Israel's Partial Hardening
March 3rd, 2025
Romans 11:25-26a For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved…At the conclusion of the parable of the olive tree in 11:17-24, Paul brings the audience back to him by calling them “brethren,” as if...
Kindness & Severity of God
February 28th, 2025
Romans 11:22-24 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contr...
If You Continue...
February 27th, 2025
Romans 11:19-22 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if ...
Grafting of Gentiles
February 26th, 2025
Romans 11:16-18 If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the...
Jealousy of Israel? (part 2)
February 25th, 2025
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 C...
Jealousy of Israel?
February 24th, 2025
Romans 11:11-12 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! In v. 11, “they” references the Israelites who are yet to receive Christ, who were ...
The Chosen and the Hardened
February 20th, 2025
Romans 11:7-10 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; 8 just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened...
A Faithful Remnant, Pt. 2
February 19th, 2025
Romans 11:5-6 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.So in the days of Elijah (circa 800 BC), although the prophet thought he was the only worshiper of God left in Israel, God had preserved 7,000 others—folks with whom Elijah ...
God's Faithful Remnant
February 18th, 2025
Romans 11:2b-4 Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” 4 But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”Another proof Paul offers ...
God Has Not Rejected Israel, Pt. 2
February 17th, 2025
Romans 11:1-2a I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.God’s rejection of Israel was neither total nor final. What God promised Israel, He will bring to pass in due time. In the meanwhile, God has used Israel’s rejection of Jesus as the Chri...
God's Foreknowledge, Pt. 2
February 14th, 2025
Romans 11:2 God has not rejected His people whom he foreknew.Since God is omniscient, knowing all things, He has foreknowledge of the future. This does not simply mean that He knows the future; it means that He has decreed it. The foreknowledge of God thus distinguishes Him from all other beings. God Himself said, “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning” (Isa. 46...
God's Foreknowledge
February 13th, 2025
Romans 11:1-2a I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom he foreknew.In Romans 11:1-2 Paul uses himself as his first proof that God has not utterly rejected His people, for he himself was “an Israelite” (v. 1a), and God would hardly have chosen an Israeli...
God Has Not Rejected Israel
February 12th, 2025
Romans 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!In Romans 9:30-10:21 Paul revealed why so many Jews have not responded to Christ and why so many Gentiles have. In Romans 11 Paul returns to the theme of 9:6-29 as he summarizes the history of salvation as it existed in his day. Sure, Israel had rejected Christ (10:21), but God had not rejected Israel (11:2), at least...
Israel's Ongoing Obstinancy
February 11th, 2025
Romans 10:19-21 But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, by a nation without understanding will I anger you.” 20 And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” 21 But as for Israel He says, “All the day long I have stretched out My hand...
Choosing Unbelief
February 10th, 2025
Romans 10:16-18 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”The primary focus group in Romans 9-11 is Israel as a na...