Romans 11:25-36
English Standard Version

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
    he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

​36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The passage continues to explain the "partial hardening" of Israel that has come at this time until "the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."  Then Paul says something interesting--"all Israel will be saved."  It's clear that this doesn't mean "ethnic Israel," but is instead talking about all those who are "in Christ."  They are the "true Israel," as there is one family, but the Gentile believers have been adopted into it.

However, Paul clarifies that they are not "the enemy" that many anti-Semitics have made them to be.  They are still "elect" in a different way, as they were chosen from among the nations to be the children of God and show and tell the gospel to the whole world, even though they are now enemies of the gospel.  God still loves them for the sake of their forefathers (especially Abraham).  Then another important point is made--God's covenant with Israel is irrevocable.  They will always be "the people of God," though only those who are "completed Jews" and are "in Christ" will receive eternal life.

Mercy was shown to them for a time during the disobedience of the Gentiles, and now mercy is being shown to the Gentiles during the time of disobedience of the Jews.  In this wall all of us have been disobedient and deserve judgment so that Ephesians 2:8-9 speaks of all of us, "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Paul admits that this is something that is beyond us.  God's judgments are unsearchable and not up for scrutiny.  Think of the conversation that God had with Job at the end of the book of Job.  God's answer to Job is basically, "I am God, and you are not."  In fact, most of what Paul says in verses 34-35 is from the book of Job (some is also from the book of Isaiah).

I love the last verse here, "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."  That's a summary of everything we've talked about so far in Romans, it's been done for Him, through Him and to Him, so that He might receive all the glory and honor forever and ever.

Romans 11:11-24
English Standard Version

Gentiles Grafted In
11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

​17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

I've pointed toward this section in the past couple blogs.  Paul reaches back to a parable that Jesus told about the Vine and the Vinedresser to talk about how it is the Gentiles who are the wild branches that have been "grafted in" (See John 15:1-17).  The point just makes in John 15 is what Paul has been making all along, there is on people of God and they are all who rest in and find their identity in Christ and His finished work.

Paul goes even further though and talks to the branches that have been grafted in to not be arrogant or have pride about being grafted in or having the "natural" branches cut off (maybe supposing those branches were cut off to make space for them).  However, Paul says that if the Vinedresser was not willing to spare the natural branches then the grafted-in branches should not assume they will be safe.

I'll stop here for a minute to say that this passage is sometime quoted by those who hold to the Armenian viewpoint of having no assurance of salvation.  It is important here that Paul is saying these branches that were cut off never belonged to Christ, never had the Holy Spirit moving through them to produce the Fruit of the Spirit and were dead and were cut off.  Now there is a great promise of the gospel for us!  Even the branches that were "cut off" can be restored and brought back to life by God!  That is great news, especially for me and my family right now.  We don't give up hope that God can do His work to save someone that we may envision as "dead" and maybe even "beyond hope."  That's why salvation is always a miracle of God--all of us were counted as "worthless," "dead" and "without hope" before God intervened to saved us not only from sin and death, but from ourselves.  He does this for His good pleasure and the praise of His glory.

Paul reminds us all that we share one root, which is Christ, and the sap, which is the Spirit, flows through all of us.  It is the sap in us that makes the branches alive and fruitful.  It is Christ who is the root and the foundation that everything is built on.  Without the root, the whole vine is dead.  We rest on the firm foundation of Christ.
Paul says that the Gentiles should take note of both the severity (both the pruning and cutting off of the Vinedresser) and the kindness so that they won't misunderstand when they too are pruned or others around them are "cut off," for we often assume that someone is in the family of God simply because of the family they were born into (much like with the Israelites of the Old Testament), but the people of God have always been a people of faith, and not a people of flesh and blood.  The "children of Abraham" are those who are like him in his faith, for "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."  All of us who are grafted in are also counted as "children of Abraham.

Paul also makes a point that the Gentiles have been made holy or "clean" because they have come in contact with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  They do not pollute the organism by being grafted in, but we Gentiles are like this passage from Luke 8:42b-48

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Normally, anyone who was "unclean" who touched anyone who was "clean" would make the "clean" person "unclean."  In this case though, Jesus is so full of cleanliness, that He can impart His cleanliness to others (through the power of the Holy Spirit).  This time it was not the word of Jesus or even His touch that cleansed the woman, but her faith that she only had to touch the edge or His garment and she would be made well.  This is the story of us as Gentiles--if we even reach out and touch Jesus in the smallest way, we will be healed.  The issue with this analogy though is that the woman went out to seek Jesus and we were just told in Romans 10:20, 

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
​
That is the story for most of us.  We were not searching for God, but we were found by Him.  "10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10).  Paul says God is just as much out to graft back in the "natural" branches that are the lost sheep of Israel as He is to add the "wild" branches that are Gentiles which belong to Him to this Vine.  See John 10 where Jesus talks about us all being one flock with one Shepherd, but how He has sheep from other sheepfolds that the Israelites didn't know about.  This has been God's plan from the beginning.

Romans 11:1-10
English Standard Version

The Remnant of Israel
11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

9 And David says,

​“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”

I've been trying to make the point as we've gone along that although most of ethnic Israel has rebelled against God and His plan for them, that does not mean that God broke His covenant with the Jews or that He somehow hates them and no longer loves them.  God desires for all men, both Jew and Gentile, to be saved, but there is only a remnant of both that will be saved--which is the pattern that we see throughout all of biblical history.  God's plan seems to involve the remnant, whether that is to elect a remnant to work through or to save a remnant as part of His perfect plan.

Paul is clearly going to say these things in Chapter 11, and for this reason, I have little understanding for those who are anti-Semitic and try to call themselves "Christians" or even "evangelicals."  You cannot love God and hate God's covenant people.  Paul says that God continues to love His people and that Paul himself is evidence of that, since Paul himself is a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin. 

Paul goes back to Elijah's conversation with God after his victory at Mount Carmel when he hears that Jezebel wants him executed.  He fancies himself the only faithful man of God in all of Israel and God has to correct him to say that God has a remnant of 7,000 men of Israel who have never bowed their knee in idol worship to Baal.  So it is now with the grace that is being given by God to save His people that it would be easily for the apostles to feel like they were the only faithful Jews among all of Israel, but God has made a remnant for Himself by His Election--saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves or of works so that no man can boast.

While ethnic Israel may have failed to obtain their inheritance, the True Israel is all the Elect who are in Christ.  We'll see the picture in our next passage of the one true vine that includes both the saved Israelites and the saved Gentiles.

We also see something that we think is strange, but it's not the first time that we've seen this in Romans as we saw it also in Romans 1.  God sends strong delusions, described as a stupor here, as a result of their continued rebellion.  He has blinded their eyes from seeing and kept their ears from hearing.  That's usually not how we think about God working but God is both the God who reveals and the God who conceals.

Paul reinforces this by quoting David's Psalm 69, verses 22 and 23.  God has taken that which was a blessing that was set before them and make it a stumbling block to them.  He also calls it a retribution for them.  He has taken that which was sweet and let it become bitter or sour for them so that it is detestable to them.  They again are cause to be blind so that they will not see the truth, and they will feel like they have a heavy labor on their backs so that they will be carrying that heavy, back-breaking burden forever.  If only they would be caused to see and believe the gospel so that they would no longer have to bear the heavy burden of their sin and their trying to earn righteousness by their works!  Jesus has taken our burdens and has given us yoke that is easy and a burden that is light in comparison.

Romans 10:5-21
English Standard Version

The Message of Salvation to All
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.”

19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
    with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”

20 Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
    I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”

21 But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

So then, Paul makes the argument that salvation is not something exclusively for the Jew or for the Gentile, but is available to all who come to Jesus by faith, believing that He is the Son of God and that in Him is the only Way to the Father and to eternal life--the Way that He made through His Body and His Blood.  We are not to try to obey the Law to obtain righteousness, nor are we to make Christ 100% divine at the exclusion neglecting His humanity, nor are we to make Him out to be 100% man at the exclusion of His deity, but we are to believe that He is 100% God and 100 man, the God-Man Christ Jesus who is our penal substitutionary atonement.  He is our Passover Lamb, our Scapegoat, our Guilt Offering, our Sin Offering, our Fellowship Offering (Peace Offering) and the fulfillment of every other offering and feast of the Law.  So then, in Him and through Him the entirety of the Law has not just been obeyed, but fulfilled, and He has done so on our behalf so that He would be credited with our sin and die the death that we deserved and we would be credited with His righteousness and eternal life that He deserved.

So then, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  We love to stop here, but we must keep going to see the fullness and richness of what Paul is saying, "For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."  So then justification follows belief and then confession is made once one's heart and position before God has been changed--it is a confession of the work that God has already done in you.  It is not a work you do to gain rustication, but is your giving glory and adoration to God for what He has done to you and in you.

Paul adds that no one who believes in Him will be put to shame.  That is the same thing that Paul is saying in Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  and that Jesus says in John 6:37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."  No one will be left hopeless or ashamed who has truly believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.  Also, there is no distinction for Jew and Gentile--it is the same gospel for all.  All of us must come to God by faith in and through Jesus Christ.

​Now comes the convicting part.  By what means does God use to make the gospel message known to both Jew and Gentile?  The answer is the Church by the means of The Great Commission.  We are to be His faithful witnesses and ambassadors of our King and His Kingdom.

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

We must boldly go, we must be sent and send others, we must go and be sent with the purpose of teaching and preaching the Word of God so that the people may hear the Word and receive it and believe it by faith to receive salvation.  So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  I hope that encourages you to 

Now comes the answer to that hypothetical that I mentioned way back in Chapter 1.  Is there a person that exists who will be able to stand condemned before God and claim ignorance because "no one ever told me"?  The answer is a resounding "No."  

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
    and their words to the ends of the world.”

So then all men are "without excuse" as we read in Romans 1.  If they are ignorant, they are willfully ignorant because they close their eyes to what they do not want to see and stop up their ears to not hear what they do not want to hear.  They know God and His invisible attributes through His creation and they know His righteous requirements because we are made in His image and He has put His breath, His Spirt within us which we call our conscience.  So then there is no one that will stand before God and accuse Him of being unjust for all have received enough revelation that they have rejected to condemn them, but glory to God that He has rescued His Elect out of their rebellion and changed our hearts and minds according to His good will and pleasure to the praise of His glory.

Paul further makes this point that revelation was given to Israel by quoting Moses saying that one day Israel would be jealous of the other nations who would come to God even though they had not been made a nation by Him.  He also quotes the prophet Isaiah to say that those who were not looking for God (the Gentiles) would find Him and that He would show Himself (give revelation) to those who did not ask.  So then it has been God's plan all along to make the gospel available to the whole world--first to the Jew, and then also to the Gentile.  God has not stopped working to save the Jews, and Paul wishes that all of His Jewish brethren would be saved like Him, but God says of most of them, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”  We see in our study of the Old Testament that this is an accurate summary of the people who were known for being rebellious, stubborn, and "stiff-necked" people in the eyes of God and often made God so angry that He desired to destroy them, but it was His greater plan for the good of all mankind and the promise that He made to Abraham--the promise of the Messiah--that stayed His hand of judgment.  One day there will be the day of judgment and God's hand will no longer be stayed.  Father, Son and Spirit will all be in agreement that the time is right for the wrath of God to be poured out on all His enemies.  In that day, people will clearly know that the punishment they are receiving is the wrath of God, but they will not turn to Him in repentance or believe His gospel.  They will be stubborn and stiff-necked and will die in their rebellion as they will follow the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Satan himself so that their lot will be the same as this unholy trinity and angels that rebelled alongside Satan.  This need not be your story, because God is offering salvation to all who believe today.  "Today is the day of salvation!"

Romans 9:30-10:4
English Standard Version

Israel's Unbelief
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
    and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

10 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul sums up what he has been saying right now.  Some Gentiles have been forced by God's to be part of the Elect when they were not looking for God and did not know who He was.  On the other hand, many Jews, though "God's chosen people" who received the Law and other special revelation that we call the Old Testament, mistakenly believed that obedience and adherence to the Law would save them and they are like the dead and diseased branches that have been cut off.  Paul will come back to this Parable of the Vine in Romans 11, for the vine has been a symbol of Israel for a long time and the Israelites understand Paul to say that their identity is to rest in the person and work of Jesus Christ as it is the job of the branch to rest in the vine and let the sap, that is the Holy Spirit, flow through them to produce the Fruit of the Spirit.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God and no amount of works in accordance with the law will ever provide justification for a man or woman.  We were all born with Original Sin because of being born "in Adam" so that we must be "born again" by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because of this the cross is an offense (For "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree") to the Jews because they must admit that unless their righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, they would never enter the kingdom of heaven.  It is hard for someone who works so hard to admit all of their work was in vein because they were never good enough and never can be good enough.  Only God alone is good, so there is only one sacrifice that can be good enough to satisfy God's perfect requirements--the God-Man, Christ Jesus.

Paul desires for all of Israel to be saved, and he's already said that he would trade his own salvation for all of theirs if he could, but he cannot.  He knows they are zealous for God, but they are worshiping a God that they have no relationship with because God has dictated that they must come to Him by faith through the blood of a substitutionary atonement and has promised them that one would come who would deal with their sins once and for all.  They tried to make Him King of this physical realm, but it was not His time.  The leaders of the people became jealous and scared that He would create a riot and would be made King by force, so they got the Romans to crucify Him, not knowing they were accomplishing God's perfect plan.  In their zeal to obey the Law, the killed the very Son of God for telling them who He was.  Imagine being involved in this process, even if you were one of the crowd that got stirred up to say "Crucify Him, Crucify Him," and you were told your only chance to get into heaven was to admit this man died for you and took your place and that you must believe that it was God's eternal plan for that to happen, and now that Man lives forever and ever and will be the Judge of both the living and the dead.  Even if you came to a point where you understood that to be true, how could think that God would forgive you for the murder of His Son?  That would be so hard!

Paul says that since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God that is only available through Christ, they have tried to make their own righteousness by way of the Law, and they therefore do not submit to God's righteousness.  For Christ and His righteousness is the end of the Law, not that the Law is abolished, but it is the end of the sacrificial system of atonement and justification by works (and truly justification has always taken place by faith as we've already seen with Abraham), so that it is those who believe in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who are declared righteous because of who He is and what He has done.

Romans 9:1-29
English Standard Version

God's Sovereign Choice
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit--2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls-- 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-- 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
    and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,

​“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
    we would have been like Sodom
    and become like Gomorrah.”

God is in control!  That is the theme of this passage, and it is His sovereign choice in who is He chooses by Election.  Paul, like Moses, wishes that he could be accursed so that all of the sons of Israel (according to the flesh) could be saved, as these are Paul's kinsmen.  We probably also have similar longings for our families and those we are close to, but Paul feels a special connection to these people as God has called them out from among the nations to be holy unto Him and participate in His covenant--not simply a covenant of Law, but of Grace.

Even though Israel has largely turned their backs on God, God and His Word did not fail.  Jesus Christ came as was prophesied and did everything His Father commanded and everything that was foretold in the Scriptures.  He completed His mission.  God has been faithful to keep His covenants to Abraham and Sarah, and in so doing God, by Election chose Isaac to be the one through whom the covenant would be fulfilled--not Ishmael.  God again chose Jacob, not Esau and God chose the people of Israel from among the nations saying, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy."  No one should despise God's Election because none of us deserve His grace and mercy.  God would be just to punish all of us according to our works.  That would be both fair and just, but God is rich in both grace and mercy and wants to be known as Redeemer and Savior, not just as the Judge.  So then He predestined Christ to die in our place so that we could know of His great love, His grace and His mercy and so that His great name would be praised among the peoples.

He is the Potter and we are the clay.  The clay does not tell the potter what it should be formed into or resist the hands of the Potter, and if it could, the Potter would cast it aside and use a new lump of clay that was soft and would be molded into what He was making it into.  So then even if God did make vessels of wrath to bring about more glory to Himself (this is a hypothetical statement), He would still be good and just in doing so.  We cannot bring any objection against the Lord or His Anointed.  He has taken those were His enemies and brought them near not only by reconciliation, but by adoption to make them part of His family.  This is something none of us deserved, and now, even the Gentile believers who are in Christ are part of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant that the people of God that would be the true descendants of Abraham would be as uncountable as the number of grains of sand or the number of stars in the heavens.  This is all by the power and the will of the Lord God Almighty who is able to change the heart of man and make all things new.  If God had not intervened, we would have all had the same end as Sodom and Gomorrah--a preview of the fiery judgment of hell that is reserved for those who live in rebellion against God.  Praise the Lord that He intervened for at lease some of us.

Romans 8:31-39
English Standard Version

God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

​37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage ties in directly with yesterday's and is the continuation of the answer to the question "How do we know?" that we naturally want to ask after reading Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."  Last time we talked about being able to know this because we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit as a surety and down payment.  We also hinted at the fact that we are know with certainty that God will fulfill His promises because we know His character and nature and that He is "Faithful and True."  (see Revelation 19:11).

We are coming back to this idea of God's character and nature today as we talk about His great love for His children--even His adopted children.  Paul starts off with a rhetorical question:  "What then shall we say?  If God is for us, who can be against us?"  Of note is that the word for "if" and "since" are the same in Greek as both are correct ways to start a conditional argument, but it can mean very different things as "if" implies a certainty of the conclusion only if the premise is true, but "since" implies that knowing the premise is definitely true, then we know for certain that the conclusion is also true.  Given the context of the argument so far, it might be fair to think of the "if" in verse 31 as "since," but only if we understand that the "us" in verse 31 refers to the "those" in verses 28-30, "...those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."  We are certain of His promises to us, because we are certain of our identity in Him as children by adoption and we are certain that the Father loves all of His children, for God is love.  (1 John 4:8).  The epistle of 1 John has much to day about the love of God, especially in chapters 3 and 4, and about being children of God.  It might be a good read alongside the portion of the book of Romans.

How do we know how much He loved us?  "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8).  Paul comes back to this argument again to say that if God gave us the best gift already of His Son, then why should we be concerned that He would withhold any good thing from His children?  (See Matthew 7:11, Luke 11:13, and James 1:17).

Now there is a change in the argument.  We move from defending God's reputation so that no one can bring a charge against His Elect because Jesus is the Judge.  He died for us to secure our atonement and has pronounced us "righteous" in His sight and called us "sons of God."  So then there is nothing that anyone can say that will change His mind--not Satan, called "the accuser of the brethren" in Rev. 12:10, nor the world, nor anyone else in the Church.  Christ is good and just and no one can question His judgment and at His death He said, "It is finished."  The debt has been paid in full.  Not only did He die for us, but He is now at the right hand of the Father acting as High Priest and making intercession on our behalf.  So then our hope and security rests not in who we area and what we have done, but in who He is and what He has done.  

Paul wants to make sure that we understand that nothing can change our position and our standing before God, because nothing can change the love of God.  Even when we go through "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword [threat of death, like the Christians at that time]."  Even if we are simply to be like "sheep led to the slaughter," God is still good and it does not change what He has promised or prepared for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Paul then answers His own question--"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"--with these words, "37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."   That is the certainty with which we can approach the promises of God, "Not because of who I am, but because of what You've done.  Not because of what I've done, but because of Who you are." (Lyrics from "Who am I?" by Casting Crowns).