Romans 11:22

Romans 11:22 says, Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.  I believe that Paul was again telling us that God is a God of mercy and goodness, but that He is also a God of justice.  God could simply condemn all people due to their sins, but He chose to make a way to redemption due to His mercy.  To those who reject that way to salvation, which is faith in Christ alone, this gospel becomes a severity, as it separates those who reject it from God for all time.  Verse twenty-three adds, And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. Paul was still referring to the unbelieving Jews in his day.  He did not say if they believed that they would be a branch again, but they would also be grafted in to the Root, which is Christ.  They would not suddenly be made whole by their own merit.  We can never become a part of the family of God, followers of Christ, by any physical factor. Once we accept the fact that we are simply sinners saved by grace, we can never feel superior to anyone else.  We, as followers of Christ, are to live to bring glory to God and never to ourselves.  Verse twenty-four continues, For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?  The Gentiles were a wild olive tree, going there own way without any direction from God, but they were grafted into the good olive tree, or the family of God.  If God could and would bring them into His family, then He could certainly graft the Jews, the descendants of Abraham, into the true vine if they believed in Christ.  We need to acknowledge that the Jews had to come to God through Christ.  Physical birth could not save them, and only a spiritual rebirth, a grating in to the root of Christ could. Verse twenty-five concludes, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Paul always wanted to educate those he witnessed to about the truth of Christ and the kingdom of God.  I believe here he was warning the Gentiles not to become conceited because of their salvation through Christ.  The Jews might be blinded to the gospel, but they were still the people that God had chosen to work through first, and He had not and will not give up on them.  In verse twenty six, Paul states this saying, And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:  I believe that Paul is speaking of the true Israel, those who do accept Christ as Savior and Lord.  The Deliverer, Christ, shall turn them from their ungodliness.  Verse twenty seven states, For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.  The covenant that God had with Israel was based on their obedience to His will, and when they come to Him by faith in the covenant of Christ, He will take away their sins. That is the only way anyone can come to God, but it is also the way that all can come to God.  We must never think that the gospel is only for a select few.

Romans 11:15

Romans 11:15 says, For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?  Paul was still speaking of the Jews receiving salvation.  They were the people God had chosen to work through to bring knowledge of Him to the world.  The Israelites, or Jews, were not chosen because of any moral superiority to the rest of the world, but because they were a weak and insignificant group of people.  We never find in the Bible where God chose people because they were morally superior to others of their own merit. What made them morally better was accepting God's call and following His purpose for their lives.  Paul was still calling on the Jews to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord, that they could truly be God's people.  Verse sixteen adds, For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.  Paul was again referring to the Jews.  They were the firstfruit, the ones God had chosen to work through.  I believe that Paul was saying that had they been holy, in the right relationship with God, the world could have been reached, or brought into the right relationship with God, through them.  This was God's plan, but the overwhelming majority of those who called themselves His people rejected it.  They wanted to rulers over the Gentiles, and not servants of God to reach them.  We who profess to be followers of Christ today must be careful that we do not start to feel that we are better than the lost of the world and more worthy of salvation of our own merit.  We are called to serve God humbly that we might reach the lost and dying world, and not to sit in judgment praying for their destruction.  Verse seventeen continues, And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou,being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  Paul was speaking to the Gentiles.  They, and we, were grafted into the family of God through the root, Jesus Christ.  Many of the existing branches, the Jews, were broken off, because they rejected that root. Verse eighteen states, Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.  I believe Paul was warning the Gentiles against beginning to feel superior to the Jews.  Just because the Jews had rejected Christ did not mean that God had stopped calling to them.  Verse nineteen adds, Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.  This I believe is a continuation of Paul's telling the Gentiles and us that due to the Jews rejecting Christ and their role in spreading the gospel, the task went to the Gentiles, which means us.  The Jewish nation today still rejects Christ.  Verse twenty continues, Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:   They were broken off due to disbelief in God's salvation plan, which can only be received through faith.  Since we stand reconciled by faith, we can never be high minded in our relationship to other people.  Verse twenty-one concludes, For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.  Paul issued a warning. If God did not spare the Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham, then we need never believe that He will save us for any reason but faith in Christ. For this reason, we must never feel superior to other people based on where we were born or what family or social standing we were born into.  God still calls all people.

Romans 11:7

Romans 11:7 says, What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.  I believe Paul was telling the Jews that they had allowed themselves to become blinded to the truth of God.  Only a few accepted that Christ is the Messiah they were waiting for, and that was by faith and not their birth into the nation of Israel.  Many people today know what the gospel of Christ teaches, especially those who have grown up in the church, but they refuse to accept that Christ is the only way to salvation.  They want to believe that there are other ways to reconcile themselves to God, but just like the overwhelming majority of Jews in Paul's day, they are blinded to the truth.  Verse eight adds, (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.  Once more, we can see this as God causing them to not be able to accept Christ, but I believe that it means that He allowed them to reject Christ because they refused to see the truth.  To me, in the context of what the whole Bible teaches about God, He wants all to come to Him.  He may choose to work through a particular group, but He does it to reach the whole world.  Verse nine continues, And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:  I believe Paul is saying that those things that were to set the nation of Israel apart as God's people had become a hindrance, a stumbling block, to their following the will of God.  This was not some new thought that Paul had, but went back to the days of David.  We need to be careful today that rituals do not get in the way of our relationship to God. We certainly do not need to be a stumbling block to others, and the Jews in Paul's day had.  Verse ten states, Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.  God did allow the eyes of the Jews to be blinded to the truth of Jesus as the Messiah, just as He does with people today. God does not cause this spiritual blindness, but He does allow it.  If God chose before hand who will and will of not be saved, then faith has no meaning. Verse eleven adds, I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.  I believe that Paul was saying that the Jews not accepting Christ was intended to show that they had fallen out of their relationship with God.  God had not rejected them, but they had rejected God.  Through their disbelief, the gospel went to the Gentiles.  Verse twelve continues, Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?  I believe Paul was asking if the fall of the Jews brought a richness, the gospel of Christ, to the Gentiles, then how much greater would it be for the Jews to reach the Gentiles through belief in Christ themselves.  This is what Paul was doing.  He did not cease to be a Jew but became one both physically and spiritually. Verses thirteen states, For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: Verse fourteen adds, If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.  Paul said that he was an apostle to the Gentiles, but he still hoped to reach the Jews, those of his flesh, with the gospel of Christ. As we today reach out to the lost world, we need to never forget those born to God's people, the Jews.  They too need to hear and accept the gospel.

Romans 11:1

Romans 11:1 says, I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.  Paul was clarifying that God had not cast away the Jews, His chosen people to bring His message to the world.  Paul told them that God should forbid that such a thought would even exist. Then, Paul reminded them that he was an Israelite, born a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.  These facts neither brought him salvation nor prevented him from receiving salvation.  Our earthly heritage today is the same.  There is no one today who is saved nor denied salvation by who they were born to or where they were born.  Verse two adds, God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,   Paul was speaking to the Jews, God's chosen people, and once again he asked if they knew the scripture.  We today, as followers of Christ, need to ensure that whatever we teach is based on the scripture, God's written word to us.  When we search the scripture, the Holy Spirit will guide us to its truth.  Paul reminded them of a time in their history when Elijah made intercession against the Israelites with God. Verse three continues, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.  Paul was reminding them that this was not the first time they had rebelled against God.  Elijah, in his day, said that he alone was faithful to God. There were many people born physically into the nation of Israel, but they were not spiritually Israelites, which was the key.  They were killing the prophets of God and tearing down His altars, His places of worship.  If they were somehow saved simply by being born physically as a defendant of Abraham, this would not have mattered. Elijah said he alone was left to serve God and they sought his life. My brother recently reminded me that this is what today is called the Elijah complex.  We start to feel that we alone are serving God and the world is out to silence us.  Verse four states, But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.  Paul reminded them that God told Elijah that he was not alone. God had preserved a remnant of seven thousand.  I do not believe that this means God picked seven thousand at random and made them faithful, but instead that he knew the hearts of seven thousand were still true to Him.  Even though I live in what is called a Christian nation, and everything that is happening seems to work against God's will, there will always be a remnant as long as we await Christ's return.  We don't need an Elijah complex, either as an individual or a nation.  Verse five adds, Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.  Paul said there was a remnant then, and we can be sure that is true today, by the grace of God.   Verse six continues, And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.  Here I believe Paul is telling us that salvation cannot be by works and grace at the same time.  If we can earn our salvation by our own actions, then grace, salvation through Christ, would not be necessary.  Since we cannot earn salvation by our works, by God's grace, He provided the only way to salvation.

Romans 10:18

Romans 10:18 says, But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.  I believe that Paul was saying here that no one would have an excuse for not accepting salvation through Christ.  In a few short years, the disciples had carried the gospel to much of the known world.  The Jews of Paul's day wanted to keep God to themselves, making them superior to everyone else, or the Gentiles.  We today, as we profess to be a Christian nation, must be careful that we don't have the same attitude.  We have been blessed to have the gospel freely proclaimed, but that does not make us superior to other people. We have a responsibility to reach out to the rest of the world with the love of God if we are truly followers of Christ.  Verse nineteen adds, But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.  Paul asked if Israel did not know the gospel.  The sad news is, they still don't accept it today.  Paul reminded them that in the scripture even Moses had said that God would provoke Israel to jealousy by those who were not His people, but a foolish nation.  The gospel was now being received by the Gentiles, which should have made God's people, Israel, want to maintain that special relationship with God.  They were never chosen to be superior to others because they were better by nature but were chosen by God to present His love to the world.  We find throughout the Bible that when the Jews failed the greatest was when they presumed on the will of God.  They professed to be God's people, but they didn't truly follow His purpose.  God then worked through those who were not His people by the promise to Abraham to bring about His purpose.  Verse twenty continues, But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.  We can apply this to the Gentiles in Paul's day, but it was also true of the nation of Israel.  God came to them before they even sought Him, just as He comes to every person today before we even seek Him. Verse twenty-one concludes, But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. God did not give up on Israel, the Jews, at any time.  He continues to stretch forth His had calling them to salvation through Christ.  He does this not only with the Jews, though, but with all people.

Not too long ago, I came across a date that was followed by the letters BCE.  I was curious about the E, thinking maybe BCE was Before Christ Existed, but it seemed a little unnecessary to suddenly add an E.  So, I looked it up online.  To my surprise, it was a new form of political correctness and stood for Before Common Era, and A.D. was changed to CE, or Common Era.  Then, for me, the question was what was the dividing point between BCE and CE, and the only event that occurred that separated them was the birth of Jesus Christ, and we already have designations to divide time at that point.  If people don't want to acknowledge the reality of Christ, they should simply use the Jewish calender.  Changing the designation of what we call things before and after the birth of Christ does not change the reason for the dividing point in history.  Even if in the name of wanting to be politically correct we change the terms, we cannot change the reason for the terms.  There may be those who do not want to retain the knowledge of God in their life or the world, but they cannot remove the existence of God, nor the fact that Jesus Christ divides history.

Romans 10:12

Romans 10:12 says, For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.  Paul was speaking to the Jews in his day in particular, but to all believers in Christ in general. There is no difference in people in the eyes of God.  Paul tells us that salvation is made available to all who call on God through Christ.  God is rich in His salvation, not limited. I believe this precludes any concept that some are predestined to salvation and some to damnation. If this were the case, God would not be rich in His provision of salvation but limited.  We cannot attempt to hoard the love of God, which is what the Jews in Paul's day were attempting to do.  Just as there was no difference in people in Paul's day in the eyes of God, there is no difference today. Verse thirteen adds, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  Paul tells us that all who truly believe in Christ as Savior and Lord shall be saved. There are no qualifiers in this statement.  Paul did not say if we fortunate enough to be elected, if we were born into a particular group, or if we were good enough we would be saved.  He simply says that whosoever shall call on the name of Christ in sincere faith, as the previous verses stated, shall be saved.  We do not have to wonder if we are saved if we truly put our faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.  Verse fourteen continues, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?  This is a question for the followers of Christ today.  How is the lost world going to believe on Christ if they have not heard the gospel?  I do believe that God will reveal Himself to all people, but we are challenged to present the gospel that it might be easier to come to salvation through Christ.  Paul asked how they would hear without a preacher.  As followers of Christ, we are all to proclaim the gospel of Christ.  In that respect, we are all to be preachers.  Verse fifteen states, And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!  We know that the scripture says that some are called to be preachers and teachers.  These indeed have a specific call to a life of spreading the gospel, but that does not excuse all Christians from the general call of the Great Commission.  We are to present the gospel of peace, the good news of Christ.  Verse sixteen adds, But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?  We know that not everyone who hears the gospel is going to believe the gospel.  This does not relieve us of the responsibility for sharing it though.  Verse seventeen continues, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  I believe Paul is telling us that hearing the word of God, the gospel, leads to faith.  Not all will receive the gospel by faith, but it is our responsibility to share it.