Romans Chapter 11:23-36/Commentary

Romans Chapter 11:23-36

Romans 11:23 “And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again” "They also": This refers to the unbelieving Jews. As long as people have life, they can be saved, if only they abandon their unbelief. If God can graft in someone who was an unbelieving Gentile (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), then certainly God can graft in a Jewish person who gives up their lack of faith. God is waiting with open arms for all that abandon their self-sufficiency and arrogance. Stop blaming God that people (even people you love) end up lost. Everyone who has ever lived has within themselves the ability to come to God, if they will only choose.

Romans 11:24 “For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”

"Contrary to nature": “The surprising thing is not that Jews can be brought back into the body of God's true people; they have (at that time) every spiritual and religious advantage.

The strange thing is that Gentiles can be saved in spite of their inheritance of pantheism and atheism and idolatry. What is more natural on the part of a Jew than his return to the real faith of his fathers and his acceptance of the Messiah predicted by his prophets?”

(Erdman p. 139).

Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” "For I would not...have you ignorant": Paul wanted his hearers to be informed (1 Corinthians 10:1; 12:1; 2 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). "Of this mystery": “Not in the pagan sense of an esoteric doctrine for the initiated, but the revealed will of God now made known to all (1 Corinthians 2:1,7; 4:1; Romans 16:25; Col. 1:26; Eph. 3:3ff)” (Robertson p. 397). This mystery is mentioned in this verse, that being “that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel.” "Lest ye be wise in your own conceits": “In your own estimation” (NASV). “To keep you from thinking too well of yourselves” (Gspd). “He wishes to avoid arrogance. He doesn't want them to feel superior so he wants them to understand what

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God has been doing with Israel” (McGuiggan p. 331). Paul had been spending quite of bit of time on this point, hoping that the Gentile Christians can avoid the mistake that the Jewish people had made, that is, thinking that their standing with God was based on moral performance or some inherent superiority, like race.

"That a hardening in part hath befallen Israel": This agrees with 11:7-10. Not every Jew was not hardened (consider the statement “in part”), only the unbelieving, stubborn and self-reliant section of physical Israel rejected God's offer of salvation in the gospel.

Remember: This was not an against their will but a chosen hardening. They had cut themselves off (11:20). "Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in": “Until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in” (NASV). The meaning of the word until. Sometimes it has the idea of duration and terminus in it. There are times however, when the word has no such meaning. There are times when the word until is used and no change of circumstances is suggested when the event under consideration arrives (Romans 5:13; Rev. 2:25; John 5:17; Romans 8:22).

Consider the meaning of the word fulness. Many commentators believe that it means full number. “Wuest is very plain on this matter. He feels that when the last Gentile in this predetermined number (that is the specific number of Gentiles known to God) has been converted then the hardened state of Israel will vanish” (McGuiggan p. 332). Yet the exact same word is used in 11:12, without any suggestion of number. In 11:12, fulness is contrasted with failure, loss, and defeat. It appears that fulness speaks more of a state of blessedness, than a full number of people. Many view 11:25 as a prophecy for future events. I disagree. Paul had already in this chapter stated the same truth in different language. He had already stated that a partial hardening has taken place (11:710). He had already said that such a hardening opened the door for preaching to the Gentiles, which resulted in Gentiles being saved, and obtaining God's blessings (11:1112). Therefore the fulness of the Gentiles has come in simply is restating the truth found in 11:11-12. Jewish stubbornness and unbelief opened the door for salvation (the fulness of God's blessings) to the Gentiles.

Does the word until suggest a God-imposed, mysterious, or miraculous stop to this hardening? I don't think so, because the hardening was self-imposed (Matthew 13:15; Acts 7:51). The only way that such could be stopped was for these Jewish unbelievers to give up their unbelief, but that's a matter of free will. The real problem with making 11:25 into a predictive prophecy is that for 2000 years the vast majority of Jews have rejected the gospel, but people tell us, yes, but God is going to convert a whole generation of Jews one day. Yea, but what about all those millions of lost Jews during the last 2000 years? How does that help them?

Romans 11:26 “and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob”

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"And so": “So is an adverb of manner; it is here a translation of a Greek word, which means, ‘in this way (manner), so, under these circumstances”” (Whiteside p. 241). "All Israel shall be saved": Paul had already told us "how", that is, by faith. (1:16; 11:23) To say that God is going to, at some time in the future, interpose and save every Jew of a future generation (against their will), would be to violate the very gospel that Paul preached. It would violate the main premise of the book of Romans (1:16). The apostles taught that both Jews and Gentiles are saved in the exact same way (Acts 15:9,11). “If Jews turn to Christ in faith they will be saved (23). In this way (26) every single Israelite will be saved in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah 59. So that you Gentiles may be assured, God was faithless to no one. He didn't reject a single one of His (real) people to let you in” (McGuiggan p. 336). And what about those Jews that refuse to believe? By their unbelief they demonstrated that they didn't belong to the group known as His people” (Romans 2:28-29; Revelation 3:9). "Even as it is written": It was written in Isaiah 59:20. Here is another proof that this section is not to be viewed as predictive prophecy of something happening in the future, near the end of time. For the prophecy applies to what would happen when Jesus came the first time.

"He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob": Premillennialists argue that this passage applies to a future conversion of Jews, yet Peter uses almost the exact same language in preaching to Jews in the first century (Acts 3:26 “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways”.) Notice: Peter's Jewish emphasis, “you first”. God was trying to get the Jews to turn from their ungodliness 2000 years ago.

Romans 11:27 “And this is my covenant unto them, When I shall take away their sins” This sounds a lot like Jeremiah 31:33. The Premillennialists deny that the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31ff is now current. In his book the Millennial Kingdom, John Walvoord stresses the yet future establishment of the Jeremiah covenant (pgs. 208-220). Yet the Bible is clear that such a covenant was operational in the first century (Heb. 8:6-10:10).

Again, “How will all Israel be saved?” By faith (11:23), by turning from ungodliness (11:26), which is repentance (Romans 2:4-5), and by obtaining the forgiveness of their sins (11:27), and which demands baptism (Acts 2:38). Every one of His people in the Jewish nation will be saved because His people are those that trust Him. His people will be those that turn from unbelief, ungodliness, and meet the conditions for forgiveness.

Romans 11:28 “As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake” "As touching the gospel": “From the stand-point of the Good News” (TCNT). “From the stand-point of the gospel” (NASV). "They": Not all Jews, but only the Jews that refused to believe. "Are enemies": “When he looks at the Gospel, which they have rejected, they are enemies, objects of His (God's) hostility” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 684). All that disobey the gospel have placed themselves in the position of being enemies of God (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; 3

Acts 13:10). "For your sake": “Jewish rejection only brought the gospel message that much sooner to the Gentiles. Gentiles chose the Christ that Jews rejected. They took sides for and against the Messiah, so, in that respect, are "enemies” (McGuiggan p. 339). "Touching the election": “From the stand-point of God's choice” (NASV). “But in His elective purpose He still welcomes them, for the sake of their fathers” (Knox). "Beloved for the father's sake": The fathers being Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. McGuiggan seems to think that the "election" in this verse refers to the "remnant" of 11:5. He sees two groups of Jews in this verse, the unbelieving and the believing; yet the last statement could refer to unbelieving Jews as well. Every descendant of Abraham was a potential heir of salvation, for the gospel had been first preached to them. Paul may be saying here, that God still desires unbelieving Jews to be saved. So did Paul (10:1; 9:1-5).

Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of” "For": This may explain how unbelieving Jews can still be labeled as beloved. God still holds the door open to their being saved. He promised them salvation on the basis of faith, many of them rejected it, and yet God still holds out the offer (2 Peter 3:9). "Not repented of": “Irrevocable” (NASV). “God is not sorry for His gifts to and calling of the Jews (9:4)” (Robertson p. 399). The command to preach the gospel to all nations, including the Jews, has not been revoked (Mark 16:15). His offer to salvation (on His terms) still stands.

Romans 11:30 “For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience” "Ye": That is, Gentiles who were once disobedient (Ephesians 2:1-3;11-13; Colossians 1:21; Titus 3:3; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Just about the time you think that one cannot change, reread many of these passages. For those that trust God, the gospel is able to change the most difficult case (1 Timothy 1:13-15). "Have obtained mercy by their disobedience": Jewish disobedience benefited Gentiles, it brought the messengers of the gospel to them.

Note, Jewish disobedience did not automatically save anyone, but rather it gave Gentiles the opportunity to be saved, see Acts 13:46ff.

Romans 11:31 “even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy” "They also may now obtain mercy": Paul has explained the psychology of this in 11:13-14.

Romans 11:32 “For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all” "Shut up": Meaning to in close or shut together. “We are not to understand by such phrases that God forced anyone to sin” (McGuiggan p. 341). In chapter one we find that the Gentiles had all sorts of incentives not to sin, the same was true for the Jewish nation 4

(Chapter 3:1-2; 9:1-5). But all have sinned (3:23) of their own choice, and God has lumped all into one category, that is, sinners (3:9; 23). Why? That He might move all to repentance, so He can have mercy upon them. “He counted all as disobedient (3:9). And for this reason He commands all men everywhere to repent (17:30-31)” (Whiteside p. 242).

This means that it is impossible for any man (Jew or Gentile) to merit his own salvation.

Hence all need Jesus Christ, therefore the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for all that believe (Romans 1:16). "Mercy upon all": “That is, upon all without distinction, rather than all without exception” (F.F. Bruce p. 224). Both Jews and Gentiles need saving, and the condition for receiving God's mercy is the same for both, an obedient faith. Hence Paul has proven his premise in 1:16.

A hymn of praise to God: 11:33-36 Romans 11:33 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out!”

As Paul now looks back upon the last 11 chapters, of the themes he has discussed, and how God has brought salvation to both Jews and Gentiles, and how even the sinful responses of men, God has been able to use to bring salvation to others, he is amazed at God’s wisdom.

“The doxology of verses 33-36 rounds off not merely chapters 9-11; it concludes the whole argument of chapters 1-11” 1 "O the depth": “Paul's argument concerning God's goodness has carried him to the heights and now he pauses on the edge of the precipice as he contemplates God's wisdom and knowledge, fully conscious of his inability to sound the bottom with the plummet of human reason and words” (Robertson p. 400). “A universal figure for what is immeasurable or incalculable” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 686). “How inexhaustible God's resources, wisdom, and knowledge are!” (Gspd). “Frankly, I stand amazed at the unfathomable complexity of God's wisdom and God's knowledge” (Phi).

"Riches": Many commentators seem to feel that this is to be understood as a separate category. “There is some doubt whether the words wisdom and knowledge are genitives after riches or parallel with it” (Alford p. 948). Most are agreed that if this is to be taken as a separate category, it refers to the “riches of God's goodness and His love”. “The unsearchable wealth of love that enables God to meet and far more than meet the appalling necessities of the world; love less deep would soon be bankrupt at the task” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 686) (Romans 2:4; 10:12; Ephesians 2:4; John 3:16).

"Wisdom and the knowledge": “The intellectual resources are brought into view with which God has ordered, disposed, and controlled all the forces of the world and of man's history so as to make them subservient to His love. The world, with its conflict of races, 1

F.F. Bruce p. 224 5

religions, passions, and even vices, may seem to be a realm of chaos; but when we see it in the light of God as Paul did, we see the signs of wisdom and knowledge, of a conscious purpose transcending human thought” 2 “God's comprehensive view of all things and His penetrating perception of details, which enable Him to adapt His love to all the forces and conditions of the world, even to failure and unbelief and sin, and to work out His plans and purposes of grace” 3 "How unsearchable are His judgments": The word judgments would refer to both judgments involving condemnation and salvation. “The judgments are God's decisions" (Lenski p. 741).

“It enables God to grant perfect free will to man, and still (enables) Him to foresee his every act, and empowers Him to combine men of free will in endless social, political and commercial complications, and yet foresee results arising from myriads of combined free agencies, thus enabling Him to discern the effects upon the Gentiles wrought by the rejection of the Jews, and the results, proximate and ultimate, wrought upon the Jew by the acceptance and rejection of the Gentiles. Such are samples of the knowledge of God exhibited in Romans. The wisdom of God enables Him to design the best purposes, and most blessed and happy results, the most perfect and satisfactory ends, while His knowledge empowers Him to choose the best means, employ the best methods or modes or procedure, devise the best plans, select the most perfect instruments for accomplishing of those holy and benevolent purposes” 4 "His ways past tracing out": “How trackless His footsteps” (Wey). “Some of God's tracks He has left plain to us, but others are beyond us” (Robertson p. 400). Mordecai understood this (Esther 4:14). We are informed about God's character and nature, and the principles upon which He judges nations, but when it comes down to the precise method, in which God has caused a nation to rise or fall, (the details, every move and step in the plan), we soon lose the trail.

Romans 11:34 “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor?”

"For": Here is why God's ways (His methods in accomplishing His plans), are many times impossible to track. “Surely God's ways are past tracing out, for, to quote from the Old Testament, no one has been His counsellor so as to know how he would proceed to attain His purposes” (Erdman p. 142). This quotation is from Isaiah 40:13, and is also cited in 1 Corinthians 2:16. Since God has no confidant, no one can anticipate His moves. “Who has ever know the Lord's thoughts, or advised Him?” (Gspd) We live in a time when many people are wanting to be hired for the position of God's counsellor. How many times have you heard people say, “I know what the Bible says, but I just think that God is going to do things differently...I just think that God is more merciful 2 3 4

Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 686 Erdman p. 142 McGarvey pp. 479-480 6

than that”? These are statements from people who have (unwittingly) claimed the position of God's personal advisor. We need to remind people, no one can read God's mind (1 Corinthians 2:11) or much less the mind of another mortal. All of God's thoughts, that God's wants us to have, have already been revealed in the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:9-13).

Romans 11:35 “or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?”

This is a quotation form Job 41:11. “Or who has advanced anything to Him?” (Gspd).

“So as to receive payment in return” (Mon). “Who has by his services, laid God under obligation to recompense or pay him again?” (Barnes p. 266). “The fundamental truth of religion as Paul understood it--viz., that the initiative in religion belongs to God” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 686). Somehow man thinks that God is bound to what people think. “Times have changed and therefore the moral standard in the Bible must be adapted to modern men”. God's ways, His will, right and wrong, punishment and salvation are not, and have never been, determined by what people thought.

“A common failing of men in every era is their naive belief that their own time constitutes a qualitatively different situation from all others, thereby rendering the Biblical Word somehow irrelevant for them. In actuality, as Reinhold Niebuhr said in another connection, ‘the fabric of history is woven upon one loom’. Every period of history has had is special problems, but they are no different qualitatively from those of other eras, for man remains the same. Throughout the centuries, the testimonies of those who have allowed the Biblical message free rein in their lives show a remarkable similarity; they well illustrate that, in spite of changing cultural conditions, man remains a sinner in desperate need of the Word of life”. 5 Romans 11:36 “For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things. To Him be the glory for ever. Amen” This last statement confirms the truth of man's absolute dependence on God. "For of Him": Proceeding from, as the source. God is the origin and cause of all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). "Through Him": By means of, as maintainer, preserver, and ruler. God holds everything together (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). “For from Him everything comes; through Him everything exists; and in Him everything ends!” (Gspd) "And unto Him": Everything that exists is headed for a final reckoning with God, the whole universe is headed in the same direction. God is the final goal of all reality (Philippians 2:10-11). "To Him be the glory for ever": “Has the force of all the glory there is. Not the attribute is referred to but the acknowledgement, honor, and worship due to God from 5 The Bible, The Living Word of Revelation. Edited by Merril C. Tenney. 'The Relevance of Scripture Today', John Warwick Montgomery p. 203 7

men” (Lenski p. 743). Let all the honor, and all the praise go to God. If we are going to boast, then let us boast in our God! “Should we mumble about our hope? Should we apologize for putting forward the Bible's explanation of things? Should we be intimidated into silence by philosophies or religions contrary to the Bible? I am no philosopher or scholar in the realm of comparative religion, but I've read more than enough to know that the Christian faith doesn't suffer in comparison with anything around” 6

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McGuiggan p. 342 8