"God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Know (Wot) ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and dug (digged) down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life." (verses 2, 3) Paul quotes from Psalm 94:14, "For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance." Paul makes a rather dogmatic statement; God foreknew Israel. The whole course of Israel's history was foreseen and foreknown, and at no point did God ever contemplate ceasing to be their faithful covenant-keeping God. He knew they would reject Him and His overtures. In I Samuel 12:22 Jehovah God said, "For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people." So Paul's question is decided on the basis of the sovereign will of God; furthermore, it is a matter of God's personal honor.
Paul calls Elijah as his witness. After the prophet's victory over the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, he fled from Queen Jezebel into the desert and later took refuge in a cave on Mount Horeb. The incident of Elijah against Jezebel and the prophets of Baal is found in I Kings 19. When confronted by the prophets of Baal, Elijah felt outnumbered saying, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts...I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." (I Kings 19:10). Elijah assessed the current situation and was somewhat dismayed. He had prayed a fifteen second prayer; however, God has answered by fire. Yet when Jezebel sought Elijah's life, he had fled many miles to Beersheba.
"But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." (verse 4) Elijah got his arithmetic wrong; he was by no means the sole surviving loyalist. Jehovah God answered Elijah by saying He had seven thousand devoted worshipers who had not bowed their knee to Baal, the chief deity of the Phoenicians, Babylonians, Canaanites, and Assyrians. God had promised to preserve the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David; He was not about to let Elijah suffer defeat at the hands of Jezebel and her puny forces.
"Even so, then, at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." (verse 5) Just as God preserved a remnant during Elijah's time, He preserved a remnant according to the election of grace in Paul's time. There will always be a remnant so that the covenant promise can be fulfilled. God once made a choice by grace, His will prevails since the calling of God is without repentance (Romans 11:29). "...Election of grace..." can also mean His gracious choice. By God's sovereign choice before the foundation of the world, He graciously predetermined His choice of those physical descendants of Abraham some of whom also would become Abraham's spiritual descendants. Paul was told when he traveled to Jerusalem (Acts 21:20), "...thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous of the law..."
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace; otherwise work is no more work." (verse 6) Stott says, "It is refreshing, in our era of relativistic fog, to see Paul's resolve to maintain the purity of verbal meanings. His objective is to insist that grace excludes works, that is, God's initiative excludes ours" (p. 293). Paul makes the same point in Romans 4:3 - 5. Salvation cannot be said to be the joint result of a dual source - charis (grace) and ergon (work). We are saved by the faith which is ours because of God's grace, but it is a faith that works. Works do not generate faith, but faith generates works.
"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day." (verse 7, 8) The word translated obtained means "to happen to hit upon a thing," or "to achieve something." Men and women after much frustration is seeking blindly or in the wrong places or ways, finally hit upon God's plan for them. The elect "hit upon" salvation, and the remainder of the human race was hardened or blinded. The word translated "blinded" here is also translated the same way in II Corinthians 3:14; however in Mark 6:52; 8:17; and John 12: 40 the same word is translated "harden." It can also mean "to be made obdurate" or "to stiffen one's resistance against persuasion." The elect found salvation and the rest of Israel were made callous.
Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 29:2 - 4, "...Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land, the great trials (temptations) which thine eyes have seen the signs, and those great miracles; yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see and ears to hear, unto this day." Then he quotes from Isaiah 29:10 which reads, "For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered." Israel as a nation was apathetic, unresponsive, and detached. Israel may have heard the prophets, and some of the Jews listened to the teachings of Jesus and saw His great miracles, but except for the elect few, they did not respond. They were dull of hearing; they would hear neither the law (Deuteronomy) nor the prophets (Isaiah). God gave them a spirit of stupor; He gave them up to their own stubbornness.
"And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them; let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their backs always." (verses 9,10) Now David is called as a witness as Paul quotes from a Messianic Psalm (69), verse 23 in the Septuagint Version, but verse 22 in the KJV, "let their table become a snare before them; and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap." The table here is the banquet table where a feast and a place of safety should be enjoyed, but for the ungodly it can become a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and a retaliation of punishment against them. The table should be a symbol of security, well-being, and community which are enjoyed at home, but the table of the Jews turned out to be the exact opposite. The bowing of the back, and the loosening of the loins, are vivid pictures of servitude and fear.
Here is another quotation from the same Psalm 69:23, "let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake." Rejected light can only lead to permanent servitude in darkness. "Intellectual confusion follows the determination of the will to reject God and His truth" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 83).
"I say, then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy." (verse 11) The Jews' stumbling is temporary, until the fullness of the Gentiles come into the fold. They have not stumbled beyond recovery. Herein is the chain of three links - first, already through Israel's fall salvation has come to the Gentiles; second, this Gentile salvation will make Israel envious and so lead to her restoration or 'fulness;' third, Israel's fulness will bring yet much greater riches to the world (Stott, p. 295). God could not abrogate His promise to Abraham and David in any case, even if Israel did fail, since the two covenants involved are unconditional...Whether Israel is faithful, unfaithful, obedient or disobedient has nothing to do with it (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 84).
Jesus said of the Gentiles (John 10:16), "...other sheep I have, that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." The 'other sheep' are Gentiles; they will hear the Shepherd's voice, and one fold will house both Jew and Gentile. Jesus is the one True Shepherd.
"Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness?" (verse 12) The Jews moral lapse into apostasy (rejection of the Messiah) will make the riches of God more gracious and include many Gentiles. The diminishing (fault, defeat, failure, loss) of the Jews will show God's riches toward the Gentiles. When the Jews lapsed into apostasy the Gentiles were given a door into the blessings of God that they otherwise would not have had. Thus the blessings ricochet from Israel to the Gentiles, from the Gentiles back to Israel, and from Israel to the Gentiles again. Stott says that on no fewer than four separate and significant occasions Luke records in the Acts how the Jews' rejection of the gospel led to its offer to and acceptance by Gentiles (Acts 13:46; 14:1; 18:6; 28:28).
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy (emulation) them who are my flesh, and might save some of them." (verses 13, 14) Paul says, "I magnify mine office;" or literally, "I glorify my office;" he devoted himself to his ministry with much energy and perseverance. Paul could speak with authority; not only is he a missionary, but he is a missionary to the Gentiles. He feels a special commission has been given to him from the Lord. In preaching to the Gentiles, he desires to provoke his fleshly brethren to emulation or jealousy. The word for jealousy or emulation is first used in Acts 7:9 where the brothers of Joseph were moved with envy (jealous) of him, so they sold him into slavery. By preaching to the Gentiles, Paul hopes to move to envy or jealousy his Jewish brothers; he still has an earnest desire to see his Jewish brethren saved. As a Hebrew Christian preaching to the Gentiles, he hopes to arouse a national jealousy when the Jews see that the Gentiles are being saved by accepting the Jewish Messiah.
"For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (verse 15) Since Jehovah God is temporarily turning away from the Jews and many Gentiles are being saved, this will be like a resurrection from the dead for the Jews. Paul writes of Israel's casting away or rejection as the reconciling of the world. The word rejection can also mean "loss" by death. When the apostle writes of reconciling the world, he means a "bringing together" of Jewish and Gentiles converts as one people. This is accomplished by the rejection of the Jews; for them it is like life from the dead. Perhaps Paul is comparing Israel's jealousy and acceptance of the Messiah to Ezekiel's vision (Ezekiel 37), in which the restoration of Israel is depicted as the coming together of dead, dry bones which are then given both flesh and life. If God could use the tragedy of Israel's rejection to bring salvation to the Gentiles, with what further blessing could he not enrich the world through Israel's acceptance and fulness?
"For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches." (verse 16) Paul now uses two metaphors, which function like proverbs, one from the ceremonial life of Israel, and the other from their agricultural life. A representative piece of dough is consecrated to God (Numbers 15:19 - 21), the whole belongs to Him, so when the first converts believe, the conversion of the rest can be expected to follow. The next metaphor perhaps means that as the Jewish patriarchs belong to God by covenant, so do their descendants who are included in the covenant. From these metaphors Paul develops the allegory of the olive tree (Stott, p 299).
Paul uses first fruits initially in Romans 8:22, 23 where he writes, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together unto now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body." The source of the first fruits is the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians 15:20 Paul states that our resurrected Lord is the first fruits of those who have been asleep. Without a doubt, our Lord Jesus Christ is the first fruit of the lump of dough. He is holy so the lump that produced Him is also holy. What produced Him? Why was He born? The answer must be the Abrahamic covenant. Yeager says, "The lump produced the Messiah, Who gave full proof of His Messiahship when He arose from the dead...The lump has produced the saints of God...Thus the lump of holy dough has already produced the cakes which are presented to the Lord as a 'heave offering.' Our Lord, risen from the dead was One. Every time another soul is saved, we have another cake of holy dough, for were it not for the faith of Abraham and God's promise to Him we would not be saved...The nation Israel is yet to be regenerated to become another cake of holy dough" (Volume XII, p. 93).
"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted (graffed) in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee." (verses 17, 18) "The apostle makes his point by referring to the familiar practice of grafting. Olive trees were an agricultural and commercial mainstay in ancient Palestine and much of the Near East and Mediterranean areas, and still support a valuable industry in most of those regions today. Olive trees can live for hundreds of years, but as they age, they become less and less productive, and in order to restore productivity, branches from younger trees are grafted to old ones. When a branch ceased to produce olives, a younger one was grafted in its place" (MacArthur, p. 114). Jesus taught in Matthew 21:43, "...The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation (people) bringing forth the fruits of it." If the Jews would not produce fruit, their privileges and blessings would be taken from them and given to the Gentiles.
The wild olive tree (or branch) is the Gentiles who have been saved; they are grafted in among the old tree branches. The Gentiles partake of the fatness of the olive tree; they enjoy the blessings of the gospel which Paul and others have preached to them. The Gentiles, however, are not to be boastful about their blessings, for it is the Jewish root that nourishes them. The Roman Christians had been grafted in, and they were partaking of the life-giving nourishment of the Jewish olive tree.
"Thou wilt say, then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted (graffed) in." (verse 19) The Jewish branches were broken off that the Gentiles might be grafted in. The breaking off and the grafting in were based solely on belief, not on any inherent racial or national inferiority or superiority. The issue is not worthiness and it is not racial, ethnic, social, intellectual, or even moral. The only issue is faith. Paul warns the Gentile Christians not to boast or exult themselves over the Jewish nation, because it is through the Jewish nation that the Messiah came. Paul says, "Stop boasting" or "Do not continue to boast." They need not congratulate themselves that God had chosen to eliminate national Israel from His program in order that the Gentiles might be saved. "That God could cut off a natural olive branch and engraft an inferior wild olive branch into the stock, with the result that the engrafted branch receives the same rich nourishment from the root that the natural branches enjoy, is a cause of humble rejoicing" (Yeager, Volume XII, pp. 98, 99).
"Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee." (verse 20, 21) Since the Jews were broken off or abandoned by God, then the Gentiles have good reason to fear or reverence God. If God did not spare the natural branches, the Gentiles should take heed lest God abandon them. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Paul is not implying here that the Roman Christians will lose their salvation; he is simply saying that God is not indifferent to an attitude such as is described in verse 19.
"Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of God; on them who fell, severity; but toward them, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." (verse 22) Goodness and severity are interesting words. Goodness means integrity or kindness. Severity means willingness to punish or sternness. God extended goodness or kindness to the Gentile; He extended severity and sternness to the Jews. If a person continues in the sphere of God's goodness, His goodness will continue to be extended to him. Severity does not necessarily mean eternal damnation. When Israel fell because of their unbelief and crucified the Messiah, God was in a position to provide redemption for and grant faith to the Gentile, thus He was good to them. Israel's unbelief resulted in Gentile faith. God's severity to Israel came at the same time as His goodness upon the Gentiles.
"And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted (graffed) in; for God is able to graft (graff) them in again." (verse 23) If the Jewish nation will turn from their unbelief and accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, God will recognize them again and because of His sovereignty, He will graft them back into the olive tree. If the Jewish nation does not remain obdurate, they will be assured their place in the parental stock. If God could graft the Gentiles into the parental stock, He can restore the Jew. Zechariah gives this prophecy to Israel, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born" (12:10). "God is able to graft them in again," and He will. Herein lies Israel's hope; they will not continue in their unbelief.
One of the more interesting texts that promises the future restoration of Israel is found in Revelation 11:1 - 4, John says, "And there was given me a reed like a rod; and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it. But the court, which is outside (without) the temple, leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the nations (Gentiles), and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands (candlesticks) standing before the God of the earth." In his vision John is told to measure the temple, the altar, and the worshipers. This act appears to define the extent of God's property. During the time of the Great Tribulation, many of the Jews will be converted (Zechariah 12: 8 - 14; 13: 1, 2), and they will be marked off by God as His own for protection during the Day of the Lord. The Gentiles at this time are left out (Revelation 11:2); most of them appear to oppose all that represents God, although some will receive Christ and be saved. As a whole, however, the Gentiles will not be saved.
"For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted (graffed) contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, who are the natural branches, be grafted (graffed) into their own olive tree?" (verse 24) The culture of the Gentile Christians was somewhat inferior to the Jewish culture. They could look at the religious tradition of the Jews and see a far more refined and sophisticated culture than that from which they came. They were selected by Divine Grace from what Paul, in the olive tree analogy, calls a naturally wild and uncultivated tree, far inferior to the cultivated tree. The pagan culture from which the Gentiles came to Christ had none of the advantages that flowed from the Judaistic tradition, which advantages Paul has listed in Romans 3: 1, 2; 9:4,5.
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness (full number; complete number) of the Gentiles be come in." (verse 25) The word translated ignorant means uninformed. Paul wanted the Roman Christians to be fully informed of the mystery of the Jewish blindness and the fulness of the Gentile world. What is the mystery that Paul is about to make known to the Roman Christians? In the New Testament when the word mystery is referred to, it means a fact not immediately obvious to the human understanding, or a secret purpose or counsel. The mystery spoken of in this verse has to do with the partial blindness of Israel that prevents them from accepting the Christian Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Jewish Messiah. Israel has been blinded to the truth so that God can take out a people for His name from the Gentiles. When the last Gentile in God's economy is saved, then the partial blindness of the Jews will be lifted and the Jews, as a nation, will turn to Jesus as their Messiah. This blindness will be lifted whenever Jesus comes back to earth as the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are living in the times of the Gentiles; it is that period of time when God is calling out from the Gentiles a people for His name's sake.
"God's setting Israel aside not only is partial and passing but also purposeful. God temporarily set aside His chosen people in order to bring salvation to the Gentiles (11:11b), to make Israel jealous of them (11:11c) so they would yearn to receive the blessings of the Messiah they had rejected and thereby be used to bring blessing to the rest of the world (11:12 - 15). But God's ultimate, overriding purpose is to glorify Himself" (MacArthur, p. 124). Jeremiah (13: 11, 16) states concerning Israel and God's glory, "...I caused to cling (cleave) unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah... that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear...Give glory to the Lord, your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness." In the closing verses of this chapter (11) Paul focuses on God's gracious dealing with Israel. God is glorified in His sovereignty (verses 25, 26a), in His integrity (verses 26b - 29), in His generosity (verses 30 - 32), and in His incomprehensibility (verses 33 - 36).
"And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." (verse 26, 27) We cannot interpret all (pas) to mean the quantitative whole of the descendants of Abraham; that is, every living descendant of Abraham at that particular time, but representatives from all twelve tribes will be saved at the Second Coming of our Lord. The phrase - all Israel (pas Israel) means in the less-than-literal sense, but Israel in a national sense. A parallel would be found in Matthew 3:5 which reads, "Then went out to (John) Jerusalem, and all Judaea and all the region round about the Jordan." This passage does not mean that every person in Judaea and in all the region around Jordan was standing on the banks of the Jordan River listening to John the Baptist preach.
Revelation 7:4 states, "And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel..." then the revelator says that 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes will be sealed. It is through these 144,000 Jews that Jehovah God will fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David.
Paul quotes from Isaiah 59:20,21 which read, "And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto those who turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth." Paul may have had in mind Psalm 14: 7 which reads, "Oh, that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad." God must rescue Israel on that last day of the Great Tribulation because of His covenant obligations with His people.
"As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." (verse 28) When the Jews saw the Gentiles turn to their God when the gospel was preached to them, they visualized the Gentiles as enemies of God and the Jewish faith. But since God chose to save some of Gentiles who heard the gospel, He saved them for His own sake. What happened to Israel was because of (for the sake of) the Gentiles. "Our verse says that God is looking at both sides of the coin. For the sake of the Gentile elect, Israel was made an enemy of God, nailed her Messiah on a cross, where He paid the redemption price for the Body of Christ. But for the sake of the patriarchs, God did not cast off His beloved forever" (Yeager, Volume XII, p. 111).
In this verse there are two contrasting ways of evaluating the Jewish people; namely, "they are enemies," and "they are beloved." First, it is observed that it notes God's hostility to Israel, in the sense that they are under God's judgment. Second, it is indicated that the Israelites are God's chosen people and descendants of the patriarchs with whom the covenant was made, and to whom the promises were made; therefore, He loves them and is determined to bring them to salvation.
"For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (verse 29) Jehovah God does not change His mind; He does not want one thing one time and something else at another time. Since God is sovereign He makes things happen as He wants them to happen. What He does is without repentance or as the RSV translates it irrevocable. Goodspeed translates this verse, "For God does not change his mind about those to whom he gives his blessings or sends his call." "The premillenialist can rest his case upon the facts that (1) God gave unconditional promises to the patriarchs, (2) God cannot change His mind about it, and (3) God is powerful enough to do what He wants to do" (Ibid, p. 113). Both God's gifts and calling are irrevocable. Numbers 23:19 says, "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"
"Gifts" here translates charismata, which carries the fuller connotation of grace gifts, gifts flowing from the pure and wholly unmerited favor of God. "Calling" refers to God's divine election of Israel to be His holy people. God will not change His plan for Israel's spiritual regeneration.
"For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." (verses 30, 31) Before the Roman Christians were saved, they disbelieved God and were disobedient to the gospel, although now they have been treated mercifully...Why did the Gentiles, formerly disobedient, later receive mercy? They received mercy because of Israel's disobedience...When the "fullness of the Gentiles" occurs, God will then again turn to Israel, to fulfill His promise to them. National Israel had to await her turn, and were set aside temporarily while God showed mercy to the Gentiles. Once that is done, because of the completion of God's redemptive program for the Gentile Bride of Christ, Israel will come into their own in terms of verses 26 and 27 (Yeager, Volume XII, pp. 114, 115).
Morris says, "There is similarity and difference in the experiences of the Gentiles and Jews. There is similarity in that both are characterized by disobedience. There is difference in that it was through the Jews' disobedience that the Gentiles came to experience God's mercy, but it will be through the mercy God has shown to the Gentiles that He will bring mercy to the Jews" (p. 425). "Mercy" carries with it the idea of having a compassion for those in need that leads to a meeting of their need. Because of man's greatest need is to have his sins removed and be given spiritual life, God's mercy generously provides just that. "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all those who call upon thee" so reads Psalm 86:5.
"For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." (Verse 32) Position-wise the word translated concluded is the first word in the sentence, indicating its importance. It means "shut up," "shut in on all sides," or "enclosed;" God has caught us all in His net. The entire human race, Jews and Gentiles, are unbelieving and disobedient sinners. The same word is used in Luke 5:6 where the disciples "enclosed a great multitude of fish..." All men are in the same predicament; all will receive the same treatment. Everybody is enclosed in sin and bound for judgment, unless God in His sovereignty intervenes; all will suffer punishment in hell for our sins. In this verse the apostle uses the word "all" (pantas) which means one hundred percent; every one is at one time or another in unbelief. The author is saying here that God has not predetermined that all should sin, but rather that He has so ordered things that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, being disobedient, show themselves to be sinners and have no other escape than through His mercy. This does not mean, however, that all are going to be saved from their sins; he does not teach a universal salvation. God's final purpose is that He may have mercy on them all. That purpose is not condemnation; it is always mercy. Almost all Bible scholars have struggled with what is called theodicy, the explanation of God's righteousness and omnipotence in the light of evil. No doubt almost every believer has at some time wondered about where evil came from and why God allowed it to enter His perfect world. Although God's Word does not fully answer that question, Paul gives at least a partial explanation, declaring that God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all (MacArthur (p. 133). If there were no disobedience in man, beginning from Adam in the Garden of Eden down to the present time, the magnitude and graciousness of God's mercy would never be known. In His sovereign omnipotence, God has allowed man intellectually, morally, and spiritually to fall into a state of sin to the extent that, on his own, man is unable to be convinced of God's truth, specifically the truth that he is lost and condemned and that he is powerless in himself to change his condition. Man's only hope is the mercy of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God. God had a overruling purpose and plan. That purpose and plan Paul reveals in Romans 9 - 11 as he unfolds the way of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul re-echoes here what he wrote in Galatians 3:22, "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."
So Paul concludes this portion of Romans with two "fulnesses" that are fused together for a new humanity that will have been realized, consisting of huge numbers of the redeemed, the great multinational multitude which no one can count, "the many" who were formerly in Adam but are now in Christ, experiencing His overflowing grace and reigning with Him in life. The end of God's ways will be "mercy, mercy uncompromised," mercy on the fulness of both Jews and Gentiles, mercy on "them all," that is, "on all without distinction, rather than on all without exception" (Stott, pp. 307, 308).
"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (verse 33) The remainder of the chapter is Paul's marvelous doxology. Words seem to fail him as he praises God for His mercy. He compounds words, but is still unable to express his feelings. God's wisdom and knowledge are deep; His judgments (what He thinks and what He decides) are unsearchable, and His ways (what He does and where He goes) past finding out (inscrutable; unfathomable). MacArthur says of the these words; they literally mean God's footprints are untrackable, such as those of an animal that a hunter is unable to follow. It is the exact idea expressed by the psalmist in declaring of God, "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." These two words unsearchable and inscrutable are almost alike and are used only here and in Ephesians 3:8. God's thoughts, His philosophy, the rationale behind His decrees defy human analysis. Isaiah felt the same way (45:15; 55:8,9), "verily, thou art a God, who hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior...For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Of course, God's riches are hid in Christ (Colossians 2:3); and that is where the believer is also hidden (Colossians 3:3).
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord: Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen." (verse 34 - 36) The author's two exclamation marks of verse 33 are followed by two question marks of verses 34 and 35, "who hath known...? "Who hath been...?" Frankly, it is ludicrous to imagine that we could even teach or give God anything. We are not God's counselor/advisor; He is ours. We are not God's creditor; He is ours. The answer to those two questions remains - Nobody! Nobody! Then Paul is probably reminded of Job 41:11 which reads, "Who hath given to (prevented) me, that I should repay him? Whatever (Whatsoever) is under the whole heaven is mine." God is sovereign, self-sufficient, and free from any obligations except those He places on Himself. He owes the Jew nothing and the Gentile nothing. God can finance His own undertakings. Goodspeed translates verse 35, "Or who has advanced anything to Him, for which He will have to be repaid?" The idea is that God needs nothing from us, either in the way of advice or material gift and He will be in no man's debt.
Paul concludes with a theological affirmation - "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things..." Paul uses three prepositions here: ek -'out of,' or 'from;' dia - 'through;' and eis - 'for' or 'unto,' indicating that God is the Creator, Sustainer and Heir of everything, its source, means and goal. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and every letter of the alphabet in between. He is the Source and Agent of everything. He is sovereign. All things usually refer to His material creation; however, here without a doubt, Paul is referring to the new creation as well, the coming into being of the new multiracial people of God. "To him be the glory for ever! Amen." It is because all things from, through, and to God that the glory must be His alone. This is why human pride is so offensive. Pride is behaving as if we were God Almighty, strutting around the earth as if we owned the place, repudiating our due dependence on God, pretending instead that all things depend on us, and thus arrogating to ourselves the glory which belongs to God alone" (Stott, p. 311).