Good morning, Bereans. This morning we continue our study of Romans 11. I said last week that this chapter is a dispensational stronghold. Dispensational theology teaches that as part of the events leading toward the millennium, ethnic Israel must return to and be established in the Holy Land. Romans 11 is seen as the critical text in predicting the eventual salvation that will follow.
Ray Steadman writes: "Anyone who teaches that the church has now inherited all the promises of Israel had better take a second look at the Scriptures, especially the eleventh chapter of Romans."
John MacArthur writes: "No doubt the Jews in Old Testament times and the Jews in New Testament times understood that the promises existed would be fulfilled literally. They understood that there would be a real Kingdom and real blessing and real possession of the holy land."
Let me say a word here about the land. First of all, Joshua tells us that the Land promises were all fulfilled.
Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. Joshua 21:43 ESV
Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. Joshua 21:45 ESV
Secondly, we must understand that the Land was a type. It pictured the presence of Yahweh. When they were out of the land, they were away from Yahweh. The Land was a type and the anti-typical fulfillment came when the inheritance of the New Heavens and the New Earth arrived, where we "tabernacle there with God." The unconditional promises were to Abram and his seed, which was Christ.
Notice what Luke tells us.
There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold Acts 4:34 ESV
In the Old Covenant Isreal was forbidden to sell the land.
"The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. Leviticus 25:23 ESV
Why couldn't they sell it? The rest of the verse says, "for the land is mine." So why were the disciples selling their land? The disciples of Yeshua knew that Jerusalem and Judea were going to be destroyed! They knew that the Romans were going to desolate their city and lay their land waste. But this had happened before. Jerusalem was desolated in 586 B. C., and the Jews did not sell their land at that time. Jeremiah even bought land. So why sell it now?
In Jeremiah we find the promise of restoration to the land, but in the New Testament we do not have the promise of Israel ever being promised to return to the land! Because the type of "the Land" was now being fulfilled in the anti-type—the Lord Yeshua the Christ. He is our inheritance. The land no longer had spiritual value, so the believers were free to sell it.
John MacArthur also writes: "But as I said, for now they're rejected. As Jesus said in Matthew 23:38, 'Your house is left unto you desolate.' But the day will come when Israel will be brought back. And that's the message of Romans 11."
Bob Deffinbaugh writes: "God had made promises concerning the nation Israel as a whole. What of these promises? Were they not to be honored? Are we to conclude, as some theologians teach, that God has no program for Israel as a nation, distinct from the church?"
Of all the things which dispensationalism teaches, the fundamental teaching of the system is that there is a distinction between Israel and the Church. According to dispensationalism, God has two differing peoples, and each respectively has differing covenant promises, different destinies, and different purposes. Membership in Israel is by natural birth. One enters the church by supernatural birth. Dispensationalists view Israel and the church as having distinct eternal destinies. Israel will receive an eternal earthly Kingdom, and the church an eternal heavenly Kingdom.
What I believe and teach is that the "true Israel" is the Israel of faith, not birth; Israel is spiritual, not natural. This view has been called "replacement theology"—it is said that the Church replaced Israel. But a much better term would be "fulfillment theology"—the promises Yahweh made to Old Covenant Israel are "fulfilled" in the Church of Yeshua, which is true Israel. Covenant, not race, has always been the defining mark of the true Israel. This view of "fulfillment theology" presents a major problem for Dispensational theology because they teach that there is a distinction between Israel and the Church. That Israel and the Church are not distinct can be seen in the fact that the promises given to Israel are received by the Church.
"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Jeremiah 31:31 ESV
What is promised here? A New Covenant. Who is this New Covenant promised to? The house of Israel and the house of Judah! Anyone disagree with that? No? Good. Then let me ask you this: What covenant is the Church under? Writing to the Church that was in Corinth, Paul said:
who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:6 ESV
What is the Lord's Supper a symbol of? The New Covenant.
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." 1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV
The New Covenant is particularly problematic for the Dispensationalist, as Jeremiah 31 is undeniably addressed to Israel. The New Covenant is the very heart of the Gospel, yet, if the Church is fulfilling the promise given to Israel under the New Covenant, Dispensationalism has some serious problems. Let me give you just one more.
"In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, Amos 9:11 ESV
Amos is speaking to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This text speaks of God's judgment and destruction of Israel, which is not complete and which is not permanent. He promised to return and to restore Israel, rebuilding it as in the days of old. The dispensationalists, in their wooden literal hermeneutic, look for this to physically happen to Israel. But now let's go to the New Testament. Does anyone know where this is quoted from?
"'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things Acts 15:16-17 ESV
James is saying that Peter's account of Gentiles being saved is a fulfillment of this prophecy of Amos. James was saying that the Messianic Kingdom had come, and Amos' prediction was completely fulfilled in the Church.
To whom was the promise of Amos 9:11 made ("In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David)? Amos was writing to Israel, the Ten Northern tribes. And yet James is saying that this prophecy is being fulfilled in the Church. I believe that the Bible teaches the essential continuity of Israel and the Church. The elect of all the ages are seen as one people—true Israel, with one Savior and one destiny.
Apart from the New Covenant truth, we would no doubt view these prophesies as God's restoration and redemption of physical, national Israel. But the New Testament writers give us the true meaning of these verses.
Let's go to Romans 11. Chapter 11 subdivides into 11:1-10 and 11-32. Verses 11:1-10 ask: Can any Jews be saved? Paul's answer is, "Yes!" Then, 11:11-32 asks "Can any more Jews be saved"? And, again, Paul says, "Yes!"
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Romans 11:1 ESV
Who are "His people?" — Is it the nation Israel? Many say that it is, but I think it is a reference to the remnant within the nation Israel. Paul himself was a forceful argument against any claim that God had rejected the nation of Israel. Paul was a believing Israelite.
Paul did not ask whether God had rejected national Israel. He was asking if He had rejected "His people." "His people" is not synonymous with national Israel. It is, in fact, a reference to the remnant within national Israel.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Romans 11:2 ESV
When we see the word "foreknew" in the Bible, we really have a word of divine election. The force of that word is that Yahweh set his heart upon them in divine love and chose them. To further explain that God has not rejected His people called Israel, Paul gives an important historical example.
"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Romans 11:3-4 ESV
Paul is quoting here from 1 Kings 19. Elijah thought he was the only man of God left in Israel. God corrected him by telling him that there remained 7,000 followers of God in Israel. That is a lot more than one. Yet 7,000, even if Israel then numbered only 700,000, would only be one percent of the population. That's a small group.
The point Paul is making is that even during one of the worst periods of apostasy in Israel's history, Yahweh had still preserved a remnant for Himself. Yahweh always has His remnant. Sometimes the remnant was very small as in the time of Noah, when the remnant was how many? Eight people. Yahweh always has his remnant.
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. Romans 11:5 ESV
Paul says, "So too"—applying verses 3-4 to his present day. The words addressed to Elijah are typical of the way God works. "At the present time"—is at the time of Paul's writing, not today. This is not written to us but to first-century Roman believers.
"Remnant"—is from the Greek word leimma which means, "the remainder." This word is only used here in the New Testament. Jewish remnant theology taught that Israel was being narrowed down to a point, and the remnant are the few who remain after the rest have left. It was the remnant for whom Torah still works as a covenant of national pride. Paul's remnant is a remnant chosen by grace. When Paul says there is a remnant, he means a remnant of Israel.
A person can be part of national Israel and yet not be part of remnant Israel. As Paul said in 9:6, "For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel." There is an Israel within Israel, a subset of physical-and-spiritual Jewish people (remnant Israel) among the group of physically Jewish people (national Israel).
And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah 6:13 ESV
God tells the prophet Isaiah that the people have turned away from Him. The nation will face total ruin, loss of homes, and exile. Even if a small fraction (a tenth) remains, it will face further destruction. The stump represents the "holy seed" or a faithful remnant.
In seeing the Jews who believed in Yeshua as a remnant, Paul is making a comparison with the remnant that refused to worship Baal. The logical conclusion of Paul's argument is that he considers Judaism to be a pagan religion akin to Baal worship—a concept that would have horrified the orthodox Jews. Judaism is a religious system that has rejected the Messiah. In so doing, she has become nothing less than pagan.
"A remnant, chosen by grace"—is literally: "according to the election of grace." This phrase sheds light back onto the work of God in Elijah's day. Paul says, God kept seven thousand men for himself in those days, and in the same way (houtos) there is a remnant "chosen by grace." So "chosen by grace" is what Paul saw when he looked at the sovereign work of God in Elijah's day. It was God who caused them to be a faithful remnant because He had chosen them.
The word "choice" is the Greek word ekloge, which means, "divine selection, election, chosen." The remnant are saved not because they chose God but because Yahweh chose them and they responded in faith. They are saved because Yahweh elected them.
This is not an election of honor or an election of reward but, rather, the election of grace. The word "grace" is the Greek word charis which means: "unmerited favor, or kindness shown to one who is utterly undeserving." God predetermined before the foundation of the world to choose some Israelites on which to set His saving love and His saving blessing which would be His remnant. And so they are elect according to His grace, not of works lest any man should boast. And salvation is, as always, the election of grace. Paul has been hammering this throughout the book of Romans.
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Yeshua, Romans 3:24 ESV
"Gift" is from the Greek word dorean, which means "for nothing, gratuitously, or gift-wise." In the phrase " by His grace as a gift," the idea of "free" is redoubled to show that our justification is all of God.
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. Romans 4:4 ESV
In other words, if you work for somebody, you don't get grace, you get wages. If you work for someone, what you bring about is not grace, but debt. They owe you wages. This is why it's an abomination to try to work for God. God cannot be put in anyone's debt. To live by grace is to recognize that in myself I bring nothing of worth to my relationship with God.
All of the Christian life is a matter of grace. We are brought into God's eternal kingdom by grace; we are justified by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we receive strength to live the Christian life by grace; and we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace. The entire Christian life is lived by grace.
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, Romans 5:20 ESV
When Paul writes, "Where the sin increased," he uses a word that speaks of addition. But when he says "Grace abounded," he uses a word that means multiplication. The word "increased" is pleonazo, which means "to increase." But the word "abound" is huperperisseuo, which means "to super abound, to abound beyond measure." Where the sin increased, the grace super abounded.
What grace has done is not merely to counteract exactly what sin has done. If the effect of grace had merely been to wipe out and to cancel all that had happened on the other side, we would have had reason to praise God through all eternity. But grace super abounds. It not only cancels our debt; it gives us the righteousness of God.
And so, Paul has been saying all along, salvation by grace, salvation by grace. And that is true in the case of the remnant as well. And Paul, who was a member of that remnant, gives his own testimony. He says,
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Yeshua before the ages began, 2 Timothy 1:9 ESV
Just to make sure we understand what he means by grace, he says:
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:5-6 ESV
The KJV adds the words, "But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." These words are not found in the better Greek manuscripts. A scribe, no doubt in the early days, copying the manuscript of the Epistle to the Romans, added this by way of an explanation.
Now notice that Paul does not contrast works and faith in this text, as he does elsewhere (e.g., Romans 3:28; 9:32). So, the contrast is not between two kinds of human activity: faith and works. The contrast is between divine activity (grace) and human activity (works). The point is that if election is based on anything we do, it is no longer grace. If we provide the decisive act in causing our election, it is no longer an "election of grace."
but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, Romans 9:31-32 ESV
They pursued the law as though it didn't bring the knowledge of sin and stop every mouth and make everyone guilty before God, but as though it were really possible to provide themselves with righteousness by keeping the commandments. They viewed their obedience to the law as the means to produce righteousness. And works and grace are mutually exclusive.
Grace is God acting on our behalf. Nothing motivates Him to do this other than His own kindness and purpose. Nothing in us, no actions on our behalf, not even foreseen faith, motivates God, otherwise then it cannot be attributed to grace.
His choice has nothing to do with the will of man. Again, Paul leveled this argument that is so common in our day.
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Romans 9:16 ESV
Just think of it for a moment: What meaning could it have for election to be gracious if it depended on our decisive initiative? If God watches (even ahead of time in eternity with his foreknowledge) and waits, as it were, for us to act, and then in response to that self-generated act, he chooses us, then we are not "chosen by divine grace." We are chosen by a decisive human act. God would simply be a responder. We would determine his action, and grace would no longer be grace.
though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— Romans 9:11 ESV
The reason for God's calling of Jacob before he was born or had done anything good or evil is so that God's purpose according to election might stand. Election would not be free if it were based on what Jacob did. And grace would no longer be grace.
Believer, understanding that your salvation is all of grace should greatly humble you. You were dead in sin, blind, and rebellious. And then, by grace alone, you were awakened to the beauty of Christ crucified for sinners. And, by grace alone, you believed. If someone should ask why you are saved and others are not, your answer is not because you are smarter or even that you believed and they did not. You should answer, with tears streaming down your face, that it is because of the gracious choice of your loving God.
What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, Romans 11:7 ESV
Notice that it doesn't say, "What 'His people' are seeking, they have not obtained." His people are the "chosen" and they have obtained it. But Israel has not.
The word "seeking" is from the Greek word epizeteo. It is much more emphatic than our translation intimates. It expresses that they "set themselves to seek" or "to seek with all their might." The present tense, by the way, indicates the constancy of their effort.
What was Israel seeking?
but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Romans 9:31 ESV
Israel pursued righteousness and covenant membership, but they never arrived at it because they sought it by works.
The ones who were chosen obtained it. Now may I remind you that here the word "chosen" or "election" doesn't have reference to the theocratic nation of Israel, nor does it have reference to the kingdom of Israel as a nation. It has reference to the believing Jews, the individual Jews chosen out of the nation.
Who did the choosing? The word allows no room for human choosing. The passive voice indicates that it was not the one obtaining that did the choosing but, rather, the One who chose him so that he might obtain. The Lord God did the choosing. That's what's involved in election.
Let's look at this from an eschatological sense for a minute. The majority of Israel had not obtained what they were seeking. What was it that Israel was seeking? The kingdom? The resurrection? Salvation? Redemption? Sure, all of these things.
Now notice carefully what Paul says: "But the elect obtained it!" The elect obtained what Israel was looking for! But there were none of the elect ruling in Jerusalem on a physical throne. There was obviously no physical aspect to what they obtained, but what they obtained was what Israel was seeking. The promise to Israel was being fulfilled in the remnant and it was to be consummated quickly.
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay." Romans 9:27-28 ESV
The full arrival of whatever it was the elect was receiving was about to arrive "quickly." All of the promises of God to Israel were being fulfilled in the remnant. And in Paul's day, the remnant was receiving what Israel sought after. What was it that the remnant was receiving? Salvation in Yeshua! They were not receiving a physical kingdom or racial superiority or a physical redemption.
What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, Romans 11:7 ESV
"Hardened"—is from the Greek poroo which means, "to petrify." The form of it indicates that they were hardened by some outside power, some outside force. And that force is none other than God Himself. They were hardened by God. You say, "Does God harden people?" Well, do you remember chapter 9 verse 18.
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Romans 9:18 ESV
Paul didn't say that the believers obtained it but that the rest refused to believe. He could have said that and it would have been true. How easily he could have avoided the issue of God's election and hardening, just like most people avoid it today.
Here Paul takes up the issue of reprobation: God's passing over the non-elect and hardening them as a judicial act so that they justly face the wrath of God. There is some debate, and rightly so, that some acts of hardening are partial and temporary, as God in mercy again grafts in unbelievers—both Jews and Gentiles (e.g. 11:17-31). But that is not the focus of these verses. Here Paul deals with those not elected by grace but instead, those left to their own desires and sins. The text does not indicate that they were hardened because of unbelief but that the hardening produced unbelief.
Hardened is a divine passive, indicating that it is God who is the agent of the hardening. God has not rejected "His people" because He has always had a remnant. But He has rejected those whom He has hardened. Just as "were chosen" is a theological or divine passive so also is "were hardened." In other words, it is the Lord who chooses and the Lord who hardens.
God gives mercy to the elect by working faith in their hearts. He gives justice to the reprobate by hardening them in their own sins. One group receives mercy; the other receives justice. No one is a victim of injustice.
Tom Holland says this about being hardened: "This was the description of the condition of Pharaoh's heart (Exod 8:32; 9:12) as he sought to stop the Jews from leaving Egypt for the promised land. Paul is in effect saying that in the early years of the Christian church's pilgrimage, the one who now plays the role of Pharaoh is unredeemed Israel. She is seeking to prevent the people of God from leaving the kingdom of darkness to follow the Davidic Messiah on his triumphant march to the promised land. To suggest such a startling reversal of roles would have left any orthodox Jew appalled."
Paul backs up the fact that they are hardened with the Hebrew Scriptures:
as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." Romans 11:8 ESV
This comes from two different verses from the Tanakh that are combined. The first half of the verse comes from Isaiah 29:10.
For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). Isaiah 29:10 ESV
The second half of the verse comes from Deuteronomy 29:4.
But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. Deuteronomy 29:4 ESV
Deuteronomy has Moses looking sorrowfully at Israel and seeing nothing but rebellion. And Isaiah 29 is closely related to one of the most quoted words of judgment from that prophet, Isaiah 6:9-10.
And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." Isaiah 6:9-10 ESV
So, he takes a passage from Moses and a passage from Isaiah, which is the law and prophets. And these two are combined under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here to indicate that Yahweh Himself has withheld spiritual understanding from His people.
What did the Jews call the Old Testament? They called it the Tanakh, which is an acronym that identifies the Hebrew Bible. The acronym is based on the initial Hebrew letters of each of the text's three parts: 1. Torah, meaning "Instruction"- "The five books of Moses," also called the "Pentateuch". 2. Nevi'im, meaning "Prophets." 3. Ketuvim, meaning "Writings" or "Hagiographa." So, in this text Paul cites a text from the Law, a text from the Prophets, and then finally one from the writings—the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures.
And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; Romans 11:9 ESV
Here he quotes Psalm 69. Paul sees Psalm 69 as fulfilled in the life and situation of Yeshua. David writes it and the final Son of David fulfills it. So, in Psalm 69:9 David says, "Zeal for your house has consumed me," and John 2:12 applies that to Yeshua as he cleansed the temple. The psalm says, "The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me" (69:9) and Paul quotes this in Romans 15:3 to refer to Christ. The psalm says, "They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink" (69:21), and Luke 23:36 applies this to Yeshua as he was offered sour wine on the cross.
Psalm 69 is one of the most marvelous Messianic Psalms. Along with Psalm 22, they are the two most quoted Psalms in speaking about the suffering of the Savior.
Psalm 69 is what we call imprecatory because it prays for judgment to fall on the enemies of Yahweh. It is a Psalm that is zealous for the holiness of Yahweh. It is a Psalm that calls down judgment on those who reject Yahweh, those who deny Yahweh His rightful worship.
"Let their table become a snare and a trap"—that's a remarkable statement because it means that the very thing that ought to be a blessing, the place where the sacrifices were made, has been made a snare. He may be suggesting through the use of "their table" that the Jewish sacrificial system has become a snare and a trap, preventing the Jews from seeing their need for Christ's death.
"A stumbling block and a retribution for them"— The word "retribution" implies that punishment of wrong is involved, somewhere along the way, in the hardening. The point is they deserved the snare and trap and stumbling that they experienced.
let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever." Romans 11:10 ESV
David's prayer was for Yahweh to exact vengeance on his enemies, but Paul applies it to the Jews. "Bend their backs forever"—as in those held captive, bent under the burden of their captivity. Paul does not misuse the passage because those who sought to overthrow David were members of his own family.
To reject Yeshua, therefore, is to reject David and the covenant made with him (2 Sam 7.5-16). It is entirely appropriate to apply David's cry in Ps 69:22-28 to the Jews of Paul's day because they persecuted their own countrymen who had turned to the Son of David for salvation.
What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, Romans 11:7 ESV
Israel, national physical Israel, has not obtained, but the chosen remnant obtained it, and the rest of national physical Israel were hardened. These words should make us tremble and thank Yahweh for His marvelous grace. It is only by grace that we have obtained salvation in Yeshua.