God chooses who are His and who are not. He decides who hears and who does not, and He has decided that some Gentiles should now partake of His grace. The Jews who rejected the Word were actually being rejected by God.
9:1-5 Paul expresses his abiding love and his continual burden for his fellow Jews, whom God has so greatly blessed and yet who so foolishly rejected the greatest blessing of all: their Messiah.
9:6-13 The failure of most of the Jews to receive their Messiah was not a failure on God's part. He knew from the beginning who were His, and did not chose them on the basis of any fleshly circumstance. Even Isaac and Jacob were children of God's "promise", not merely children born according to the natural order of life. They symbolized those who, in this NT, are born by the Spirit, the "promise of God" (Acts 1:4; Gal.3:14). The children of God, says Paul, would be those born supernaturally, not naturally.
God's selection of those who are His are God's choice, who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will". To show how uninfluenced He is by men, Paul reminds the reader of God's choice of Jacob over Esau before they were even born.
9:14-18 Some will say to this, "If God chooses some and not others, then how can those that He has not chosen to be blamed for sinning?" Paul's answer: God is not wrong about anything. If He chooses to harden a heart, it is His prerogative to do so. If He chooses to touch a heart and grant a person repentance unto life (e.g. Acts 11:), then that person ought to tremble, and thank God for His mercy every day he lives! As the prophet said, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps.2:11).
9:19-24 One may question God's condemnation of those who sin, if He has not granted them repentance. Paul's response: Who is any one of us, that we should question God's actions? He is our judge. We are not His. He has granted repentance to some of the Jews and some of the Gentiles. Who is it who is able to question His work? Doesn't the Creator have the prerogative to do what He will with His own creation? As the owner of a vineyard said in one of Jesus's parables, "Is it not lawful to do what I will with what is mine?"
God has authority to take the same lump of clay and shape two manner of vessels. He can, and often does, take the "one lump" of a wife and husband and shape one after His mercy and harden the heart of the other. Likewise with the "one lump" of a brother and sister, or mother and child, etc. "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?" asked Jesus. "I tell you, Nay!, but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the Father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Lk.12:51-53).
Those whom God rejects are powerless to understand the behavior and feelings of those whom He chooses; and those whom He chooses are powerless to explain anything to those who are not chosen. In the calling of God, there is a "great gulf" fixed, and no man is able to pass over it to the other side.
9:25-29 God foretold through Israel's prophets that He would turn to the Gentiles with His mercy and exposed the Jews' (as well as the Gentiles') unworthiness of it. Thus, God's grace is, and always has been, the only hope of all men, whether Jew or Gentile. In verses 27-28, Paul quotes Isaiah's prophecy (10:22-23) of God's vengeance against His people Israel, saying that only a remnant (a tenth? Isa.6:13) would be granted to continue in His grace.
9:30-33 The Gentiles, who knew nothing of the Law, obtained the righteousness of Christ by believing the gospel about him, whereas those proud Jews (the vast majority, not the remnant) who relied upon ceremonial correctness for their righteousness stumbled at the simple faith revealed in Christ Jesus. This too, Israel's own prophets foretold.
10:1-4 It is not of any ill will that Paul proclaims God's grace to the Gentiles. Paul acknowledges the Jews' zeal for God, but laments that their zeal is so misguided, being so concerned with the distinctiveness of their ceremonial forms, and their unique traditions.
10:5-10 Quoting Moses, Paul shows that saving faith is a matter of the heart, not of ceremonial correctness. It is often overlooked that Moses is the source not only of the description of the "righteousness which is of the Law" (v.5) which Paul uses but also of the description of the "righteousness which is of faith" (vv.6-7) which Paul uses. In the quotations from Moses which Paul quotes, Moses was speaking to God's people who had been in covenant with God forty years (Dt.30); similarly, Paul is speaking to God's people whose faith was known "throughout the whole world" (1:8). In this section, Paul is not describing the way a sinner is converted; rather, he is describing the way to salvation for those who are already converted. They already know the way to salvation, being God's children for a long time now, just as Moses's audience already knew what God required of them.
Moses's original point in his final address to Israel, from which Paul is quoting, is that Israel should resist the temptation to look for any new thing; they had what they needed: God's Law. By now, they knew what God required and what they should do. All that remained was for them to do it. Paul's point is precisely the same; to wit, the church has Christ within. That is all that is needed. The Spirit will guide into all truth. There is no need to pursue any other way or knowledge. The saints in Rome already knew the truth (the word is "in your mouth and in your heart"). Paul's plea here is for them to be "content with godliness" and to resist the pressures of the world to try to "dress it up". The gospel is simple. Keep it that way.
Note that the injunction to "confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus" is impossible for a sinner to do. The sinner confesses sin; the saints confess Christ. That "confession is made unto salvation" is simply to say with Jesus that "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." Then the last statement here is a repeat of the point: Whoever trusts in Jesus to save him will not be ashamed, or disappointed, on the Day of Judgment.
10:11-13"Whosoever" meaneth "whosoever". "Calling on the name of the Lord" is a biblical phrase which refers to the communication between God and His children. Sinners do not call on the name of the Lord (Ps.14:4) because it is impossible for them to do so (Zeph.3:9). Acts 7:59; 1Cor.1:2; 2Tim.2:22; 1Pet.1:17. And salvation will be given only to those who, in the day when Jesus returns, are at that time, calling on the name of the Lord. Acts 2:20-21; Lk.18:8. 10:14-21 In order for saving faith to exist in a heart, there must come a messenger sent by God (as opposed to being ordained by default, i.e., ancestral lineage). The Jews heard the gospel preached by Jesus and then by those who followed him, but not all believed, even though they were forewarned to prepare. Most of God's people refused to learn of God through nature (as Chapter One declares), and they rejected God's word as delivered by the prophets, the Messiah, and apostles, believing instead the word of those not sent by God, just as the prophets, Jesus and the apostles said they would do (Jn.5:43).
This rejection of the truth, and God's turning to the Gentiles with it, occurred - despite God's plain warning that it would happen - and in some case was happening even as they spoke (Acts 28:24-29).
11:1-5 Although God has rejected the first covenant, God has not discarded His chosen people, the ones whom He foreknew before the foundation of the world. Some of these elect people are Jews, as Paul was. Not all Jews were cut off from God's grace, just the rebellious and disobedient.
11:6-10 What did the obedient and disobedient have in common? Works of the Law. In what way were they dissimilar? In the hearts' condition. But who made the difference? Whom should the obedient thank for the difference? Themselves? By no means! It was only by the mercy from God that they were chosen by God to survive. The others, as "vessels of dishonor", were turned over to "believe a lie and be damned" (2Thess.2:10-12).
If the righteous had the ceremonies in common with the wicked, then the ceremonies must not have been what saved them. Otherwise, those ceremonies would have saved the wicked, too. Nothing which the righteous had in common with the wicked saved them (e.g., breathing, eating, wearing clothes; laughing, talking, going to school, buying a house, etc.). Foolish people judge themselves by those carnal kinds of things, but the wise do not.
Carnal things, which were a part of the Law of Moses, entrapped the ungodly, for they became so proud of their ceremonial correctness that they rejected Jesus in order to maintain it.
11:11-16 God's plan includes stirring up love for Jesus in the Jews' heart by provoking them to jealousy. His turning to the Gentiles was intended to make them come to Christ and receive the promises which were theirs, made long ago to their forefathers. But with the rise of Roman Catholic Christianity, and its relentless hatred and abuse of Jews, the Jews historically have associated that abuse and that hatred with Jesus. What is there about Christianity which would provoke the Jews to jealousy? Just as the Gentiles blasphemed the name of God because of the behavior of many Jews, so the Jews have been provoked by Christianity to blaspheme the name of Jesus.
Paul spoke to the Gentiles because (1) God sent him and (2) because he hoped that the Jews, seeing the power of their God operating for the good of the Gentiles, might become jealous. Note that Paul does not say he wants to provoke them to envy. Envy is desiring what God has given to someone else. Jealousy concerns what belongs to you (as the things of the kingdom of God belonged originally to the Jews. cp. Rom.15.26-27). Paul doesn't even seem to mind if the first reaction of the Jews to his preaching is a fleshly one: emulation. If he could only get that much of a response out of them, he would have something with which to work.
Paul encourages the Gentiles to maintain a right attitude concerning God's relationship with both them and the Jews, saying that if the fall of the Jews has blessed the Gentiles, how much more blessed will the Gentiles be if Israel believes! This seems to be a little bit of strange reasoning from Paul, but he doesn't want the Gentiles here to worry about what will happen to them if the Jews turn to Christ. God will not forget His people of faith.
The turning of the Jews to Jesus is implicitly associated here with the first resurrection. "The receiving of them" by Christ will be "life from the dead." In fact, the future's time-line, recorded in Revelation, does show that the two events are very close together.
11:17-24 There is absolutely no reason at all for any believer to gloat over the fallen Jew. Should we begin to boast of our faith in Christ, as if it is not a gift from God, we too will fall into the same condemnation which ruined the Israelites' fellowship with God. And besides, if any of the Jews repent and turn to Jesus, God will bring them again into His covenant family.
11:25-29 In part, God blinded the Jews because of His love for Gentiles, for all who are of the faith of Abraham must be saved. When God has finished with His dealings with the Gentiles, Israel will be called again. Then, all who belong to the Israel of God, the "true" Israel, will be saved. That is one of God's promises. God still loves the Israelites, for Abraham's sake, and for Isaac, and Jacob. They are still a people who were called, even though they rejected their calling, because the call of God forever changes people - even if those people refuse their calling. God does not repent for calling; that is, the calling stands forever as having been made.
11:30-32 Paul pleads with the Gentile believers to show mercy to the Jews, so that the Jews may obtain eternal life. As the Jews once were able to help the Gentiles (but failed to do so through pride), the Gentiles now are in a position to help the Jews. A goal of the Gentile church should be to bring in the Jews.
11:33-36 God's wisdom cannot be discerned. He is inscrutably wise. Without revelation, we cannot know what He does or thinks, but when His ways are revealed, how great do they appear!
