Commentary on Romans 11

by Rev. Richard A. Bolland

        Well now, wasn’t that fun? If you’re like me, when I first read that text, I scratched my head and said something akin to, "Huh? What did that mean?"

        And so I began to study, and I think I found the key to understanding this text. And I’d like to share it with you. You need to look at the world through Jewish eyes. I know that’s hard for a bunch of Gentiles, but give it a crack, because that’s exactly how God looks at the world. He sees only two kinds of people. Jews, and Gentiles. That’s it. That’s all there is.

        They are the chosen people of God, the Jews. And we heard in last Sunday’s epistle lesson, and I’ll read it to you again in part so that your memory might be refreshed. Remember how special they were. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen., St Paul writes. (Romans 9:4-5)

        Wow! That’s a lot of credentials. It really is. Indeed were the Jews the chosen nation of God. And then of course, there’s us Gentiles. We’re not the direct recipients of anything. We were indirectly the recipients of all of that.

        So we come, and we learn again, that this Biblical interplay that happens in the scriptures over and over again, and indeed throughout the New Testament as well as the Old, we find this interplay at work between the Jews and Gentiles and how God relates to both groups, which of course, comprise the entire population of the whole world.

        And now, remember this. That God writes to us through the prophet Isaiah these words. for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. This is from our old testament reading. The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered." (Isaiah 56:7-8)

        Other people besides the Jews. A house of prayer for all nations. Hmmm. And the fog cracks just a little bit.

        God’s plan for our salvation, however centered on the Jews, from the calling of Abraham until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, comes to us precisely because the Jews were chosen, for a reason. And what were they chosen for? They were chosen to bring redemption to the world. And they were chosen for righteousness.

        Of all the people of the world, the Jews were called by God to be instruments of righteousness for all mankind. Now, lest I assume to much, let me remind you that righteousness is holiness. The two are virtually synonymous. It is the character of God, and of His people, that they stand before God without flaw, without sin, and without condemnation. If you are righteous before God, you are acceptable to Him. If you are unrighteous before God, you are unacceptable to Him. For God is holy and He is righteousness, and He cannot and will not stand in a place with that that is unholy and unrighteous.

        So the problem, of course, is ours. For we are all sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. Every last one of us. For when mankind fell into sin, all that consisted of humanity resided in Adam and Eve. And in their fall, we all fell, Jew and Gentile.

        God gave the Jews His written law through Moses and the prophets. (Just for the record, the ten commandments are only a summary of the law.) Again and again, as we see the scriptures play it out, we see that God refers to His law as the entire law and the prophets, indeed the entire Old Testament.

        And we find there a picture. A picture with a purpose. The picture that the law gives to us is a picture of God Himself, a description of His holiness, and His righteousness. Indeed, the purpose of the law was to reveal that will of God to all mankind, no exceptions! For Jews and Gentiles.

        The purpose of the law was to show humanity what holiness actually is. The purpose of the law was to demonstrate that our attempts, no matter how sincerely we try, or how hard we try, are absolutely and utterly futile if we seek to obtain our own righteousness and our own forgiveness and our own holiness. It just won’t work. Look at that law and you will understand with stark clarity that we have failed, and continue to fail, every single day of our lives.

        Finally, the purpose of the law is to demonstrate to us that in that futility, we are driven to the promises of the Messiah, who redeemed the world and brought righteousness to the world for Jew and Gentile alike.

        And what was His chosen instrumentation for bringing that righteousness? The Jews. The Jewish people. The Jewish nation.

        To them were the promises. To them was given the law. Tragically, the chosen people of God, rather than embrace the promises of grace and righteousness that was not their own chose to embrace a righteousness that was their own. Looking at the law, instead of being driven to the promises of their redeemer, they considered it an end in itself. And sought by striving of human will to achieve compliance with the law. And of course, as have we all, abjectly failed.

        And so Paul laments. And writes in last week’s epistle lesson, he said "Would that I could be sent to hell that the rest of my people could be saved!" And again, in this week’s epistle lesson, I’m talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people (the Jews) to envy and save some of them. (Romans 11:13-14)

        Here is his heart of hearts for his own people! Here he sees the tragedy of the abandonment of Israel, of the very promises that were given them, and here he sees the irony, that those who strive so hard after a righteousness by compliance with the law by doing so forfeit the very righteousness they sought. For the righteousness that they sought did not come from within, but came through the Messiah, who had been long promised since Gen. 3:15, that the offspring of the woman would come and crush the head of the evil one.

        Talk about putting a positive spin on things! Listen to these words! He says, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15) Perhaps he was recalling those words which we all know so well, from just a couple of chapters before-hand when Paul writes, For we know that all things works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

        He’s saying Israel’s rejection was cause for the embracing of the Gentiles. And the embracing of the Gentiles is now the cause for the rising perhaps of envy among the Jews, that they have the Messiah and now they too, by virtue of the fact that they have rejected Him and others have embraced Him, might see the truth and come to Him! God is pretty darn clever. And He understands that righteousness is to be granted to all men. Listen again to the last verse of this text. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. (Romans 11:32)

        You see, finally and utterly, in the end, what was denied by the Jews was the divine mercy of God. Oddly, instead, for self-improvement and human compliance with the law. That particular way of looking at things is not unusual. Indeed, it is the hallmark of virtually every non-Christian religion on the face of the earth. This striving after personal righteousness by the power of human will. For many non-Christian religions embrace a moralism. A moralism which says, "If we work hard enough, God will be pleased with us." Always asking of course, "How hard do we have to work?", and always receiving the answer, "We don’t know."

        Then there are other non-Christians who put human understanding and knowledge as the primary understanding how God works and how righteousness can be obtained. "If you know all the right things, then well, you’re OK".

        And then there are others whose self-righteousness revolves around how they look within themselves. To experience the presence of the divine. And of course, that divinity is experienced according to their own expectations, and according to a God of their own design. And so it is all utterly futile.

        So the stumbling block to the Jews over submitting to God’s provision for righteousness through Christ is an interesting manifestation of how God works. For He uses the disobedience of the Jews to have mercy on everyone. Having been rejected by the Jews, the apostles turned to the Gentiles. We read about it particularly with Paul in Acts chapter 9, when God said to His servant Ananias to go to this man who had been sent to Damascus to destroy the church these words. But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles (watch the next phrase) and their kings and before the people of Israel. (Acts 9:15)

        Yes, he is the apostle to the Gentiles, but by virtue his being apostle to the Gentiles, also the people of Israel will be redeemed, by the very same means of grace which our word reveals.

        Salvation, which our Lord pointed out, is from the Jews. Do you remember the words of the conversation that Jesus had with the woman at the well of Sychar, a Samaritan woman. In part, He said this. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:22-24)

        This Samaritan woman, this woman, of poor reputation, to which is revealed the greatest news, first of all which has ever been revealed. She said to Him, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." (John 4:25) And I’m pretty sure in my mind that He looked straight in her eyes and said, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:25)

        I’m the One. I’m the fulfillment. "I AM", He said.

        And that Messiah became a stumbling block to the Jews, and a foolishness to the Gentiles. Paul preached Christ crucified and risen, and everybody sat back, and said, "this can’t be" The Jews said "We are saved through the law" and the Gentiles said "We are saved through wisdom".

        So what did Paul do? did he accommodate his message to make it fit into their way of thinking better? Not on your life! Paul stands on Mars Hill among the philosophers of Greece and says, "Let me tell you about the true nature of God, the One you don’t know. That He became flesh and dwelt among us, that He was crucified and rose from the dead". And the Greeks who despised material things, and flesh, could hardly believe their ears, that someone could be so silly as to say such a thing.

        No, he did not accommodate his message to make it more palatable to the culture in which he was giving his witness. He simply proclaimed the gospel.

        With grace upon grace, God now uses the faithfulness of the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to bring themselves back to righteousness. The whole of mankind is the object of God’s mercy. The whole of mankind is the object of Christ’s death. The whole of mankind is the object of His resurrection from the dead.

        It was all of mankind that God loved in Adam and Eve. It was all of mankind which Jesus became flesh in order to become the redeemer of all people. It was all of mankind for whom Christ died to save. It was all of mankind, if you will, which restores the possibility of God’s original intention for humanity, to be Himself with us forever.

        And yet we see the Jews, and we see the Gentiles. Desiring in their own human disobedience, to reject the very mercy of God. We read about it in II Thessalonians. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (II Thess. 2:10)

        Human free will is the ability to tell God "NO". That’s it, just "no". Not "yes". "NO!" And God will permit only that free will of man to thwart His intention toward them. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (II Thess. 2:10)

        Now understand this. God’s grace is more than sufficient for all of mankind. The death of Christ is more than sufficient for any sin you have ever committed nor that of any human being on the face of the earth. The stubbornness of unbelief permits the will of men to choose evil over good. And yet the mercy of God prevails.

        For where can we look for solace? How can we know that we are in fellowship with God? Where can we look in the face of our own sin?

        Only to Jesus Christ and to Him alone. Only to the perfect life of Jesus Christ to know beyond all doubt that only here, with Him, is righteous. There is righteousness beyond question. Not the righteousness of those who strive to be righteous, but of the One who was and is the righteous One, the holy One of God. And it is His righteousness that we have received as a free gift. It is not flawed self-righteousness that cannot reflect the holiness of God Himself, or the holiness of the law.

        Here is your perfection. Your perfection. Here is your sinlessness. Here and here alone is the righteous gift of God to us all. Where can we look for solace in the face of our sin? Not just to the life of Christ but to the cross as well. For here are your sins that are nailed. And here are your doubts that are forgiven, and here is the forgiveness for all of our failures, your failures and mine. For it is the righteous of God which covers them and is the payment of Christ’s blood which washes them away from us and they are ours no longer.

        Where can we go for solace in the face of our sin? Only to the empty tomb. For there we see that it is your resurrection that we witness along with His. For there we see it is your grave that is conquered, and not just His. And all of this is a measure of the grace of God, given to all man, and He intends that all of His creatures be in fellowship with Him.

        So where else can we look, except to Christ? He is God’s answer to man’s disobedience, and unrighteousness. This is God’s intent for every last one of His creatures originally crafted for this fellowship with Him.

        But now, in your mind’s eye, knowing what you have read in Revelation about the last day, look to heaven. What do you see? You see a great multitude, gathered around the throne of God’s grace. You see Jews., and Gentiles. And you see your face. And the distinction between Jew is Gentile is gone. Removed. No longer needed, for God has called His house a house of prayer for all people. (Isaiah 56:7) And His temple a sanctuary for every last one of us.

        What do you see? Your face. Your face beholding His face. The face of your savior Jesus Christ, our Lord. There is nothing else that need be seen. There is nothing else that could be better than to stand in the presence of God for eternity beholding the beauty of the One who has called us. The One who has had mercy on us. The One who has saved us. In Jesus name, thank God for the righteousness that He gives. Amen.