Israel’s Rejection Not Total
1 I say then,has God cast away His people?Certainly not! ForI also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham,ofthe tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not cast away His people whomHe foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
4 But what does the divine response say to him?“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 Andif by grace, thenitisno longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But ifitisof works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
7 What then?Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest wereblinded.
8 Just as it is written:
# “God has given them a spirit of stupor,
# Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day.”
9 And David says:
# “Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always.”
Israel’s Rejection Not Final
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! Butthrough their fall, to provoke them tojealousy, salvationhascometo the Gentiles.
12 Now if their fallisriches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch asI am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousythosewhoaremy flesh andsave some of them.
15 For if their being cast awayisthe reconciling of the world, whatwilltheir acceptancebebut life from the dead?
16 For ifthe firstfruitisholy, the lumpisalsoholy;and if the rootisholy, soarethe branches.
17 And ifsome of the branches were broken off,and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast,rememberthatyou do not support the root, but the rootsupportsyou.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
20 Wellsaid.Because ofunbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness,if you continue inHisgoodness. Otherwiseyou also will be cut off.
23 And they also,if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, whoarenaturalbranches,be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should bewise in your own opinion, thatblindness in part has happened to Israeluntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
# “The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 ForthisisMy covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the gospeltheyareenemies for your sake, but concerning the electiontheyarebeloved for the sake of the fathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of Godareirrevocable.
30 For as youwere once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God has committed themall to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchableareHis judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 “For who has known themind of theLord?
# Orwho has become His counselor?”
35 “Orwho has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
36 Forof Him and through Him and to Himareall things,to whombeglory forever. Amen.