Romans 11:25

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

In v25 alone, Paul does four things. First, he tells his Gentile brethren that he does not want them to be ignorant about the things that he’s talking about. And that’s useful for us, because many Gentile Christians today acknowledge that this whole series of topics discussed in Romans 9-11, especially the mystery mentioned here of God’s intentional hardening of His own people, the Jews, is very confusing and unimportant to our twenty-first-century lifestyle application. And Paul denies that; he begins by saying, “You need to know about this.” Second, Paul explains why Gentile Christians need to know about God’s salvific workings in Israel. This mysterious truth impacts our humility. Paul says that we need to understand so we don’t become conceited, so we don’t consider ourselves wise in our own estimation regarding God’s plans for Israel. Don’t be arrogant; don’t think the Jews need not be evangelized because they’ve rejected Christ. This truth humbles us to see that God has a plan for both Gentile and Jew. Third, Paul says that God’s dealing with the Gentiles and the Jews in His plan of salvation is a mystery. Now by “mystery,” Paul simply means “something once concealed now revealed.” Jacob and Moses and Samuel and David knew nothing of this mystery. It is something that we could not have understood unless God revealed it to us, which He did through Paul (Ephesians 3:4-9; Colossians 1:26). Once revealed to us in His Word, however, it is to be declared openly to everybody. It is not for just expert theologians; it’s something for everybody to understand. Fourth, Paul explains that God is not finished with Israel. And he’s emphasized this twice before in the passage.

V12a, v15a and v25b are parallel in this regard. V12 explains that the Jews’ sins bring riches for the world. V15 explains that the rejection of the Gospel by the Jewish people is reconciliation for the Gentiles. V25b explains that the hardening of Israel (in part) leads to the fullness of the Gentiles. And likewise V12b, 15b, and 26a are parallel. The Jews’ fullness brings greater riches (v12b); the Jews’ acceptance brings life (v15b); and all Israel will be saved (v26a). Over and over Paul is stating the order of God’s strategy: The Jews reject the Messiah, so that the Gentiles can and will embrace Him, so that the Jews will become envious and turn to Him, so that amazing benefit comes to both the Gentiles and the Jews within the Church, as they dwell together in faith in Christ. Hearing this truth repeated from Paul doesn’t make it easy to accept. We can understand it, but we don’t see how it all plays out just yet: We’re in the midst of it.