The Remnant of Israel
11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
Gentiles Grafted In
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)
22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
This is a great verse and really an encouraging verse to those that Paul is speaking to here. God’s discuss with Israel resulted in the sacrifice available to the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles. That is extreme kindness! I know I don’t want to be cut off so I will continue in his kindness, praising him and serving him.
35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
This verse is a great reminder of our inability to please God and our need for a Savior. To those who Paul knew would boast about their salvation (v18-19), he reminds them that we can do nothing on our own for God, and nothing to justify ourselves. Without Christ we would all be dead in our sin, but because of His kindness salvation was made available to the Jews, and now to us as well. This is definitely something to be thankful for!
Ro 11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
Powerful encouragement Ryan! But also an important warning about those that have heard the good news, profess to follow Christ, but don’t actually have the heart change that comes with regeneration in Christ. In Mat 7:23 Jesus Himself says these words: “I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.” But in the very next verse, Mat 7:25 is the grace that we rely on: 24″Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Let’s be wise men and repent and trust fully in Christ alone! Time is short!
11Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
In this verse it reminded me of another verse (not sure of the referance), “He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” God won’t let us be tempted or fall so far that we can’t return. So when we do screw up, we know He is there to help us. Also, “No temptation has siezed you except that is common to man.” So when we are struggling there are bound to be others in the same position as us.
20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
Paul is discussing how his fellow Jews missed out on salvation because they did not believe in Christ. He is saying that many Gentiles have received salvation because they put their faith in Christ and understood that they could not work their way to Him. The last part of this verse is very important…”Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.” The main reason that many Jews missed out on salvation was because they were arrogant and thought that their self-righteousness and legalism for the Mosaic law would save them. This is still true today. Many unsaved people are prideful and do not admit that they are sinners who deserve God’s wrath. The end of the verse tells us the key to recognizing our need for God…fear. It is not just a healthy respect for our Creator, but an actual fear. When we truly understand God’s power and might and His rightful wrath toward sinners, we can come before Him with humble and contrite hearts and receive His forgivensess through repentance and faith.
36″For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
The first part is great because it shows that anything we do or have done or will be doing thta it is all through him. everything that we do we need to glorify him like Colossians 3;23. And to glorify God not matter what you do and in all you do.
6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Paul makes a great point here, that if grace wre by works, it wouldnt be grace. we do not earn grace from God, because grace is something we are given, not something we get by doing good. a few weeks ago Pastor Bobby said that God is attracted more to those people who seem hopeless. he said those are the people who we need to be evangelizing to. sometimes I think: “oh that person is so bad, it wont work.” or “they are going to cuss at me and walk away”. unfortunately, these are very stupid things for me to say. God can save anyone, no matter how scary or evil they look. look at Paul: he was killing and jailing Christians, only to emerge as one who preached repentence until he was martyred.
we also need to be thanking God every day that salvation is by grace, because if it was by works and good deeds, we would all fail miserably
Encouraging comment, Cameron!
6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
This makes perfect sense! If we earned our salvation through works, there would be no such thing as grace. We do not deserve this salvation– we deserve death. But through the grace of our Heavenly Father, and what Jesus has done on the cross, we are saved! This is what seperates Christianity from other “religions”. We are not saved by our own works and deeds, but by a merciful God! Praise God for this!
Romans 12:11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
This is a huge encouragement to read God’s word diligently in order to learn of God’s amazing glory and wonder. In this book God has revealed some of his perfect and holy attributes. But truly He is indescribable and incomparable. The creation professes his power and majestic glory. I pray that we would all thank and praise the Lord for his unimaginable and perfect plan, making an attempt to search for his holy attributes that are in the word of truth.
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
God is so great, we are nothing compared to Him. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfect. We need to be sure that we dont try to “tell” the Lord what to do. We should, through prayer “ask” if it is His will, For Him to do something. God is so much greater than we can ever hope to be.
All I have to say is thanks Cameron. That comment really helped me figure out this situation I’m in right now. I also wanted to add that we need to be praying for those that are not saved as well. We can’t just go and evangelize without praying about it first! Let God speak through us in every situation we’re in! :D
6) “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
I especially love this verse because at my school a lot of what I hear is that we have to do good works upon more good works and i only hear a little about Faith and the grace of God. Yes, we should do good works, but it comes from our Faith in Jesus Christ and the grace of God. It’s not by these works that we receive grace, but our works come from the grace of God. The verse I chose clearly tells us that it is by grace and therefore not by works.
32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
I think this is another way to help us realize that we are bound to our sinful nature, and without Christ, we can’t hope to please God. Because we are naturally flawed and separated from God, but He has chosen to show us mercy and give us that opportunity of salvation.
18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
I loved this verse!! Why boast in our own accord? We don’t support ourselves, but the root; the Lord who provides for all our needs!! God is the one who deserves all the glory, and we should glorify him in everything!! Like what verse 6 says, it is not by our own works that we are saved, but by the grace of God! :D
Ahh, there was sooo much packed into this chapter!
24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree,
I really liked this analogy of how we, who are saved, are dead to sin. We were literally “cut” from our sin; completely removed from it, and are “grafted” into the kingdom of God! Now slaves to righteousness; chosen by God! In response, we should be telling others of the greatest gift that anyone could every receive! As the Christmas season approaches, lets be on the lookout for those who we can tell of the gift of Salvation and Grace :)
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
I remember King Solomon talking in his proverbs that wisdom is more precious than rubbies and that the beginning of knowledge it to fear God I am sure that verse is Proverbs 1:7. Yeah there is so much depth in reading the Bible and building up wisdom and knowledge of God!
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
I love these verses!!! God is all powerful and has created all things. No one is above Him… He is holy and just and He deserves our all!
35.) “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
Great comment Mike…just echoing what you said, we cannot do anything to please God. That is one great thing about God, he is willing to give us mercy even though we have done nothing to deserve it.
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
this verse reminds me of the pharisees. for some reason, they acted as though they had earned their salvation. they were deceived in the same way that so many people are today in their thinking that they can “be good” enough to go to heaven. you can’t achieve perfection unless you are perfect, so how can imperfect people think that they can go to heaven and become perfect by doing good, when they have sinned in the first place? what they do doesn’t change what they have done! they have already fallen short! The only thing that makes sense is that people need grace, because we cannot do it by ourselves. God doesn’t owe us salvation, but he grants it to us as a gift and we simply need to accept it.
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
This verse shows how great and incredible God is. God is so great, we are like ants to him. No one can be his counselor, and all glory needs to go to him. God is great, he created us, the earth, the universe, he created everything. My mind can hardly grasp the idea of how great our Lord is. Glory to God!!!!
21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
God is so gracious for bringing us into salvation, because we aren’t even His chosen people. That also means that we need to make use of what God has given us, because if He did not spare His chosen people He will not spare us either. We need to bear the fruit God intended for us and not waste the opportunities we still have.
20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
This tree and branches analogy is so amazing. God brakes off those who do not believe, but we as Christians stand strong and are not broken off. It also says that we should not be arrogant but afraid because we could be broken off the tree any time if we fall away so we should be afraid.
Great comment on 20 Beth!
18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Sometimes we begin to think that we are more righteous or spiritualy more mature than the Jews or other Christians; this thought is arrogant and false! We are not righteous, it is Christ in us that makes us righteous, in the same way we did not choose God, God chooses us! In us there is no good, but in Jesus resides the fullness of the glory of God, and praise be to God because the Holy Spirit resides in us! Because of this, we need to realize that apart from God we can do nothing, and it is only because of God’s grace that we are able to live for His name.
6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Great comments on this verse you guys! If we could earn our salvation, and if works really did get us to Heaven, than Christ’s death on the cross was in vain. The thought that doing good works can earn our salvation is saying that God’s grace is not sufficient. It is saying that Christ’s death on the cross was not sufficient…how can anyone say that?! God’s grace demonstrates His great love for us, and we need to help other understand the importance of the cross!
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
We cannot give God anything in order to gain favor with him. God doesn’t and never will owe us anything. We should be forever in God’s debt because he has saved us from hell.
Thanks Bobby for the info it answered my question.
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
We should always give glory to God cause through Him ALL things are possible.
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
I like these rhetorical questions, especially verse 35. So many people think they are “good enough” for God, but we must continue to emphasize to others that the only true way to be with God in heaven is by the admittance of our sins and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. So many people think they don’t need Jesus, but what could any weak and sinful human possibly do to measure up to our almighty God. I guess it just amazes me how many people think they are good enough for God.
Verse 34 reminds me of many people who don’t read the Bible, yet claim to be Christians. They think they can pull out of their back pocket how God thinks we should live our lives rather than going to the very words God left for us, the Bible!
30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
Everyone is disobedient. We cannot obey God’s laws no matter how hard we try. The Israelites could not keep God’s law. Yet God had mercy on us and chose to let us take part with Israel in the saving grace He offers. I’m so glad that salvation is a free gift from God.
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen
These verses just show us how much we derserve nothing. They also show how God is the alpha omega beginning and end. What an amazing Lord to serve.
3″Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
4And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Here we see two things, first the prosecution of the prophets and second that we are a remnant of people chosen by grace to receive the good news of Christ. Be thankful. God chose you to live forever.
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34″Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
I love these verses! They remind me how big God is and how utterly small I am. What an awesome God we serve!
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
AMEN!!! we need to be giving praise to our mighty God constantly. He is everything, and we need to be reminded sometimes that we are NOTHING! I love this verse, because it puts everything into perspective.
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
Well this should be humbling to know that nothing that we do for God comes close to what he deserves! He created us, and we are completelty powerless and so small compared to Him! I cannot wait until the day that he receieves ALL the glory and praise He deserves! We don’t deserve his unconditional love or any of his gracious blessings, but our God is such an overwhelmingly gracious and merciful God that he does give it to us! Wow all I can say is thank you for who you are God!
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Wow this passage is chock full of affirmation that God is the ultimate power in the universe and tells alot about His character.
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
This verse is so true. God does not owe us ANTHING. The good things in life we recieve are gifts from him alone. Good things do not happen because God wants to make it fair. God is fair, so whatever he does is the definition of fair. He chhoses to let us experience emotions such as happiness, love, and joy. It is also a gift that the Lord has us suffers trials (Romans 5:1-5). We need to give thanks in all situations.
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
This verse sums it all up. All things are from through and to God. It is only by his perfect and sovereign plan that we even exist. Thanks be to God for he is was and always will be.
6And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
I really liked Cameron Baxter’s comment on this verse. The definition of grace is getting what we do not deserve. None of us deserves salvation, but praise God that He is in the business of salvation! I’m thanking Him for my salvation today!
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
AHHH what an amazing verse! everyone pretty much summed this verse up, but i love it, so im going to comment on it also :)
Everything comes from God! and like the verse said, in him are ALL things! we are nothing compared to him!
Many of God’s atrebutes were shown in this chapter. His….grace, kindness, glory, power, justice……this shows how God isn’t just a one attitude guy, that says everything is ok… that was my first point. Second, the last verse reminded me of something that “The Ultimate Priority” says, God has all glory. A lot of times we talk about giving God the glory but we need to remember it is already his. It is just like what “Lord you are my song, by Mojo & the info” says, what can I bring that you didn’t give?…not anything. God doesn’t really need us for anything it is by his grace and mercy that we are here and we are saved.
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. (Focusing on the second part of this verse)…
“To God be the glory forever???”
Does God deserve glory? Do we really give Him the glory?
Answer: YES! Of course God deserves all the glory forever! He has done so much for us that we take for granted! He gives us His Son, Our lives, everything we own,etc……Why do we not give Him the glory He deserves?
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
This is a really good question to stop and think about. A lot of times we say we are doing things for God. Evangelizing for God. Living for God. Serving for God. Doing all things for the glory of God. But really it isn’t like we gave God anything that he needed. It’s not like he owes us. God is doing perfectly fine as himself. The truth is it is a privilege for us to even serve him!
11Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
Coming from the line that everyone says, you always want what you cant have, or you never realize what you had until you lost it. Once they thought they lost their way to salvation, they wanted it back, and Jesus knew that.
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
wow that’s humbling. like bobby pointed out, it is a pure privilege to serve God and to be called his child. this verse also takes the glory off our works and puts all of it on God’s grace.
Romans 11:5-7 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened
As Christians we can become complacent and fall into the same trap being described here in these verses. We can often evaluate our Christians lives by the good deeds that we have done. The Jews who were not part of Gods remnant were clouded in a spiritual stupor because of their good deeds by adhering to the law. It is not by our deeds that we receive His righteousness but it is thru Grace alone. Our pride can also become a stumbling block just as easy as it is here for Israel. Let’s look upon the grace that God has give us above all else to protect our hearts from becoming hardened.
Romans 9:30-32 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”
35″Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”
36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
God is awesome! there is nothing we could express to even describe God. He is indescribable, uncontainable; He made the stars, He made everything. He knows the number of hairs on our head; He is Omnipresent, All-Powerful and All-Knowing!!
Amen! God is Awesome!