A Remnant by Grace (Romans 11:1-10)

Paul begins this passage of scripture with a rhetorical question, a method that he often used in his writings.

"I ask, then, has God rejected his people?" (v.1a).

In the Old Testament, Israel was called out of paganism and set apart from their neighbors to be a theocratic nation with God as its ultimate king. Israel was given a mandate and a destiny.

After the Roman and Jewish war recorded by the Jewish military general and historian Josephus in A.D. 70 the Romans had completed their siege and the sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple just as Jesus had prophesied on the Mount of Olives. The Jews were slaughtered and those that lived were sent out of their homeland. Despite the two thousand years, they have not lost their ethnic and national identity. For two thousand years they have dreamed of returning to Mount Zion.

Most people who go to unknown nations and cultures, as they become the foreigner in a foreign land often adapt and become part of the culture. The Jews do not do this, they still have a strong awareness of their ethnic and national identity. Israel missed the Gospel by seeking salvation through the Law and Paul poses a question: has God fully rejected Israel and is it final? "By no means!" (v.1b).

It is important to remember that Paul and the other Apostles were in fact Jews. If God had fully rejected Israel, then they would have been rejected as they are one of them. Paul's roots are distinctly Jewish, his roots going to the tribe of Benjamin then to Abraham. "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." (v.2a). God is incapable of rejecting a people He foreknew from the foundation of the world, the elect, of whom Paul has been writing about since Romans 8.

Earlier Paul argued that, "For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel." (Romans 9:6). Paul argued that although one could be circumcised, this did not mean they were saved, as it is those who are circumcised in the heart. Not all from the seed of Abraham were chosen from the foundation of the world. Ishmael was from the seed of Abraham, but he was a foreigner to God's redemptive purposes. "And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." (Romans 9:7). Paul then emphasizing that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise that are counted as offspring.

Paul does not want us to conclude that although the Jews rejected the Messiah and despised the Gospel. This does not mean that God has rejected them totally.

What is Apostasy? Apostasy is a state that a believer can become if they reject their once affirmed belief in Christ. We have the prophet Elijah who makes a plea to God. His plea was during a terrible time of Apostasy in Israel. His plea came when Ahab was king and ruled with his consort Jezebel, a priestess of the cult of Baal. Elijah was a fugitive of the throne and faced daily persecution. He saw himself as alone, as the only one in Israel that was not a Apostate.

Apostasy is not Paganism as Apostasy is a state of a believer that at some point professed the true God. Apostasy can only take place in the house of God and whole churches can become Apostate. This happens when churches denounce essential truths of the Christian faith. True Christians can still be found in those churches, but that doesn't mean they should be. When a church is in Apostasy , we have a moral obligation to leave and distance ourselves.

Not every Christian does this though and there will be times that we will feel like Elijah, the last one faithful to God. Yet, God has a response for Elijah. "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." (v.4). This is in regards to the remnant that God has set aside to himself, and they were set aside by grace. In verse 5 we are told, "so too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace."

Throughout the Old Testament, God speaks of preserving a remnant. There are a few metaphors that are used to describe the people of God, that of being seed left after the field has been plowed, dregs found in the bottom of a cup, loose ends fit only for a trash barrel, and the stump left from a felled tree. That is what we are, we are the pieces of the whole; the dregs reserved by God in election. He has preserved His remnant, which He determined to redeem from the foundation of the world.

This is how we know the Church of Jesus Christ will never be destroyed. Churches may fall, denominations may collapse, but God will preserve for Himself a remnant, His elect in every generation. We are not alone in this dying world, nor will we ever be, for God has a people who cannot fail.

The Church is the Bride of Christ, who has been given to the Son by the Father. Before Jesus went to the cross, He prayed in the upper room: "I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours... While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except for the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." (John 17: 9, 12).

The remnant is according to the election of grace. "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works;" (v.6a). The concepts of grace and works are mutually exclusive. Grace by definition is unmerited, unearned, and undeserved. Paul makes it clear that it is one or the other, grace or works. Paul is writing about the Jewish people as a whole, ethnic Israel, his kinsmen. "What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened." (v.7). Some translations have the last word in verse seven as "blinded".

Paul quotes the Old Testament again: "As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day." (v.8). Israel was hardened and blinded because God made them so, a punishment for their sin. They did not want to see the things of God, so, as He has done throughout redemptive history, He abandoned them to their sinful desire. This is God's poetic justice, if you do not want to hear the word of God, he will make you deaf, unable to hear it. If you do not want to see the kingdom of God, he will make you blind and what you could see will be lost. When God works in this manner, it is always a punishment for evil inclinations.

Paul cites David, who was speaking about the enemies of God's kingdom: "And David says, Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever." (vv.9-10). Elsewhere David also wrote in Psalm 23, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;" (v.5a). This is the table of the banquet feast, a table of blessing prepared by God made visible to the enemies of the kingdom, "you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows." (v.5b).

The advantage that God gave to Israel was His Word. He did not give it to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or the Acadians. He gave it to Israel, they had the oracles of God. When the enemies of God come to that table and see the delicious food upon it, like a trap with bait that will spring once the animal pounces, the table will be a snare, a hammer on their heads of those who hate it.

To those who are being saved, the Word of God is sweetness and honey, but for the perishing, it is poison.