Jews and Gentiles in God's Will:
A Study of Romans 11

By Charles Sebold

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In this study we will dive into the details of Paul's statements in Romans 11, particularly how they reflect on our relationship to the Lord and to the Jewish people, and the meaning of grafting and removal. All quotes from the Bible are from the New American Standard Bible (1995) unless otherwise noted.

Rom. 11:1: I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

First we need to establish the context of this chapter. To do that properly, we would need to have a verse-by-verse study of the entire book of Romans, but lacking time and space for that, we will try to give a summary of what has gone before us in chapter ten. Chapter ten is describing what it takes to bring salvation to the Jewish people; only incidentally does it also give us information about our own relationship with God. Such famous and oft-used quotes as 10:9, "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved," are actually being taught in the context of the Jewish people attaining righteousness through their Messiah's Lordship and resurrection. It is only a few verses later that we are assured that "there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him" (10:12).

The question in the minds of Paul's listeners, and indeed in Paul's own mind earlier in his life, is this: How can the Jews not have recognized their Messiah? What is keeping them from completely turning to their Lord? The implication of Paul's statements as this epistle continues is that Gentile churches were beginning to assume that there was something wrong with the Jews, that they missed their own blessed hope. What other explanation is there for what seems sometimes to be an inborn aversion to the truth about the Messiah? The Jews are known to the early Gentile churches for being the race from whom Yeshua and the apostles were born, but more recently they seem to be the ones who killed Yeshua and persecuted the apostles who were trying to reach them. In a world that already had a certain antiSemitic fringe (see the background of Josephus' writings to get a better feel for it), it was natural, although not excusable, for Gentile believers to feel that perhaps the Jewish Messiah had come for them and not His own people. Their own Scriptures seemed to indicate that He knew He wouldn't be welcome among them, after all (cf. Calvin's connection of John 1:11 to Isaiah 1:3). So now that Paul protests that the Jewish people still has a special place in God's heart, the next obvious question is, why do they respond this way to the gospel then?

Paul breaks this down into its component questions. It is interesting to see how often believers ask these same questions about the Jews without realizing that their answers are here, in the book that most believers profess to be the pinnacle of New Testament understanding. Paul starts by suggesting that perhaps they have never heard the good news, but he answers his own question with Scripture in 10:18. Then he suggests that perhaps Israel "did not know," that is, perhaps they did not actually understand what they heard. But he sees in Deuteronomy that Israel's disobedience, even though they technically understand the Torah, will cause them to be chastened by a nation which has no special understanding imparted to it - that is, the Gentiles. It fascinates me that this is part of Ha'azinu, the song that Israel will remember long after all vestiges of Torah observance and obedience have left them (Deut. 31:16ff.). Then he finds that even if they had been seeking Him, they were not originally promised that they would find Him, but in fact those who were not seeking would find Him. He finished by quoting Isaiah again, that the Lord continually reaches out to people who will not respond to him.

The natural response, then, is the place where we started this study: "I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?" And Paul's response is that this is not to be thought for an instant, and he points out that he himself is an Israelite. Then he goes on:

Rom. 11:2-5: God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." But what is the divine response to him? "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.

"Foreknowledge" is dealt with in Romans 9. Christianity has filled its doctrinal and theological textbooks with discussions about Calvinism vs. Arminianism, about whether people have free will or not. The Jewish answer starts with Isaiah 55:8-11:

Is. 55:8-11: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

The implication here is that the Lord's frame of reference is different enough from our own that the way in which He sees His will being carried out will be different from the way that we see it take place. What He wants will take place, and we will not understand how it happens. I have sometimes summarized this idea irreverently in the sentence "God is a Calvinist, and human beings are Arminians." That is, we have free will within the confines of our understanding, but beyond this world and the limited human perspective, God is ultimately in control of everything. This is only a paradox if you do not believe that God's "ways" and "thoughts" are higher than ours, that is, beyond our understanding. People who persist in thinking that God's logic and conceptual framework are going to be identical to ours will not be able to get past this idea, which is paradoxical to our way of thinking. One way to start to open your mind to this idea is to realize that your free will is never absolute. I could will myself to fly like Superman, or to own a Cadillac SUV, but my circumstances (gravity, my checkbook balance) do not permit my will to be in any way possible. My will is limited to the reality of my situation. Now, some of these circumstances could change; if I had made different choices in my life, I might have enough in my checking account now to buy a Cadillac. But other things will never change; I will not be able to leave the ground bodily under my own power in my lifetime. So, I am partially responsible for some of the latitude of my free will, but not all of it; I could never have created the universe or designed natural law in such a way to allow myself to fly. Even the question of whether I could have saved enough money to buy a Cadillac could be moot, because no matter how hard some people try, they will never achieve certain goals, through no fault of their own. Ultimately everybody's free will is bounded by their situation in life, over which they will never have complete control. God, having created the universe and knowing the future of every process He set in motion, made choices to allow everything to take place; it is only in our world that free will means anything. The other side of the coin is this: to us that free will is ultimately very important. Our lack of perspective causes our choices to be the only thing determining our salvation or ultimate rejection of God, hence the numerous injunctions in Scripture to obedience, to choosing life over death and blessing over curse.

So, God "foreknew" - and in fact, predestined - the current circumstances of the Jewish people, and Paul assures us that they have not been rejected; they are only being reduced to a remnant, which is a recurring theme in the history of Israel. The world was reduced to Noah's family; Noah's children were replaced in God's will by those of Shem; Shem's children were whittled down to the family of Terah, and Terah's son Abraham became the father of the promise. Abraham's children are reduced to Isaac in God's will, and Isaac's children are reduced to Jacob. Jacob's children expand to become the twelve tribes of Israel, but the Assyrian captivity removes Israel and leaves the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and some of the tribe of Levi. The kingdom of Judah is carried into captivity and only a remnant of those return to their inheritance in Israel. In Yeshua's time only a remnant of the Jews are seeking the truth and obeying the Torah, and of those only a remnant end up recognizing the Messiah. Sometimes the remnant is not readily visible, as in Elijah's time, and Paul goes on to assure his Gentile readers that even though they do not see the Jewish thread of faith in the truth of Yeshua, it exists (he is living proof of that). And ultimately, that remnant is chosen by God, and kept by Him until the time for which they have been prepared.

Rom. 11:6-10: But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day." And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever."

Salvation by the grace of God is underscored by Paul here, because he sees that God's choice goes hand-in-hand with His grace and mercy toward us as His children. Certain Jews were chosen to gain understanding of Yeshua's role as Messiah, and the rest were hardened. Why were they hardened? Because as God's chosen people they would otherwise have had a natural propensity to recognizing and accepting the truth. The Lord actually had to act to block them from recognizing Yeshua en masse. This stands in contrast to the antiSemitic Church's maintenance over the centuries that the Jewish people were too stupid or cursed to come to the truth. In fact, what we will see is this: God had to retard the progress of the Jewish people to give the Gentiles a chance to receive salvation. If the Jews hadn't gained a "handicap" (in the sense used in sports), the playing field wouldn't have been level. This makes sense; earlier Paul had mentioned that the Jews were entrusted with the "oracles of God," meaning that they have been the repositories of the truth throughout the bulk of human history. How were they not going to have a decisive advantage over the Gentiles? Only because the Lord stepped in to give us a chance. In other words, the infuriating inability of the majority of the Jewish people to come to know the Lord is actually a demonstration of God's mercy for us, His adopted children. More on this as we develop our understanding of Paul's text here.

Rom. 11:11-12: I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!

Here Paul begins to connect the dots for us. "By their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles" - this tells us that if the Jews had not been "handicapped" by God's will in blinding them temporarily to the truth, they would have turned to Yeshua as a nation, as they turned to the Torah as a nation at Sinai, and the time of mercy would be over - the Lord would come as the reigning Davidic Messiah King of Israel, and the Gentiles would never receive the gift of a close relationship to God that has been held out to us by their failure to recognize Him. But then he adds that little phrase - "to make them jealous." In other words, they are being used to give us as Gentiles a chance to come near the Lord, and in turn we are being used to give them an incentive to return to their heritage as God's children, just as Moses predicted in Ha'azinu. God used their disobedience and rejection of Him to bring about the blindness that gave us our chance to meet Yeshua. Truly, He is the Great Engineer - we watch in awe as He demonstrates how He created society to follow His will and open up His mercy to the maximum number of takers, both Jews and Gentiles. Because we see in v.12 that this is not the end of the story: salvation is still tailor-made for the Jews, and their acceptance of the gift will be greater still than anything they have given us by their temporary rejection of Yeshua. And I want to make this clear - God has not rejected them, but He has chosen to cause them (as a people, not individuals) to reject Him for a time, so that more people would accept Him in the end. Finally, this situation is not permanent; soon the Jewish people will achieve another Sinai experience, as they recognize the Messiah and return to Him.

Rom. 11:13-15: But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Paul sees his ministry to Gentiles, not as an angry turn away from the rejection of his fellow countrymen (although it might have seemed like that at the time, see Acts 18:6), but as a necessary step to bring the Jews into their inheritance. Again he emphasizes how wonderful it will be, if their rejection of Yeshua is salvation for the world, when they accept Him.

Rom. 11:16: If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

It seems that there are really two different metaphors here, and Paul is using their apparent similarity as a segue to the next stage of his argument. First he says that "if the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also," which appears to be suggesting that the few Jews who believe in his day will eventually bring about the sanctification of the whole nation and the whole world. Then he goes on to say that "if the root is holy, the branches are too." This metaphor is subtly different. It sounds like he is speaking now of something that existed beforehand, that gives life to everything that proceeds from it, like a root which provides life to its branches.

Rom. 11:17-18: But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

This opens up the meaning of the tree metaphor. We find that there is a tree, and it must essentially be a Jewish tree, because the unbelieving Jews (who were broken off, in the context of this chapter and the last) are the natural outgrowth of the tree. We are told that we are branches of a wild olive tree which is grafted onto the Jewish tree, and thus we partake of the root together with the branches that remain. In the context of this book, the root must be the Lord or His Word, and my guess is that the Word or Torah "made flesh" is the real connection that brings together the original and grafted branches, and gives life to both. Note must be made that the root is essentially Jewish, since the tree is Jewish. Yeshua is Jewish and the religion that makes Him its source is Jewish also. Thus we find that we cannot be arrogant toward the Jewish people, because by being grafted in, we do not make Yeshua and belief in Him into a Gentile thing; on the contrary, we are made to drink life from the Jews instead.

So what does it mean to say that "some of the branches were broken off"? It means that, at some point in history, the Jews were in the right place to achieve salvation, but the Gardener changed the circumstances to make it so that what they had done in the past was no longer the way to salvation. By "breaking them off" He effectively removes salvation from the majority of the Jews, for reasons we discussed above. All the branches were not broken off to make room for the Gentile "wild olives," and I want to be perfectly clear about this: the difference between Jews and Gentiles at this time in history and in God's plan is nil, and they are given equal opportunity to come to the Lord. This was not always true in the past, and will not always be true in the future. When we say that salvation has been removed from the majority of the Jews, we mean that those who would have gained it as a matter of course before Yeshua came, now have to achieve salvation through faith, in the same way that Gentiles have to do it. We are not suggesting that Jews are any farther removed from salvation than any Gentile.

So, we find that we have received a Jewish Messiah, a Jewish faith, and a Jewish salvation. Again we may protest that it sounds like we as Gentiles are considered better than Jews in God's eyes now. How does Paul respond to this?

Rom. 11:19-22: You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

If the Lord cut off some of His chosen people to make room for us, then we must be valued more highly than they are, right? This is where Paul brings us from God's perspective as the Gardener, to our perspective as believers who are grafted in. They were broken off, yes because of the plan, but ultimately because of their unbelief, and we are only taking their place because of our belief. The "fear" is that we will not always hold fast to our trust in Him, and become prunings along with those whom we thought our inferiors.

This brings up an interesting question. What do we call it when somebody is grafted or grown into the root, drinking life from the Source in Yeshua? Generally speaking, we would say that they had received salvation. But Paul here threatens those who are connected to the tree with being themselves cut off. Does that mean that someone could be given life by God through His Son and still lose that life through unbelief? In other words, can a man gain salvation and then lose it? It seems that this is what Paul is threatening here. What is the connection to the root if it is not salvation? And what is being cut from the root if not a loss of that salvation? The Jewish people had salvation in the form of Torah obedience until Yeshua's death and resurrection forced a new understanding, a new faith on the chosen people. Really it was only the culmination of God's plan in the Torah and in the Jewish religion, but those who didn't follow God's understanding here effectively lost their salvation, turning from "saved by the Law" to "condemned by the Law" because they didn't believe in Yeshua. Are we to think that those before Yeshua's death could lose their salvation, but we can't? This depends on whether salvation itself was different before and after Yeshua's death and resurrection. For the purposes of Paul's metaphor here, however, there is no difference; this was once a completely Jewish tree, and now some of the branches have been cut and replaced by Gentiles, who themselves could be cut and replaced again.

Rom. 11:23-24: And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

Having been cut off (in their case, not being "saved" in Yeshua and then lost, but being cut off because salvation changed in nature), Paul assures us, as he implied earlier, that there is a place in God's plan for the Jewish people in the future. Paul points out that if God is able to take us, completely anti-Torah as most of us are in our Gentile natures, and bring us into a life-giving relationship with the Jewish Messiah, how much more should He be able to accomplish the same thing with Jews, for whom salvation was tailor-made? It is evident to Paul that God's Grand Design includes a future in which the Jews return en masse to the Lord through Yeshua, much like they turned to God's Torah at Mount Sinai.

Rom. 11:25-27: For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery - so that you will not be wise in your own estimation - that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The deliverer will come from Zion, he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

Here Paul wraps up the concept he has been delivering to us throughout the chapter. Israel is partially hardened against salvation so that all the Gentiles who have been chosen by God can come into the family, and in this way all Israel (the chosen people who were not pruned, plus the Gentiles who are grafted in, followed by all the living chosen people - this makes up the true Israel) will be saved.

Rom. 11:28-32: From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

They are "enemies" of the gospel, in the sense that the Jews as a nation seem to have turned away from the good news of the Messiah, for "your sake" (the sake of the Gentiles), but now Paul brings us back to God's perspective again, making the difference in our perspectives, particularly in these hard passages in Romans, crystal clear to those who read carefully. "from the standpoint of God's choice [emphasis mine] they are beloved for the sake of the fathers [patriarchs; their merit is seen as the reason for Israel's blessings in Jewish thought], for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Irrevocable! In other words, nobody replaces the Jews in God's eyes, they just seem to be removed from their place of honor for a time in our eyes. Finally we see the plan of salvation for the whole earth, and the reason for all of human suffering and failure: "For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all."

Rom. 11:33-36: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

To which we also bow in worship to Him Whose ways are higher than ours, and affirm with Paul: Amen.

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