Romans 11:25-36

Romans 11:25-Zephaniah : . The Mystery of Israel’ s Future.

Romans 11:25-Ezekiel : a . It may save Gentile believers from a dangerous “ self-conceit” ( cf. Romans 12:16) to learn “ the secret that the hardening” (see Romans 11:7) which “ has partially befallen Israel” (the remnant is exempt; Romans 11:5; Romans 11:7), will last only “ until the full complement of the nations enters” into God’ s kingdom; “ then all Israel will be saved.” A mystery is a secret truth concerning God’ s kingdom made known by express revelation; cf. Romans 16:25, Ephesians 1:9 * Ephesians 3:3 ff., Matthew 13:11, etc.

Romans 11:26 b, Romans 11:27 . The event is described in words blended from two passages of Isaiah, signifying chiefly two things: Israel’ s Saviour comes of Israel ( cf. Romans 9:5); and His salvation lies in the removal of Israel’ s sin ( cf. Romans 4:7 f. , Matthew 1:21, Hebrews 10:15-Job :).

Romans 11:28 f. The mass of the Jews are, in God’ s eyes, at once “ enemies” and “ beloved” : enemies, since they oppose the giving of “ the gospel” to Gentiles ( 1 Thessalonians 2:14-Nehemiah :, etc.); beloved for their fathers’ sake,” in whom God “ chose” the nation. That election stands good; acting in sure foresight ( cf. Romans 8:29 *), “ God never regrets His grace-gifts,” etc.

Romans 11:30-Jonah : marks out the line of vindication. “ You” and “ they” have both “ proved disobedient to God” (for the former, see Romans 1:20-Isaiah :; for the latter, Romans 10:21, etc.). He has used each set of rebels to overcome the others: “ just as you were aforetime disobedient, and now by reason of their disobedience have become objects of mercy” ( cf. Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15), “ so they now have fallen into disobedience by reason of the mercy shown to you, that finally mercy may be shown to them too.” Universal disobedience ends in universal mercy! “ Shut up unto disobedience” ( cf. Galatians 3:22) means the precluding of every other issue; “ all” (not “ every man” ) signifies Jews and Gentiles as a whole: Paul is dealing with broad historical issues.— The difficulty of Romans 1:24, Romans 5:20, Romans 9:18 recurs, viz. that God should take measures to aggravate sin. But downright, unmistakable disobedience clears the moral atmosphere; brought to a crisis, the fever is curable.

Romans 11:33 . The apostle’ s sorrow ( Romans 9:1) is turned to rapture as he contemplates the unfolding of God’ s world-plan: “ O the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!” ( mg.) . His wealth is the infinitude of His resources His wisdom lies in the skill of His methods; His knowledge, in the mastery of all the facts and conditions! The beholder is lost in these depths and mazes! ( cf. Romans 8:38 f.). The sayings of Romans 11:34 f. (drawn from Isaiah, Job, and Jeremiah) impressively reflect upon the mystery of God’ s dealings with human life, in which He needs no creaturely counsel or aid.

Romans 11:36 . Alike transcendent and immanent, God is “ the source” (see 1 Corinthians 8:6), “ the operative Agent” ( 1 Corinthians 12:6), “ the final issue” of the being of mankind.