The Jews, at present cast off because of unbelief, will in due time as a people be taken into God’s favor again, when the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and when the Deliverer (Christ) shall have appeared again. As a people they are for this age judicially blinded, although there is a remnant according to faith in Christ. The Gentiles grafted into the Church must not trample upon the Jews as a reprobate people, but remember that the law of faith excludes all boasting, either of ourselves or against others.
Romans 11
1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Romans 11:1-3 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:4-10 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:11 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:12 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:13-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:15-17 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:18-21 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:22-27 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:28-32 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:33 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:34-36 – J. Vernon McGee
Romans 11:1-12 – A Remnant Saved by Grace
In the worst days of Hebrew apostasy there was always an elect handful that did not go astray after other gods. It was so in the days of Elijah; and it was a comfort to the faithful heart of Paul to believe that, amid the general opposition excited by the preaching of the gospel, there were many secret lovers of the Cross who were true to the Messiah and His claims. Man can never count these quiet, unknown, holy souls, who, like the sweetest wild flowers, can be detected only by the fragrance of their lives. But God counts them, to whose grace and care all that is good in them is due.
The few seek and find, because they stoop to seek in God’s predetermined way and along His lines. But when men set themselves against these, they become hardened and overwhelmed by a “spirit of slumber,” Romans 11:8. When Scripture says that God gives them this, it simply means that such state of insensibility is the working out of an inevitable law. But the Apostle cherished the secret hope that the avidity with which the Gentiles were accepting the gospel would, in the mystery of God’s providence, have the ultimate effect of bringing the Chosen People back to Him whom their fathers crucified, Romans 11:11. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 11:13-24 – Others Grafted in by Faith
Paul never abandoned the hope that ultimately Israel would come back to God in Christ. He believed that God’s promises pointed in that direction, and that, though centuries might pass, those sure guarantees would be abundantly fulfilled. Notice his expressions: how much more their fullness, Romans 11:12; what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? Romans 11:15; God is able to graff them in again, Romans 11:23; all Israel shall be saved, Romans 11:26; that he might have mercy upon all, Romans 11:32. He realized, however, that Israel must temporarily make way for the ingathering of the Church, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek; and that when the Church has been formed and gathered to its Lord, then the time for the ingathering of the Jewish people will have arrived.
Let us see to it that we Gentiles understand our position as being permitted to partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree, Romans 11:17. Christ was the root of that tree, and it is from His rich nature that all the freshness and fatness, all the quickening and energy, all the love and grace of the Hebrew Scriptures and heritage of promises were gained. Whatever Israel had, we may have. Let us go up and possess the land! —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 11:25-36 – That God “Might Have Mercy upon All”
“Mysteries” are the reasons and principles of the divine procedure which are hidden from ordinary minds, but revealed to the children of God by the Spirit, who searches the deep things, I Corinthians 2:10. We cannot tell how near the brim we are, or when the fullness of the Gentiles will fill the predestined measure. It may be much nearer than we suppose, and then the door will be closed, and the Hebrew nation will be grafted in to serve the divine program in the last stages of human history. They are still beloved for their fathers’ sake, and the day is coming when all their sins will be forgiven and taken away.
We may go a certain distance in the devout understanding of the ways of God, but there is a point beyond which we cannot advance; and as we gaze down into the profound abyss of the divine dealings, we must cry, O the depth! Romans 11:33. The origin, the maintenance, and the ultimate end of creation, providence, and redemption, is God. To Him must be the glory! In other words, we shall find that the whole story of sin, redemption, and salvation will unravel and reveal the nature of God, as the prismatic band of color the sunlight. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Romans 11:36—Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.
This verse reminds us of those lagoons of perfectly still clear water, of which travellers tell. So clear, that it is easily possible to look into their translucent depths to where the submarine foliage waves! So deep, that the ordinary measuring line fails to plumb them! All these words are monosyllables. A child just learning to read could easily spell them out. But who shall exhaust their meaning?
Of Him.—The entire scheme of redemption; the marvellous history of the chosen people, with which this chapter is occupied; the universe of matter, all are included in the all things that have emanated out of God. No one has been his counsellor, or given aught to Him. From all created things, which are as the stream, let us climb to Him, who is their fountain, source, and origin; and in Him let us learn to fill our own souls to the very brim.
Through Him.—Through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, God has poured the entire grace and wealth of his nature to bless and help us. There is no good thing that does not come to us through the mediatior, of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Through Him He made the worlds. Through Him we have received the reconciliation. Through Him, also, all grace is made to abound towards us. Never forget to magnify the Lord Jesus as the source of all yout supply.
To Him.—Creation, Providence, Redemption, are all tending back to God. The tide is setting in towards the throne. A revenue of glory shall ye accrue from all that has happened within the parenthesis of time. Every whit in the great temple shall one day say “Glory!” —Our Daily Homily