11
God Has Not Rejected Israel
1 I ask then, has God rejected his people? Certainly not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
3 “Lord, they have killed yoʋr prophets and demolished yoʋr altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life”?
4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed down to Baal.”
5 So then, in the present time also there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 Now if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work would no longer be work.
7 What then? Israel did not obtain what it was seeking. The chosen obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes not to see
and ears not to hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and keep their backs forever bent.”
The Salvation of the Gentiles
11 I ask then, did the Israelites stumble so as to fall? Certainly not! Rather, by their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy.
12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will it mean when their full number is included?
13 Now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry
14 if somehow I provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
15 For if their rejection means reconciliation for the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 Now if some of the branches have been broken off, and yoʋ, a wild olive branch, have been grafted in among them and have become a fellow partaker of the root and richness of the olive tree,
18 do not boast against the branches. But if yoʋ do boast against them, remember that yoʋ do not sustain the root, but the root sustains yoʋ.
19 Yoʋ will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”
20 Right! They were broken off because of unbelief, but yoʋ stand because of faith. So do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare yoʋ either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and severity of God: to those who have fallen, severity; but to yoʋ, kindness, if yoʋ continue in his kindness; otherwise yoʋ too will be cut off.
23 And if they do not continue in unbelief, they will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if yoʋ were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will the natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?
God's Mercy for All
25 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the full number of Gentiles has come in,
26 and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion
and will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
27 “And this will be my covenant with them,
when I take away their sins.”
28 With respect to the gospel, the Israelites are enemies for your sake; but with respect to being chosen, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29 For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.
30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may receive mercy.
32 For God has confined all in disobedience so that he might have mercy on all.
33 Oh the depth of the riches, wisdom, and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and untraceable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has become his counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to God,
that he should be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.