Tag: Romans

Morning Musing: Romans 11:13-16

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“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if I might somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them. For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Now if the firstfruits are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever benefited from an opportunity that someone else missed? I was waiting for a table at a busy restaurant with limited seating the other day. While I was sitting there the hostess called for two different groups who weren’t there anymore. She scratched both names off the list and ours moved up. We wound up not having to wait nearly as long as we thought. Just before we were seated, though, one of them came back to see if they could still get a table. They could, but it was going to mean starting over at the bottom of the long list. Paul says Israel’s missing out on God’s kingdom because of their rejection of Jesus gave this kind of an opportunity to the rest of the world. Let’s take a look at what he’s saying here.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 11:11-12

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“I ask, then, have they stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. Now if their transgression brings riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever missed out on something? I went to a week long youth camp with my church every year from seventh grade to after my freshman year of college except one. I had conflicting plans that one summer, but all I heard about for months afterward was how awesome that camp had been. I’ll admit: I was a bit jealous of the group that went. Israel (the geopolitical people) missed out on the kingdom of God when they rejected Jesus as Messiah. Starting here and for the next several verses, Paul explores this idea and what it means for everyone else, especially those who were not part of Israel. Let’s take a look at this with him.

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Morning Musing: Romans 11:7-10

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“What then? Israel did not find what it was looking for, but the elect did find it. The rest were hardened, as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear, to this day.’ And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and their backs be bent continually.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the journey that is parenthood, you know that one of the biggest ongoing challenges is figuring out how to effectively and adequately discipline children who misbehave. While there are plenty of books out there on the subject, no two children are the same. Some methods work on some children, other methods work on other children. There is no one-size-fits-all approach you can use that will do the trick every single time. That being said, there are some generally transferable approaches worth knowing. One of these is that sometimes the natural consequences are the most effective punishment. The outcome of a particular decision can be its own most effective consequence. This idea plays into what Paul has to say here. Let’s give it a look.

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Morning Musing: Romans 11:6

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“Now if by grace, then it is not by works; otherwise grace ceases to be grace.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This verse really goes with the last section. I could have kept it all together, but what Paul says right here is important enough that I felt like it needed to be treated individually. It’s important enough that Paul actually dedicated most of an entire letter to exploring and unpacking it (that would be Galatians). We won’t spend quite that much time on it today, but let’s take at least a couple of minutes to talk about the clearest statement Paul may have ever written on this absolutely essential Gospel concept.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 11:1-5

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“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and they are trying to take my life!’ But what was God’s answer to him? ‘I have left seven thousand for myself who have not bowed down to Baal.’ In the same way, then, there is also at the present time a remnant chosen by grace.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Mike Tyson is famous for saying “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Having things all worked out in theory and being able to adapt quickly to obstacles that come along with the goal of completely disrupting if not outright derailing our plans are two very different things. God had a plan for what He wanted to accomplish in and through Israel. Yet even for us to hear that sentence calls to mind things that God may not have meant. This is important for us to understand because trying to make sense out of what we understand God’s plans to have been and how things actually went can be tricky. Let’s join Paul in thinking through some of that here.

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