Romans 13:6,7 - Pay your taxes!

13:6

Very few people like paying taxes! However, we should pay them. Those who work for the government are God’s servants. Now again we need to look carefully at this. The immediate reaction can be one of incredulity. Few of us regard civil servants as God’s workers! But what needs to change is our attitude. Also our rulers and those in government employment need to realise their true position. That is also why we should pray for the Government and our leaders, whatever their political persuasion.

13:7

This verse reminds one of Jesus’ words on rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. See how it progresses from money to things like honour and respect. What we do with money can be a reflection of deeper attitudes, also it can affect deeper attitudes. So we might start off feeling self-righteous in denying the Government some money, thinking we would use it far more effectively and righteously. However, we would soon degenerate into selfishness. Our flesh would take over.

Romans 13:4,5 - God's servant

13:4

People in authority are God’s servants. As always we need to be careful in interpreting this. It does not mean that we have some rose-tinted view of leaders, for the Bible certainly does not. The Old Testament prophets spent a lot of their time condemning the rulers who had forgotten who they were and what they were there for. As I have said before, Paul is laying out the starting point for our understanding of the world. So our starting point is that we should obey authority.  Notice that in this and the previous verse Paul speaks about those who do right and those who do wrong. If authorities order us to do something that is clearly wrong then we should not obey. “I was only following order” is no excuse. However, there will always be times when something is very much in a grey area. Note also that governments have a duty to punish wrongdoers, this is part of their function.

13:5

So we should obey authorities for the very practical reason that if we don’t we will be punished, but we should also do it because of conscience. Authority is a God instituted structure. When evil is at work it will seek to break down authority structures in society, as we can see very clearly in the West. In a well functioning society there is authority and people respect authority. That should be our starting point.

Sometimes people say leaders should earn respect. This is a wrong teaching! A correct teaching is that we should respect those in authority, and those in authority should live a life worthy of that respect. There is a key difference here. We give respect first without waiting for it to be earned. This applies in marriages, in classrooms, in workplaces, and in society as a whole. All of us are imperfect and if we wait for the teacher, the boss etc to “earn” respect things can break down very quickly and it can make it impossible for the imperfect leader to do the job. Now if the leader is clearly not worthy of respect, is not going about things in a proper manner then action may need to be taken, but the underlying attitude we have, our starting point should be one of respect.

Romans 13:2,3 - Rebelling against God

13:2

As said in my previous comments we need to take this in context, bearing in mind all that the Bible says. However, we must not have a rebellious attitude towards authority. Rebellion against authority is a symptom of our rebellion against God. Now does this mean we should never confront authority? No. The prophets in the Old Testament regularly confronted authority, Elijah being a prime example, and Daniel gives an excellent example on how we should confront, but there are many dangers that we need to be aware of. One is that while claiming to confront for the cause of justice we are really confronting for our own self-interest or to satisfy our own egos. Secondly, the prophets were concerned above all for the honour of the name of the Lord, we must not be purely political.

13:3

The instructions in this verse may seem to be at odds with what we see in the real world, but again Paul is giving the starting point. We need to understand the fundamental system of the world, and the foundation is that God has instituted authorities and they are there to uphold justice. Now they do this with varying degrees of perfection, and sometimes are utterly corrupt, but we start with the point that they are there to do good. We must obey good laws. In 1 Peter 2:11-24 Peter deals with the situation where governments do not do right, and suffering for the sake of Christ is the answer. We should also remember to ignore chapter headings! In 12:21 Paul told us to overcome evil with good, this applies on a personal level and in dealing with governments. We should also remember the situation they were in. The church was relatively small, leading a rebellion was not a practical proposition anyway!

Romans 13:1 - Governing authorities

This chapter is considered by some to be quite difficult to interpret, even to be problematic. Indeed there are some who argue that verses 1-7 were not part of the original letter. Why is there this controversy? It is because it is to do with the relationship between Christians and the state. Those who say v1-7 were not part of the original letter base this on the fact that Jesus is not mentioned and see it as appeasing the Roman state. However, such views do not have much foundation. First, the teaching here is consistent with the rest of the Bible. For instance, 1 Peter expresses similar sentiments to those found here. Secondly we must not read this in isolation. There are some who say it has caused too much trouble, providing legitimacy to tyrannical regimes. We need to look at the whole. If we consider all that Paul did as recorded in Acts we see that he certainly did not adopt a supine approach to authority. We need to take the teaching here as foundational to our understanding, but bearing in mind all that we find elsewhere in Scripture. We should look in particular at the life of Jesus. He too taught a respect for authority, and did not seek to lead a rebellion.

In Paul’s time Rome was the all powerful authority, and the Jewish religion had some legal protections. If Christianity was viewed as a branch of Judaism by the state it shared in these protections, if it was not then it was subject to persecution.

The starting point is that governments were implemented by God, and they are there to maintain order, justice and to help the weak. Now we all know that no government does this perfectly, and there are many times when governments are utterly corrupt or tyrannical. What are we to do in such situations? Well we do well to learn from the book of Daniel. Babylon was about as ungodly a government as one could imagine. Indeed Babylon was used as code for Rome, and is used in Revelation as representative of all that is evil. If we look at how Daniel and his friends reacted we see that they showed respect for the government, Nebuchadnezzar in particular, throughout. Yet at the same time they did not compromise their faith. This also brought them into confrontation with the government, and in the midst of this they experienced God’s miraculous intervention. If we make rebelliousness the starting point we may very well feel self-righteous and justified in our actions, but what we will be doing is living out of our flesh, and that we will very soon result in rebelling against God, as chapter 8 of Romans warns. Instead we must love God above all, have an attitude of respect towards authority and let the Spirit lead us. Then there will indeed be confrontations, but these will be of God’s choosing and we are far more likely to living by the Spirit than by the flesh.

Romans 12:19-21 - Do not take revenge

12:19

We should not seek revenge, let God take care of this. Again we need to beware of how strong the tendency to see vengeance can be within us at times. We also need to be aware of the higher purpose that God has. Our rights are not irrelevant, but they are not the overriding concern. The honour of the name of Jesus, seeing people come to know Jesus are far more important. And bringing vengeance is not our responsibility. Now God’s wrath works in three ways. It normally and properly acts through human governments in this age, Paul will say more about this later. Secondly, God will sometimes intervene directly in this age. Governments are far from perfect, and sometimes downright corrupt. Sometimes God will intervene. Finally there is the final judgement.

12:20

Paul quotes from Proverbs 25:21,22, the advice he has been giving is not new. Now why do we want to heap burning coals on his head? This can work in various ways. If we treat him well then in the best outcome the enemy will be so amazed at our actions that he will realise the wrong he has done and will repent. This is the ideal outcome. In other cases he will just feel bad about himself but not change, and in others our acting in mercy and his refusal to respond will bring about even greater judgement on him.

12:21

This verse sums up the whole approach. We seek to overcome evil with good, we must not resort to using evil to overcome evil. A prime example of the latter is people using violence against abortion clinics and those who work in them. Abortion is evil but that does not justify using evil to overcome it.

Romans 12:17,18 - Living at peace

12:17

Paul returns to the issue of not repaying evil with evil. This is a very important matter and we need to realise how susceptible to it we are. When we suffer an injustice or evil we feel aggrieved and offended. This is natural and partly right, for we have an inbuilt God-given sense of what is right and wrong, and people should not treat us badly. However, there is a problem, or two linked problems. They are both related to the fact that we are sinners.  One is the very fact that we are sinners ourselves, and in any situation it is quite possible that we too are at least partly in the wrong. The other is that because we are sinners our conscience is not  perfect, our assessment of a situation is never perfect. There is also a natural tendency to be prepared to use evil to fight evil, and this can be very strong when we have been wronged. So we need to be careful, we need to think and “be sure that we do what is right in the eyes of everyone”.  Everyone here includes the person who has wronged us.

12:18

We should aim to live at peace with everyone. This will not always be possible for sometimes people will act in a totally unreasonable manner. Sometimes in training classes on dealing with the people the impression is given that if only we take the right approach every problem will be solved. It may increase the chances of getting a good outcome, but it won’t work in every case because people will sometimes just act in a totally obtuse manner. However, we should make every effort to live at peace.

Romans 12:13-16 - Bless those who persecute you

12:13

We are to share with one another, especially the Lord’s people. Paul says the same in Galatians 6:10, “let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”. Now this does not mean we should not have concern for those outside the church, not at all, but we are to look after each other. We are also to pracise hospitality. All this is linked to the non-self centeredness of the Christian life. God takes our focus off ourselves and puts it on to Him and on to other people.

12:14

Jesus told us to love our enemies (Matt 5:44) and so does Paul, this is further argument against those who claim Jesus and Paul present “different Christianities”. Elsewhere Paul tells us that we do not use the weapons that the world uses (2 Cor 10:4). Living by the Spirit and by grace is completely different in so many ways. We rely on the Spirit rather than our own strength, and we act and react in different ways. So if we are persecuted, and in Paul’s time it was a matter of when rather than if, we bless them rather than cursing.

12:15,16

We empathise with others. If someone is rejoicing we share in their joy, if someone is mourning we share in their sadness. This is all part of not being self-centered. It is also part of living in harmony. If we believe someone understands us and cares for us we are more likely to live in harmony with them. While there are some confrontations that need to be had, and Paul was willing to confront when he had to, our default position should be to look for harmony. A body that is at war with itself is not a healthy one.

Pride is a great obstacle to living in harmony with each other. And we must not consider ourselves better than others. In all societies there are various levels or classes, whether formal or not. In the church these levels and barriers should not exist. We are all equal in Christ, equally sinners, equally forgiven. “people of low position” can be translated “willing to do menial work”. Whatever the correct translation is, both are true. We should not have a high opinion of ourselves.

Romans 12:10-12 - Devoted in love

12:10

Focusing on the positive side of sincere love, we are to be devoted to one another and to honour one another above ourselves. Sincere love involves valuing and respecting other people. Sin urges us to focus on ourselves. This begins with being self-interested but ultimately leads to our destruction. When we focus on others, when we are outward looking, we become more human, more Christlike, and being Christlike is being truly human. This does lead to a practical problem. When are we genuinely looking out to the interests of others, or are we doing so just because we want the benefits that spring from it? This is one of the reasons why a law-based approach is futile and doomed to failure. Apart from our inability to satisfy the laws, we can find it incredibly difficult to know what our true motives are. So we need a grace, faith and Spirit approach. The Holy Spirit is working in our lives, teaching and transforming us, sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently. The Holy Spirit is not always a gentleman!

12:11

This is perhaps better translated (Morris), “do not be lazy, with the spirit, boiling”. There has been a lot of emphasis on our inability to earn our own righteousness, our inability to live godly lives by our own efforts. We need to trust in Christ and His sacrifice, and we need to live by the Spirit. But this does not mean that we do nothing. The more the Spirit works in our lives the more we will work. In 1 Cor 15:10 Paul says that because of God’s grace he worked harder than all the other apostles. If the grace of God is at work in our lives we will work to serve the Lord.

12:12

We can have joy at all times and in all circumstances. This does not mean we will not feel or experience the pain of various trials and difficulties, but we can still have joy in the midst of them. This is because we have hope, we know the destination that God is leading us towards. There will be times of affliction. These may come because of the circumstances of life, or because of direct persecution of the church. We must be patient in the midst of them, knowing that God is our deliverer. And we must be faithful in prayer, we must pray at all times with all sorts of prayers.

Romans 12:9 - Sincere love

We now get more general teaching on the attitudes that we should have. We see here the centrality of love, and love is not limited to a romantic or sentimental sense. It must be sincere. The gospel goes to the heart, and deals with the root of man’s problem. It highlights the depths of sin within us, and in its solution starts healing that problem. So love must be sincere, it is not a mere outward expression, nor enlightened self-interest. It springs from a genuine concern for the well-being of others. Now we need a word of practical caution here. If we wait till all our motives are completely sincere then we will never do anything. We can always find some spec of self-interest, we can rarely be completely sure that there is no self-interest in our motives, especially as doing things God’s way is always in our long-term interests. So we must not approach this in a legalistic fashion. Instead we should take a general view of our motives,go forward and let the Holy Spirit correct and teach us as we go along.

And a very practical test of sincere love is clinging to what is good, hating what is evil, and it is interesting that Paul includes hating evil here. In our times this has very pertinent relevance to the whole gay/transgender debate. There are parts of the church that say we should show love to homosexuals (which indeed we should) and in order to do that we should be “gay affirming”. Such views are dressed up as loving and caring, but they are not, they are an example of insincere love. If it is never truly loving to encourage someone to continue sinning against God.

Romans 12:6-8 - Different gifts

12:6a

Gifts are given according to grace, and we do well to always remember this. We may sometimes do amazing things or do things really well, whether these be “supernatural” or “natural” gifts. Actually the difference between the two types of gifts is far less significant than we imagine. The list that Paul gives here includes both types. Elsewhere, particularly in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 we read how supernatural gifts such as tongues and prophecy are to be used in a sensible manner. Conversely, what we might think of as natural gifts are still given by God, and when used in a Spirit inspired way can have an amazing effect. Think of tle letter to the Romans for instance! Paul was not in a trance or merely repeating what the Spirit told him, yet it is the most amazing book and one that has had an immeasurable effect on the world. We never have any justification for being proud, for every gift is given by God.

12:6b-8

We now get a list of various gifts or ministries. As an aside, we do well to remember that root meaning of “ministry” is service. We sometimes get too obsessed with “my ministry”. “My ministry” is really about how I am going to serve the church.

The list is very varied, stressing the point that Paul is making. All the gifts are needed. Some might be more prominent than others, but that is neither here nor there. For the body to function well all need to work well. So whatever gift or gifts we have we should get on and do it and do it well. And we do it joyfully, not grudgingly.

Romans 12:3-5 - Sober judgement

12:3

“For by the grace given me ..” Right at the start of Romans (1:5) we read that Paul received grace to call the Gentiles. Here again we see grace being active. Someone might ask what right does Paul have to tell them what to do. People will often accuse Christians in general in the same way. In our own lives there are times when we have to tell others what to do, whether it be people in our family, in our church or in a work setting. Humanly we can often have one of two reactions. We can feel woefully inadequate on the one hand, so aware of our own weaknesses, and we might react to this by avoiding confrontation of any sort. On the other hand we might get so puffed up with ourselves, adopting a very superior attitude. Both of these are examples of living by the flesh. We need to live in the grace that God gives us, and we need to recognise the grace that He has given us, and so correct and instruct in the right situation with the right attitude. The right attitude has three essential elements:

• We rely on God
• We do not consider ourselves better than others
• We are seeking the well being of the people we are instructing

Here Paul starts by instructing the Romans to have a sober judgement of themselves, a realistic judgement. And we are to act in faith. We are saved by faith and grace, we live by grace and faith.

12:4,5

Paul’s instructions apply in general, but he is also applying them in particular to various ministry situations, and the first thing we need to do is to recognise the variety of ministries and the importance of ministries. The body metaphor is used on several occasions, especially in 1 Corinthians 12. The worldly attitude is to ask which is the best ministry, which is the most important. This is not the Christian attitude. The church is a body, the body of Christ and it has many parts. And for the body to function well all parts need to work well. So we are to regard each other with respect, and whatever function we have we are to value that, and to see it in the context of serving others, not of self-advancement. Each part belongs to all the others. We work together with each other, we do not compete against one another.

Romans 12:2 - Do not conform

12:2

We do not follow the patterns of this world. Christianity is not just a better alternative of the world’s ways or a better religion. It is radically different and we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In considering themselves superior to the Jews the Gentile Christians were following the pattern of the world in their thinking. Their thinking needed to be renewed, we need to look at things in the light of God’s grace. Our minds need to be renewed. If you are really struggling with something, if you are beset by anxiety or despondency it is often useful to examine what we are thinking and why we are thinking that. We will find that our thoughts are based on something that is contrary to Scripture. So we need to correct our thinking. That is one of the many reasons why we should study the Word, let the Word change our minds.

The proud man thinks he knows something, the Gentile Christians were tempted to think they knew themselves to be better than the Jews. It is only when we humble ourselves before God and let His word instruct us that we truly become wise and then are able to genuinely know His “good, pleasing and perfect will”.

Romans 12:1 - A living sacrifice

In chapters 9-11 Paul has been dealing with the role of Israel in God’s plans and warning the Gentile Christians against wrong attitudes. Now he turns to the positive attitudes and actions that we should have. Romans follows a patterns common to a number of Paul’s letters, ie there is a theological section followed by life application. We need a theological basis for our lives. Theology is not just academic knowledge, it is not just arguing about the proverbial angels on a pin head. It is about our basic understanding of what life is and what life is about, what the universe is about. Wrong understanding can lead to wrong actions, and conversely corrected understanding can lead to a corrected life.

“Therefore, .., in view of God’s mercy ..” In the previous section Paul had been warning them against pride. Instead of pride we should offer our lives in service to the Lord. “A living sacrifice”. Paul’s original hearers would have been familiar with actual blood sacrifices. They were offered in pagan religions to appease the gods, in Judaism they were part of the Levitical law offered as atonement for sin. We offer our lives to Christ to be used in His service, we are a living sacrifice. So we take the focus off ourselves, off “proving” ourselves to be better than others, instead we rejoice in God’s mercy and put the focus on serving Christ.

Romans 11:31-36 - To Him be the glory!

11:31,32

Now we need to be careful how we interpret these verses. It is easy for us to read them as if it is saying that God deliberately made Israel sin, and deliberately made us sin so that we could then receive mercy. That is the wrong way to read it. When we look at things in one sense it seems a complete disaster. God created Adam and Eve and they sinned. He then formed the nation of Israel and they sinned, even to the point of crucifying the Son of God. Things don’t look too good. Why did God create people who would sin? I am not going to attempt to answer that question, for the very good reason that I cannot. But what we do know is that through Christ God’s plans are fulfilled. Even though we Gentiles rebelled against God having no interest in Him, through the gospel many have been brought into the kingdom of God. So with Israel, even though they rejected Christ and the gospel there will come a time when there will be a significant turning to Christ. Our basis for believing this is the Word of God and the grace of God. If we want to understand God’s plans and His ways we need to look through the eyes of God’s grace.

11:33-36

We see in these verses the difference in reaction to God’s plans from a fleshly and a spiritual perspective. Paul has been warning the Gentile Christians against pride. The fleshly reaction is to see the Jewish rejection of the gospel as an opportunity to “prove” that we are better, to look down on the Jews. Paul’s reaction, and the spiritual reaction, is to look beyond the immediate. See how Paul’s arguments looked back to the past, to all that God has revealed about Himself and His plans in the Old Testament, to consider the present, and to look forward to the future. Paul takes an eternal perspective, and we need to remember that God is the God who was, who is, and who is to come. So Paul’s response is an outburst of praise and wonder and the magnificence of God’s plans. God’s ways are beyond human understanding. This does not mean that we should not use human understanding, but we must recognise its limits, and we use it together with revelation from God, and this revelation comes primarily through the word of God.

God is completely independent of man. He does not need us to explain anything to Him, nor to give Him advice! There are times when all of us would do well to remember this, and atheists need to remember that they are created beings.

Everything is dependent upon the Lord, and His ways are glorious.

Romans 11:29,30 - The disobedient receive mercy

11:29

“for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”. This verse is often quoted in connection with gifts like prophecy or preaching or pastoring etc. This is not the context of the verse. The context is God’s gift to Israel and His call on the nation of Israel. God’s love for Israel is a gift to them, His salvation to us is a gift. None of us have done anything to deserve it. God has also called Israel, one day that call will be fulfilled. When God decrees something it will happen. Now as I have said several times already, possibly ad nauseum, I will say it again. The certainty of God’s decree does negate our responsibility, it does not negate the reality of the situations we go through in life.

11:30

This is a timely reminder to all who seem to be anti-Israel or adopt a very judgemental attitude towards them. Now this is definitely not to say Israel should be above criticism, they get many things wrong and it is a very atheistic society in many ways. Half of the Biblical truth is that Israel is guilty of sin, deeply guilty, terribly guilty, guilty to the extent of deserving to go to hell. But then exactly the same statements apply to you and me. Half of the truth is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The other half of the truth is that by faith in Christ we have received forgiveness and new life, and the same offer is equally open to all Israel. More to the point, it is a miracle that I ever came to believe in jesus, I guess the same is true of you. Humanly I cannot imagine how Israel will ever come to believe in Jesus in large numbers, but thankfully my imagination is not the point, God’s grace is the point. So if we have a judgemental attitude towards Israel we need to seriously consider our attitude.

Romans 11:26-28 - Loved enemies

11:26,27

Paul makes a rather loose quote from Isaiah 59:9,10, with elements of Isaiah 27:9 and Jer 31:33,34.

“All Israel will be saved”. There is debate over whether Israel here refers to the nation of Israel or “true Israel” (ie believers). In the previous verse Israel clearly refers to the people of Israel, so it is unlikely that he then uses the term in a completely different sense. However, it does make good sense if we use both meanings of Israel. All Israel includes all believers, it was always part of God’s plan that the Gentiles should be saved, and we are part of true Israel. But it is also part of God’s plan that Israel herself is saved. And both aspects if God’s plan will be fulfilled.

When it speaks of “all Israel” this does not necessarily mean every single person. All does not always mean all! It is clear that many Jews throughout history have not been saved, and it is equally clear that many Gentiles are not saved. Only those who believe. So all here means that both Jews and Gentiles will be saved, and a significant number of Jews will be saved.

The quotations that Paul makes stress the point that God is dealing with godlessness and taking away our sins. We need always to remember that this is the focus of God’s plans.

11:28

As things stood at the time the Jews were enemies of the gospel. This was the present reality, and we need to remember that they actively persecuted the church, as we read about in Acts. However, Israel is also part of God’s elect, they are loved by God. Now this does not mean all Israelites will “go to heaven”, but the nation of Israel has always been in God’s plan, and still is. The gospel started with people like Abraham and promises were given to the nation of Israel. There is a general lesson to learn here as well. When we look at a situation we need to face up to the present realities. At the time of Paul’s writing part of that reality was that the Jews, on the whole, had rejected Christ and persecuted the church. A person of true faith is not afraid of reality. But we do not accept the present situation as the final situation. We consider what God’s plans are, and as far as Israel is concerned it is their eventual salvation.

Romans 11:24,25 - Do not be ignorant

11:24

Now we come to the culmination of this phase of the argument. The Gentiles were grafted into the vine, we became part of God’s kingdom, a place we did not naturally belong to. The Jews were a natural part of the vine, yet they had been rejected because of their unbelief. Yet if we can be grafted in by faith, how much more can the Jews be grafted back into where they naturally belong if they show faith? This verse is fundamental to our understanding of the place of Israel. It states two key things, one is that Israel belongs in the kingdom, it is where they should be, and secondly it states that it is possible for them to be grafted back in. Replacement theology, and associated beliefs, are complete nonsense and totally at odds with what the Bible teaches. How on earth anyone can possibly interpret Paul as saying Israel is no longer a part of God’s plan is totally beyond me.

11:25

Paul wants them to understand God’s workings, in particular His dealings with Israel and how all this fits in with His total plan of salvation. Paul refers to this as a mystery because it is not a plan any man would have thought of! The reason Paul wants them to understand is so that they will not be conceited. Pride is something we are stubbornly prone to. Our minds, if we are not careful, will forever find some way of interpreting things so that we are “better than others”. We need to be on our guard against this, and the best way to do this is to appreciate the grace of God. Israel had indeed experienced a hardening in part. Paul says “in part” for there were some Jews who believed, including Paul himself of course, along with all the apostles. However, on the whole Israel had hardened herself against the gospel. But this will last only until the “full number of the Gentiles has come in”.

Romans 11:22,23 - The kindness and sternness of God

11:22

“The kindness and sternness of God”. We have a tendency to focus on one or other of these. Most of the church in the West now looks at what it thinks of as the kindness of God, ignoring the sternness. When we do this we get nothing but a sentimental view of God which bears little relation to God’s actual kindness. On the other hand there are some churches that will focus too much on the sternness of God, producing a harsh religion that equally bears little relation to the truth. We need to take both together. If we ignore or rebel against God’s ways we can expect judgement, that is the consistent teaching of the Bible, Old and New Testament. If we repent and believe then we will receive unlimited kindness from God, that too is the consistent teaching of all of the Bible.

11:23

Moreover, while the Gentile believers should consider their own position, they should also consider that of the Jews. The Jews were cut off because of their unbelief, but what if they stop their unbelief and begin to believe? In that case they will be grafted in again. So we see here a principle and it is no matter how far you have fallen, if you put your faith in Christ you can be restored. We need to believe this, both for ourselves and for others. There is no person and no situation that cannot be redeemed by putting our trust in Christ. “For God is able ..” This is the basis of faith. We often face situations where it seems impossible, we may lose all hope in ourselves, we may think someone else is totally beyond the pale, but then we need to take account of what God is able to do. And He can redeem all, and the means of acquiring this redemption is through faith. We may look at our society and lose hope but we should not. It is possible for God to redeem our nation, if only they will repent and believe.

Romans 11:20,21 - He will not spare you

Paul now tells them the correct attitude they should have, rather than one of pride or arrogance. Note also that it faces up to the facts. The Jews were rejected because of their unbelief, and the Gentiles were accepted because of their faith. But now, as people who have faith we must not be arrogant, but should tremble with fear. The correct attitude is not “we are better than the Jews”, but “we need to ensure that we remain true to God, that we walk in faith and humility, for if we reject God He will reject us also”.

As an aside this has lessons for the “once saved always saved” debate. We approach the question from the wrong angle. We should and can live with complete assurance of our salvation. We need to learn to live life with ever increasing confidence in Jesus and the salvation He has won for us. However, if we ourselves find ourselves starting to fall “once saved always saved” is of absolutely no use to us whatsoever. We need to repent, and to do so quickly. If a friend or relative who once made a profession of faith is starting to fall away, or has already drifted miles away, falling back on a “once saved always saved” view as a source of some sort of false comfort is absolutely the wrong way to go about things, absolutely the wrong way to approach the situation. We need to work and pray for that person to come back to God, to repent and believe, for that is what they need to do. The Bible knows nothing of faith without fruit.

Romans 11:17-19 - Branches

11:17,18

Paul uses a horticultural analogy. It is important to remember that Paul is not seeking to make a horticultural point but a theological one! Moreover it is based on what God does, not how plants work. So the situation is that in human terms the Gentiles had no right to be part of God’s plans  (it was always God’s plan that Gentiles would come into the kingdom). So the Jews had been broken off, for a time, and the “unnatural” branches, the Gentiles, had been grafted onto God’s plans. The Gentiles were now sharing in all of the “nourishing sap” of the Old Testament, and the Jews were not.

This much was true, but the Gentile believers must not become proud. We must not consider ourselves superior to the Jews. We need to realise that we are “supported” by the root (ie by all that was revealed in the Old Testament and is fulfilled in Christ). We must have an attitude of humility. When the Israelites were going into the promised land God warned them not to say to themselves they had achieved all this by their own efforts. We must heed the same warning, and need to be aware how human it is to assume credit for something that we have no right to assume credit for. We are saved by grace through faith, not by our own wisdom, righteousness or effort in any respect whatsoever.

11:19

Another warning against pride. “You will say branches were broken off so I could be grafted in”. Now at one level this assertion is true.Indeed that is what Paul has been arguing, the rejection of the Jews was all part of God’s plan in bringing the Gentiles in, but it is so wrong on many other levels. It is not true that God thought the Gentiles were more deserving than the Jews. It is not true that it is the end of the story. We need to be so careful how we interpret events and how we interpret our own lives. Our human nature, our flesh, is so prone to claim credit for itself, so prone to justify itself.

Romans 11:15,16 - Holy roots

11:15

The wrong way to look at Israel’s rejection is to see it as God’s final judgment upon them. It is not the end of the story, but one stage along the way. It would also be wrong to think “well, their rejection brought our reconciliation. If they are accepted back we might lost out”. Indeed it is a common human trait, including among Christians, to fear that someone else's blessing means that I will get less. In God’s kingdom we are not in a zero sum game. It is always good for someone else to be blessed. We need to watch our hearts very carefully, we can easily become envious of other’s success, and this is partly out of fear. In God’s kingdom when one is blessed all are blessed, so Israel’s acceptance (or re-acceptance) will be a time of immense blessing for all.

What is “life from the dead”? This can be taken in various ways. It could refer to the resurrection of the dead, taking the view that the return of Christ will occur soon after Israel’s return to Christ. Another view is that Israel, which for so long was spiritually dead, will be alive, will start to be the people God always intended her to be. Maybe both were in Paul’s mind. A large scale turning to Christ in Israel is a fundamental part of God’s plan and it will bring spiritual blessing to the earth.

As an aside, we need to recognise that whatever the precise details of the final return of Israel, many Jews never believed in Jesus, many Jews are lost.

11:16

Paul is alluding to Numbers 15:17-21 where it was talking about the firstfruits of the harvest being offered to the Lord. The offering of the firstfruits made the whole harvest holy. We can apply this principle in our lives. We should make God our first priority at the start of the day, we should make giving to Him our first concern in budgeting our money.Then the rest of the day, the rest of our money will be holy. Here Paul is likening the early fathers: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses etc to the first fruits and the root. All Christians recognise that these people were men of God and are a vital part of God’s plan, revealing who He is and His means of working. The Christian “religion” has Jewish roots. Jesus is not a radical departure from the Old Testament, but a radical fulfilment of the Old Testament. If Christianity did not have its Jewish roots it would be no religion at all, it would certainly not have anything to do with God’s plans.

Romans 11:12-14 - Saving through envy

11:12

Now the Gentiles have been blessed by the consequences of Israel’s rebellion, namely the gospel going out freely to all the nations. However, the riches will be even greater when Israel is restored. We need to appreciate the totality of God’s plans, we are not at the end of them yet. There are some Christians even today who seem to have a terrible attitude towards Israel. Now Israel is a very atheistic nation and does much wrong, there is no place for some idealistic view of Israel, but we need to remember that God loves Israel.

11:13,14

Pride is an enormous danger for all of us. In the light of all that Paul has been saying there was a danger that the Gentile Christians could become proud that “they had had the good sense to trust in Christ, unlike the stupid Jews”. Paul is trying to ensure that they don’t go down this road. He uses both the carrot and the stick. The carrot is that the blessings will be so much greater when the Jews do eventually believe. The stick is that if the Gentiles become proud they can expect to suffer exactly the same fate as the Jews who did not believe. Paul also points out that as well as wanting the Gentiles to believe, he is also evangelising them as part of the means of the Israelites eventually coming to faith.

Note the route that Paul does not take. He does not say the Jewish faith is still valid and their rejection of Jesus does not really matter. This is the approach that too many Christian leaders take today. Paul does not deny the real consequences of sin. Grace can only operate when sin is fully recognised for what it is.

Romans 11:9-11 - Is Israel beyond recovery?

11:9,10

And just to reinforce the point Psalm 69:22,23 is now quoted. Psalm 69 is largely a Psalm that talks about the suffering of God’s servant, and these two verses are an imprecatory prayer. Israel had crucified the Messiah and so judgement would come upon them.

So all that has happened up to this point is entirely just, entirely in God’s control and plan, and entirely consistent with all that has been revealed in the Old Testament. But the story is not over yet, the plan is not yet completed, and we will now see the unfolding of the rest of the plan.

11:11

So Israel is in a mess, she is rebellious at heart. Is this the end of the matter, does her sin define her future irrevocably? Not at all is Paul’s answer. In fact God has used her rebellion as part of the plan to extend grace to all nations. The gospel has gone out to all nations. Israel never grasped what God’s plans were about. Instead of being a beacon to the world she was an obstacle, so for a time she has been rejected and the gospel has spread freely to all the world. But that too is not the end of the matter. The nations receiving the gospel is meant to make Israel envious, they are meant to see the the nations receiving the blessing of God and to want it for themselves. Now two points that can be made from this. The first is the wondrous way in which God’s plans work. Sin matters and is fully accounted for, yet it does not hinder the outworking of God’s plans. As Paul said earlier, where sin abounds grace abounds all the more. God can bring good out of all situations. The second point is that we must not become proud like the Jews did. There have been periods in history when the church has had an appalling attitude towards the Jews. We need to appreciate that God’s purpose is to bring the Israelites back. Again, the Old Testament demonstrates this pattern in His bringing them back from exile in Babylon.

A sermon on Isaiah 55 - Repent and Live

Listen - Repent and Live - Isaiah 55

Romans 11:7,8 - A spirit of stupor

11:7

So the current situation in Paul’s day, and it is much the same today, is that most of Israel did not obtain righteousness with God, even though they sought it earnestly. There are a couple of points to make on this. We must not apply an overly literalistic interpretation of this. Many people in Israel did not seek righteousness, or at least not in a manner approved off by the Pharisees. The Pharisees regarded themselves as superior to the mass of the people. Secondly, seeking something in itself is not sufficient, we need to seek something in God’s way.

Then Paul makes it clear that some did find this righteousness. These are those who sought it by faith in Christ, and Paul refers to them as the elect. The point that Paul is making is that those who God wanted to obtain righteousness did obtain it, God’s plans are being fulfilled.

11:8

Again Paul backs up his case with a quote from Scripture. He is showing yet again that what is happening is entirely consistent with what God has always revealed about Himself. The quote is rather loose, and seems to draw on Deut 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10. Now we need to be aware that Paul is not saying that the people had no responsibility and could not help themselves because God had forced them to be dumb. He is saying that there were many times in the past, indeed virtually all of Israel’s history, when Israel failed to see or appreciate what God was doing. God’s plan is not out of control.

Romans 11:5,6 - A remnant chosen by grace

So just as it was in Elijah’s day, so it was in Paul’s time, and so it is now. There are more who are saved than we imagine. As an aside, Elijah was prominent, taking on the prophets of baal, Ahab and Jezebel directly. Most of the seven thousand were presumably not prominent, otherwise Elijah would have known about them. So in any age there will be those who are at the forefront, but there will be many more who are saved but are not prominent.

Paul stresses again the works versus grace conflict. The means of salvation is by grace, not works. We need to view things from a grace perspective not a works perspective. If we view our own lives from a works perspective we will either delude ourselves or become despondent. If we view others from a works perspective we will reject people whom God has chosen. Grace can overcome all things. It can work miracles in our own lives, and in the lives of those to whom any rational assessment would write them off.

Now if we go back to the “those He foreknew” (v2). There are those of an Arminian persuasion (and what I am about to say probably applies to Molinism as well) who would say something along the lines of God knew who would put faith in Him, and He chose them. But if we take that line then salvation is getting close to being dependent upon the works of man, in this case faith being a work. The Calvinist view stresses that God actively chose the people He would save, and faith was the fruit of this choice. Whatever line you take you can easily run into difficulties. If we look at what Paul has said he stresses both the sovereignty of God and human responsibility. We find it very difficult, if not impossible, to see just how the two concepts can work together, but we must be careful that in seeking to reconcile the two we do not end up rejecting Biblical truth. We must not make an idol out of understanding.