Jealousy of Israel? (part 2)

February 25th, 2025
by Dr. Lance Waldie

Romans 11:13-15 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Clearly Paul is addressing Gentiles in v. 13, not Jews. And in the Roman Church, the Gentile believers likely outnumbered Jewish converts. It was therefore vital that these Gentiles not think too highly of themselves for receiving Christ and too lowly of those Jews who had rejected Him. The fact that Paul has already made it clear that Israel will eventually be included in larger numbers in God’s kingdom (vv. 11-12) is one thing, but it is also significant that Paul, as an apostle to the Gentiles, “magnified” (Gr. doxazō) his ministry to them. This just means that his ministry to the Gentiles was a worthy one. After all, if the salvation of Gentiles was meant to provoke Israel to jealousy (v. 11) in order to bring them to salvation, then it stands to reason that Paul would magnify such a ministry. It was not himself that he magnified but his God-ordained preaching to the Gentiles (cf. Acts 18:6; 22:21; 26:17-18; Eph. 3:8).

The irony of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, narrated by Luke throughout the Book of Acts, is that he was laying the groundwork for the provocation of the Jewish people. Knowing that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), Paul knew that “the gospel… is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). He has also made it clear to the Roman Church that his personal love for his people ran deep, for his sorrow over their rejection of Christ caused him great pain (Rom. 9:3-4; 10:1). But his particular calling to preach to the Gentiles, one that caused his fellow Jews to sneer at him, was the means through which God would, and will, work to bring his beloved fellow Israelites to salvation.

Jesus said that many Gentiles would come from all over the world and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, yet the Jews, the sons of the kingdom, would be cast out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:11-12). As a result of their unbelief, Jesus said: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it” (Matt. 21:43; cf. 22:1-14). So, although the Jews’ rejection of Christ is tragic in the present, their future acceptance of Him will be exponentially more glorious than their present tragedy.

Ironically, God is reconciling the world to Himself through Israel’s rejection of Him. Now when God reconciles people to Himself, it is His sole work, and it is done in Jesus Christ alone, through His death on the cross. Christ’s death alone did not actually reconcile all people to God so as to spare them from His wrath, but His death did provide the basis for believers to be restored to fellowship with God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:18-20). This passage explains the meaning of the phrases “riches for the world” and “riches for the Gentiles” in 11:12. While the ministry of reconciliation draws Gentiles to faith in Christ, the Jewish rejection of Him will mean “life from the dead” for them—the great spiritual awakening of Israel during the Tribulation when the nation is spiritually resurrected, and the full quota of elect Jews comes to faith in Christ.

Food For Thought
The sequence of God’s redemption is as follows: the trespass and failure of Israel is leading to the salvation of the Gentiles which provokes Israel to jealousy over God’s abundant blessings for them. Their jealousy will lead to the fulfillment (v. 12) of the Jews when God softens their hardened hearts (cf. Ezek. 36:26-28). This will lead to even greater riches for the Gentiles, for if Israel’s hardening means riches now, then their salvation will usher in even greater blessings!