Romans 11:7-10

What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day" [Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10]. And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever" [Psalm 69:22-23].

V7-10 – The elect attained what Israel sought to obtain. The others were hardened. How would you have written v7? Maybe this: “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The believers obtained it, but the rest refused to believe.” And that is absolutely true. Paul could have easily written that and avoided the issue of God’s election and reprobation (hardening), just like most people avoid it today. But Paul once again emphasizes that the source of salvation is in the grace of God. How is it that that remnant came to saving faith in God? Grace. God chose them, and they obtained it. “It” is righteousness before the throne of God. “It” is salvation in Jesus Christ. None would have obtained “it” had God not chosen them. All whom God chooses will obtain “it.” There’s no confusion here with Paul, so there shouldn’t be any confusion for us either, but often times, this is a confusing, even divisive issue. Most of the time, the topic is simply avoided, but Paul doesn’t avoid it.

You might expect Paul here to emphasize that the difference between unbelieving Israel and believing Israel, the difference between Jewish Christians and those Jews who have rejected Christ, is to be found in their faith. After all, chapter 10 explained that all of Israel had everything they needed to believe. But that’s not what Paul says. He carries the thing back to what he said in chapter 9, that God’s grace is the determining factor. And let me say that I’m not saying that a decision to trust Christ is unimportant, just that it is penultimate. We at Southeast often talk about making a decision, but as far as Paul is concerned, that decision which we must indeed make is itself a result of a prior and ultimate decision that God has made. The choice of God is the determining factor. Paul is claiming that God’s grace makes distinctions. In fact, he offers three Scripture passages in the next several verses to prove his case.

Deuteronomy 29:3-4 “With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those miraculous signs and great wonders. But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.” Isaiah 29:9-10 “Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer. The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets, He has covered your heads (the seers).” Psalm 69:21-23 “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

The people physically see and hear, but not spiritually. Spiritual truth has no attractiveness to it, unless God opens eyes and hears to that end. The hardening is not merely in the hands of man, because there is a planned end for it (Romans 11:25). The hardening will last “until the full number of the Gentiles comes in.” So God has appointed it, and God will remove it at the time He has appointed. The basis of this hardening is twofold. First, God’s glory lies in His freedom to never be ultimately dependent on the will of man. He has mercy on whom He has mercy and He hardens whom He will (Romans 9:18). But as equally important is the second basis for the hardening, that of man’s guilt in sinfulness and unbelief. Man is deserving of eternal hardening, and no one will ever convince God that he is innocent because he wasn’t chosen by God before creation; he has knowingly sinned against God by his own choice.