by Him through their good
works. They are erroneously thinking
that if they try to tow some line or be involved in a whole bunch of stuff in
the church that God will notice and have favor on them, and grant them eternal
life. However, we Christians must
recognize that if we are depending upon any work at all in our life in order to
be pleasing to God, that we are nullifying the grace of God which alone can
bring us salvation. We must trust only
in the completed work of Christ for our righteousness and salvation so we can
have assurance of our salvation.
5. VS
11:7-10 - “7 What then? That
which
5.1.
In verse 7, Paul is basically asking, “What is
nature of the matter then?” In other
words by his question ‘What then?’ as well as his explanation he is just
explaining in yet another way what he had already written previously.
5.2.
In re-explaining what he has written in yet another
way, what Paul writes in verse 7 is that Israel has indeed desired salvation of
the Lord, as is evidenced by the “zeal” which he commended them for in
chapter 10, however even though they are seeking salvation, they have ‘not
obtained’ it.
5.3.
Those Jews who have come to faith in Christ as Lord
and Savior, have therefore been ‘chosen’ to salvation, and thus they
have ‘obtained’ what it is that every Jew desires. The rest of the Jews who have not been ‘chosen’
to salvation have become ‘hardened’ to the Lord and to truth.
5.4.
Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 29 and Isaiah 29 in this
section.
5.5.
Having ‘hardened’ their own hearts to the Lord,
and the Lord having in turn ‘hardened’ their hearts, the rest of the Jewish
nation who has not come to faith in Christ has become blinded to spiritual
truth. God Himself has caused them to be
blinded as part of their hardening, and thus though they have eyes that can see
the world around them, they cannot see spiritual truth, and though they have
ears to hear the sounds of life all around them, they cannot hear the voice of
the Lord when He would speak to them.
This is all a part of God’s giving them over to a depraved mind and
heart, having ‘hardened’ their hearts ( see Rom. 1:20-21 ).
5.5.1. Being ‘hardened’
in heart of “blinded” from understanding the truth by the Lord is a
sobering possibility to consider.
5.6.
Since the Lord has ‘blinded’ the Jews as a
nation, Paul writes stating to let their ‘eyes be darkened.’ In other words, in agreeing with God’s
judgment on apostate
5.7.
Paul writes in verse 10 that since it is part of God’s
judgment against rebellious Israel, that they ought to have their ‘backs
bent forever.’ That is perhaps to
say, since God has chosen to judge them with hardness and subsequent spiritual
blindness, let them stay in their crippled and useless state as apostates
outside of God’s blessings and choice of them to salvation.
5.8.
Seeing how
5.9.
Falling away from Christ is usually a slow process of
gradual erosion. Its one step of
compromise after another, with each step being bigger and going farther. If we ever see the signs of that erosion occurring
in our lives, we ought to repent and put a stop to it.
5.10.
We ought always to ask ourselves the questions: Am I closer to the Lord today than I was
yesterday? Last month? Last year?
If we aren’t growing closer to the Lord, then we are being eroded away
in our faith, and we need to beware of falling away from Christ.
6. VS 11:11 - “11 I say then, they did not
stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression
salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” - Paul asks another rhetorical question, if
whether or not all of the Jews stumbled (of course they didn’t), then he
repeats the fact that salvation has come to the Gentiles in order to make the
Jews jealous
6.1.
The wording in this verse is interesting and causes
its interpretation to be a bit more difficult.
The question really becomes, “What does it mean for Paul to ask
whether or not the Jews stumbled so as to fall?” I think that probably what it means is just
what Paul has already said in this chapter.
I think that he is in essence asking the question. The Israelites did not stumble in their
spiritual journey as God’s people to the extent that they will never fulfill
the promises that the Lord made to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, so as to cause their nation not to have those promises fulfilled?
6.2.
To this question, Paul writes the strongest negation
that his language permits. It is the
same strong negation that he has already used several times in the book, and is
translated by the KJV, “God forbid!”
6.3.
Paul is in this verse giving assurance to his Jewish
readers that the Lord will in fact make good on the promises that He made to
6.4.
Further, Paul writes in the latter part of the verse
about how that the Lord has actually used for good the hardening and blindness
toward the Lord that has occurred to
7. VS
11:12 - “12 Now if their
transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the
Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” -
Paul asks a rhetorical question again concerning how that the Jew’s
restoration will be riches for the world
7.1.
In this verse Paul could only be talking about Israel the
nation, and the notion of him writing here about the church as “spiritual
Israel” doesn’t hold any water, for how could Paul be talking about the ‘transgression’
of the church causing ‘riches for the Gentiles’ ? There is no context for that argument, plus
there is no logic in ‘riches for the Gentiles’ resulting from “the
church” falling into ‘transgression.’
7.2.
Rather, what Paul is writing about in this verse is
the fact that because
7.3.
When
7.4.
We Christians need to realize that we must appreciate
those who call themselves Israelites, for when they in fact do turn to the
Lord, we all will be blessed in such a great way. We must not be prejudiced against our Jewish
brothers, nor think in any way that we are superior. The fact is that we have been engrafted into
the their root and thus are sharing the blessings originally given to them.
8. VS
11:13-14 - “13 But I am
speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles,
I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow
countrymen and save some of them.” - Paul tells
us that he is speaking to those who are Gentiles since he is the minister to
the Gentiles so that by doing so he might move his countrymen, the Jews, to
jealousy
8.1.
Paul saw the importance of his calling to be the
apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, not only for the sake of the
Gentiles that he might win to Christ, but also that when Gentiles come to
Christ that it causes the Jews to become jealous. This ‘jealousy’ of the Jews who saw
what God was doing in the lives of Gentiles caused some to think about where
they were in their relationship with God, as well as to check out whether or
not Jesus really is their Messiah.
8.2.
Like Paul, we too can tell those who are Jewish what a
blessing it is to have a relationship with God through their Messiah, and thus
cause them to be spiritually jealous, which may result in their salvation.
9. VS
11:15-16 - “15 For if their
rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but
life from the dead? 16 And if the first piece of dough be holy, the lump is
also; and if the root be holy, the branches are too.” - Paul tells us via another rhetorical question
that if the rejection of the Jews by the Lord resulted in the reconciliation of
the world, then
9.1.
When the Jews as a nation rejected their Messiah,
those who were Gentiles all around the world had the opportunity to be
reconciled to God through acceptance of the gospel message. Thus Paul says that if the Jewish nation now
accepts Christ as her Messiah, she will come alive from the dead
spiritually.
9.2.
The book of Revelation records that 12,000 evangelists
from each of the 12 tribes of Israel will become evangelists for Christ during
the tribulation, as they will truly become mightily used by the Lord. Though the Jews today do not know from what
tribe they have descended, God does know, and He will call 12,000 from each of
the tribes and seal and use them.
9.3.
In verse 16, Paul is trying to stave off the attitude
of Gentiles who might look down upon those who call themselves
10.
CONCLUSIONS:
10.1.
As we consider this study and think about the
hardening and blindness both of Israel to her Messiah as well as the church to
God’s purposes for Israel, it ought to serve as a solemn warning to us to be
careful not to let our own hearts become hardened to the Lord, and to make sure
that we ourselves do not become deceived concerning God’s ways.
10.2.
Are you closer to the Lord than you were
yesterday? Last month? Last year?
10.3.
It is a spiritual principle for us who are Christians
that we are either growing closer to the Lord every day or we are growing
further away. There is no safe or middle
ground.