Romans 11
11
God Has Not Rejected His People
1 #
Phil 3.5. Am I saying that God has turned his back on his people? Certainly not! I am one of the people of Israel, and I myself am a descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin. 2God did not turn his back on his chosen people. Don't you remember reading in the Scriptures how Elijah complained to God about the people of Israel? 3#1 K 19.10,14. He said, “Lord, they killed your prophets and destroyed your altars. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me.”
4 #
1 K 19.18. But the Lord told Elijah, “I still have 7,000 followers who have not worshiped Baal.” 5It is the same way now. God treated the people of Israel with undeserved grace, and so a few of them are still his followers. 6This happened because of God's undeserved kindness and not because of anything they have done. It could not have happened except for God's gift of undeserved grace.
7This means that only a chosen few of the people of Israel found what all of them were searching for. And the rest of them were stubborn, 8#Dt 29.4-6; Is 29.10. just as the Scriptures say,
“God made them so stupid
that their eyes are blind,
and their ears
are still deaf.”
9 # Ps 69.22,23 (LXX). Then David said,
“Turn their meals
into bait for a trap,
so that they will stumble
and be given
what they deserve.
10Blindfold their eyes!
Don't let them see.
Bend their backs
beneath a burden
that will never be lifted.”
Gentiles Will Be Saved
11Do I mean that the people of Israel fell, never to get up again? Certainly not! Their failure made it possible for the Gentiles to be saved, and this will make the people of Israel jealous. 12But if the rest of the world's people were helped so much by their sin and loss, they will be helped even more by their full return.
13I am now speaking to you Gentiles, and as long as I am an apostle to you, I will take pride in my work. 14I hope in this way to make some of my own people jealous enough to be saved. 15When Israel rejected God,#11.15 When Israel rejected God: Or “When Israel was rejected.” the rest of the people in the world were able to turn to him. So when God makes friends with Israel, it will be like bringing the dead back to life. 16If part of a batch of dough is made holy by being offered to God, then all of the dough is holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, the rest of the tree is holy too.
17You Gentiles are like branches of a wild olive tree made to be part of a cultivated olive tree. You have taken the place of some branches that were cut away from it. And because of this, you enjoy the blessings that come from being part of that cultivated tree. 18But don't think you are better than the branches that were cut away. Just remember you are not supporting the roots of this tree. Its roots are supporting you.
19Maybe you think those branches were cut away, so you could be put in their place. 20That's true enough. But they were cut away because they did not have faith, and you are where you are because you do have faith. So don't be proud, but be afraid. 21If God cut away those natural branches, couldn't he do the same to you?
22Now you see both how kind and how hard God can be. He was hard on those who fell, but he was kind to you. And he will keep on being kind to you, if you keep on trusting in his kindness. Otherwise, you will be cut away too.
23If those other branches will start having faith, they will be made a part of that tree again. God has the power to put them back. 24After all, it wasn't natural for branches to be cut from a wild olive tree and to be made part of a cultivated olive tree. So it is much more likely that God will join the natural branches back to the cultivated olive tree.
The People of Israel Will Be Brought Back
25My friends, I don't want you Gentiles to be too proud of yourselves. So I will explain the mystery of what has happened to the people of Israel. Some of them have become stubborn, and they will stay like that until the complete number of you Gentiles has come in. 26#Is 59.20,21 (LXX). In this way all of Israel will be saved, as the Scriptures say,
“From Zion someone will come
to rescue us.
Then Jacob's descendants
will stop being evil.
27 # Is 27.9 (LXX). This is what the Lord
has promised to do
when he forgives their sins.”
28The people of Israel are treated as God's enemies, so the good news can come to you Gentiles. But they are still the chosen ones, and God loves them because of their famous ancestors. 29God doesn't take back the gifts he has given or disown the people he has chosen.
30At one time you Gentiles rejected God. But now Israel has rejected God, and you have been shown mercy. 31And because of the mercy shown to you, they will also be shown mercy. 32All people have disobeyed God, and that's why he treats them as prisoners. But he does this, so that he can have mercy on all of them.
33 #
Is 55.8; Ws 17.1. Who can measure the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God? Who can understand his decisions or explain what he does?
34 # Is 40.13 (LXX). “Has anyone known
the thoughts of the Lord
or given him advice?
35 #
Job 41.11. Has anyone loaned
something to the Lord
that must be repaid?”
36 #
4 Macc 18.24; 1 Co 8.6. Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Romans 11
11
The Remnant of Israel
1I ask, then, #1 Sam. 12:22; Jer. 31:37; 33:24 has God rejected his people? By no means! For #2 Cor. 11:22; Phil. 3:5I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,#11:1 Or one of the offspring of Abraham a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2#Ps. 94:14 God has not rejected his people whom he #ch. 8:29foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3#Cited from 1 Kgs. 19:10, 14“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4But what is God’s reply to him? #Cited from 1 Kgs. 19:18“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5So too at the present time there is #ch. 9:27; [Jer. 3:14; Zech. 13:8]a remnant, chosen by grace. 6#[ch. 4:4; Deut. 9:4, 5]But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7What then? #See ch. 9:31 Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest #[ver. 25]were hardened, 8as it is written,
#
Isa. 29:10 “God gave them a spirit of stupor,
#
Deut. 29:4; [Isa. 43:8; Jer. 5:21; Ezek. 12:2; Eph. 4:18]; See Matt. 13:14 eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9And David says,
# Cited from Ps. 69:22, 23 “Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
Gentiles Grafted In
11So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass #[Acts 28:28]salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion#11:12 Greek their fullness mean!
13Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as #ch. 15:16; [Acts 26:17]; See Acts 9:15I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and #1 Cor. 7:16; 9:22; 1 Tim. 4:16; James 5:20thus save some of them. 15For if their rejection means #ch. 5:11the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16#Num. 15:18-21; Neh. 10:37; Ezek. 44:30If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17But if #Jer. 11:16; [Ps. 52:8; John 15:2] some of the branches were broken off, and you, #[Eph. 2:12]although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root#11:17 Greek root of richness; some manuscripts richness of the olive tree, 18do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you #1 Cor. 10:12; 2 Cor. 1:24 stand fast through faith. So #ch. 12:3, 16; 1 Tim. 6:17 do not become proud, but #Prov. 28:14; Isa. 66:2, 5; Jer. 44:10; Phil. 2:12fear. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, #1 Cor. 15:2; Heb. 3:6, 14 provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise #[John 15:2]you too will be cut off. 23And #2 Cor. 3:16even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 # ch. 12:16 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers:#11:25 Or brothers and sisters #2 Cor. 3:14; [ver. 7] a partial hardening has come upon Israel, #[Rev. 7:9]; See Luke 21:24until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
# Cited from Isa. 59:20, 21; [John 4:22; Heb. 8:8-12] “The Deliverer will come #Ps. 14:7; 53:6from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27“and this will be my #See ch. 9:4 covenant with them
#
Isa. 27:9; [Heb. 8:12] when I take away their sins.”
28As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are #ch. 9:5; Deut. 7:8; 10:15beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29For the gifts and #See ch. 8:28the calling of God are irrevocable. 30For just as #Eph. 2:2, 3, 11, 13; Col. 1:21; 3:7; Titus 3:3you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now#11:31 Some manuscripts omit now receive mercy. 32For God #See ch. 3:9has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33Oh, the depth of the riches and #Col. 2:3; [Ps. 139:6; Eph. 3:10] wisdom and knowledge of God! #Deut. 29:29How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34“For #Isa. 40:13; 1 Cor. 2:16; [Job 15:8] who has known the mind of the Lord,
or #Job 36:22, 23who has been his counselor?”
35“Or #Job 35:7; 41:11who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36For #1 Cor. 8:6; 11:12; Col. 1:16; [Heb. 2:10] from him and through him and to him are all things. #ch. 16:27; Eph. 3:21; Phil. 4:20; 1 Tim. 1:17; 1 Pet. 4:11; 2 Pet. 3:18; Jude 25; Rev. 1:6; 5:13To him be glory forever. Amen.
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