Romans 11:1-6

I ask then: Did God reject His people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel: "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me" [1 Kings 19:10,14]? And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal" [1 Kings 19:18]. So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

There are four simple things that chapter 11, while being about God’s workings with and in and through Israel, can teach us in twenty-first century America: First, a saving relationship with Jesus Christ through genuine and transforming saving faith is vital to salvation. Second, understanding that God has been faithful to Israel throughout its rugged history is crucial to understanding that He is being and will continue to be faithful to us, the New Testament Church. If God hasn’t been faithful to Israel, then we can’t be sure He will be faithful to us. Third, we as Christians ought to have the utmost concern and respect for the nation of Israel. We ought to pray for Jewish people throughout the world, that they would be objects of God’s mercy, rather than objects of His wrath. Finally, we must stay focused on the eternal plan of God, the big picture. Often, when we struggle with the day-to-day problems of life we lose sight of the big picture. The daily details can easily be overwhelming to us. This passage can help us take a deep breath, pull back for a moment, and realize that we are part of God’s big plan, a plan that’s far bigger than our own problems. When we realize that, our own situations seem much less stressful. To realize that it’s not all about us, but about God, His glory, and His eternal plan, is not only practical but also essential to living Coram Deo, before the face of God. Notice several things in the first six verses:

We begin this chapter hearing Paul’s rhetorical question, “Did God reject His people?” And the answer is, “No!” Why would Paul need to explain this again? He already addressed it in chapter 9. Roman 9:6 “It is not as though God’s Word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” Paul explained divine election in chapter 9, that God chooses some and not others, and so His promises have not failed. His promises were not for every person within the physical nation of Israel, but only for spiritual Israel, the spiritual descendants of Abraham. So God has not been unfaithful. And in chapter 10 Paul explained that, on the contrary, most of Israel has rejected God. Because Israel has rejected God, it may appear that God has also rejected them. Israel had everything necessary to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, yet due to their depravity and sinfulness, Israel rejected Him and His Father as well.

Paul goes on to provide several reasons to believe that God has not rejected His people. He gives 3 proofs of that right here in this section: From v1, Paul himself explicitly (his lineage) and Paul himself implicitly (his life), and from v2-5, the Jewish believers among Paul’s audience. The first reason is Paul explicitly. He is a Jewish Christian, coming from Abraham and Benjamin. Abraham was not only the Father of the Jews physically, but also, as Paul pointed out in Romans 4, the Father of the Jews spiritually. Benjamin was the city of Jerusalem’s territory and the only other tribe to unite with Judah during the period of the Kings; so Paul is pointing out that he was truly a Jew among Jews.

If someone asked you if God has rejected the Gentiles, could you say, “No, God has not rejected the Gentiles. For I myself am a Gentile, and I am not rejected. I have been accepted not first because of the Jewish forefathers, but because of Christ, who loved me and gave Himself for me. My sins are forgiven. His righteousness is provided for me. My condemnation is removed. My guilt is taken away. I have been born again into the family of God, not by natural birth or any ethnic connection, but by the Holy Spirit who changed my heart and awakened faith. I am not an enemy of God, but a friend. I am not hardened and resistant anymore, but broken and dependent. No, God has not rejected the Gentiles, because in Christ he had not rejected me.” That’s what Paul is doing.

The second reason is Paul implicitly. He was the biggest threat to Christianity, and he has been transformed. He was the chief of sinners, and he has been saved. If God hasn’t rejected Paul, then there’s no reason to think God has rejected His people. And that’s great for us to hear. If God can make Paul into a Christ-like individual, then surely He can make me and you into the same.

Let’s spend some time on this third proof: the Jewish Christians, Messianic Jews, among Paul’s audience. Paul says, “God can not reject those whom He has foreknown, whom He has set His love on before the foundation of the world, and let me show you that from Scripture.” And Paul appeals to Elijah in v3-4, who complained to God that he was the only one left who still loved the Lord, and Paul quotes God as saying, “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” The actual verse in the NIV reads, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel…” It doesn’t say “For Myself.” Paul inserts that for us, because he wants to point out that God’s electing grace has accomplished it for His sovereign purpose. It’s not the fact that these 7000 kept themselves from bowing to Baal; rather, God has kept them from bowing before Baal. They aren’t elect because of something they did or something God foresaw about them; rather, they are foreknown or fore-loved, elect in order that God would and could work in them to will and to act according to His good purpose, in this instance to keep them from bowing to Baal.

The clearest illustration of God’s foreknowing in relation to the whole people of Israel is found in Amos 3:2. God says to Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Most theologians agree that this means, “You only have I chosen. You only have I sought out and made My own and chosen to know you intimately in the way that a husband knows his wife.” Israel is God’s foreknown or chosen people. We’ll talk more about the individual and corporate implications of this when we look at Romans 11:28-32.

Literally, v5 reads, “So too at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” And Paul’s point is that if God kept a remnant in Elijah’s day, He is also keeping a remnant in this present day. The evidence for the truth of Paul’s claim is that there are Messianic Jews (David Brickner) in our midst. There are still Jewish Christians just as there have been in every generation. And this reminds us of the mercy and faithfulness of God. Note that Paul’s argument is not an argument based on historical probability, like if someone batted .350 in 1925, then it’s quite certain that someone will bat .350 this season. It’s not like that, because God is the One working it for His glory. It’s all due to God’s electing grace, and not on probability assessments. God chooses based solely on grace for His name’s sake. Also notice that Paul does not contrast works and faith in this text, as he does elsewhere. There is no mention of faith here at all. So the point is not that works are things we do to earn God’s favor and faith is something we do in order to receive God’s favor. The contrast is between divine activity (grace) and human activity (works). The point is this: if election, and therefore salvation, is based on anything other than grace, it is no longer by grace. If we provide the decisive act in causing our election, it is no longer an “election of grace.”

And finally in v6, Paul just confirms his point from the first 5 verses, that God’s grace, rather than the works of the elect, is what determines who will be saved. The elect are not chosen because God foresees what they will do or what they will choose; they are chosen solely dependent on the grace of God. Paul is saying, “Look, when you look at Israel and see a believing remnant, and when you look at Israel and see an unbelieving multitude, don’t think that the difference between the believing remnant and the unbelieving multitude is to be found in the innate goodness of the believing remnant. Don’t believe that some were inherently better than others. Don’t believe that the difference is that some exercised faith while others didn’t. Don’t find the source of the distinction in them. Rather, find the distinction between these two groups wholly and solely in the grace of God, because that is the only source of salvation.

Just think of it for moment: What would election (the very first act of election in eternity) mean if it depended on our decisive initiative? If God watches (in eternity with foresight) and elects in response to what He foresees that we will do in a self-generated act, then we are not “chosen by divine grace”; rather, we are chosen by a decisive human act. God would simply be responding to our initiative. We would determine his action. And grace would no longer be grace. That’s what Paul is saying here, just as he did in Romans 9:11-12, that God’s choice of Jacob over Esau was based not on works but on Him who calls. It’s God’s initiative, not God’s response. God freely by grace saves a people of His own choosing and creates a remnant. He can cause seven thousand not to bow the knee to Baal or seven million to believe in Jesus Christ. And nobody’s accountability is undermined. The main point is this: God has not rejected His people, and their rejection cannot stop Him from saving a remnant or saving a nation when He chooses to remove their hardness.