When does God no longer show mercy? None of us knows the answer to that question. His inexhaustible mercy cannot be commanded nor expected as though we have a right to His mercy. It is His to give and His to withhold. Presuming upon His mercy leads to ruin. Just look back at the history of Israel and see this happening so often. During the period of the Judges the Philistines ruthlessly lorded over the Israelites. Each attempt to throw off their dominance met with failure. But someone had the bright idea that if they were to take the Ark of God with them into battle, then surely God would meet them in mercy with a great victory. They presumed upon God. He showed no mercy. He cannot be manipulated into acts of mercy.
What happens in God’s mercy? He shows kindness where there should be wrath. He bears the weight of debt when there should be immediate payment. He meets rebels and enemies with sonship and inheritance. He confronts our sin with the cross of His Son.
The most calloused sinners and godless atheists may meet God’s mercy. There’s hope for terrorists who savagely carry out their agenda as long as God has not withdrawn His mercy. I’ve read several stories of not only criminals but also antichristian radicals that have come to faith in Christ. God had continued to show mercy so that they might hear the good news and believe.
But what about Israel? Has God withdrawn His mercy from the Jews? We know that there are some believers among the Jewish people but for the most part, they have rejected the gospel outright. It is illustrated well by the story Ligon Duncan told that he heard from a Jewish Christian. The man came to faith in Christ but was rejected by his family, all except for his grandmother. He told her that he did not understand how they could totally reject him for being a Christian. He said, “Dad doesn’t even believe in God, dad’s an atheist, he’s Jewish ethnically, but he’s an atheist. He doesn’t believe in the Torah, he doesn’t believe in the writings, he doesn’t believe in the prophecies, he doesn’t believe in the prophets. I believe in all those things. I believe in God, I believe in the Torah, I believe in the writings, I believe in the prophets, it’s just in addition to that I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that He fulfills all those things. Which one of us is the better Jew? Me or Dad?” And she immediately said, “Oh, your dad, because he doesn’t believe in Jesus Christ” [http://goo.gl/mvtv].
We wonder in such cases, has God withdrawn His mercy? Is there any hope for ethnic Israel to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Paul tackles this question in our text. In light of Jewish opposition to and rejection of the gospel, it seemed that divine mercy had dried up toward them. Now the Gentiles believe but not the Jews. Has God finished with them? Here’s where Paul gives what may be a surprising answer. The Lord has not withdrawn His mercy to the Jews. But how do we account for this in light of the vast majority of Jews worldwide rejecting the gospel? That’s what we consider in our text.
Paul asks two major questions in this chapter, both easily recognized by the introductory device that transitions from statement to clarification. “I say them, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be!” I think the similarities are pretty clear! Paul clarifies what he has already stated doctrinally by asking a question that expects a negative answer. He gives the negative in his most formidable way: May it never be!
Yet in spite of his question and assertion there seems to be evidence mounting against him. ‘Look at Israel. They want nothing to do with the gospel. They have been bigger opponents than even the pagan Roman government. And you want to say that they have not fallen? How can you make that kind of assertion?’
The two words, “stumble” and “fall” do not mean the same thing. One leaves a person in a position to continue making progress; the other declares that all has finished. Let me explain it like this. My favorite Winter Olympic sport is the downhill skiing. I love to watch the speed and agility of the skiers as they zip down the snowy slope at Interstate speeds. Once skiers qualify for the big race they have one shot at making it down. Some of them slip and stumble in the turns but continue until they cross the finish line. But if their slipping leads to a fall then they are disqualified from the race.
That’s the way Paul uses this word. No one reading the New Testament or understanding the gospel would doubt that Israel had stumbled. But the question is whether their stumbling was of such nature that they fell totally out of God’s mercy—that they were disqualified from ever receiving the benefits of the gospel.
Paul’s words might have appeared shocking. But he had already prefaced it by explaining that God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. He offered himself as a prime exhibit that He still saved Jews. He assured the Roman believers that God has always reserved a people for Himself, illustrated so clearly during the days of Elijah.
So what do we surmise from that certainty? We can be encouraged that while gospel work has been entrusted to us as evangels of the good news, it is made certain by the mercy of God shown to even the most rebellious gospel opponents.
We need to realize that when Paul speaks of Israel he is not speaking of every single Jew but rather he addresses them corporately without implying all of them. We might say, “Americans have grown careless, apathetic, and uninterested in biblical Christianity.” Does that mean every single American? Certainly not but it does mean that such a statement reflects the majority. That’s how Paul uses Israel in our text when he refers to them by the plural pronoun. “But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!”
Notice that he accuses Israel as a whole of “transgression.” What is their corporate transgression? Let’s answer that by asking, what has Paul been dealing with over the past few chapters? His major focus is on the righteousness of God. He calls this righteousness through Christ “it” in verse 7. “Those who were chosen obtained it.” But what had the Jewish people done with this gospel of righteousness? They had totally rejected it as inconsistent with their teaching and beliefs. They sought to establish a their own brand and way of righteousness (10:3) while not recognizing Christ as the righteousness of God (10:4). Therefore as a people group they fell under the judgment of God for “their transgression.”
But does this mean that their transgression ruined any chance that Jews could ever receive the righteousness of God in Christ? Paul explains that it actually was according to God’s plan. Remember that He has mercy upon whom He has mercy and He hardens whom he desires (9:18). He chose Isaac not Ishmael, and Jacob not Esau. Did that mean that the Lord forced the hand of Ishmael or Esau to reject the way of God? No but rather by withholding grace, as we considered in our previous two studies, their hearts were hardened against the Lord. The same was true for Israel in Paul’s day as well as throughout history, even to the present day. Lest we get the idea that God’s electing grace shown toward Gentiles made Israel sin, Paul reminds us of “their transgression.” They were responsible for their own sin even in the light of God’s sovereign mercy calling out a people for Himself from among the Gentiles.
Here’s where the sovereign purpose emerges in Israel’s sinful rejection of the gospel. “But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” What does the Apostle mean by this statement? How has salvation come to the Gentiles through Israel’s sin? Once again, Paul pulls the curtain back on the mysterious working of God’s sovereign mercies. He holds two equally strong ideas in tension: God working to bring salvation to Gentiles and Israel deliberately transgressing the Lord. Consider how we see this worked out in the New Testament.
After the centurion called upon Jesus to heal his servant while confessing his unworthiness for Jesus to come under his roof, Jesus declared this man’s faith greater than any He had found in Israel. Then He spoke piercing words of judgment. “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven [speaking of Gentiles]; but the sons of the kingdom [referring to the Jews] will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:10-12). Though Israel had been “sons of the kingdom” for centuries now, in God’s mercy, the Gentiles would be welcomed as sons of the kingdom. There’s a similar emphasis in Matthew 21:33-44.
How does this work out in the book of Acts? After Pentecost, Jewish believers settled into the routine of living as Christians in their homeland. No real efforts were made to take the gospel beyond Judah. But then came persecution—not at the hand of Rome but at the hand of the Jews. Christians began to scatter! “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ.” Who were the Samaritans? They were not Jews but enemies of the Jews and deeply hated by them. Now Philip, a Jewish Christian, went to Samaria due to the transgression of the Jews in rejecting the gospel. As he preached in Samaria “there was much rejoicing in that city,” as many came to faith in Christ (Acts 8:4ff.). Philip happened to be in the vicinity when an angel gave him a new task. “Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.” He obeyed and found an Ethiopian reading Isaiah’s scroll that spoke of the sacrificial death of Jesus. You know the story! He was invited into the chariot and explained the gospel. The Ethiopian believed the gospel. Why did it happen? The Jews had transgressed by rejecting the gospel that caused Philip to leave Jerusalem and be right where he needed to be to explain the gospel to the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40).
Acts 11:19-30 tells the story of Jewish believers “who were scattered because of the persecution” making their way “to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch.” Some spoke only to Jews “but there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord.” Why did it happen? Jewish rejection of the gospel and consequent persecution of Christians launched Jewish Christians into the world with the gospel. “By their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles.”
We must never think that God thinks or works like us! “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord (Isa. 55:8). We run into great trouble when we try to fit Him and His ways into our little pea-sized schemes. Paul absolutely knocks the props out from under us with his next statement. “Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” I thought that transgression and failure would lead to ruin not riches. Surely that is the case with us on so many occasions. Yet do we not even know something of this sovereign irony in our personal lives? Have we not experienced God working good even from our transgressions and failures? But here Paul speaks of universal riches applied to Gentiles due to Israel’s failure.
Does Paul have in mind that the Jewish rejection of the gospel has led to financial riches for the world? Is there some kind of plan for us to be healthy and wealthy due to the transgression of Israel? No, rather Paul is referring to the gospel as “riches for the world…riches for the Gentiles.” Does he mean anything different by using “world” and “Gentiles”? No, that’s just a literary device for emphasis. We do see in this the universality of the gospel—that it is applied to people everywhere in every people group located in every geo-political region.
Let’s think about that term “riches” for a moment. Paul has already used it in Romans. In 2:4, he speaks of “the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience,” referring to the great wealth found in God’s common and special mercy. But we get nearer to the meaning in 9:23 when he refers to “the riches of His glory” that God made known upon “vessels of mercy.” That context obviously points to riches meaning the gospel. He uses the verb form of “abounding in riches” in 10:12, in reference to the grace of God shown commonly to Jews and Greeks in the gospel. So when he speaks of “riches for the world…riches for the Gentiles” in verse 12, it is the riches of the gospel that he has in mind.
Is that not a fitting term? A person will guard and treasure what is valuable to him. He thinks on it; he enjoys holding it and gazing upon it. His status in the world focuses upon his riches. Paul can use such a term for the gospel since what is most valuable to those who are believers is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. First century people understood poverty in ways that we do not. Society was comprised of the rich and the poor; the proverbial ‘have’s and have not’s.’ But if one knew Jesus Christ in His saving grace, then he would be counted rich! And he still is counted rich!
Yet we so often find ourselves allured by the rich and famous of this world. We gawk at their treasures and wealth. But none of that will go with them beyond the grave. True riches last forever. Bank accounts, houses, land, gold, jewelry, and stock holdings have no lasting value. But Christ does. By the transgression of the Jews, God poured out lasting riches upon poor sinners who have nothing to take into eternity. Now we do! We have the riches of Christ in the gospel.
“How much more will their fulfillment be!” Or it could be translated, “How much more will their full inclusion mean!” (ESV). The marginal rendering is “fullness,” just as in verse 25, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” The ESV actually offers a bit of interpretation, and accurately so. Paul is referring to the full number of Jews elected by grace, purchased by the bloody death of Jesus Christ, called out by the preaching of the gospel, regenerated by the Spirit, and saved by faith alone. He does not have in mind some special way for Jews to be saved differently from Gentiles. Nor does he have in mind that Jewish ethnicity equals salvation for all Jews. Nor does he have in mind that a distinction will be maintained in eternity between believing Jews and believing Gentiles. The cross of Christ has already knocked down that wall (Eph. 2:14-18). It is the same gospel that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, “to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). The righteousness of God is found nowhere else but in Christ as revealed in the gospel; and that righteousness of God is not received apart from faith in Christ alone (1:17). The only Jews who will be saved are the Jews who will receive the righteousness of God through faith in Christ—just like the Gentiles (10:12).
The Jews were the first priority in Christ’s coming to fulfill the gospel promises given to the Patriarchs and passed down through the prophets. He was “sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). Yet His expansive mission was evident even in that setting when He affirmed the Syrophoenician woman’s faith. While the Jews were the first priority they were not the totality of God’s promise to save. The Messiah was to be a light of the nations, “so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth,” declared the Lord (Isa. 49:6). Yet Paul looks for a future “full inclusion” of Jewish believers.
“But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles.” So Paul clarifies what he means to his Gentile audience. “Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.” Was he exclusively an apostle of Gentiles? Though Gentiles comprised his focus he continued to maintain a passionate burden for Jews to come to Christ and he sought to speak the gospel to them when opportunity arose. How would Jews be moved to jealousy? Was that a sinful jealousy? The Apostle uses jealousy in a positive light. Though the Jews originally were jealous of the popularity the apostles found, thus spurring their persecution of believers, Paul now looks at jealousy from another angle. It is the jealousy of seeing others inherit the very promises made to them in the gospel!
Paul adds, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” If the Jewish rejection of the gospel resulted in great blessing to the world of the gospel spread from people to people, then how much more will be the blessing of this “full inclusion” of the Jews as believers! What Paul anticipates is a time when Jews will come to Christ in vast numbers. Does that mean every single Jew? Not any more than “reconciliation of the world” means that every single person in the world—without exception—will be saved. But what he does seem to have in mind, and I think that’s where he ends up later in the chapter, is that at some point in God’s agenda a large number of Jews will come to faith in Christ. Paul sees this as so staggering that he calls it “life from the dead.”
The metaphor in verse 16 takes us back to the promises given to the Patriarchs. “If the first piece [first fruit] of the dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.” He uses the practice in Numbers 15:18ff., that calls for offering the first of one’s dough up to the Lord as representative of the whole to express his confidence that the Lord is not finished with the Jews [J. Stott, Romans: God’s Good News for the World, 299]. The first piece or first fruit stands in the place of the rest. If the first piece is holy the rest is as well. What Paul implies is that if God set apart the Patriarchs as the first piece of the dough or as the root, He is not finished showing mercy to their descendants. He confidently expects that a day will come when God will turn once again in great saving mercy toward the Jews.
What are we to make of this section and how are we to apply it?
We have not left the emphasis on sovereign mercy! It is God who “has mercy upon whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (9:18). For anyone to be saved—Jew or Gentile—God must work in sovereign mercy and grace. It is never the work of man that saves.
Consequently, as believers live in faithfulness to the gospel, as they truly show the characteristics of holiness, love, purity, faithfulness, joy, perseverance under trials and persecution, God is pleased to use this with the Jews. The point of the jealousy is to bring them to Christ.
This is not popular or politically correct but we fail in loving Jewish people if we do not pray for them and seek to point them to Christ. Several years ago our denomination came under fire for gospel materials that focused on witnessing to the Jews. Those blind to the gospel do not know what they are missing and so will object at every turn. We must not be silent when eternity is at stake. No Jewish person will ever be saved just because he is Jewish. He must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must guard our attitudes as well when seeking to tell our Jewish friends about Christ. Arrogant Christians will not lead them to Jesus (a theme Paul takes up in v. 18), nor will uncharitable evangelistic techniques serve to point them to Christ.
Humble gospel servants that build friendships with Jews, love them, care for them, show them the gospel in the way they live will have opportunity to discuss the gospel with them. Learn where they stand and what they believe. Just because a person is Jewish does not mean that he even believes in God much less believe the Scriptures. Work toward showing the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament but only as you live out the heart of the law by loving God first and loving others. Pray for Jewish friends to come to Christ. Pray that the great mercy of God will be extended to them once again for the sake of His great name and the glory of Christ in the gospel.
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