Isaiah Roman

A Brief Study on Romans 11

Romans 11:1-5
Did God get rid of the Jews? NO! God has always maintained a “remnant” of people who are faithful to Him. So too in the present time God has preserved a remnant [of faithful Israel] according to election of grace.

Romans 11:6-10
So, if His preservation is by grace, then it can’t be based on works [of the law], otherwise grace has become self-contradictory. But, if preservation is by works, it is no longer grace works no longer work.
What’s the answer then? What Israel was looking for, it didn’t find on it’s own, but there were those who were given it by election; and as for the the rest, their hearts were hardened, their eyes “darkened.”

Romans 11:11-12

Again I ask, did they [Israel] stumble so that they fell completely away? NO! But, by this “slipping away” salvation came to the nations, to provoke them [Israel] to jealousy. So, if their slipping away means riches for the world by creating the opportunity for heavenly riches for the Gentiles, how much more will the fulness of Heaven be when Israel is brought back too!

Romans 11:13-15
Now, talking to the Gentiles, because I’m the apostle to the Gentiles (forgive me if I’m boasting) but, I do so in the hope that I may somehow make my own people envious and through this envy perhaps save some of them. If their rejection brought reconciliation for the rest of the world, then how can their returning to God be anything less wonderful than bringing life from the dead?

Romans 11:16
If the “starter” for the bread is holy, then the loaf will be holy as well. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

Romans 11:17-21
If some of the “branches” have been broken off for their unbelief, and you – a wild olive shoot – are grafted in among the others and now share in the sap from the root, don’t consider yourself superior to the other branches. Because, if you do, consider this; you don’t support the root, the root supports you. You might say “those branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Okay, but they were broken off for their unbelief, and you stand by faith. Don’t be arrogant, tremble. Because, if God didn’t spare the “natural” branches [for their disbelief], he will not spare you either.

Romans 11:22-24
Consider both the kindness and sternness of God. He was stern to those who fell, but is kind to you – PROVIDED THAT YOU CONTINUE IN HIS KINDNESS – otherwise you too will be cut off. Also, if they stop their “unbelief” then they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, you were wild and God fit you in, how much easier would it be for him to put the natural branches back in their own tree!

Romans 11:25-36
I don’t want you to be ignorant and go around thinking that you’re superior. Israel is suffering right now until the “full number” of Gentiles comes in and in this way all Israel will be saved.  They [the Jews] make themselves your enemy for the gospel’s sake, but as far as election is concerned they are loved because of the patriarchs, because God’s gifts are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient and have received mercy, they too are now disobedient so that they too may receive mercy. God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.

QUESTION: What is the “starter” or the “first fruit” of the loaves, and what is the “root” which spawns the branches?

ANSWER: The Christ, Jesus. The cause of ALL salvation, both old testament and new is Jesus for “there is salvation in no other One, for neither is there any other name under heaven having been given among men by which we must be saved.” He is “the vine and ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” The Christ is “the Word” and it was through His promise to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre, through His promise to Jacob at the ford of Jabbok. “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went…. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Those who were elected were elected through the grace of God by faith.

SUMMARY: Paul is simply telling the Romans that all those who accept Christ are “joint heirs with the Son” and that under the new Testament both Jew and Gentile are equal in their promise of salvation, by grace, through faith. A Gentile is not saved by becoming a Jew, and a Jew is not saved by the Levitical law, but both are now, and always have been, saved by their faith and belief in the One God. Because the Jews have fallen away in their belief, denied and killed the Son of God, DO NOT look down on them for their belief is founded in the patriarchs, without whom we would never know our salvation. Likewise, because you are Jewish and belief yourself to be God’s chosen, DO NOT look down on the Gentile for it is God, through the Christ who gives the gift of salvation and no other. We are all equal in God’s eyes “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “There is none righteous, no not one.”

He also tells them that their belief is a commitment, a “covenant” between themselves and God. Just like the old covenant where not all Jews were saved simply by being Jewish, in this covenant, not all Christians will be saved simply by being “Christian.” Paul warns here, and liberally throughout the entirety of his writings that unless you “continue in His kindness” you too will be “cut off.” This doesn’t mean you can loose your salvation then pick it up again day after day. The language here is very clear that just as not all Jews were saved even though they were born Jewish, not all Christians will be saved either, even though they were “born” Christian. There will be those who do not “continue in the kindness” and so will be broken off.

Finally he concludes that through this covenant all of Israel will be saved, and God’s promise will be fulfilled in that we are all “joint heirs,” “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into this marvelous light”

We are all children of God’s promise to Abraham, we are not all children of Abraham. Remember, Abraham was only who he was because God is who He is.