Romans 11," God's Plan for the Jews and Gentiles." In chapter 11, Paul rivets all his inspiration and power to focus on three of the key points of his great argument. Point 3. All humans, Jews and Gentiles alike, are saved and justified only by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Point 4. There is no partiality with God. Jews and Gentiles stand as equals before Him. Believing Jews and believing Gentiles together make up the new Israel of God. Point 5.
God has not been unfair to the Jews in bestowing grace and salvation on the Gentiles. Paul has already discussed these three points repeatedly. However, in this chapter, Paul adds new facts and illustrations so that he can hopefully thoroughly convince his readers. In the end, he wants to leave both his Jewish and Gentile readers with a warm hope for the future of their people.
Romans chapter 11 verses 1 through 6," God has reserved a remnant of Israel." The first two verses of chapter 11 are a continuation of Paul's dialogue with his Jewish opponent. Opponent, verse 1A," I say then God has disowned His people." Paul verse 1b." God forbid, for I too am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, for I too am an Israelite. To disprove what his opponent has claimed, Paul uses himself as an example.
If God had completely disowned his people, he would have cast off Paul as well. For Paul was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. Although Paul does not mention it, the twelve apostles were all Jews as well. In truth, not only did the Israel of God include tens of thousands of Jews, but in Paul's day, its main leaders were Jews.
Chrysostom writes, Paul says," For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." Yes, he says," I, the instructor, the preacher, am an Israelite." In other words, God is not on the point of completely casting off the Jews. Otherwise, He would not have chosen from among the Jews the apostle to whom he entrusted all manner of preaching. Ambrosiaster adds," If God had known that none of them would be faithful, He would not have promised them a kingdom.
The Lord's inheritance, according to the law, is the children of Abraham, but only the faithful among them." Paul, verse 2A," God has not cast off His people whom He foreknew."" Foreknew" has two senses in this verse. In its most basic sense, it means that through His divine knowledge of the future, God knew in advance who would ultimately be part of His people. In other words, God has not rejected the Jews He foreknew would be faithful believers.
However, the Greek word Ginosko, know, can also mean to acknowledge or approve someone. Jesus says," My sheep hear my voice, and I know Ginosko them, and they follow me." John 10:27. Origen writes," As it is laid down in the Scriptures when God foreknows people, it not only means that He predicts their future." Of course, His ability to do that cannot be doubted. Yet it can also mean that He approves them and views them as worthy of his acquaintance.
Theodoret adds," Paul has appropriately added the words, whom he foreknew," that is, those who are worthy of the divine knowledge, having welcomed the light of faith. Afterwards, Paul immediately shows this by saying," Do you not know what the Scripture said of Elijah, not arbitrary predestination?" As we have previously discussed, God does not foreknow His people because He has arbitrarily predestined them. Rather, He foreknows them, because He has seen in advance their faith in life.
Chrysostom writes," The people whom He foreknew are those He knew were clearly suited to the faith and would receive the faith." In Elijah's day, God chose the remnant of 7,000 Israelites based on their faithfulness to Him, for they refused to bend the knee to Baal. It is the same with Christ. He Himself tells us that His knowing or recognizing us is based on how we live. Strive to enter in by the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able.
When once the master of the house has arisen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door saying," Lord, Lord, open to us," then he will answer and tell you," I do not know you or where you come from." Then you will begin to say," We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." He will say," I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil." Luke chapter 13 verses 24 through 27. Jesus speaks similarly in the Sermon on the Mount.
He says," Not everyone who says to me,' Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day,' Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name? And then I will declare to them,' I never knew you.
Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' Verse 2, 3, and 4," Or do you not know what the Scripture said of Elijah, how he makes intercession to God against Israel, saying," Lord, they have killed your prophets and dug down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life." But what was God's answer to Him? I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. As Origen explains, Paul points to the days of Elijah as an example of things in his day.
In Elijah's day, when most Israelites had rejected God, there was still a remnant of 7,000 faithful Israelites. This remnant constituted the true Israel in Elijah's day. So the precedent was set long ago that a remnant of genuine believers can constitute the true Israel. Happily in Paul's day, the remnant of faithful Jews consisted of far more than 7,000. These Christian Jews, along with the believing Gentiles, constituted the true Israel in Paul's day.
In other words, God had not changed his manner of dealing with Israel. Theodoret comments, Paul demonstrates that there were many Israelites in Elijah's day, and all of them were called by the name Israel. Yet the God of all things designated Himself as the God of only the 7,000. He rejected all the rest. So the obstinacy of the Israelites was not something new. It had been present in Elijah's day and long before. If the picture looked bleak in Paul's day, it was an improvement over things in Elijah's day.
Chrysostom writes," Someone might argue that since God has not cast off His people, then He should accept all of them." However, that does not follow. For in Elijah's day, the ones who were saved had been reduced to merely 7,000, verse 5. So then at this present time, also there is a remnant according to his choice by grace. Paul says that the situation is still the same in his day as it was in Elijah's day. Only a remnant would be chosen.
Theodoret comments," Among the countless myriads of Israelites in Elijah's day, only 7,000 were left who were free from ungodliness." Likewise, even now, the greater number of Jews have disbelieved. Only a minority have believed and enjoyed the divine favor. According to His choice by grace, as I explained in chapter 9, I am using the word" choice" as the best English word to translate the Greek word Ekloge.
Most English Bibles translate it as election, which unfortunately has become a theological word associated with arbitrary predestination. However, to the early Christians, Ekloge had just the opposite connotation. It indicated that God has a basis for selecting certain persons and rejecting others. Chrysostom writes," Paul shows here that it is the worthy ones whom God saves, even though the promise is made to the whole nation." Furthermore, observe that each word maintains its own rank.
For he shows both God's grace and the obedient disposition of those who receive salvation. For by using the word Ekloge, Paul shows God's approval of them. But by saying grace, he demonstrates the gift of God. So God is selective in choosing to whom He gives the gift of salvation. Nevertheless, it always remains a gift." And if by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. But if it is by works, then it is no longer grace.
Otherwise, work is no longer work." This verse has become a popular proof text for those who claim that obedience to Christ is not essential for salvation. However, such people are simply cherry-picking a single verse out of the middle of a much larger discussion. They are ignoring the context of Paul's words. As we have repeatedly seen, in Romans, Paul is not writing a dissertation on how to get saved. His opponent is not a Christian who maintains that obedience is essential for salvation.
Rather, Paul is contending against Jews who think that salvation comes through the works of the law. Even many Christian Jews wanted to force the Gentiles to submit to circumcision and the other requirements of the law. Acts chapter 15:1. Is Paul against righteous works? The early Christians recognize that in this passage, Paul is talking about the ritualistic works of the law.
For example, Origen writes," It must be known that the works which Paul repudiates and frequently reproaches are not the works of righteousness which are commanded in the law. Rather, it is those works in which those men boast who keep the law according to the flesh." Such works are circumcision of the flesh, ritual sacrifices, and the observance of Sabbaths and new moons. Accordingly, these and similar works are the works by which Paul says that no one can be saved.
These are the works of which he speaks in the present passage where he says," No longer by works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." For if a man is justified by these things, he is not justified by grace. God does not seek those kinds of works from someone who is justified by grace. Nevertheless, he must take care that the grace he receives does not become vain in him. As Paul says elsewhere," His grace toward me was not in vain, for I labored more abundantly than all of them." 1 Corinthians 15:10.
And as one mindful of grace, Paul adds," Yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." In short, the person who does not turn grace into something vain is the one who unites righteous works with grace. He thereby demonstrates he is not ungrateful for God's grace. For he who sins after receiving grace shows himself to be ungrateful to the one who granted him grace. The other early Christians write similarly. They recognize that in this passage, Paul is addressing works of the law, not godly Christian works.
For example, commenting on this verse, Chrysostom writes," Why do you Jews keep putting forth the law to no purpose whatsoever? For you will not be saved by the law. Instead, you will only mar this gift. For if you obstinately insist on being saved by the law, you do away with the grace of God. Theodoret writes," It is not the regulations of the law that has justified them, which is what is here meant by works." Rather, the grace of God has saved them.
For this reason, salvation itself is called grace, for it proceeds from divine loving kindness. Ignatius comments," If we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace." In short, the early Christians embraced the whole counsel of God, Acts chapter 20:27. Instead of building their Christianity on isolated proof texts, Luther built an entire religious system on selective proof texts, which he often took out of context.
As a result, he created a religious atmosphere where many Christians are afraid they might be displeasing to God if they are scrupulously conscientious about obeying His commandments. As John Wesley put it," They are more afraid of the works of God than they are of the works of the devil." As we have seen, the early Christians clearly perceived that we are saved by grace and that we humans cannot possibly earn our salvation through good works.
The early Christians also acknowledged that no good works must precede our initial salvation. However, they recognize that in the subject verse, Paul is talking about the works of the Mosaic Law.