Romans Chapter 11
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Romans Chapter 11:1-10
Israel's Rejection is not Final
Chapters
9 and 10 have dealt with the troubling issue of the rejection of the good news
and refusal to be swayed by Paul's (or anybody else's) preaching. He outlines
the election of Israel by God and the ready availability of the word regarding
righteousness outside the Law as demonstrated in Abraham's experience. Now he
must resolve the final issue: Having rejected the Gospel, is Israel's rejection
final? His answer is an unequivocal "By no means!" In an artfully
crafted argument he looks back into Israel's history to find an example of
God's graciousness in a time when Israel was rejecting God and worshipping the
Canaanite and other gods, citing Elijah's pleading with God against Israel
(1 Kings 19:10). God did not
heed Elijah for there was a remnant of seven thousand that had remained
faithful. Paul uses this idea of a faithful remnant in Israel to refer to those
Jews who had accepted
Christianity and been justified (seen as righteous) by faith and not
works.
So,
the elect (the remnant) obtained the righteousness they were seeking not
through the Law but through faith, but the others failed. And why did they
fail? Here is Paul's only possible answer that will leave him room to fashion a
scenario within which he can avoid accepting the total rejection of Israel by
the God who had chosen them as God's people. Using the same text we have seen
in the Gospels (Isa. 6:9-10), Paul
reasons that their hearts were hardened by God. What God did to Pharaoh,
God did to Israel. The reason is yet to unfold.
Romans Chapter 11:11-24 The
Salvation of the Gentiles
So
their hearts have been hardened by God, causing Israel to reject the Gospel!
Has their rejection led to their fall? "By no means," Paul declares.
But - and here the resolution begins, their rejection of righteousness through
faith in Christ has resulted in salvation for the Gentiles through faith. That
righteousness has come to the Gentiles through faith has made Israel
jealous even though they, too, had sought righteousness but futilely
through works of the Law. Israel's transgression has become a rich
benefit for the Gentiles (Paul turned to the Gentiles when he was rejected
by the Jews). If Israel's failing has led to such a result, will not the
full inclusion of Israel mean much more? Yes, of course.
Paul
now turns his attention to the Roman community's Gentiles who, by an amazing
outcome of cause and effect, have been justified and have received
righteousness through faith by the failure of Israel to obtain it. His
purpose is to help the Gentiles to see the true value of Israel as
the theological and historical foundation upon which they now stand.
He also wants to warn them against any smug sense of superiority as
if they have received God's special attention over against the Jews. Paul is
the apostle to the Gentiles and he "glorifies" (establishes as being
from God) his missionary effort which has led to the jealousy of his own
"flesh" (people), some of whom he hopes to save. If their
rejection of Christ has led to the reconciliation of [the Gentile] world,
Israel's ultimate acceptance of Christ certainly will lead to their
eternal life. He does not want the Gentiles to think that they have left the
Jews behind and forgotten by God. He wants them to understand that God has
welcomed them into a refashioned Israel founded upon God's work through Christ.
Vs. 16 is very difficult to
interpret. Using the background of Israel's first fruits offering
during the Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:10;
Num.15:17-21), Paul writes (correctly) that when a
part of the dough (made from the wheat and barley
harvest) is offered to God as the
first fruits, the entire mound of dough will be considered as
being holy. He uses this understanding as analogous to the root of the
olive tree. If the root of the olive tree is holy then its
branches are holy. (The olive tree was a symbol of Israel's spiritual
history and in the prophets came to be associated with Israel
itself.) In the analogy the entire mound of dough and the olive
tree branches represent unconverted Israel. The question is, what do the first
fruits and root represent? So far in these three chapters Paul has dealt with
that part of Israel that has rejected Christ as the agent of justification
leading to God's righteousness. But not all have rejected Christ. Paul himself
and many other Jews have accepted this gift. In effect they have become
the remnant already referred to by Paul in 9:27 citing Isa.
10:22. This remnant is the first fruits already offered to God which
makes the entire mound, Israel, holy; but what of the root? Following the
analogy of the first fruits, the root must be to the branches (Israel) as
the first fruits were to the whole mound of dough (also Israel). Only one
choice seems possible: the root is Jesus. Paul will later tell us as much.
Jesus is "offered up" to God and so as the foundation stone of the
new Israel. As the Messiah he is the holy root that makes the branches
holy.
We
should be cautious not to read too much into Paul's use of "holy" as
referring to unbelieving Israel. He is not proposing that there is no need for
accepting Christ through faith that they somehow are grandfathered in because
of their history. Rather, they retain a special relationship with God as
the original chosen and those whom God wishes to include in the new Israel
founded on Christ with other Jews and with Gentiles.
Paul
stresses the position of the Gentiles in relation to the Jews. The broken branches
are unbelieving Jews whose place has been taken by the Gentiles who are wild
olive shoots grafted into the tree. They should not boast or become
proud because they have replaced broken branches as if they
are now more important than the broken ones. They are still being upheld by
others. Further, their place as new branches is only as lasting as their
continued faith in God through Christ (no "once saved always saved").
To deny one's faith is to be as the unbelievers, cut off from the tree.
Besides, they are wild olive tree shoots grafted into a cultivated
olive tree. How much more will God graft the natural branches back into their
own tree?
Romans Chapter 11:25-36 All
Israel Will Be Saved
Paul
returns to his reasoning of 11:7-8 that
God has hardened the hearts of part of Israel. God will continue to do so until
the "full number" of Gentiles has come in. Paul does not mean some
specific period of time nor does he envision that all Gentiles will be
converted. His experience has been otherwise. More likely he is thinking of the
imminent coming of Christ and the completion of his own mission to Spain which
can be considered as the ends of the earth at the straights of
Gibraltar beyond which the earth and sea disappear. In any case, he
is sure of one thing: all Israel will be saved. Even though they are for now
enemies of God they will be saved. God's election cannot be revoked, if
even for the sake of the ancestors. The disobedient Gentiles received mercy
because the rejection of Christ by unbelieving Jews caused Paul
to preach to them. So also, because the Jews' disobedience
has brought mercy to the Gentiles - a positive outcome, they too will
ultimately receive God's mercy. Thus God, against whom all humanity has sinned,
will be merciful to all.
Paul
ends with a doxology indicating the end of this section. The wording, from Isa. 40:13recognizes the depth of
mystery everyone faces when attempting to put God in a box as if God's actions
can be predicted or even understood. The theology of ancient Israel understood
that God acted with unbridled power but that power was meant for their good. Be
it the strictness of Law or punishment of exile, they believed there
was a balance in God's "hesed,"
God's faithfulness and loving kindness. In the ancient mind, Paul's
understanding that God would limit Jewish acceptance of Christ in order that
the Gentiles might is perfectly within God's purview. We might think in
different terms but in the end, however we try to understand God, to fully
understand we would have to be God.
No comments:
Post a Comment