SLIDES

Romans 11:11-36 Outline and Commentary

 Introduction

Since October 7, we have seen antisemitism raise its ugly head in America and around the world.  Leaders, politicians, and many people in America and around the world have displayed their hate and distain for Isarel and the Jewish people. The antisemitic rallying cry, “From the River to the Sea,” is a common call-to-arms for pro-Palestinian activists, especially for student activists on college campuses. They are calling for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea which includes annihilation of the people of Israel. It is also a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers from Muslim groups such as Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988. Hamas was responsible for the October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel in which over 1,400 people were killed and many more injured. It was the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

There are many so called Christians, Christian denominations, and theologians who believe and teach that when Isarel rejected Jesus as the Messiah, that God permanently rejected Israel.   All of Isarel’s spiritual blessings were transferred to the church. However, in our last lesson on Romans 11:1-10, we saw that Paul taught that God had not permanently rejected but set them aside as being a light and a witness to the world temporarily. Paul used himself. Paul used himself and Eliah as examples to demonstrate that there has been and will continue to be a remnant of Jewish believers. In Paul’s day there was and today there is a remnant of Jewish believers who demonstrate they are the earnest that God will restore Isarel and that Israel has a glorious future ahead of them. Let’s now continue our study of Romans 11 where Paul continues to demonstrate that God will restore Israel and has a glorious future for them.

II.           God’s blessings to the Gentiles and His promises to Isarel demonstrate that Israel being set aside is only temporary and that Israel will be restored. (11-36)

A.  God is bringing blessings to the Gentiles for the purpose of provoking Israel to jealousy so that Israel will seek and come to God. (11-15)

Romans 11: 11

11 – The first part of this verse can be literally translated, “Did they stumble so that they fell? Was God’s purpose for Israel to fall permanently? The question in Greek demands a negative answer. May it never be. NO! They did not fall beyond hope in which they could not recover but instead only stumbled. God had another purpose for their stumbling. The word “but” in the next sentence is the strongest adversative in the Greek. He is saying, “But rather.” Instead, Israel’s transgression of not accepting God’s grace through the Messiah, there will be Gentiles who will accept God’s plan of salvation by grace though faith that was being offered to them.  The phrase “to make them jealous” gives one of the purposes of God allowing Gentiles to be to receive His grace of declared righteousness through faith. In verse 14 the same Greek word translated “to make then jealous” is translated “move them to jealousy.” It literally means to have a zeal for provoking them to jealously for what we have that they do not have. But how was the Roman Christians and Paul to provoke them to jealously to want Jesus?  Jewish people get a bad rap for making being successful and sometimes wealthy. In Deuteronomy 8:18 it is clear that it was God who gave them the wisdom and power to make wealth. That has not changed for 3500 years. He still gives many of them the wisdom and power to do that today.  Many Jewish people have a gift for producing wealth. For the most part, if anything, many of them make the Gentiles jealous in the area of wealth and prosperity.

Then, how were the Roman Christians, Paul, as well as us today, to make the Jewish jealous to want Jesus?  One way you make the Jewish people jealous is by displaying the fruit of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are characteristics of believers that non-believers do not have. Let them see these characteristics in you and pray that they will jealously want what you have. We will not make anyone jealous by displaying the characteristics of the flesh. Befriend those you can. Show them you genuinely care for them. Take them Jewish holiday gifts. Invite them to your home for a meal.  Buy tickets and take them to an event such as a professional sports game. There are many other ways to accomplish this.

Because of Israel’s rejection of God’s grace through faith, God temporarily set them aside for His instrument of being a witness and a light to the world. Israel’s being set aside had a two-fold purpose. 1. To turn the steam of the Gospel to the Gentiles. 2. Gentile believers are to provoke Isarel to jealously to want Jesus as their Messiah. Always remember that we are only the instrument of sharing the gospel with Jewish people and it is the gospel has the power to save people, not us as we see in Romans 1:16.  

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Gentile believers have benefited from Isarel being set aside for two thousand years. If you are a Gentile and are saved by grace through faith, then you should be thankful to God for setting Isarel aside so the gospel could come to you. Because of that, you have a responsibility to provoke Israel to jealously. You were designed to be part of God’s plan for Jeiwsh people to trust in Jesus as their Messiah. “Do you have a zeal for leading Jewish people to Jesus?”  “Do you have a burning desire to see Jewish people become a believer in Jesus?” The majority of Jewish people trust in Jesus as a result of a Gentile witness, not a Jewish witness.   

12 – Paul makes the point here that if the abundance of spiritual benefits has been afforded to the Gentiles because of Israel being set aside, just try to imagine how much greater those benefits will be in the future.  The term fulfillment would be better translated fulness. This represents Isarel accepting God’s grace in Jesus as a nation at the second coming. Many unbelievers, which includes those on church roles who are not saved, think that the Jewish people are a detriment and a curse on the world. Just the opposite is true. First, Jewish people who believe in Jesus are natural born evangelists. This is what God called the nation to do for which most rejected. Also, globally, Jews represent 1/5 of 1% of the world’s population, but they have won 170 Nobel Prizes. Dr. Drew Weissman, who is Jewish, won the Nobel Prize for Medicine on October 6, 2023. Some of the greatest strides in medicine have been made by Jewish doctors such as Dr. Jonas Salk with the polio vaccine and Dr. Michael DeBakey’s advancement in heart surgery.  Israel ranked sixth in the 2022 World Index of Healthcare Innovation and its hospitals and health facilities are considered some of the best in the world. Israel is ranked number five in in the Bloomberg Innovation Index for global technology. Israel has become a global technological and entrepreneurial powerhouse. Israel is the size of New Jersey. The benefits that Isarel can offer the world when the nation accepts God’s grace in Jesus will be enormous.

13-14 – Even though Paul was an Apostle to the Gentiles, he followed the pattern that he laid out in Romans 1:16 that the gospel is to go the Jew first and then to the Gentile. He also wanted to make Israel jealous by displaying the fruit the Spirit in his changed life.

15 – This verse is similar in thought to verse 12. When Israel returns to God and accepts her Messiah, it will be like coming alive again. As I discussed I verse 12, the world is being blessed by Israel and the Jewish people now. When the nation accepts their Messiah at the second coming, the blessing during the Messianic Kingdom will be unbelievable compared to now.

B.   The earnest of the present-day remnant and the past promises to the patriarch’s guarantees Israel’s future restoration. (16)

Romans 11:16

In Numbers 15:17-21 the Lord commanded Isarel to bring an offering of the first fruits of a harvest to show they were thankful for the harvest. The High Priest was to go into the field and cut some of the stalks of grain. He then lifted the stalks of grain to the Lord in thanksgiving. After that, part of the grain was to be made into a small piece of dough which was also lifted up by the High Priest. The first stalks of grain harvested and the first piece of dough made from the grain were considered holy or set apart to give thanksgiving to the Lord. Making something holy or set apart is called sanctification. The grain harvested first and the first piece of dough made the remainder of the harvest and the remainder of the dough that would be made into a loaf holy or separated to God. They represent the believing remnant in every generation.

In the second part of verse 16, Paul applies the concept of the first fruits making the remainder of the harvest set apart to God to the root and the branches of an olive tree. If the root is holy or set apart to God so are the branches of the olive tree.

The application of these illustrations is important. The root of the olive tree represents Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant made to them. Just as the first fruits of the harvest and the first piece of dough were holy or set apart to God and made the remainder of the harvest and the loaf holy, then the root which are the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, made the branches holy. The branches represent national being accepted and set apart to God as we shall see in verses 17-24.  The first fruits, the small piece of dough, and the root are also in some sense represent the remnant. Since they are sanctified before God, this then guarantees and is the earnest for the existence and the restoration of the nation of Isarel in the future as chosen by God. 

C.  Israel will be restored to a place of blessings. (17-24)

Paul continues the illustration about the olive tree.  Remember this illustration is not about personal salvation. It’s about being God’s instrument of as the light of the world and a gospel witness.

Romans 11:17 

17- As we know, the root of a tree receives the nourishment that goes up through the trunk to the branches.  As we just discussed, the root of the olive tree is Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and the promises of blessings made to them in the Abrahamic Covenant. The tree itself is not Isarel but represents the place of spiritual blessings. The olive branches represent national Israel. Some of the branches that were broken off represent those in national Isarel who did not accept God’s grace through faith in Jesus. Because of their unbelief, they were broken off. “You being a wild olive” (branches) represent Gentiles. To demonstrate that this is not talking about personal salvation, Paul uses the singular form of “you” to represent the Gentiles as a whole group of people just like the natural branches represent Isarel as a whole. Those Gentiles who trust in Jesus by faith alone are grafted into the olive tree. Therefore, both national Israel who believe and the Gentiles who believe can receive the spiritual blessings such as salvation by faith, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that come from the root. We become partakers with Israel in the spiritual blessings. Ephesians 2:11-18 teaches that Gentiles who were once separated from the blessings or the Abrahamic covenant before the cross, can now participate with Isarel in these spiritual blessings. We as Gentile believers should never forget that one of the purposes for the LORD blessing us so we could be the means of provoking unbelieving Jewish people to jealousy.

Paul in verse 18 give a stern warning to the Gentiles who were grafted into the olive tree. 

Romans 11:18 

Gentiles are not to boast or consider themselves to be superior to the branches who were broken off. There are not only Gentile “believers” who think they are superior than the unbelieving Jews but some even think they are superior than Jewish believers in Jesus. This is shameful and a travesty. Gentiles must also remember that we do not give spiritual nourishment to the root, the Abrahamic Covenant, but the Abrahamic Covenant gives us spiritual nourishment. Again, many Gentile believers have the tree upside down. They have the branches in the ground and the root above the ground. Everyone knows that is not the way God designed for a tree to work.

Romans 11:19-21

19-21 - Some Gentile “believers” will think that the unbelieving Jews were broken off the tree resulting in them receiving no spiritual blessings. Paul says you are so right in your assessment of the situation. However, never forget that you exist as part of the tree by means of your faith. He gives the Gentile believers another stern warning not the be arrogant, proud, or haughty. Then he gives the reason why they should be careful about their attitude. As a matter of fact, their attitude should be one of a profound measure of reverent fear and respect for God’s grace to them. The reason is that “if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either.” This is a conditional sentence that can be translated, “Since God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.

Now, what does this mean? Some believe it refers to one loosing his or her salvation. The illustration tree has everything to do with being God’s witness and a light to the world, not about loosing one’s salvation. If one can lose his or her salvation, then Jesus told a lie in John 3:16.

As the natural branches are to be viewed as national Israel as a group, so are the Gentiles to be viewed as a group. There was a large group of national Isarel that were broken off because they believe in receiving God’s declared righteous by works and not by faith. The remnant remained attached to the tree because of faith. Today there is a large collective group around the world of mostly Gentiles who are part of Christendom.  Most within Christendom are not true believers, but there is a small group who are and could be viewed aa a remnant within Christendom. In First Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 3, and 2 Thessalonians 2, indicate that the professing church (Christendom) in the last days will depart from the faith. The gap between unbelievers and true believers is widening daily. The day when God cuts off the Gentiles is getting closer every day. It may be at the Rapture.

Romans 11:22-24

22-24 – God will one day graft the natural branches back into the tree and their blessing will be restored. If wild olive branches can be successfully grafted into an olive tree, natural branches can certainly be grafted back into a natural olive tree. I’ll explain a minute when this might occur.

D.  The Abrahamic Covenant makes restoration certain. (25-32)

Romans 11:25-27

25-27 – In Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 5:32; Colossians 1:25-26 Paul explains what a mystery is. It’s something was not revealed or known in the Old Testament but revealed as something new in the New Testament.  The church is a mystery. The Body of Christ – Jew and Gentile being co-equal was a mystery. The rapture was a mystery.

The mystery Paul is referring to here is not the hardening and the blindness of many in Isarel because it was prophesied by Isaiah. The mystery is that this hardening and blindness will occur “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The word fulness means complete. When the last Gentile in God’s plan is saved during the Tribulation, the second coming will occur and the blindness and hardness will be removed as seen in verse 26 & 27 and in Zechariah 12:10[RJ1] .

 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

Even though we love the gospel and Jews hate the Gospel, God still loves them and has a plan for them as seen in the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Abrahamic Covenant and because called Isarel as a nation for several purposes. Verse 29 shows that God has not revoked this calling. Again, this verse shows that God has not cast Isarel off and that He is not finished with Isarel.  As with us today, God showed each of us mercy while we were yet sinners and is it now different with Isarel. 

E.   A Response of Praise (33-36)

1.God’s divine attributes (33-35)

2.Doxology (36)   

Romans 11:33-36

33-36 -These verses are a fitting conclusion to Paul’s argument in Chapters 9-11that God is not finished with Israel. It always amazes me that there are so called Bible scholars who teach contrary to what Paul said in chapters 9-11. If God loves Israel and the Jewish people, so should we. And as one contemplates the importance of Isarel to the church, remember two things. One, except for maybe the book of Job, all of the books of the Bible were written by Jews. Second, as Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well as recorded in John 4:22, “Salvation is from the Jews.” As I tell my rabbi friends, we are thankful to you and your people for giving us the Bible and salvation through the Jewish Messiah.

The bottom line is that God has a glorious future for Israel!

SELAH