Explanatory Notes
Romans 11
1 Has God made salvation impossible for a
Jewish person? No. For Paul himself was a Jewish person
2-6 There are numbers of Jewish people
being saved - saved on God's chosen basis, the basis of grace not the
works of the Law
7 Israel as a whole has not obtained
salvation, but the election - that group which God had promised He would justify - that is, those who would receive God's salvation on His own stated basis - that is, on the
basis of faith - has obtained it. And the rest were blinded, as a consequence of
their unbelief
8 As a consequence of - not as the cause of
- their unbelief
9-10 This state was not the cause of their
sin, but a consequence of it
11 Is theirs an irretrievable position? No:
rather, God is already implementing a strategy for their potential restoration:
that strategy being the provoking of a Jewish person to jealousy through a Gentile person's experience of the promised salvation
12 Gentiles are being saved despite
Israel's fall, not because of Israel's fall. A Jewish person's 'fulness' (salvation)
is still possible - then he in turn can bring Gentile persons to salvation (Paul himself is an example of this happening)
13-14 The strategy works on an individual
basis - Paul wasn't thinking of some future, instantaneous, nationwide
conversion of all Israelites through this strategy - but the strategy works
with some of them
15 Seeing the reconciling of the world was
able to coincide notwithstanding the casting away of them, how much more the
receiving of them. It can still happen, on an individual basis
17-18 A warning against a conceited
attitude towards one's salvation
20 Unbelief was the cause; faith is the
cure
21 He spared them not, because of their
unbelief
22 Continuing in His goodness is the basis
of inclusion in salvation
23 Discontinuing in unbelief enables a
Jewish person to be included in salvation
24 Seeing Gentiles can be saved, how much
more can a Jewish person still be saved
25 The word "for" indicates that
the objective of what follows is to prove what had so far been stated, not to
introduce a totally new concept.
Blindness, as a consequence of unbelief,
had become the experience of many Jews; and this would be the case until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in - that is, until the end, the second coming
of Christ.
26,27 "And so…" [not, and then]
meaning, in this manner, or according to this scheme. Then Paul quotes an Old
Testament Scripture which authenticates the notion that Jewish individuals can be
saved. The promise is received by the remnant of believing Jews. This was
affected by the first coming of Jesus, it does not of necessity await the second coming. Believing
Jews are experiencing it now.
29 Again gathering our thoughts to the
objective of the entire passage: that a Jewish person can still be saved
30,31 "…now…" Paul is explaining
a present reality, not an awaited future.
It's the mutual experience of Jew and Gentile "…now…"
32 The whole passage is a soteriological
explanation, not an eschatological forecast
33-36 Praise God!
No comments:
Post a Comment