Romans 11:25-36 “Lost in Wonder”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵For, brothers, I am not wishing you to be ignorant of the mystery in order that you might not be thinking [too highly] of yourselves, that a hardening in part has happened to Israel until that the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, ²⁶And thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, “A deliverer will come out of Zion, [and] He will take away godlessness from Jacob, ²⁷and this [is] the covenant from Me to them, when I take away their sins.” ²⁸On the one hand, [they are] enemies to you (s.) with respect to the Gospel, but on the other hand, beloved ones to the fathers according to election, ²⁹for the gifts and the calling of God [are] unchanging. ³⁰For, just as you (pl.) were once disobedient to God but now you (pl.) have received mercy to the disobedience of these, ³¹thus also these are now disobedient to the mercy of you (s.), in order that they might also receive mercy. ³²For God has bound together the all into disobedience, in order that He might have mercy on them all.

 ³³Oh, the depth of [the] riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [are] His judgments and His ways beyond searching out! ³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor or ³⁵who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? ³⁶Because from Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things. To Him [be] the glory into the ages. Amen.

 Oh, my. I keep expressing that I feel this chapter is delving too deeply into the eternal counsels of God. This last section from v. 25 to 31 has done me in. I keep saying it all makes me want to throw up my hands and admit it’s just too much for my feeble brain. Yup. That’s where I am. Once again, I could go through and try to comment on each individual verse, but I don’t care to even attempt that. Clearly, Paul wants us Gentiles to respect and appreciate the Jewish people, to be assured the Lord still has a glorious future planned for them. However, beyond that, I need to just wrap up this study and walk away with whatever few crumbs of truth have “fallen from the children’s table.”

It actually encourages me to note that, having said it all, what is Paul’s response? “Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, for His judgments are unsearchable and His ways past finding out!” Now that I understand! Even Paul is essentially throwing up his hands. And if one of the most brilliant theologians that ever lived says that, then I guess I’m in good company!

I suppose that is the main thing I’ve learned from Romans 9-11. Although the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand, yet it defies the greatest theological mind to plumb its depths. People have argued endlessly over the centuries trying to understand this balance between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility, this business of predestination and election standing beside man’s total responsibility, this business of God saying, “I will have mercy on whom I’ll have mercy, and the rest I’ll harden,” compared to Jesus saying, “Whosoever will may come!”

How do we make sense of it all? I actually think the answer is, we simply don’t. As we learn in Deut. 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things which have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” Personally, I’m happy to just leave it there. No, I don’t understand it all. Of course I don’t. As I projected back in 9:1, we’re talking about God. We’re talking about the infinite God who inhabits eternity, who exists in a timeless Now, who is our Creator and the Creator of all we know and see, who created time and space for us to live in, while He Himself exists entirely above it all. He is Yahveh, the eternal I AM. He has, in fact, revealed much to us and it behooves us all to be active students of those words. However, there is a point where we need to be humble enough to admit we do not and cannot understand it all.

At some point, we need to set aside our studies and just look up in rapturous wonder at this God who is far above us. At some point, we just stop and say,

³³Oh, the depth of [the] riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [are] His judgments and His ways beyond searching out! ³⁴For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor or ³⁵who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him? ³⁶Because from Him and through Him and to Him [are] all things. To Him [be] the glory into the ages. Amen.