1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
The previous two chapters have left no doubt about Israel’s spiritual condition. For long centuries God had endured their obstinacy and disobedience (Rom 9:22; 10:21), and now He would “thrust them from Him” (cf. cast – apotheomai in Acts 7:39). In truth, the Apostle has left Israel’s situation so dire we might wonder if God has disallowed them from the Kingdom entirely. Hath God cast away His chosen people completely? That is, in opening the door to the Gentiles, has He shut the door to the Jews? Not at all! A faithful, Godly remnant of Jews, the election of grace (Rom 11:5), did believe the Gospel. They, along with believing Gentiles, have become the new people of God. The failure of the Jews to accept Christ gave opportunity to the Gentiles to be included. And even now the Jews can obtain mercy if they trust in Jesus Christ (v31).
Chapter 11 finishes the subject of Israel’s fall and the Gentiles’ calling into the new Kingdom of Christ that has dictated the flow of the book to this point. The final chapters will address other topics. Impressively, Paul wrote these chapters before the fall of Jerusalem which abruptly ended the religion of Judaism according to the Law of Moses. At the time of this writing, Jerusalem was at the pinnacle of Jewish worship and life; the temple with its priests and sacrifices was at its peak form and the Judaic Law had not been more strictly observed since the time of Moses and Joshua. Yet just a decade after this book was written, Jerusalem would be ruined by the Roman armies and the beautiful Temple totally destroyed. The daily lamb sacrifices would cease to be offered in waning days of the siege and have never been offered since, partly because the Muslims have built the Dome of the Rock shrine upon the very site where the Temple once stood.
The tribes of Benjamin and Judah seem to have physically shared the city of Jerusalem and Simeon was entirely within the borders of Judah. So these three tribes, or parts of them at least, became the kingdom of Judah. The remaining northern tribes were known collectively as Ephraim or Israel until their fall to the Assyrians, when they disappeared into the nations of the world forever.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
One clear evidence that God has not disallowed the Israelites from salvation is the believing Jewish remnant, or election according to grace, found in the churches of Christ (Rom 11:5). While they were soon out-weighed by the floods of Gentiles, there were many Jews who did follow Christ. The people of the Law are no longer God’s chosen (see Rom 11:15; Col 3:11; Mat 21:43; Heb 8:13), but He has not cast them all away. Earlier the Apostle showed that the everlasting promises of God to Abraham’s seed according to the flesh (i.e. Gen 17:7-8; Jer 31:35-37; Is 49:14-16; 1Sam 12:22) have not fallen void, but are now upon his seed according to faith (see my note for Rom 9:6). This truth was hidden in many Old Testament prophecies (see Is 59:19-21; Jer 31:31-34; Dan 7:18).
Elijah thought he was the only man left in Israel who still served the Lord, but God knew that there were 7,000 who were still faithful to Him. Even so it was at the time the Apostle wrote this book (v5). Among the multitudes of hypocrites and ignorants, there was a firstfruit that was still holy unto the Lord. The Jewish identity of that remnant has disappeared – assimilated into the New Covenant people of God. They are now part of God’s olive tree which puts no difference in persons, where all nations and peoples are one in Christ.
Israel after the flesh still exists and identifies as Jewish even down to the present day. Many take that fact alone to mean that God has miraculously preserved them for the sake of blessing. Adam Clarke writes, “[The Jews] being preserved as a distinct people is certainly a strong collateral proof that they shall once more be brought into the Church of God: and their conversion to Christianity will be an incontestable proof of the truth of Divine revelation; and doubtless will become the means of converting multitudes of deists, who will see the prophecies of God, which had been delivered so long before, so strikingly fulfilled in this great event…the several Jews who have now embraced Christianity, are pledges that God will, in process of time, admit the whole Jewish nation into his favor again.”
What? The Jews have been the off-scouring of the earth ever since the time of Christ! More than any other race, they have been discriminated, despised and killed in all the nations of the world whithersoever they are found. And why? Because they continue to forsake God and reject the Messiah that He sent to them. Consequently, their unending story for the last 2000 years is marked by hatred and death. No, God has not preserved the Jews to bless them, but to make them an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the nations whither the Lord shall lead thee (Deut 28:37). For just as the Lord was prepared to rejoice over Israel to do her good, He has now rejoiced over her to destroy and bring to nought (Deut 28:63). Again, it is because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God…Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee…And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever (Deut 28:45-46).
So Clarke’s “collateral proof” must be rejected on authority of Scripture. Furthermore, where does the New Testament so much as hint that, a) the Jews will convert en masse to Christianity, b) that they will be the means of converting multitudes of unbelievers and, c) that the world will suddenly believe the Bible to be true when they see its prophecies being fulfilled? These ideas are simply not found therein. In fact, Jesus said the Jews of His day wouldn’t believe even if someone they knew were to rise from the dead and preach to them (Luke 16:30-31).
Since the time of Christ, the Jews’ brightest moment (in the physical sense) has come in the last century, when after the horrible Nazi Holocaust several influential nations repatriated thousands of Jews to their homeland and formed for them the state of Israel. Yet even there they have been constantly terrorized, attacked and bombed. They continue to openly reject Jesus Christ and most do not even believe in the God of their Old Testament. A full one-half of Jews in Israel identify as “secular,” and Christian missionaries there have found the Muslims to be more amenable to the Gospel than the Jews.
Jews according to the flesh continue to be a sign for all the world to know what happens when a nation rejects Him. The Lord told Solomon, But if ye turn away, and forsake My statutes…then will I cast out of My sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God…and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath He brought all this evil upon them (2Chr 7:18-22). Years later, the prophet Jeremiah recounted the same curse when he prophesied of the northern tribes: And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers (Jer 24:9-10).
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
This remnant of Jews that began the New Covenant church may have been dwarfed by the Gentile crowds, but the level of commitment and holiness in that lump was surely of the purest grade (v16). The Apostles, evangelists, deacons and elders from among the Jews were notable men of God in the early stage of the Christian church. This elect group found grace in the eyes of the Lord and were saved, but the rest were blinded.
The election of Grace. The method of the New Covenant, or Age of Grace, is that God elects a person to salvation according to his faith (Tit 1:2; 1Pet 1:2; Luke 18:7; Luke 7:50; Mat 15:28). This juxtaposition of New Testament Grace with Old Testament Works has been an important theme in the Apostle’s message, for Israel after the flesh was still seeking to receive the promises by following the Law. Yet, a Godly remnant had obtained the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ (Rom 5:15). The book of Romans affirms that righteousness unto salvation cannot be earned by works (Rom 3:22; 4:13; 10:6), but is graced to the believer on account of his faith in Christ (Rom 4:4; 5:2; 10:9). The elect are the true followers of Christ, having come willingly to Him in full faith (Rom 8:33; Col 3:12; 2Pet 1:10; Mat 24:31; Rom 9:11); and, he that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37). Calvinists have intemperately defined this election of grace to be a one-sided decision by God to save certain ones, yet the verses we have listed show that the elect have not only reciprocated that decision, they are diligently working to confirm it. The Lord is rich unto all that call upon Him (Rom 10:12; 2Th 1:11).
The verb in verse 7 is in the present tense: “Israel continues to seek for something the election have already obtained” (see Rom 9:31). Here, perhaps, the election refers only to the Jews who then believed the truth of the Gospel, for that is the subject of these verses. According to chapter 9 however, the full election of Grace are the called of both Jews and Gentiles by faith (v11-24).
The proponents of Dispensationalism and Pre-millennialism attempt to place the bulk of this chapter in a future Jewish Age. To them, the election refers to a future Jewish “remnant,” although how it might be called a remnant is doubtful. The Jewish religion as formulated by the Mosaic Law ceased to be observed centuries ago. It may exist in name today, but lacks many of the Old Testament laws, rituals and ceremonies. The constant intention of the Apostle in this book is that Judaism is not an alternate way to God, seeing that it lacks the power to forgive sins. Why then would God chose to re-instate the Jews and the Law?!? The foolish Galatians were bewitched by the same false doctrine (Gal 3:1-3). Additionally, the guileless reader cannot fail to recognize that Paul’s whole purpose here is to persuade his fellow countrymen to break entirely with the Law just as he had done (Php 3:5-8). Far from offering them a hope that God would re-recognize the Israelite nation someday, he prays that they will be provoked to jealousy as they see God blessing the Gentiles and request to be grafted back into the olive tree with them (v31).
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Beginning with the twelve children of Jacob, the Jewish people have been a notoriously stiff-necked and rebellious population (Deut 9:6-7), ever given to selfishness, materialism and the rejection of Truth. God often reminded the Prophets of that reputation. His words upon commissioning Ezekiel are a typical example: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against Me: they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day. For they are impudent children and stiffhearted (Eze 2:2-4).
The Jews wickedly provoked God in the wilderness (Heb 3:8-10), demanded of Him a king instead of a prophet (1Sam 8:6-22) and constantly fell to worshipping the gods of the land (Jer 13:9-10). Their worst iniquity however, came at the end, when they rejected their Messiah, the Prince of peace and Hope of the Ages. Just before they stoned him to death, Stephen recounted their shocking history of rebellions: Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: who have received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth (Acts 7:51-54). Matthew chapter 23 documents the appalling rebellion and obstinacy of that generation of vipers, the Jewish people according to the flesh.
Eyes that they should see not. Jesus quoted this same verse to the Jews of His day (Mat 13:14; John 12:40) and Paul famously spoke it to the Roman Jews shortly before his death (Acts 28:26-28). While the main passage is drawn from Isaiah 6:9-10, there is a fitting phrase taken from Isaiah 29:10, For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes (see also Is 44:18). In their deepest heart, I believe the Jews knew the truth, but they refused to allow that kernel of knowledge to develop unto genuine faith (see my note for John 7:5 and Mat 11:6). Many, many people have been offended by Christ and His message down to the present day! They just refuse to accept what their eyes, ears and minds are saying. They don’t want to hear it, don’t want to know about it – because they don’t want to take the next step of faith, which is to acknowledge the truth and act upon it in submission and obedience.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
This quote comes from the Septuagint version of Psalms 69:22-23, where the Greek word for stumblingblock is skandalon, which is often translated offence (Ps 119:165; Mat 13:21; Gal 5:11; Luke 7:23). Psalm 69 is a moving, highly prophetic cry of the Messiah unto God and it contains several striking prophecies of the Jew’s rejection of Jesus: “They hated Me without a cause; they would wrongfully destroy Me (v4). I am a stranger unto My brethren, for the zeal of thine house hath eaten Me up (v8). Deliver Me, O Lord, from them that hate Me and hide not Thy face from Thy servant: for I am in trouble (v17). Let not the deep swallow Me up, nor the pit shut her mouth upon Me (v15). They gave Me also gall and vinegar to drink (v21). Their reproach has broken My heart and I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none (v20). So let their table become a snare and a trap before them (v22). Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins continually to shake (v23). Pour out thine indignation upon them and let their habitation be desolate, for they persecute Him whom thou has smitten. Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and blot out their name from the books of righteousness (v26).”
Let their table be made a snare. David used the word table as a euphemism for the contentment and stability of normal life (see Ps 23:5; 78:19; 128:3). The Jews professed to have a place in the table of the Lord (Mal 1:12), but they could not see beyond their customs and rituals. They became for them a snare and a trap, a stumblingblock to believing in Christ.
Let them bow down their back alway. This follows the Septuagint version of Ps 69:23, while the Masoretic text of our English Old Testaments reads, “make their loins continually to shake.” Both phrases seem to be allusions to Moses’ final words to the children of Israel, predicting that their stubborness would eventually lead them to bow their backs unto slavery, captivity (Deut 28:41-44) and constant, pitiable fear for their very lives (Deut 28:65-67). The generation of Jews are destined to suffering and discrimination as long as they continue to reject the Truth (see note for Mat 24:34).
The wicked Jews who killed the Christ (1Thes 2:15; Acts 7:52) actually requested that His innocent blood be attributed to them and their children! (Mat 27:24-25). Such inexcusable hardness of heart and rejoicing in iniquity the world has never seen, nor will it ever be equaled. And while God will not punish the children for the sins of their fathers, the words of those Jewish murderers have rang eerily true to the historical reaction of general Jewdom to the message of the Gospel even down to this very day.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
The astounding offenses of the Israelite people ended with God dispossessing them as His chosen ones in favor of the new Israel of God, made up of Jews and Gentiles according to the faith of Abraham instead of the blood of Abraham. Yet, God was able to turn the stumbling of the Jews into a thing of beauty, for through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. And that great blessing itself comes with a Jewish benefit, for when the Jew sees God showing favor and goodness to those who were not even a people (Rom 9:26), will he not be provoked to jealousy and return unto God? (Rom 10:19).
How much more their fulness (pleroma, to fill up, fulfill, full). The restoration of the Jews to the fold of God (compare Rom 11:25) is the apparent subject of this rhetorical question: “If their fall resulted in Gentile blessing, would not their fulness be even more blessed?.” For the last 2000 years however, we haven’t seen natural Jews becoming jealous of the Gentiles being accepted by God. Rather than softening their stance on Jesus Christ, the vast majority of Jews have stiffened themselves even more against Him. I believe Paul asked this question in hopeful terms, without intending to make a subtle prophecy. For he follows by saying, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them (v14).
Far from distaining the Jewish race for their contumacy, Paul hoped for their salvation with the Gentiles. How beautiful that would be! The New Testament Scriptures are silent regarding the Jewish nation turning to Christ, but that does not deter the Pre-millennialists and Dispensationalists, who think God will re-instate Israel as His chosen people with new blessings and favor (see note v2). However, they can offer only a few verses with dubious intimations and suggestions (their favorites are Mat 23:39; Acts 1:6-7; Rom 11:25-26; Rev 11:1). Not one of these offers a different hope for Israel than that which is offered to every other Gentile nation. Accept Christ as Savior and Sovereign, that is the only way to God (1Cor 3:11; 1Tim 2:5). Certainly there are Jews who daily hear and live by the Truth of the Gospel, and these do add fulness to the Church of Jesus Christ, but that the Jews in general will accept Jesus the Nazarene as their Messiah is neither prophesied nor promised. Jesus would not even touch the disciples’ direct question to that effect (Acts 1:6-7).
I magnify my office. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15; Gal 2:8; Eph 3:8; 2Tim 1:11), yet if by preaching to the heathen he could provoke to jealousy some of his own countrymen, how he would rejoice! He would receive them with the joy of one who saw his son alive again from dead (see Luke 15:24). The words emulation (v14) and jealousy (v11) are translated from the same Greek word. The thought is based on Moses’ prophecy in Deut 32:21, which was also cited in Rom 10:19.
We are once again deeply impressed with the dexterity and tact of the Apostle Paul in presenting Christ to his countrymen (see note on Romans 7:9). He couples strong words and tough truth with deep entreaties and heart-felt appeals, emphasizing their advantages as highly privileged people with an inside track to God on account of their many experiences in God’s great mercy and love, while yet showing that their unbelief and rejection of truth would result in being cast off if they did not repent.
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
The firstfruit and root refer to the Jewish patriarchs and especially to Abraham, the father of the faithful. These being holy, so too should be the branches and lump thereof. Some branches though, did not bear good fruit and these were purged from the tree and cast into the fire (John 15:1-6). The holy firstfruit had been contaminated by a little leaven which had leavened the whole lump (1Cor 5:6-7; Gal 5:9). Yet, cannot the Potter make from the same lump of clay a new vessel (Rom 9:21)?
Tree grafting makes a beautiful analogy of the Kingdom of Christ, for it remarkably demonstrates the origins and makeup of the New Covenant. God didn’t cut down the Jewish olive tree and plant a new Gentile tree, nor did He just ignore the unfruitful Jewish tree and cultivate a Gentile tree. Instead, He worked in a marvelous way with the Jewish tree so that it would accept and nourish Gentile branches! The olive tree represents the true people of God, which are now found in Jesus Christ’s Covenant of Peace (Eze 34:23-26). Even today the secular world recognizes the olive branch as a symbol of peace. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of Israel as a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit, but on account of her evil ways, the Planter had caused her branches to be broken off (Jer 11:16-17).
The two key points in this analogy is that God has only one tree and by nature it is Jewish. This is evidently and consistently shown throughout this passage. The Jews are the natural branches and the Gentiles branches are taken from a wild olive tree. And that is corroborated by the broad teaching of the New Testament, which describes the New Covenant people in Old Testament terms (compare 1Pet 2:9 to Ex 19:6) and identifies the children of Abraham spiritually instead of genetically (Gal 3:7). The true Jew is determined inwardly (Rom 2:29), allowing the Gentiles to be part of the true circumcision instead of Israel after the flesh (Php 3:3; Col 2:11), which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan (Rev 2:9; 3:9). The Gentile with faith in Christ is a child of Abraham and so a Jew; not by blood but by adoption, by being graffed in.
The Scriptures are emphatic concerning the above point, that the true people of God in the New Covenant are Jews. They are no less vigorous in teaching that God has only one tree, or people (Heb 8:10). I am the vine, ye are the branches (John 15:5). There is one fold, and one Shepherd (John 10:16). He has broken down that wall of partition between the Jew and the Gentile forever (Eph 2:14). They are one stick in His hand (Eze 37:16-28), one body (Eph 4:4) of God’s building (1Cor 3:9), an holy temple (Eph 2:21), and a spiritual house (1Pet 2:5). There is now no difference between the Jew and the Greek (Rom 10:12).
How can any think that God will undo these affirmations? For the teaching of the Millennialists is greatly opposed. God has two programs, they say, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. God paused His program for the Jews (because they rejected the Messiah) and right now is developing His program for the Gentiles. But at some point, He will close that program and re-take the Jews, who will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem and re-instate the Judaic Covenant complete with blood sacrifices and ritual ceremonies! Yet the Apostle Paul in these chapters shows just one tree with Jewish and Gentile branches intermingled. God, the keeper of this olive tree, works with all branches so that they might bring forth much fruit (Mat 7:17-19). Some branches will not produce and must be cut off and burned. Other branches are graffed in wild, to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree (the patriarchs of promise in v16). The wild branches have become one with the natural branches. Together they receive the same blessings that were given to Abraham. See verse 24.
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
The Apostle here speaks to the Gentiles (see v13). “Do not become arrogant and full of pride (1Cor 10:12) on account of being accepted into the olive tree of the Lord! Do not think yourselves better than the Jewish branches just because God has broken them off and grafted you in (compare Deut 9:4-6). Don’t forget that you are just the branch and owe your existence to the root which bears you. So be not highminded, but fear. If God cut off many Jewish branches for refusing His Son, He will not hesitate to cut off any Gentile branches that allow an evil heart of unbelief to take them away from the living God (Heb 3:12).”
The erroneous ideas of Calvinism are confounded by this picture. Jesus said, Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit (John 15:2). Israel after the flesh was a branch in God, but made a decision to reject Him. And so He has also rejected her. This reciprocal rejection is strikingly illustrated by God rejecting once-chosen Saul after Saul had rejected Him (see 1Sam 15:26). The prophet described Israel as a beautiful vineyard which God had chosen, fenced and planted with the choicest vine. He spared no expense to give that vineyard every benefit, but it produced only wild grapes. Finally, God left the vineyard and it fell into ruin, briers and thorns (Is 5:1-7). But a good and Godly remnant rose up to take its place.
The natural and wild branches of this olive tree make an analogy that is in many ways similar to the analogy of natural and adopted children (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5). Some in the Kingdom are Abraham’s blood children and others by adoption, being counted children according to Faith (Rom 4:16; Gal 3:7). A similar analogy is seen in Rev 7, where the twelve tribes of Israel make a symbolic representation of the one olive tree of God. That passage also warns of broken branches, for the tribe of Dan is missing, left out of the final chosen for salvation.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
God’s mercy is counter-balanced by His righteousness – He cannot overlook sin. He shows goodness to those who are of meek and contrite heart (Ps 51:17), but severity to the proud and unrepentant (Pro 16:5). This truth was published at length in Rom 9:12-20. If the Gentile branches continue in doing good, they shall continue in His goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Moreover, if the Jewish branches throw off their unbelief and accept the Gospel, God will graft them back into their own olive tree. There is no bitterness in God, neither will He keep His anger forever (Ps 103:9). The olive tree, Christ’s present Kingdom of Peace on the earth, is Jewish by nature – the Gentiles have been granted place, have been grafted in. And that picture is historically accurate, for God’s olive tree with its Jewish branches existed before Christ. The tree will continue unto the end of the Age, with Jew and Gentile branches intermingled.
This birth of Christianity from the Jewish religion is illustrated in Revelation 12, which describes a sun-clothed woman (Israel) giving birth to a Manchild (Christ) who was to rule all nations. The Child was caught up to the throne of God and the woman was forced to flee into the wilderness, where the earth helped her survive (the Jews survive in all parts of the globe even to the present day). The Dragon was especially wroth with the remnant of the woman’s seed (the Church), and went to make war with them.
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
The Apostle has described a broad spiritual blindness of the Jews to the Gospel (Rom 11:7-10). Only a remnant believed on Christ (Rom 11:1-5). This mysterious blindness in part will continue until a particular event occurs: the fulness (pleroma) of the Gentiles be come in. Paul used the same word earlier in reference to Israel (Rom 11:12). The NIV translates it: “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” There has been much speculation and contention concerning the meaning of this final phrase! Let us consider it carefully by that good, three-part hermeneutical method which should undergird the sincere reading of the Bible. 1) Let the words be defined by their usage elsewhere in the Scriptures instead of resorting to etymologies and secular Greek writings. 2) Be sure to consider the general teaching of the greater passage. 3) Be sure that your reading is consistent with the rest of the Scriptures.
Blindness in part (meros) is happened to Israel. The Apostle does not say a temporary blindness has befallen Israel, but a partial blindness (see meros in Mat 24:51; John 19:23; 1Cor 11:18). That is, this blindness is not for a certain period of time, but upon a particular portion of Israel (v7). It will continue until such moment that the fulness (pleroma) of the Gentiles be come in. In the Greek Scriptures, the noun pleroma and its verb pleroo mean to fill up, full, to fulfill. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof (1Cor 10:26); when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son (Gal 4:4; see also Mat 9:16; John 1:16; Eph 3:19). So unless Paul used “fulness” in a loose, indeterminate sense, the candid idea here is that Israel will remain partially blinded until the Gentiles have filled their share in the Kingdom. Jesus’ prophecy concerning the Jews is harmonious, And they (the Jews) shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21:24).
If this be the Apostle’s intention with fulness of the Gentiles, then the period can only end at the Second Coming of Christ, at which moment the Age of Grace will be fulfilled. The Revelation assigns to the Gentile Age a symbolic length of duration – 3-1/2 times, which equals 42 months or 1260 days. This half-seven completes the mystery of God for the world of His creation, for it ends with the Beast and all thing wicked being thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire (see note on Rev 11:3). During this time, the Gentiles will tread Jerusalem for 42 months (Rev 11:2) and the woman (Israel) will be nourished in the wilderness for 1260 days or 3-1/2 times (Rev 12:6, 14). All of this points to the conclusion that Israel after the flesh will remain in blindness until the end, which accords with the traditional A-millennial view that the Age of Grace will continue until the sudden return of Christ at the end of the world.
Pre-millennialism, on the other hand, has inserted a 1000 year time-period between the Second Coming and the destruction of the world. They place many of the so-called unfulfilled prophecies in that future Age, in which Israel will become the head of all nations and a tremendous Jewish revival will occur. The Temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and the entire Jewish nation will believe upon Christ. At the end of that Age, rampant and wholesale apostasy will require Christ to come again and destroy the world once and for all.
Accordingly, many Christians today are following with rapt attention all news concerning the state of Israel, for they are sure that God will at any moment begin to take up His covenant with them once again. However, they are not even consistent with their own eschatology! By their own admission, the Jewish economy will not begin until AFTER the Gentile Age, which is to say, after the entire Church has been raptured from the earth. So watching the state of Israel to gauge the nearness of the coming of Christ is at best a futile exercise and at worst a great deception. For the Scriptures are clear that the rapture will come when men LEAST expect it (Mat 24:44) and there will be NO special signs immediately preceding it (Mat 24:6-8; 1Thes 5:3; Luke 17:26-30).
The belief that the Jews will accept Christ in great numbers at some point in history is plagued by this gigantic fact: there is NO doctrine for it ANYWHERE in the New Testament Scriptures. Only by biased inference might one extract from this passage the idea that the Jews will return en masse to God. Why didn’t Paul say it? His progression of thought in these three chapters has come to its conclusion; if there were any appropriate moment to prophecy the salvation and restoration of the Jews as God’s people, this would be it. But no, all he says is that God is ABLE to graft the Jews back in (v23) and then defines the olive tree, the true Israel of God, as Jews and Gentiles living together in Christ.
And that is the consistent New Testament teaching concerning physical Israel. Jesus, for instance, prophesied at length concerning the fall of Jerusalem and the Jews, yet neither did He predict the rise of national Israel to God’s favor. Instead, in dozens of parables and teachings, He ALWAYS showed the absolute end of the Jewish Covenant (ej Mat 22:1-14; Mark 12:1-10; Luke 13:6-9). Thus did He answer the disciples’ question about God restoring the Kingdom again to Israel in Acts 1:6-7. He didn’t say, “It isn’t given you to know when I will do that,” but, “It isn’t for you to know the times and seasons.” That is the vaguest of answers and leaves even the bare idea of a Jewish restoration in great doubt. It opens the door to a third possibility, that the Jews WILL be involved in end-time events, but in a diabolical, aid-to-wickedness role instead of a Godly role. While I do not subscribe to this belief, I have heard interesting arguments for it.
To conclude, the Apostle affirms that Israel will experience blindness until the times of the Gentiles have been completed at the end of the Age. The Jews in general will not accept Christ before He comes back to end the mystery of God.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
At the close of this three chapter treatise relating Israel’s terrible record of rejecting God, does the Apostle suddenly save all those Jews he has shown were cut off? God forbid! And so all Israel shall be saved, means that all true Israel – the olive tree of elect Jews under both covenants along with the grafted-in Gentiles shall be finally gathered together into the eternal Kingdom of the Father (Mat 24:31). Excluded are the faithless Jews that rejected the Prophets, excluded are the scribes and Pharisees who condemned their Messiah to death, excluded are all who do not confess the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 10:9-10). For a remnant according to the election of grace in Israel were indeed saved (Rom 11:5) with the Gentiles (Rom 11:11). It is appropriate that, in the middle of his explication of Israel rejecting Christ, Paul reminds us that God’s promises will not fail nor will His Word return unto Him void: All Israel will indeed be saved; but they are not all Israel which are of Israel (Rom 9:6).
This book has unequivocally defined the genuine Jew to be a spiritual child of Abraham by faith (Gal 3:29). But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit (Rom 2:29). Jesus told the frightfully hardened Jews who saw His miracles and yet refused to believe: If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham…ye are of your father the devil (John 8:39-44). These truths continue in force today. If any Jew does believe on Christ, the vail of blindness is taken away to see clearly the truth of the Gospel (2Cor 3:16). See my note for 11:17.
All Israel shall be saved. Paul quotes Isaiah 45:17-25, Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation…in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. While the Old Testament prophets filled their books with solemn promises of future salvation for Israel (there are probably hundreds of them), the New Testament prophets are silent on that topic. The reason should be obvious. The OT prophets prophesied of spiritual Israel, the true remnant that was gathered into the early church and has expanded to include all nations of the world just as this epistle describes. Those prophesies are not repeated for good reason – they have been fulfilled in the present Covenant of Grace offered to all men.
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer. Continuing to quote the prophet Isaiah, but from a different chapter, Paul describes how all the true seed of Israel is saved. The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob (Is 59:20). The Septuagint reads Deliverer instead of Redeemer. While both titles are appropriate, Christ as the Redeemer or Ransomer of His people is an especially emotive picture of Jesus coming to the Israelite nation. The Gaal (kinsman-redeemer, Ruth 4:14) arose in Zion to give His life a ransom for many (Mat 20:28; John 12:15). Christ was the chief corner stone placed in Sion, which is the spiritual city of the living God where the saints of the Kingdom now dwell in the peace of His salvation (Rom 9:33; Heb 12:22; 1Pet 2:6). These additional verses further confirm the Apostle’s point – all the true Israel of God shall indeed be saved at His appearing and His Kingdom (2Tim 4:1), from the first to enter even unto the very last.
For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. The quote continues in Isaiah 59:20-21, but the last phrase is drawn from an earlier chapter: Therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be taken away; and this is his blessing, when I shall have taken away his sin (Is 27:9, LXX). The birth angel famously informed Joseph of this Messianic purpose: Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins (Mat 1:21). “His people” are the true spiritual Jews of all bloods, nations and races, for He hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth (Acts 17:26). The Son was manifested to take away our sins (1John 3:5). These verses again link the salvation of the Jews to the same cleansing fountain that has come to the Gentiles (Zec 13:1; Rev 21:6), the same new, better and everlasting Covenant (Heb 8:6-13; 12:24; 13:20) that Christ ratified with His own blood. Unto Him be glory…throughout all ages, world without end (Eph 3:21).
Dispensationalists have entirely corrupted the intent of the Apostle’s quotation by changing the beginning phrase to read, “And then all Israel shall be saved.” They think that gives them license to briefly place the mind of the Apostle far into the future, in vision of another Jewish age that will be ushered in after the rapture of the Christian church. There is simply no basis for this grammatical transformation. And so, means, “Like this,” or “In this way.” The Apostle is showing how all Israel will be saved – by accepting the one and only Covenant that really can take away sins (Heb 10:1-13).
Consider briefly the dispensationalists’ attempt to place the fulfillment of this Old Testament prophecy in the future utilizing Paul’s quotation of the prophet Isaiah: There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. This, they tell us, is Jesus saving national Israel. Yet even the briefest reading will contradict that idea at multiple points. The Deliverer has already come out of Sion and has peculiarly revealed Himself to Jacob! He has already delivered a miraculous, unimaginable way for Jacob to be justified. He has already opened My Covenant unto them and has sealed it by His own blood at Calvary. He has already taken away their sins by bearing them in His own body. Are we to ignore these extraordinary, singular events and expect some new salvation in a future age?
To repeat, the natural, consistent reading here is that all Israel refers to the true Israel of God (Gal 6:16). Any attempt to make it refer to Israel after the flesh will be extremely troubled, for under what construct can we possibly conceive that all natural Israel will be saved? The Bible teaches that all spiritual Israel shall truly be saved by the Deliverer taking away their sins. The underlined words are a literal word-for-word translation of this verse, except for my addition of that one word, “spiritual.” By this time the Apostle expects that we should have understood him well enough to supply that word ourselves. After all, he has said it in so many ways. Does he really expect us to insert the alternate word? And so all natural Israel shall be saved. It is either one or the other. The facts are emphatically in favor of the former.
Finally, in support of the above, I quote Adam Clarke’s similar observation: “The national privileges of the Jews are a frequent subject of consideration; and, as these national privileges were intended to point out spiritual advantages, the terms which express them are used frequently in both these senses with no change; and it requires an attentive mind, and a proper knowledge of the analogy of faith, to discern when and where they are to be restricted exclusively to one or the other meaning, as well as where the one is intended to shadow forth the other; and where it is used as expressing what they ought to be, according to the spirit and tenor of their original calling. Multitudes of interpreters of different sects and parties have strangely mistaken both epistles (Romans and Galatians), by not attending to these most necessary, and to the unprejudiced, most obvious, distinctions and principles. Expressions which point out national privileges have been used by them to point out those which were spiritual; and merely temporal advantages or disadvantages have been used in the sense of eternal blessings or miseries. Hence, what has been spoken of the Jews in their national capacity has been applied to the Church of God in respect to its future destiny; and thus, out of the temporal election and reprobation of the Jews, the doctrine of the irrespective and eternal election of a small part of mankind, and the unconditional and eternal reprobation of the far greater part of the human race, has been formed” (Adam Clarke for Gal 6:18).
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
It is essential to identify the subject of these verses; the Jews that happen to have the blood of Abraham in their veins? Or the Jews that have the faith of Abraham in their hearts? The literal translation is: So concerning the Gospel, hated because of you; and concerning the election, beloved because of the fathers. There are no pronouns in the original, so we need to remember of whom he is speaking – not the Jews according to the flesh, but the remnant, the election out of natural Israel which accepted Christ and had their sins taken away. These were hated by their natural brothers on account of the Gospel, but beloved by God for following the faith of their fathers. They are not OUR enemies, but are enemies in the mind of natural Israel. As we saw earlier, only an elect group of Jews in the direct lineage of Jacob believed on Christ: Even so at this present time also there is (in natural Israel) a remnant according to the election of grace (Rom 11:5). These, the election from among the Jews, obtained the promises given to their fathers, and the rest were blinded (Rom 11:7).
The holy remnant out of Israel was particularly hated by the natural Jews, who disowned them and persecuted them without mercy (1Thes 2:15; Acts 7:52), showing themselves to be enemies of the Gospel even during the time that Jesus walked the earth (Mat 23:34). Paul, along with the rest of the Apostles and many thousands of Christian Jews, were falsely accused, beaten and killed by that which is called the Circumcision (Eph 2:11).
Some commentators have incorrectly inferred that the subject of these verses is Israel according to blood and end up advocating that all Jews are beloved of God simply because they are genetically in the line of Abraham. This idea is blatantly contrary to the Gospel and the teaching of the New Testament. Jesus Christ came to break down the middle wall between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:14; Rom 10:12). In the New Covenant, we are all one blood, one building, one people built upon the foundation of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles (Eph 2:20). Those who teach that God holds a special place in His heart for blood Jews reveal themselves to be either willfully obstinate or woefully ignorant of the New Testament Scriptures, which testify and establish the valid parameters to being a child of Abraham (Gal 3:29).
For the fathers’ sakes. God fulfilled His word to the prophets and patriarchs, and He will always keep His Word and Covenants. He does not change from time to time (Num 23:19; Heb 13:8); nor is there in Him any variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). Jesus Christ came to the Jewish nation and lived as a devout Jew under the Mosaic Law; He was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (Rom 15:8). And God’s invitation to natural Israel has not been withdrawn. If she were to confess the Christ of the Covenant, surely He would accept them again into the olive tree. The Covenant that God made with Abraham has not been set aside, nor has it been amended; in fact, the inclusion of the Gentiles was newly fulfilled in Christ (see note for Gal 3:15). However, even as the prophets of old spoke of Israel as God’s enemy for forsaking Him (Is 63:10; Mal 3:7), so it is true today. How they have labored under tribulation and curse for not faithfully following the Lord! The strange work that the prophet Isaiah spoke of has taken place, for God has risen up in wrath against the unfaithful Jews who have continuously breached His covenants with them (Is 28:16-21).
Of course, the promises of the Covenant will not be awarded to those who fail to keep the conditions (Ex 19:5; Heb 8:6-13). If ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto thy fathers (Deut 7:12). But natural Israel did not hearken. And so God has accepted the Gentiles as actual, true Jews of the New Covenant (Php 3:3). The calling of the Gentiles was precisely foretold in God’s promise to Abraham, In thy seed shall all the nations (Gentiles) of the earth be blessed (Gen 22:18; 26:4). If a covenant between men cannot be annulled or modified, then certainly God’s covenant cannot be set aside or amended (Gal 3:15).
Many Christians today hold the blood Jews in special honor. A personal acquaintance, citing verse 29 with Genesis 12:2, chooses to buy from Jews at the local market so that God will not curse him! Again, the New Testament teaches that the followers of Christ are true Jews and all others are imposters (see Rev 3:9). Dispensationalists love passages like Jeremiah 31:35-37, but ignore passages like Ezekiel 16:53-55. In this epistle, the Apostle gives the key to understanding and synthesizing these apparently contrasting prophecies.
The idea of God’s immutability must be reconciled with the hundreds of occasions where He did “change His mind.” He told the Ninevites that He was going to destroy their city in 40 days, but repented of His plan when they humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Indeed, the prophets were so familiar with this trait that Jonah cited it as the reason he fled from Nineveh instead of preaching there as God had told him to do: I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. God “changes His mind” because His goodness and merciful are deep and wonderful. If natural Israel were to repent, without doubt God would receive them. He calls them even as before; they have not been shut out of His mercy – God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew (Rom 11:2).
Yet, one might ask, has not God radically changed by annulling the Jewish sacrifices, rituals, and Laws of the Old Testament? No! Paul has shown, especially in this chapter, that God has taken the Jews’ unfaithfulness to Him and expanded the Covenant to a new and better Way. The literal requirements of the Old Covenant have now taken on spiritual forms, for Christ fulfilled those details of the Law and their true purpose is now being realized in the spiritual Covenant as opposed to the physical Covenant. Those types and shadows could only look forward in foreshadows of the present spiritual realities. The physical OT sacrifices for sin are now realized in the spirit, by grace through faith! The physical rituals and feasts which typify the NT truths of mercy, love, and worship, continue on but are expressed in spiritualties. The Law, sin, holiness; these remain as always. See my note for Mat 5:1.
Likewise is the case of God’s covenants with Abraham and the Jews. The promises have come upon spiritual Israel, Abraham’s seed as determined by faith and not by blood (Gal 3:7-9; 3:14-18). For the people of the Jewish covenant are no longer the Jews by physical nature, but by the inner, spiritual nature that believing Gentiles might obtain as well (Rom 2:28-29; Rom 9:27). The blood Jews thought to themselves, “God must save us because He promised Abraham.” God answered them with a deep and unsearchable plan!
The gifts…of God are without repentance. Some will think me a racist for saying that God has gifted the people groups of the world in different ways. Yet the proof is in the pudding! Without dispute, some of the world’s most intelligent people have been Jews (Einstein, Marx, Freud come to mind) and they continue to wield tremendous influence in world affairs (such as Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Google’s Page and Brin, moneymasters Soros and Bloomberg, supreme court justices Breyer and Kagan, etc). Nevertheless, they continue to be among the most liberal, anti-God people in the world. Many centuries ago, God said of the Jewish race, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people (Deut 9:13; Ex 33:3). That refrain is repeated many times in the Bible (Neh 9:16-17; Mat 23:23-25; Acts 7:51; 1Thes 2:15), and to this very day the Jews are renowned for their general obstinacy and self-centeredness. Interestingly, these verses indicate that the Jews will continue as an identifiable race until the end of the world. See my note fore as an identifiable race until the end of the world. See my note for verse 2.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
For centuries the Gentiles were far from God, being strangers from the covenants of promise (Eph 2:12). Now they have obtained mercy due to the disobedience of the Jews (Rom 11:20) and are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God (Eph 2:19). Wonderfully, the grace that God has extended to the Gentiles is also extended to the Jews. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin (Gal 3:22); both the Jews and the Gentiles are caught in the bonds of disobedience (unbelief). Yet God shows the depths of His great mercy by offering forgiveness and grace to all.
Through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. The friction between Christian Jews and Gentiles was a constant challenge for the Apostles in the early church, for differences in modes of religion, life, thought and conscience ran deep. Often the exhortation is to the Jews, but here Paul appeals to the Gentiles, “Be merciful and accept your Jewish brethren of faith. Boast not against them nor think yourself better than they (Rom 11:18); be not highminded, but fear – otherwise you too will be cut off (Rom 11:20-22). One of the exhortations in this book is for Jews and Gentiles to receive ye one another (Rom 15:7).
The word for unbelief in verses 30-32 (apeitheia) is different from the one used in verses 20-23 (apistia).
33 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! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
This testimony breaks forth as the Apostle closes his treatise on the new revelation that God had foreplanned to save the Gentiles and Jews together. This was a mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints (Col 1:26; Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9). Job and the Psalmist proclaimed the glories of God’s works also (Job 5:9; Ps 36:6), but never has the wisdom and goodness of God so abounded as during those peerless, eventful years when the Son of God mysteriously set up a spiritual kingdom on earth which shall never end! Who among the children of men understood that the Messiah must die as the atoning sacrifice for sins? Which of the prophets grasped that God would make the Gentiles true children of Abraham with the Jews? Or that the Mosaic covenant would be recast and amended to be a New Covenant for all tribes and kindreds of the world? That the power of Satan and sin would be broken by the very Creator of the Universe coming to dwell in flesh and blood? These and many more mysteries were withheld from the knowledge of Man, but not so entirely hidden that they cannot afterwards be seen in the Old Testament Scriptures (ie Col 1:27 with Mal 1:11). For after the Spirit revealed them to the Apostles, and they in turn declared them to us, we marvel and rejoice in the surpassing wisdom and grace of God ordained from before the world began. The prophets had searched diligently to understand these mysteries the Holy Spirit was moving them to write, but they were not revealed until the fulness of time had come (1Pet 1:10-12; Gal 4:4).
Certainly we have entered deep, unsearchable waters with the Apostle Paul in this epistle, and it is entirely appropriate to humble ourselves and acknowledge the limitless wisdom and boundless power of God. Job and his friends waxed profound as they spoke at great length of God and wisdom, but when He finally spoke, Job confessed: I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:5-6). Like the prophets of old, we have enquired diligently concerning the mystery of this grace, and endeavored with all to search out His ways, but the depths of His wisdom cannot be sounded by the mind of mortal man! God told Isaiah, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Is 55:7-11). He moves at the counsel of His own will alone (Jer 23:18; Is 40:13-14) and His works are beautiful and benevolent beyond comprehension! With the design of the New Covenant, He surprises us with wonders and goodness beyond comprehension and even now He is waiting and wishing to pour out from the windows of heaven a blessing so big that there is not room to receive it (Mal 3:10). Constant hearing tends to dim the spiritual marvels that God has designed for this Age of Grace.
It is unfortunate that some commentators use these verses as a salve to cover the inconsistencies of their doctrines and theological declarations. For whenever one points out a stark Bible contradiction in the erroneous doctrines of “unconditional election” and “irresistible grace,” they are quick to say, “O, but you just cannot understand God and His ways.” That is true, of course, but Paul’s proclamation intends to marvel at the good will and action of God long hidden but now revealed. He is not saying that God’s judgments don’t make sense, or that they do not follow the normal rules of logic, but that they are marvelous and wonderful beyond our best dreams. Beginning with the unthinkable design of His Son dying in order to ransom us from Satan, the depth of His riches and wisdom surpass our imagination.
Furthermore if, “you cannot understand God” is truly a valid argument, then we will never be able to certainly know the Truth and consequently never be able to ensure that we are not deceived. I appeal to the character of God herein proclaimed; if He truly is all-wise and all-good as the Bible affirms, then He will not, cannot, act or speak otherwise. Yet the constructs of Calvin’s doctrine describe a God who loves only the elect and forces the elect to accept Him. Will God’s thoughts and judgments actually contradict the very characteristics of Himself that He has placed in His word? May it never be. How disingenuous to invoke these verses to cover straight-up fallacies/contradictions in one’s theology!
God has carefully created Mankind with the mental and spiritual qualities necessary to seek Him and to know Him. He has instilled in every mind those necessary first truths of logic and reason so that all have equal access to salvation. To claim that God would turn around and act contrarily to these very rules is self-defeating and absurd. Any doctrine or teaching that presents God in an un-wise or un-good manner is also un-mistakably wrong!
Upon this verse the Calvinist commentator Gill writes: “[No man was] present, when the book of life was made, when the names of God’s elect were put into it, and others left out…From the whole it appears, that predestination is not according to men’s works, or the foresight of them; for then these things would be plain and easy, they would not be unsearchable and past finding out; there would not be an unfathomable depth in them; the mind and counsels of God, and the springs of them, would be obvious; but it is according to his secret, sovereign, and unchangeable will.” Amazing. Gill would have us know that the reason the Calvinist idea of predestination appears so contrary to reason and Scripture is because God’s mind doesn’t follow the same logical pattern as ours; for while one would think that “men’s works” would enter into the doctrine of predestination, that would be too “plain and easy” for God’s wisdom. In other words, predestination must necessarily be illogical, otherwise we would understand God. How far that runs from the Apostle’s point!
Following Gill’s example, the sometimes-Calvinist Adam Clarke writes, “The apostle considers the designs of God inscrutable, and his mode of governing the world incomprehensible. His designs, schemes, and ends are all infinite, and consequently unfathomable. It is impossible to account for the dispensations either of his justice or mercy.” What? I am mystified. Why then did he spend a large portion of his life writing in explanation of God’s “mode of governing the world” and His acts of “justice and mercy” to Gentiles and Jews through the dispensations of history? Certainly we cannot sound the depths of His wisdom, justice, love and mercy, but to say they are incomprehensible is a step too far. I appreciate that Clarke goes on to write, “This epistle has been thought by some to afford proofs that God, by an eternal decree, had predestinated to eternal perdition millions of millions of human souls before they had any existence, except in his own purpose, and for no other reason but his sovereign pleasure! But such a decree can be no more found in this book, than such a disposition in the mind of Him who is the perfection, as he is the model, of wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth. May God save the reader from profaning his name, by suppositions at once so monstrous and absurd!” (see Clarke, v36).
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
“Who has given to Me that I must repay him?” God asked in Job 41:11. Nobody could respond. There is no man or being that has performed some work or contributed some grace such that God would say, “I owe you for that one” (see Rom 4:4). God is not obligated either to the Jew or the Gentile – they are all indebted to Him. Consequently, He is free to do as He wishes and work according to His own counsel and will. Of course, He always thinks and acts according to His perfectly good character. God is entirely just and upright in rejecting the covenant-breaking Jews and accepting the Gentiles. He is free to extend the grace of salvation to all, and whosoever will accept it shall be saved. He moves at the mind and counsel of His own perfect will. That topic was particularly addressed in chapters 8-9.
God is the originator, sustainer and finisher of all things. In Him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). Apart from Him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3). That, I believe, is the Apostle’s intent in this final verse (also 1Cor 8:6). Past, present and future, all things are God’s, to do with according to His good pleasure (Php 2:13). The Lord hath made all things for Himself (Pro 16:4).
Amen. This ends the doctrinal part of the book of Romans which has extensively investigated God’s plan for the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles in one holy people. The Apostle has powerfully shown the election of the Gentiles from before the foundation of the world, giving them now equal standing before God through the work of Christ. In fact, they are become children of Abraham with the natural Jews on account of faith in Jesus Christ. All have sinned, all are guilty. And since only through the Son of God can forgiveness and justification be found, the Jews cannot rest on God’s promises to them through Moses, nor can the Gentiles think any longer that God will overlook their failures on account of ignorance (Acts 17:30). The remaining chapters of Romans exhort and encourage this joined group to serve the Lord with all due fervor and godliness.