ASK THEN: DID GOD REJECT HIS PEOPLE? BY NO MEANS! I AM AN ISRAELITE MYSELF, A DESCENDANT OF ABRAHAM, FROM THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN.
ROMANS 11:2
GOD DID NOT REJECT HIS PEOPLE, WHOM HE FOREKNEW. DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS IN THE PASSAGE ABOUT ELIJAH--HOW HE APPEALED TO GOD AGAINST ISRAEL:
ROMANS 11:3
LORD, THEY HAVE KILLED YOUR PROPHETS AND TORN DOWN YOUR ALTARS; I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME'?
ROMANS 11:4
AND WHAT WAS GOD'S ANSWER TO HIM? 'I HAVE RESERVED FOR MYSELF SEVEN THOUSAND WHO HAVE NOT BOWED THE KNEE TO BAAL.'
ROMANS 11:5
SO TOO, AT THE PRESENT TIME THERE IS A REMNANT CHOSEN BY GRACE.
ROMANS 11:6
AND IF BY GRACE, THEN IT CANNOT BE BASED ON WORKS; IF IT WERE, GRACE WOULD NO LONGER BE GRACE.
ROMANS 11:7
WHAT THEN? WHAT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL SOUGHT SO EARNESTLY THEY DID NOT OBTAIN. THE ELECT AMONG THEM DID, BUT THE OTHERS WERE HARDENED,
ROMANS 11:8
AS IT IS WRITTEN: 'GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES THAT COULD NOT SEE AND EARS THAT COULD NOT HEAR, TO THIS VERY DAY.'
ROMANS 11:9
AND DAVID SAYS: 'MAY THEIR TABLE BECOME A SNARE AND A TRAP, A STUMBLING BLOCK AND A RETRIBUTION FOR THEM.
ROMANS 11:10
MAY THEIR EYES BE DARKENED SO THEY CANNOT SEE, AND THEIR BACKS BE BENT FOREVER.'
ROMANS 11:11
AGAIN I ASK: DID THEY STUMBLE SO AS TO FALL BEYOND RECOVERY? NOT AT ALL! RATHER, BECAUSE OF THEIR TRANSGRESSION, SALVATION HAS COME TO THE GENTILES TO MAKE ISRAEL ENVIOUS.
ROMANS 11:12
BUT IF THEIR TRANSGRESSION MEANS RICHES FOR THE WORLD, AND THEIR LOSS MEANS RICHES FOR THE GENTILES, HOW MUCH GREATER RICHES WILL THEIR FULL INCLUSION BRING!
ROMANS 11:13
I AM TALKING TO YOU GENTILES. INASMUCH AS I AM THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES, I TAKE PRIDE IN MY MINISTRY
ROMANS 11:14
IN THE HOPE THAT I MAY SOMEHOW AROUSE MY OWN PEOPLE TO ENVY AND SAVE SOME OF THEM.
ROMANS 11:15
FOR IF THEIR REJECTION BROUGHT RECONCILIATION TO THE WORLD, WHAT WILL THEIR ACCEPTANCE BE BUT LIFE FROM THE DEAD?
ROMANS 11:16
IF THE PART OF THE DOUGH OFFERED AS FIRSTFRUITS IS HOLY, THEN THE WHOLE BATCH IS HOLY; IF THE ROOT IS HOLY, SO ARE THE BRANCHES.
ROMANS 11:17
IF SOME OF THE BRANCHES HAVE BEEN BROKEN OFF, AND YOU, THOUGH A WILD OLIVE SHOOT, HAVE BEEN GRAFTED IN AMONG THE OTHERS AND NOW SHARE IN THE NOURISHING SAP FROM THE OLIVE ROOT,
ROMANS 11:18
DO NOT CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE SUPERIOR TO THOSE OTHER BRANCHES. IF YOU DO, CONSIDER THIS: YOU DO NOT SUPPORT THE ROOT, BUT THE ROOT SUPPORTS YOU.
ROMANS 11:19
YOU WILL SAY THEN, 'BRANCHES WERE BROKEN OFF SO THAT I COULD BE GRAFTED IN.'
ROMANS 11:20
GRANTED. BUT THEY WERE BROKEN OFF BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF, AND YOU STAND BY FAITH. DO NOT BE ARROGANT, BUT TREMBLE.
ROMANS 11:21
FOR IF GOD DID NOT SPARE THE NATURAL BRANCHES, HE WILL NOT SPARE YOU EITHER.
ROMANS 11:22
CONSIDER THEREFORE THE KINDNESS AND STERNNESS OF GOD: STERNNESS TO THOSE WHO FELL, BUT KINDNESS TO YOU, PROVIDED THAT YOU CONTINUE IN HIS KINDNESS. OTHERWISE, YOU ALSO WILL BE CUT OFF.
ROMANS 11:23
AND IF THEY DO NOT PERSIST IN UNBELIEF, THEY WILL BE GRAFTED IN, FOR GOD IS ABLE TO GRAFT THEM IN AGAIN.
ROMANS 11:24
AFTER ALL, IF YOU WERE CUT OUT OF AN OLIVE TREE THAT IS WILD BY NATURE, AND CONTRARY TO NATURE WERE GRAFTED INTO A CULTIVATED OLIVE TREE, HOW MUCH MORE READILY WILL THESE, THE NATURAL BRANCHES, BE GRAFTED INTO THEIR OWN OLIVE TREE!
ROMANS 11:25
I DO NOT WANT YOU TO BE IGNORANT OF THIS MYSTERY, BROTHERS AND SISTERS, SO THAT YOU MAY NOT BE CONCEITED: ISRAEL HAS EXPERIENCED A HARDENING IN PART UNTIL THE FULL NUMBER OF THE GENTILES HAS COME IN,
ROMANS 11:26
AND IN THIS WAY ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. AS IT IS WRITTEN: 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION; HE WILL TURN GODLESSNESS AWAY FROM JACOB.
ROMANS 11:27
AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'
ROMANS 11:28
AS FAR AS THE GOSPEL IS CONCERNED, THEY ARE ENEMIES FOR YOUR SAKE; BUT AS FAR AS ELECTION IS CONCERNED, THEY ARE LOVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE PATRIARCHS,
ROMANS 11:29
FOR GOD'S GIFTS AND HIS CALL ARE IRREVOCABLE.
ROMANS 11:30
JUST AS YOU WHO WERE AT ONE TIME DISOBEDIENT TO GOD HAVE NOW RECEIVED MERCY AS A RESULT OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE,
ROMANS 11:31
SO THEY TOO HAVE NOW BECOME DISOBEDIENT IN ORDER THAT THEY TOO MAY NOW RECEIVE MERCY AS A RESULT OF GOD'S MERCY TO YOU.
ROMANS 11:32
FOR GOD HAS BOUND EVERYONE OVER TO DISOBEDIENCE SO THAT HE MAY HAVE MERCY ON THEM ALL.
ROMANS 11:33
OH, THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNSEARCHABLE HIS JUDGMENTS, AND HIS PATHS BEYOND TRACING OUT!
ROMANS 11:34
WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BEEN HIS COUNSELOR?'
ROMANS 11:35
WHO HAS EVER GIVEN TO GOD, THAT GOD SHOULD REPAY THEM?'
ROMANS 11:36
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.