Romans 11:1-10 - The Remnant of God’s Elect

Romans 11:1-10

Israel's Rejection Not Total

1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written:

"God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day."

9 And David says:

"Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always."

Though Israel as a nation rejected Christ their long-awaited Messiah, that does not mean that God cast them aside and just went after the other nations promised Abraham (Genesis 17:4-5, Romans 4:17-18) for their disbelief and disobedience.  Paul himself was a thoroughbred Jew in the lineage of Isaac as Abraham’s descendant according to the flesh but also according to the faith of him who heard and had faith to take God at His word (Genesis 15:6, James 2:23) against all odds as we read in Galatians 3:7-8, 9 and Romans 4:9 as well.  He knew God’s word from Genesis to the present time he wrote this letter to the saints of the church in Rome and vehemently denied that this response as a nation had condemned them all but went on to say that God would never cast off His people that He knew and chose to be His own and a channel of red to the nations.  Individuals were condemned, certainly, yet there were still some called and chosen who did and would find salvation to deliver them from God’s wrath in Christ Jesus as he told us here.  Just as Paul used the example of Elijah who pleaded with God not to destroy the unfaithful and disobedient people of God and God answered by promising a remnant who would be saved, so He promised a remnant of Israel to be saved through faith in Christ by the election of grace because God had chosen them out of the rest for predetermined deliverance from the penalty of sin out of His love and promise to them, just as He has for we of the nations called out and chosen by the same grace of unmerited goodness to pay for our sin and call us to Him.  This grace cannot be earned by doing enough good works (or any single one) because then the earning of grace would itself be a work which would be also ineffective to deliver them or us from the judgment to come (Acts 24:25).  Only those called and given ears to hear the gospel believe to everlasting life (John 5:24, Romans 8:29-30) by this beckoned grace as purposed by God for His people called to be His own.  We hear our Master’s voice and respond in repentance and faith, turning from sin to Him and trusting Him by taking Him at His word and neither adding to it nor taking away from it as in Eden’s Garden where sin was conceived.  The elect have therefore received salvation because they are the remnant of the world and of Israel while the nation of Israel was blinded and deafened to the truth set before them to see and hear from the messengers who were the prophets of old.  Their adherence to the letter of the Law and traditions made them falsely believe that their salvation was assured by their national identity and not a personal reckoning of faith in God’s word and work as their father of faith Abraham set for them before they were a nation.  This became their stumbling block on the cornerstone of Jesus the Christ as we read in Luke 20:17-18, Acts 4:11-12, Romans 9:32-33, and 1 Corinthians 1:23.  As a nation, Israel was blind and deaf, but a remnant has been appointed by God to salvation (Acts 13:48) and these are made to hear and believe along with a remnant out of all other nations who are spiritual descendants of Abraham by the same faith in God’s work for His children (Ephesians 2:11-12, 14-15, 18) in Christ.  We are the remnant of God’s elect who are in Christ Jesus, both Jew and Gentile, as a single people of God in the New Covenant of Grace.