Romans 11:1-6

With the beginning of Romans 11, we come back again to the heart of Paul's concern. Paul begins with the question which forms the main topic of this entire section: "Hath God cast away his people?" Throughout this chapter, we will have Paul's attempt to answer it.

And in order to understand Paul's argument, we have to review the story of the prophet Elijah.  Elijah worked at a difficult time in the history of Israel. The northern kingdom had never been on a good footing religiously since Jeroboam had led them away from Judah and away from proper worship. But under the leadership of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, the nation had gone wholly into idolatry, into the worship of Baal. 

During this time, there was a long famine and at the end of the famine, Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a public test before all the people, a test to prove which God was truly powerful—Baal or Jehovah. And Jehovah manifested Himself to the people by sending a miraculous fire which consumed Elijah's alter. 1 Kings18:39 tells of how the people reacted to this miracle: “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”

It seemed as if there was a great turning to God among the people; as if the dark cloud of Baal worship had been dispelled; as if the truth were triumphant at last.

And yet we know how it turned out. A chapter later, we find Elijah at bay, hiding for his life from persecution, sitting under and tree and wishing to die. The bright day had turned dark. What might have been had not come to pass. We know that Jezebel was seeking to kill Elijah and it seems that the mass of people had turned back to her side. Though we have no details, perhaps Elijah had seen some of those same men who cried out to God on the mountain now trying to capture him and turn him in. He felt utterly alone; as if he were the only one serving God among all of Israel.

We read in 1 Kings of how he spoke to God regarding his feelings. Paul puts it that he interceded to God against Israel; he spoke as an accuser, charging the nation with a crime. Bible Knowledge suggests that Elijah was saying that Israel was a lost cause and God should just cast them off. 

And while Paul doesn't make this comparison, I can't help but wonder if Paul felt like Elijah. As it was in the days of Elijah, in the days of the New Testament God had revealed Himself in a dramatic way. The coming of the Messiah; the death and resurrection of the Messiah—it should have been the point where everything turned to good; it seemed a bright morning of promise as that day on Mt. Carmel. And yet, that morning seemed to have darkened. At the very moment when there should have been a great turning to God, there was only a turning against God. And Paul—like Elijah—found himself hunted and persecuted as an outcast because he was true to God. If Paul had been tempted to say that the Jews were a lost cause and God should just leave them alone, it would be hard to blame him.

But we have to consider God's answer to Elijah. God did not deny the darkness of the situation or the sin of Israel. God commissioned Elijah to set in motion the events which would lead to a judgment on the sins of the nation. But He also adds this: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18) Most of the commentators think that seven thousand here is a symbolic number representing a large amount, but in any case the point is the same—even though Elijah felt like he was alone and as if the entire nation had been lost, there were still thousands who were faithful to God, thousands who were kept by God, thousands who remained in His protection, faithful to Him and held by His faithfulness.

There was a remnant, a remaining portion, a part of the whole that had not been lost. In Elijah's day, there was a remnant that was faithful to God; there were still some who were truly God's people, even though the vast majority had gone astray.

And that brings us back to Paul's argument. To many of the Jews, it must have seemed as if God had cast them off. To the Gentiles, following along with Paul's argument, it might have seemed as if God had cast off the Jews. And the simple answer to all that is Paul himself. Paul was a living testimony to the mercy and grace that God was still giving to the Jews, for Paul was a Jew—as we know from elsewhere, an especially Jewish Jew. Clearly, it wasn't as if God had simply written off the Jews in order to save the Gentiles. Paul—and most of the other leaders in the early church—are proof to the contrary.

Even though most of the Jews had turned against Christ and the plan of God, there was still a seven thousand, there was still a remnant. And this, Paul argues, is the true people of God. In verse 2, he makes the statement: “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” Most commentators take foreknew to have the sense of chosen, selected, picked out. In other words, there was a least some sense in which the true chosen people were not the Jews as a whole, but the remnant; the number among Israel who remained faithful to God. 

They existed in the days of Elijah; they existed in the days of Paul; and they still exist today. There is a remnant. But why? What separates this group out from the whole? In verse 5, Paul refers to this group as being elected or chosen—but why were they chosen? Was it their appearance? Were they the most pure-blooded Jews of all Israel? Was it the fact that they were careful in following the law? Was it simply an arbitrary choice by God?

Verse 5 gives us the answer. It was "the election of grace." Grace is the key here. And because it was by grace, by God's gift, it could not have been by works, since these two ideas are mutually exclusive. The remnant was not saved by being Jewish, since many of those in the greater Jewish community had equally good bloodlines and pedigree. They were not saved by following the Jewish law, since there were others (especially in the New Testament time) who were very careful and conscientious to follow the law. It was grace; God's gracious gift. 

But grace is God's side and we see from the rest of scripture that God is willing to give grace to all men. What is the thing that makes grace efficacious in certain cases? What is the catalyst that activates grace? We see this in a couple other passages of Paul's: “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2) “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

Faith is the key here; when man reacts in faith to God's grace, that is when miracles happen. And so this remnant among the Jewish people, the true chosen people, were those who reacted in faith to the promise and the gift of God.

Once again we come back to this point which Paul has been making over and over throughout Romans. God's covenant with the Jews was always founded on faith; God never promised to Abraham a blank moral check or a heavenly amnesty. The Jews were chosen for a purpose, but that choice never meant that every Jew would be saved merely by virtue of being a Jew or following the law. The key was always faith.

And therefore, God was not in the wrong for rejecting or leaving behind the mass of the Jewish people who would not believe in Christ. God was keeping His promises to the remnant. In the end, we come back to the beginning:

The just shall live by faith.