Bible Commentaries
Romans 11

Verses 1-21

18 The proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, beginning in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, spread to the limits of the land ( Act_1:8 ), and reached beyond it to the Dispersion. Israel was not disobedient through lack of tidings.

1 It would seem from the foregoing that God was through with His ancient and beloved people and was thrusting them away. But the apostle hastens to deny this assumption. God is not thrusting away His people whom He foreknew. Their apostasy is only in part , and the term of it is temporary . That not all of Israel are thrust away is evident from his own case. He, of all Israelites, most deserved to be thrust from God's presence and blessing. Yet he is not included in the national defection. And he is not alone. Elijah thought that he was the only one in all Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal. But God, in His sovereign dealings, restrains seven thousand from worshiping the idol. Neither was Paul alone, for there was then, as always, a remnant reserved by God. These, however, are not those who are more faithful than the rest, or more deserving than the mass of the nation. If it had not been for God's choice in grace , there never would have been a remnant.

6 Grace and works will not mix. The moment works are merged with grace it becomes mere mercy and loses its essential nature. You cannot earn or deserve grace any more than you can do anyone a favor by paying him for services rendered. The sinner or saint who seeks to buy or deserve the favor of God will find that it cannot be purchased. Grace is only for those who merit the opposite. Paul's is the pattern case. As he excelled all in persecuting God's saints, he deserved the direst doom. Yet he received the greatest grace!

7 Israel sought blessing through law keeping, but did not get it. Those chosen in grace alone found it.

9 The blessing they coveted on the ground of law keeping blinded their eyes to grace, and loaded their backs with legal burdens.

11 The temporary nature of Israel's defection is strikingly illustrated by the figure of a man who trips yet recovers himself before he falls prostrate. Israel has not fallen . The book of Acts is full of the jealousy of Jews whenever they see the nations receiving God's gifts.

12 Israel is God's appointed channel of blessing to the nations. If, then, their failure brings the storehouse of God's grace to the world, what will occur when they take their true place? Then the world will be blessed far beyond what is possible now. Now only spiritual blessing comes to the nations. Then, through Israel, physical blessing will flow out to them, as well.

15 With Israel aside, God no longer puts barriers between Himself and the nations, but is conciliated to the whole world. When men receive this conciliation, then there is mutual reconciliation.

17 It is a remarkable fact, generally unknown, that a very old olive tree, no longer capable of bearing, may be rejuvenated by a wild graft. This has been done only in those Mediterranean countries where the olive has been cultivated for many centuries. Israel is the old olive tree which becomes almost incapable of bearing the olives from which the light-giving oil was obtained. Some of the branches were broken out and the nations were grafted in, and, through living contact with its root, become God's testimony in the earth. The light of God is now no longer with Israel, but with the nations. But all the light is derived from the Scriptures which, came through Israel. Apart from the sacred scrolls, the nations shed no light.

19 The apostle is dealing with Israel and the nations- not individuals. No individual believer will be broken out of the olive tree. The nations, however, as such, no longer believe, and are due to be cut out of the olive tree. Jehovah is already gathering Israel back to their land with a view of once more grafting them into their own olive tree.

Verses 22-36

22 Nothing shows the blindness of Christendom more than their severe denunciation of faithless Israel, yet they are following precisely the same course and have not the slightest idea that God will deal with them as He did with Israel.

24 If a wild graft can be introduced into a cultivated tree with good results, how much better will it be to graft back the good branches!

25 The secret that Israel's present condition is not permanent, but only untill all who were chosen are called out of the nations, has never been generally believed, hence the haughty attitude of Christendom toward Israel.

26 Only a few, comparatively, are being saved among the nations, but when Israel again regains its proper place, all Israel shall be saved. Then the whole nation, from the least to the greatest, will know God. And they will become the light of the world, as they were always intended to be.

28 Let us always remember that Israel is still beloved, whatever its present attitude toward

God.

29 God never regrets any favor He has shown. No individual or nation whom He calls ever disappoints Him, for He knows full well what they are and what they will do. This alone proves that Israel will yet fulfill the part He has prepared for it.

30 Mercy can be shown only to those who are in need of it. So God plays Israel and the nations against one another that each in turn may taste of His mercy.

32 God's purpose includes all nations. No matter what their present attitude toward Him, it is all apart of His plan and a preparation for the display of His mercy. Here we have the real reason why all, in turn, become stubborn. God Himself locks them up to it, not that He may condemn them, but that He may have occasion to manifest His mercy.

33 God's judgments and ways are too deep for human perception, but we can grasp His purpose. We do not know how fruit is made, but we can plant a tree and enjoy its product. We can grasp God's goal, but the process by which He attains it is too complex for our feeble minds.

36 This is the most comprehensive statement which can be uttered. God is the source of all, the channel of all, and the object of all. The universe sprang out of Him, it has its course in Him and He will be its ultimate. This settles all speculation as to the origin of all things.

Creation is out of God, not out of nothing. This explains universal history. God is the One back of all the movements of mankind. This reveals the goal of all things. God is so guiding all His creatures that, eventually, He will become their All. To Him, indeed, be glory for the eons!

1 This section is in marked contrast with the conduct of mankind ( Rom_1:18 - Rom_3:20 ), as shown in the literary framework [omitted]. The exhortation is based on the previous teaching concerning our bodies in the sixth, seventh and eighth chapters. Our mortal bodies are vivified by the indwelling spirit ( Rom_8:11 ). God is no longer pleased with dead substitutes, but asks for living offerings. He longs for worship in spirit and in truth. Hence we have no altar and ritual, with bleeding victims which did not satisfy God, but we offer our bodies, dead indeed to Him, yet energized by His Spirit, so that they are employed in good deeds, which ascend as a sweet savor to Him. This is real religious service. It displaces the forms of divine service connected with the law. It is the only divine service which He recognizes in this economy. This is the

Godward side.

2 On the manward side our conduct is not to look like that of the world. There is to be a transformation wrought by means of our minds, through the influence of God's revelation. We can never be like the world at heart, so we are not to appear to be like it. We are to become more and more unlike it by contact with the mind of God.

4 Our behavior toward one another is based on the marvelous figure of the human body. We all have distinct functions, designed not merely for our own use, but for the edification of all. This is the key to conduct among our fellow-saints. As the body is a vital unity, so the saints are one in Christ.