Romans 11:17-24 “Belief and Unbelief”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in [among] them and became a joint partner of the root of the fatness of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast over the branches, but if you boast, [you must realize that] you do not support the root, but the root [supports] you. ¹⁹Therefore, you will say, “Branches were broken off in order that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰Granted. They were broken off in unbelief, but you stand in faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. ²¹For, if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. ²²Therefore, behold the kindness and severity of God – on the one hand, severity on ones falling, on the other hand, the kindness of God upon you, if you continue in the kindness, otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³And they also will be grafted in, if they are not remaining in unbelief, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴For, if you were cut out of a naturally wild olive tree and grafted into a cultivated olive tree against nature, how much more will these according to nature be grafted into their own olive tree?

Hmmmm.

This passage of Romans 9-11 has been one of the most difficult studies I think I’ve ever engaged in. I am glad I’m studying it, as it is Scripture and I’m sure, in some way, it is feeding my soul. However, I’m constantly barraged with this sense that it is simply more than I can comprehend. Perhaps I’ll understand more, if I live long enough to ever come back and study it again. However, I kind of doubt it. Once again, my sense is that this is simply delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God.

So…having studied through it the best I could, I’ll try to record a few observations, then move on in the awe of God’s incomprehensible and infinite wisdom.

Clearly, Paul wants us to understand this strange new relationship between the Jews and us Gentiles. He compares us to wild olive branches and the Jews to the branches of a cultivated olive tree. Both are fed by “the root.” There is a lot of discussion of what exactly is “the root” which supports both. My two cents would be to say it is the Abrahamic Covenant, wherein the Lord promised to Abraham that his descendants would be “His people,” but also that the whole world would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:2,3).

As Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-22, we Gentiles were once “strangers to the covenants of promise,” “...but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once afar off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” In that passage, he goes on to say, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and member’s of God’s household.”

So, specifically, the way in which Abraham blessed “the whole world” was through his descendant Jesus, who, by His Cross, threw open the doors of salvation to us Gentiles. What is of particular interest to me in this passage is to be reminded how we plugged into this blessing. There in Ephesians 2, we are told “By grace you have been saved through faith…” (v.8). Here in Romans 11, Paul urges us to realize the difference between our “acceptance” and the Jews’ “rejection” is this simple matter of belief or unbelief.

Though the Jews are all Abraham’s descendants and form nationally “the people of God,” yet for any one of them to actually enter into the blessing required their own personal faith, their own personal belief in God and His promises. Over the centuries, they developed the arrogant conception that they were naturally the objects of God’s favor, just because they were Jews.

Over those centuries, the Lord warned them again and again that their sins would be judged until finally they murdered their own Messiah and He “rejected them” as His people and turned to us Gentiles. However, notice here in Romans 11, the issue is not whether we sin or not. The issue is belief and unbelief.

I don’t know that I’ve ever thought through this before, but I believe this passage would remind us that, in a sense, it isn’t our sins that get us in trouble with God. Those sins are actually arising from another far more poisonous “root” which is unbelief. Of course sins are bad, but their consideration can devolve into a very cold, impersonal approach to God. We can say, “Here are the Ten Commandments. How am I doing? I’ve either obeyed them or not.” Check, check, check. What’s missing? God. On the other hand, what if we probe our hearts and ask ourselves, “Am I believing God or not?” Does that not immediately draw us into our relationship with Him?

This question of belief or unbelief calls us to seriously consider the question, “Do I trust God or not?” Why do I sin? Is it not, at its deepest root, an expression of unbelief? Is it not a personal affront to God, specifically because what moves us to sin is in some way doubting Him? That question is not something cold or impersonal. It is very personal.

That helps me. Here, even in this passage, we could reduce this matter of belief or unbelief to the simple question of whether I’ve been saved or not – whether I have actually experienced saving faith or not. However, is it not far better to see this as a matter of my entire life? I am very thankful that the Lord saved me and gave me the understanding and the grace to trust Jesus for my eternal salvation. That is a wonderful thing. However, that should only be a beginning. In a sense, the rest of my life here on earth is a journey of truly learning to trust God – all day, every day, in every situation. That very personal relationship of trust is the thing that matters. That, according to our passage is what makes the difference.

That is all a very personal matter for you and me to consider. In the larger scheme of things, Paul wants us Gentiles to realize we are just as susceptible as the Jews of falling into unbelief. What did Jesus tell the churches in Revelation? “Repent, or I will come and take away your candlestick.” Where today is the church of Ephesus? Colossae? Antioch? Gone. All we have to do is look around us here in America and everywhere we see empty church buildings – churches that “once were.”

That is bad, but I would suggest there are even more that might still be meeting week after week, yet there is no Gospel light shining from them. Long ago, the Holy Spirit rose from their thresholds and the glory of the Lord departed from them. They may call themselves a church, call themselves Christians, even think they are ”champions” of the Bible, but they have no influence for Jesus in this world. Years ago, He did exactly what He warned and “took away their candlestick.”

Once again, let’s consider the “Why?” Why do some no longer even exist? How is it that some are “churches,” but have no Gospel light whatsoever in this world? The issue is again, this very personal matter of belief or unbelief.

For myself, I can’t answer for any entire church or even any entire nation that used to be a Gospel light. However, I can commit my heart once again to trusting the Lord today. I don’t want to be guilty of unbelief. I don’t want to sin because in reality I just wasn’t trusting Him. For me, that is the best thing I draw from this passage.

Other than that, there is much here I am quite sure I do not understand. However, I like being reminded of the truth expressed in Psalm 91:1: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

“It is good for me to draw near to God.”

Romans 11:13-15 “Us Gentiles”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³But I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am [the] apostle of [the] Gentiles, I am making much of my ministry, ¹⁴if somehow I might provoke to jealousy the flesh of mine and save some out of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection [means] reconciliation of the world, what [will be] [their] acceptance, except life out of dead ones?

It seems to me there is an enormous amount of truth packed into these three short verses. I’ll try to record at least the high points of what I think I’m seeing.

First of all, we should stop and think about Paul’s words, “But I am speaking to you Gentiles…” Of course, no one knows today the makeup of the church at Rome, whether it was mainly Gentiles or if it included a significant Jewish membership. There certainly were Jewish Christians there (16:7,11; Acts 18:2,3) and the book of Romans was written “to all in Rome who are loved by God and called saints…” (1:7). Regardless of how many Gentiles were there, what he has to say, he is telling us it is specifically for them (us).

Then, when he says, “I am speaking to you Gentiles…,” we can ask to how much of the book of Romans is he referring? I would suggest he’s referring to this specific section – chapters 9-11, answering the question, “What about the Jews?” As for the Jewish believers, they had their Scriptures to explain to them what was going on. From their childhood they would have known well all the prophecies relating to their future as a people. It seems natural to me the Gentiles would be the ones asking, “What about the Jews?” and, as we’ve observed earlier, for them that question needed to be answered, especially after chapter 8 and the great promises of eternal security in Christ.

Finally, we should note Paul is being emphatic here, to suddenly pause and say, “I’m speaking to you Gentiles…” What if, right in the middle of a sermon, the minister was to suddenly say, “I’m speaking to you Bixbys…” That would sure make us sit up in our chair and listen! No doubt that is how us Gentile believers should respond to these very words here in the book of Romans – sit up and listen! Somehow, as we would read and study the rest of this chapter, we need to assume that posture – one of especial attention to whatever Paul is saying. It is for us.

Then, one thing I’ve never thought about before. Paul says, “Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry…” I wonder what Paul thought back in the beginning. On the road to Damascus, Jesus told him, “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:6). Surely, being a Pharisee of Pharisees, he would totally assume any ministry he was given would be to his fellow Jews. Then, as he relates in Acts 22:18,21, later on, Jesus told him, “Quick! Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about Me…Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”

“To the Gentiles?”  Would that have been a shock to this Pharisee of Pharisees? Peter had quite a struggle being sent to the house of Cornelius. The Lord had to give him the vision of clean and unclean animals to get him to go (Acts 10)! Jonah had quite a problem with being sent to Nineveh. Jews were basically raised to despise Gentiles. Why should Paul be any different? One can almost hear him saying, “Now, wait a minute, Lord. I don’t want to do that. I don’t like Gentiles. Why can’t I go to some Jewish community?”

I’ve never thought about this, but I wonder if he had to go through a period of mental struggle to accept that this is what the Lord had for him? I rather suspect, especially for young people, there is a serious need for them to realize they must accept whatever ministry, whatever life, the Lord chooses to give them. No doubt, any born-again believer would love to be a Billy Graham and be given a world-wide ministry of reaching people. However, we can’t all be Billy Grahams. As someone once remarked, no matter what you’re doing, what you need is not a lot of chiefs, but a lot of Indians! Most of us need to accept that God’s place for us in this world is to be the Indians! Not great, famous leaders, but just everyday people.

It would be good to get it clearly in our young heads what Daniel observed, “The Most High rules in the nations of men.” We all need to accept whatever work, whatever life the Lord gives us, whether that is what we wanted to be and do, or not. He rules. Of course, for us older folks, that is still a daily issue. He says “All things work together for good,” then we find ourselves constantly struggling to accept “this is for good!”

The hope is, just like in Paul and Peter and Jonah’s cases, as we accept what the Lord gives us, over the years, we invariably begin to realize it turns out to be far better and far beyond anything we could have ever imagined. When Joan and I were young, we loved the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4). What I see now, on this end of life, is that I didn’t even know what were “the desires of my heart.” The Lord knew and I’m very glad today He didn’t give me what I thought I wanted! His plans are always far better – but, just like I’m assuming with Paul – sometimes we have to struggle to accept His plans.

I’ve never considered what Paul must have thought at first of being sent to the Gentiles

Then he says he “makes much” of his ministry in the hope that some from his Jewish people might be moved to jealousy and be saved. This is something else I don’t suppose I’ve ever thought about. Hmmmm. What would it be like to have been Jewish, to be Abraham’s descendants, to be the keepers of the very Scriptures themselves, and to basically see Yahweh worship as your exclusive possession – then to suddenly see this movement of despised Gentiles who take your Scriptures, who form their own synagogues (churches), and then seem to gain all the blessings of love and joy and peace – blessings you feel have eluded you?

Apparently, most Jewish people’s response was only to hate Gentiles all the more. That is the usual outcome of jealousy – hate. Yet, it does make sense that there could be a few who would say, “Now, wait a minute. My neighbor was nothing but an idol worshiping pagan. Now all of a sudden he’s this happy guy – and it isn’t just him. His wife is happy. His kids seem happy. “Whatta they got that I ain’t got???” I can see where this “jealousy” could lead that Jewish person to wonder if maybe this Jesus thing isn’t real after all. Perhaps he’d walk over to his neighbor one day and “ask a reason for the hope that is in him?”

I believe that is a ministry that everyone one of us has but one we rarely realize is happening. We go out to our jobs, we mow our grass, go to our kids’ track meets, and just generally live our lives. For us, we’re just trying to be like Jesus. We’re trying to trust God whatever happens. We try to be gracious to people. However, we probably all generally feel pretty useless. We’re definitely not Billy Graham. Yet, what we don’t realize is just how much others are watching. There was once a big layoff at a friend’s factory. As he was walking out, even struggling himself to see God above it all, a man said to him, “This doesn’t bother you like it bothers us, does it?” People are watching.

Paul’s big “ministry” was to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Yet he was keenly aware that the seeds of his faith fell in all directions, even as he tried to live the life God gave him. We all need to be encouraged realizing we may never know some of our greatest impacts in this world – we may never know that we did “save some,” that someone did see the difference and that was the tiny spark of light which eventually opened their heart to Jesus. That was one of Paul’s hopes and should be ours as well! So, live on, my Christian friends! Let’s all just let the Gardener decide which of those seeds will sprout.

Then, finally, there is verse 15. Paul says, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” There is a lot that could be said from this verse, but remember Paul is speaking very specifically to us Gentiles. And what is really the main thrust of what he’s saying? That you and I should never lose our respect for the Jewish people. Though they may seem temporarily rejected by God, yet still it is through Abraham’s descendants that the Lord said. “…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The Jewish people gave us Jesus and, in spite of how things may look today, they still are and always will be the unique people of God. They still hold a special place in the heart of God…and always should in our hearts too!

So just from these three little verses, may we all learn to be content to live the lives God gives us, to remember we may never know the greatest impacts we have had in others’ lives, and to always respect and appreciate Abraham’s descendants – the people of Israel.