A Summary: Israel, the “Elect,” and the “Hardened” (11:1–10)
Having explored in more detail in 9:30–10:21 the reasons why so many Jews have not responded to Christ and so many Gentiles have, Paul now returns to the theme of 9:6–29, summarizing the situation in salvation history of his day. He begins with the theme that will sound throughout chapter 11: Despite Israel’s disobedience (10:21), God has not rejected his people (11:2). Israel as a whole has not experienced the messianic salvation; most of them have been “hardened.” But the “elect,” chosen by grace, are enjoying the fulfillment of God’s promise to be faithful to his people Israel.
From the tribe of Benjamin (11:1). Paul cites himself as an example of a believing Jew, illustrating the truth that God has not rejected his people. It is obvious why he would call himself an “Israelite” and “a descendant of Abraham.” But why would he claim to be from the tribe of Benjamin? Rabbinic tradition claims that the tribe of Benjamin was the first to cross the “Sea of Reeds” at the time of the Exodus and that its restoration would be the sign of the renewal of all Israel.104 But it is not clear that either of these traditions dates to the time of Paul. Perhaps he mentions his tribal derivation simply to reinforce his Jewish identity (see Phil. 3:5).
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew (11:2). The wording of this key assertion reflects the language of Psalm 94:14 (“For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance”) and 1 Samuel 12:22 (“For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own”). Particularly significant for the direction of Paul’s argument is his emphasis on God’s concern for his own name in the latter text. Israel, despite her sin, remains the object of God’s concern and blessing because of his great grace. As in Romans 8:29, “foreknew” means “chose ahead of time” (see comments on that verse).
The passage about Elijah (11:2). The Greek has simply “in Elijah.” Identifying a text of Scripture by reference to a key figure within the narrative is a standard Jewish practice. The rabbis, for instance, introduce a reference to 1 Chronicles 29:14 with the words “It is written in David” (b. ʾAbot 3:7; in the New Testament see also Mark 12:26 [Luke 20:37], which lit. translates “in the bush,” i.e., “in the passage about the burning bush”).
The passage to which Paul refers is 1 Kings 19:1–8, which relates King Ahab’s attack on the prophets of the Lord. The king’s wife, the infamous Jezebel, threatens Elijah with the same death suffered by the other prophets. Elijah flees into the desert, where the Lord comforts him by assuring him that, against all the evidence, God is working out his plan for Israel and the surrounding nations (Rom. 11:15–18). Paul quotes Elijah’s lament about being left alone (11:3), with the prophets of Baal apparently in control of matters, and the Lord’s concluding reassurance to Elijah about the “seven thousand” whom he had “reserved for [himself]” (11:4; see 1 Kings 19:18). This Old Testament passage introduces the concept of the “remnant,” a body of true believers whom the Lord preserves in the midst of an apostate nation. Paul goes on to affirm that God has graciously preserved such a remnant of true believers within Israel right up to his own day (Rom. 11:5–6).
PAGAN ALTAR
A horned altar from Megiddo dating to the ninth century B.C.
What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened (11:7). Paul neatly summarizes the situation of the Jewish people in his own time. The nation as a whole, though seeking righteousness (see 9:31), has not attained it. Yet, as Paul has just argued, God has preserved a remnant, chosen by grace, who have reached this goal. But most of Israel is “hardened.” The verb Paul uses here (pōroō) is rare in biblical Greek (see Job 17:7; Prov. 10:20).105 In secular Greek the word occurs especially often in medical contexts, where it refers to the forming of a “hard sphere” in the body (e.g., a stone in the bladder) or to the “hardening” of a bone after it is broken. So also do people become “hard” with respect to things of the Lord, stubbornly rejecting his grace in Christ. Paul uses a different Greek word to denote this spiritual “hardening” in Romans 9:18, but the idea is the same.106
As it is written (11:8). Paul here uses quotations from the Old Testament to show that God himself is responsible for the hardening of so many Jews. He has given them “a spirit of stupor” (11:8), and it is he who has responded to the imprecatory prayers of the psalmist (11:9–10). Paul follows the rabbinic haraz method in choosing citations from every major part of the Old Testament: the “Law” (Deut. 29:4 in Rom. 11:8a); the “Prophets” (Isa. 29:10 in Rom. 11:8b); and the “Writings” (Ps. 69:22–23 in Rom. 11:9–10).
Defining the Promise (2): The Future of Israel (11:11–36)
Paul began his defense of God’s faithfulness to his word of promise in chapters 9–11 by explaining how a correct understanding of God’s promise made sense of the present situation of Israel. Since God had from the beginning chosen only some from within Israel to be his true, spiritual people, the small number of Jewish believers in Paul’s day did not contradict God’s Word (9:6–29). Now Paul returns to that word of promise, showing what it means for the future of Israel. He argues that the great incursion of Gentiles into the people of God will ultimately have a positive effect on Israel itself.
Salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious (11:11). Paul’s idea is drawn from Deuteronomy 32:21, which he quotes in Romans 10:19: “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” “Make you envious” translates a word (parazēloō) that denotes God’s jealousy for his people or a human being’s jealousy of another human being.107 Paul finds in these words of Moses in Deuteronomy hope for Israel. For, as Romans 11:14 makes clear, Paul hopes that the envy of Israel will lead ultimately to her salvation. While he is not explicit about the matter, Paul evidently thinks that the Gentiles’ enjoyment of the blessings of salvation will lead Jews to desire those same blessings and so accept Jesus as their Messiah and Savior.
How much greater riches will their fullness bring! (11:12). The word “fullness” (Gk. plērōma) is sometimes given a quantitative meaning, as in TEV: “the complete number of Jews.” But the word almost never has such a meaning. It usually (and always in biblical Greek) has a qualitative sense: “completeness” (cf. NASB). Paul is apparently referring to the full restoration to Israel of her kingdom blessings. Israel’s “loss”—that is, her refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah—has meant “riches for the Gentiles.” Her “fullness” should bring an even greater blessing to the world.
What will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (11:15). What is this “life from the dead” that Israel’s acceptance into God’s kingdom will effect? Paul, of course, often pictures Christian experience in terms of new life; and he even uses language similar to this earlier in Romans to depict conversion: “Offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life” (6:13). However, Paul more often uses this kind of language to denote the bodily resurrection of the dead. A consideration of the background of Paul’s thinking in this passage also points to this meaning. One of the most influential streams in Jewish theology during this era was apocalyptic. Apocalyptic is not easy to define; but for our purposes, we can characterize it as an attempt to make sense of history by appealing to “revelation” (the meaning of the Gk. apokalypsis) of heavenly mysteries. Many of the books that take an apocalyptic approach to Israel’s situation focus on the events of the end. They often look for a restoration of Israel at the end of history, when the resurrection of the dead takes place.108
If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy (11:16). Paul alludes to Numbers 15:17–21, where the Lord commands the people to offer to the Lord “a cake from the first of your ground meal.” The word “firstfruits” (aparchē) is common in both secular Greek and the Old Testament to denote the initial or representative portion of a commodity to be offered in sacrifice (e.g., Lev. 2:12; 23:10; Deut. 18:4). Paul applies the imagery to the situation of Israel. Some part within Israel (the “firstfruits”) is still holy; and the holiness of that initial portion makes holy the rest of Israel as well. This holy part within Israel might be the remnant of Jewish believers in Paul’s day (see Rom. 11:5–7). But the following image makes it more likely that Paul is referring to the patriarchs.
If the root is holy, so are the branches (11:16). Jewish writers sometimes referred to the patriarchs as the “root.” See, for example, Philo, Who Is the Heir? 279: “Surely he [Abraham] is indeed the founder of the nation and the race, since from him as root sprang the young plant called Israel.”109 Paul explicitly rests his hope for Israel’s future on God’s promise to the patriarchs (Rom. 11:28; cf. 9:5). Since he suggests that the holiness of the patriarchs makes the rest of Israel holy, one might conclude that the text teaches that all Jews will be saved. But Paul is using the word “holy” here in the way it is used in Old Testament sacrificial texts. It does not mean “set apart for salvation” (as usually in the New Testament), but “set apart” for God’s special attention (see also 1 Cor. 7:14).
Branches . . . wild olive shoot . . . olive root (11:17). In 11:17–24, Paul uses different parts of an olive tree to represent key figures in the salvation history that he sketches in this chapter. The “root,” as we have seen (11:16), stands for the patriarchs. The (natural) branches are the Jewish people, descended physically from the patriarchs. The wild olive shoots are Gentile Christians, grafted into the olive tree “contrary to nature” (11:24) by God’s grace. Paul perhaps chooses to use the olive tree for his comparison because it was the most widely cultivated fruit tree in the Mediterranean basin. But the olive tree also symbolizes Israel in the Old Testament and in Jewish literature (Jer. 11:16; Hos. 14:5–6).110
The imagery of wild olive shoots being grafted into a cultivated olive tree is not, however, realistic. Farmers, in fact, do just the reverse; they graft branches from cultivated trees into wild ones in order to improve their production. Some scholars claim that Paul, an urban man from Tarsus, simply did not understand the usual technique. Others cite evidence that farmers might occasionally graft a wild olive shoot into a cultivated tree.111 Still others think that Paul is deliberately reversing the usual procedure in order to highlight the role of God’s grace in the process. But none of these suggestions is necessary. Writers will choose illustrations that represent the reality they are trying to depict—but rarely will the analogy match the reality in every respect. So elements that stretch or do not exactly correspond to the reality of the analogy are often introduced.
OLIVE TREE
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God (11:22). Paul may be influenced in his use of the word “sternness” (apotomos) here by Wisdom of Solomon, which uses this word and its cognates to describe the nature of God’s judgment. See, for example, Wisdom of Solomon 6:5: “He will come upon you terribly and swiftly, because severe judgment falls on those in high places” (see also 5:20, 22; 11:10; 12:9; 18:15).
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery (11:25). Paul uses the word “mystery” (mystērion) with a technical theological meaning derived from Jewish apocalyptic. Books that reflect this perspective use “mystery” to refer to events of the end times that have already been determined by God—and so, in that sense already exist in heaven—and which are finally revealed by God to his people for their encouragement and understanding.
This general usage of mystērion appears first in Daniel, with reference to the dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar. It is “God in heaven” who reveals the mysteries of these dreams through Daniel to the king (cf. 2:28). A good example from Jewish apocalyptic is T. Levi 2:10: “And when you [Levi, being addressed by an angel] have mounted up there [to another heaven], you shall stand near the Lord. You shall be his priest and you shall tell forth his mysteries to men. You shall announce the one who is about to redeem Israel.”112 This concept was especially prominent in the Dead Sea Scrolls.113 The sequence by which God planned to bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles had not been revealed to God’s people before this time. Paul is now the instrument through whom the Lord discloses the details of his plan.
Until the full number of the Gentiles has come in (11:25). “Full number” translates the same Greek word (plērōma) translated “fullness” in 11:12 (see comments). As we noted in commenting on that verse, the word almost always has a qualitative meaning. Is the quantitative rendering of the NIV here therefore wrong? Probably not. For the “fullness” or “completeness” that Paul ascribes to the Gentiles has in this context probably a strong numerical component. “Come in” is likely shorthand for “come into the kingdom of God” (see Matt. 7:13; 23:13; Luke 13:24). Paul is perhaps reflecting certain Jewish traditions about a fixed number of people who would enter the kingdom before the end. Fourth Ezra 4:35–37 is a representative text:
Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers ask about these matters, saying, “How long are we to remain here? And when will the harvest of our reward come?” And the archangel Jeremiel answered them and said, “When the number of those like yourselves is completed; for he has weighed the age in the balance, and measured the times by measure, and numbered the times by number; and he will not move or arouse them until that measure is fulfilled.”
DEAD SEA SCROLLS MANUSCRIPT
A copy of the Isaiah Scroll from Qumran.
And so all Israel will be saved (11:26). In the context, which so carefully distinguishes Gentiles and Jews, “Israel” probably refers here to national Israel. The apocalyptic background against which he writes suggests that the salvation of “all Israel” will occur in the end time (see esp. 11:15 and comments there). But how many Jews are included in the “all Israel” to be saved? Here it is important to note that this phrase in the Old Testament frequently has a collective sense, referring not to every single Israelite but to a significant or even simply representative number.
Two examples might be cited: Joshua 7:25: “Joshua said, ‘Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.’ Then all Israel stoned [Achan], and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them”; 2 Samuel 16:22: “So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.” It is unlikely that every single Israelite alive in Joshua’s day cast a stone at Achan; or that all the Jews in David’s day saw the sexual dalliances of Absalom. “All Israel” in each text is representative, in that enough Jews were involved so as to give the events national significance. Thus Romans 11:26 does not promise salvation for every Jew alive at the time of Christ’s return. What it promises is that a significant number, representative of the nation as a whole, will find salvation in Jesus their Messiah.114
The deliverer will come from Zion (11:26). To buttress his claim that “all Israel will be saved,” Paul offers a quotation made up of phrases from two or three Old Testament texts. The initial words come from Isaiah 59:20, which was given a messianic interpretation in the targum, though the late date of that Aramaic paraphrase renders it uncertain whether the tradition was alive in Paul’s day. A comparison between Isaiah 59:20 and Paul’s version of the text reveals an interesting change. Whereas Isaiah predicts that the deliverer will come “to” Zion, Paul quotes him as saying that the deliverer will come “from” Zion. Paul may be depending on a form of the LXX that had the equivalent to the word “from” in it. But it is more likely that Paul, as he does elsewhere, changes the text slightly to make a theological point. What is that point? We cannot be certain, but Hebrews 12:22 associates “Zion” with the heavenly Jerusalem, the site of Jesus’ high-priestly ministry. Perhaps, then, Paul changes the text to bring out a bit more clearly a reference to the Parousia.
MOUNT ZION
A view of Old Jerusalem in the direction of Mount Zion from the Mount of Olives.
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! (11:33). In response to his sketch of the plan of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles, Paul celebrates the wisdom and power of God. “Judgments” refer not to God’s role as judge but to his role as the executor of salvation history; they are the decrees he has issued in order to bring about his plan for the world.115 Paul’s attempt to explain the plight of Israel in his own day is rooted in his desire to demonstrate the agreement between God’s Old Testament promise and the gospel.
Other Jewish writers in Paul’s day struggled in similar ways with the plan of God in relation to the plight of Israel. The author of the book we call 2 Baruch was one of those, and he expresses his awe at God’s plan in terms similar to Paul’s: “O Lord, my Lord, who can understand your judgment? Or who can explore the depth of your way? Or who can discern the majesty of your path? Or who can discern the beginning and the end of your wisdom?”116
From him and through him and to him are all things (11:36). The idea of God as the source, sustainer, and goal of all things was especially common among Greco-Roman Stoic philosophers. See, for example, the words of the second-century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: “From you are all things, in you are all things, for you are all things.”117 Hellenistic Jews picked up this language and applied it to their God.118 Paul, therefore, probably knew the language from the synagogue. By the time it reaches him, of course, it has left behind the metaphysical baggage of its Stoic origin. When placed into a Christian worldview, the language appropriately emphasizes the ultimacy of God.
ST. PETER’S SQUARE IN MODERN ROME