Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Romans 11
God Has Not Rejected His People
I ask, then: Has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what Scripture says in the story of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they killed your prophets, tore down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” But what does the divine answer say to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” In the same way, then, at the present time there is a remnant according to the choosing of grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer from works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Israel’s Stumbling Is Not the End
What then? Israel did not obtain what it was seeking, but the chosen obtained it. The rest were hardened,
just as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”
And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a repayment for them.
Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and keep their backs bent down.”
I ask, then: Did they stumble so that they would fall beyond recovery? Absolutely not! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean!
Paul’s Ministry and Israel’s Future
I am speaking to you Gentiles. Since I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I honor my ministry, in the hope that somehow I may make my own people jealous and save some of them. For if their rejection means reconciliation for the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the first portion of dough is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
The Olive Tree
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a sharer in the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember: you do not support the root; the root supports you. You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True. They were broken off because of lack of trust, and you stand through trust. Do not become arrogant, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Consider, then, God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in lack of trust, will be grafted in, because God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut from a wild olive tree by nature and, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!
All Israel Will Be Saved
I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you do not become wise in your own eyes: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in,
and in this way all Israel will be saved, just as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn ungodliness away from Jacob.
And this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
With respect to the good news, they are enemies for your sake; but with respect to election, they are beloved because of the ancestors.
For God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they too have now disobeyed so that, through the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.
For God has enclosed everyone in disobedience so that he may show mercy to everyone.
Doxology
Oh, the depth of God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge!
How unsearchable are his judgments
and beyond tracing out his ways!
“For who has known the Lord’s mind?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has first given to him,
so that it must be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen.