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.”
Commentary
Vs. 1-5 With the Apostle Paul having given such a strong rebuke of Israel's disobedience and then citing several Scriptural passages as prophetic evidence against them. One might wrongly assume that God has cast away His people. Yet God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. For as the Apostle Paul now declares, "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." vs. 1 The very fact than that the Apostle Paul being a Jew was saved by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is evidential proof enough that God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (vs. 2). Rather just as in the Old Testament times when Israel was at the height of their rebellion against, and apostasy from God, and God reserved for Himself seven thousand individuals who did not bow the knee to Baal. So it is is now that God has reserved for Himself a believing remnant in Israel who themselves believe or will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus as God preserved the nation of Israel back in the days of Elijah through a chosen and faithful remnant, so He continues to do so now. For just as they tore down God's altars and killed God's prophets in the days of Elijah, even seeking to kill that righteous man (vs. 3, quoting from 1 Kings 19:10, 14), so they continue to do so now, even crucifying God's Son as well as persecuting and killing His Apostles and prophets who have been sent to them by Him (consider Jesus' parable in Matthew 21:33-46). Nonetheless God always preserves for Himself a witness in and amongst and through His people. Therefore the Apostle Paul rightly sees a parallel between God's working out His Will and plans (in the midst of their rebellion) both then and now, as he states in verse five, "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
Vs. 1-5 With the Apostle Paul having given such a strong rebuke of Israel's disobedience and then citing several Scriptural passages as prophetic evidence against them. One might wrongly assume that God has cast away His people. Yet God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. For as the Apostle Paul now declares, "I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." vs. 1 The very fact than that the Apostle Paul being a Jew was saved by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is evidential proof enough that God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew (vs. 2). Rather just as in the Old Testament times when Israel was at the height of their rebellion against, and apostasy from God, and God reserved for Himself seven thousand individuals who did not bow the knee to Baal. So it is is now that God has reserved for Himself a believing remnant in Israel who themselves believe or will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus as God preserved the nation of Israel back in the days of Elijah through a chosen and faithful remnant, so He continues to do so now. For just as they tore down God's altars and killed God's prophets in the days of Elijah, even seeking to kill that righteous man (vs. 3, quoting from 1 Kings 19:10, 14), so they continue to do so now, even crucifying God's Son as well as persecuting and killing His Apostles and prophets who have been sent to them by Him (consider Jesus' parable in Matthew 21:33-46). Nonetheless God always preserves for Himself a witness in and amongst and through His people. Therefore the Apostle Paul rightly sees a parallel between God's working out His Will and plans (in the midst of their rebellion) both then and now, as he states in verse five, "Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
And so here again Paul picks up the Scriptural theme of election, which he introduced and elucidated to us in chapter nine. His point in doing so here is to show us that God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew, rather by drawing a parallel from the O.T. and their apostasy then, the Apostle Paul now demonstrates that God has also reserved for Himself a remnant according to the election of grace.
Vs. 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."
This is arguably one of the most clear statements in the N.T. about the nature of God's salvation. Drawing an unpassable demarcation line between works and grace. Therefore those who seek salvation by their own works (which neither remits any of their their sins, nor brings them to Spirit life) can be God's remnant according to the election of grace. Therefore let no one who calls themselves a Christian (whether a Jew or a Gentile) try to combine God's grace with the works of man, since the two are utterly incompatible, and when combined, completely hostile to the cross of Christ. Thus they are presented here to us in verse nine unmistakably juxtaposed to each other, so that there is no confusion as to how salvation comes to us all who believe. For God commands all people everywhere to look to the Lord Jesus Christ crucified for our sins remission and thus too receive everlasting life through faith in Him, and thus to trust what He has done to save us the moment we believe in Him, not what we do to try to save ourselves. And so it is through the Gospel of Christ that God's Everlasting Work and Righteousness stands forever juxtaposed to perishable mankinds. Thus God's choosing the remnant here has nothing to do with their own works, righteousness, or anything else about them. God simply chooses us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and so there is no inequity, since the selection is by God alone, according to His own Sovereign Will and Grace.
Vs. 7-8 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.”
And so it is that Israel in seeking salvation through works of the Law, and thus apart from Christ, have not attained too what it seeks, but the elect, i.e. those elected by God, have attained it, while the rest were blinded. Now the word translated blinded here means "to wound" or "to harden", and thus make one incapable of seeing (and thus receiving) the Spiritual truths and realities that are only found through faith in Jesus Christ (see Jesus' warning to them in John 12:35-40). Thus Israel in not receiving Christ, and instead turning back to the Law, has by God's Will been blinded to the truth (something that can happen to anyone else as well who does not receive the love of the truth but chooses to continue on in their sins, see 1 Thess 2:9-12). Now as a confirmation of this reality and current state of Israel, the Apostle Paul will now cite from Deuteronomy 29:3-4 and Isaiah 29:10 in verse eight where it is stated that God has given them a "spirit of stupor", eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, even to this day. Now this spirit of stupor that God has given them has some very negative connotations, but at the heart of it all is a state of being in which one's heart and mind is completely "numbed" and "dumbed" to the Spiritual things of God, and so they are in effect spiritually discerned (see 1 Cor 2:14). Thus God has removed from them the ability to reason out within their hearts and minds anything right and sound about Jesus, and thus receive His salvation for themselves. For in rejecting God's light and revelation through His Son, and instead having sought salvation for themselves through the works of their own hands, God has given them over to minds of utter insensibility regarding His Spiritual Works and Ways. Enhanced Strong's give this as a definition for the “spirit of stupor”. That "which renders their souls torpid so insensible that they are not affected at all by the offer made them of salvation through the Messiah."
Vs. 9-10 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.”
The Apostle Paul having cited first Moses (Rom 10:19; 11:8), then Isaiah (Rom 10:20-21; 11:8), then Elijah (Rom 11:2), will now cite David (Rom 11:9-10). All as God's Scriptural witnesses against unbelieving and unrepentant Israel. Now the passage is taken from Psalm 69:22-23, a psalm in which David as the king of the nation of Israel experiences through his own life a terrible betrayal by some of his own countrymen (and thus calls for God to execute His vengeance) that also prophetically foretells Israel's King the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom David's throne was birthed and established by God to do the same. For it was Israel who having rejected their Messiah who sought to put Him to death through the hands of the Gentile's who then ruled them. And so here David's words are in fact Christ's own against all those who though being Jews have rejected Him and have not received all of God's promised Spiritual blessings and Kingdom privileges that can only come through Him.
I will now cite from the Believers Bible Commentary which states: "David, too, anticipated the judgment of God on Israel. In Psalm 69:22, 23 he described the rejected Savior as calling on God to turn their table into a snare and a trap. The table here means the sum total of the privileges and blessings which flowed through Christ. What should have been a blessing was turned into a curse. In the Psalms passage, the suffering Savior also called on God to let their eyes be darkened and their bodies bent over as by toil or in old age (or, their loins made to shake continually)."
Therefore in light of such things no one should take God's offer of salvation through faith in His Son lighty. Rather through repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ escape the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10).
Scriptural Quotations
The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Word Studies
Vs. 7 blinded, πωρόω, πηρόω Str 4456; GK 4800 and 4386; TDNT 5:1025; TDNTA 816; LN 27:51 (Mark 6:52; John 12:40; Rom 9:18; 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:14) 5x
Vs. 8 stupor, κατάνυξις, Str 2659; GK 2919; TDNT 3:626; TDNTA 419; LN 30:19 (1x) Appears only in Romans 11:8. Enhanced Strong's give this as a definition for the “spirit of stupor”, that "which renders their souls torpid so insensible that they are not affected at all by the offer made them of salvation through the Messiah."
Word Studies
Vs. 7 blinded, πωρόω, πηρόω Str 4456; GK 4800 and 4386; TDNT 5:1025; TDNTA 816; LN 27:51 (Mark 6:52; John 12:40; Rom 9:18; 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:14) 5x
Vs. 8 stupor, κατάνυξις, Str 2659; GK 2919; TDNT 3:626; TDNTA 419; LN 30:19 (1x) Appears only in Romans 11:8. Enhanced Strong's give this as a definition for the “spirit of stupor”, that "which renders their souls torpid so insensible that they are not affected at all by the offer made them of salvation through the Messiah."
Additional Resources Consulted
MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 1724). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 483). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 817). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 332). New York: United Bible Societies.
Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
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