Page 76 - Romans Student Textbook.doc

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Paul stated categorically, “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” Such is Paul’s initial
answer to the rejection question.

A new question now introduced another example. This one is less personal and comes from the pages of
the Old Testament. The question, “Do you not know...?” took the Roman believers back to the former
prophets to an incident from the life of Elijah. Paul wanted them to remember another time when one of
Israel’s prophets believed that he was all alone and thought that God had abandoned His disobedient
people. God’s response to Elijah’s complaint was that even though it looked that all had turned away from
Him in Israel there were still 7,000 men who were faithfully following after Him. It was a small number,
but it was a number — a remnant who still believed. Paul argument was, “As it was then, so it is now.” He
said it this way, “So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”90 To bolster what he
was saying about God showing His grace to a remnant of Israel, Paul turned again to the Scriptures to
explain that God through his prophets has told them that such would be the case when the Messiah
came. Both Isaiah and David wrote about Israel being blinded and deafened so that they would not
respond properly in faith when the Messiah appeared. A small remnant believed but most were calloused
and unbelieving.

If the rejection of Israel brings salvation to the Gentiles, then their inclusion in that salvation will mean
even greater glory for God. (11:11-12). In this short paragraph Paul introduced the reason he saw in the
resistance of Israel to the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was not so that they would be
disqualified and rejected by God.

It was the state of things now so that salvation through God’s Son Jesus might come to the Gentiles. God
was doing this to move Israel to jealousy so that they would turn their hearts back to Him once again.
Paul’s concluding exclamation shows the excitement he had at the thought that the Jews could be fully
included in the salvation offered through Jesus Christ once again I persistently make much of taking the
gospel to the Gentiles so that it might make some of my people jealous and draw them to trust in Christ.
(11:13-16)

Paul confessed that one of his motivations for taking the gospel so boldly to the Gentiles was the hope of
making his fellow Jews jealous of the Gentiles relationship with God so that they would open their hearts
and come to trust in Christ. With a ringing rhetorical question Paul expressed his belief that the
reconciliation of the world to God would lead to the reconciliation of the Jews to God. He wrote it this
way, “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life
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from the dead?”

Gentile believers should not take pride in God’s choice to include them in His salvation but must humbly
remember that He can choose to include Israel in salvation whenever He desires to do so. (11:17-24)
Paul introduced an illustration to the text at this point. He directed the attention of the Roman believers
to something with which they were very familiar from their daily lives. He pointed them to an olive tree in
a garden. In this extended metaphor the stem of the olive tree represents the community of those who
are saved by faith in the root that sustains it who is Christ. The branches represent individual believers
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some of whom are Gentiles (“wild olive shoots” ) and some of whom are Jewish (“natural branches” ).
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The gardener who prunes the trees by breaking off branches and grafting in branches sovereignly
according to his desire and plan is God the Father.

With this illustration, Paul reviewed what God had done to bring the Gentiles into the faith community
called the church as fully enfranchised members. He had broken off natural branches (Israelites) so that

87 Romans 11:2, ESV.
88 Romans 11:15, ESV
89 Romans 11:17.
90 Romans 11:24.
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