The Remnant of Israel

¹I ask then, did God reject ʜɪꜱ people? Absolutely not! For I, too, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

²God didn’t reject ʜɪꜱ people, whom ʜᴇ foreknew. Or don’t y’all know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:

³“Lord [YHWH], they have killed your prophets. They have torn down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.”[#1 Kings 19:10,14]

⁴But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[#1 Kings 19:18]

⁵So too, at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

⁶And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.

⁷What then? What Israel seeks for, it didn’t obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

⁸Just as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that they should not see,

and ears that they should not hear,

to this very day.”

⁹and David says,

“Let their table be made a snare, a trap,

a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.

¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.

Always keep their backs bent.”

Gentiles Grafted In

¹¹I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the ethnic groups, to make them jealous.

¹²Now if their transgression brings the riches to the world, and their failure riches for the ethnic groups, how much more will their fulfillment be!

¹³For I speak to y’all, the ethnic groups. Insofar as I am an apostle to the ethnic groups, I magnify my deacon-work,

¹⁴if somehow I might stimulate rivalry among those who are my flesh and save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection brings the reconciliation of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?

¹⁶If the first piece of the dough offering is holy, so is the lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and became co-participant of the root and the richness of the olive tree,

¹⁸you must not boast toward the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”

²⁰Beautiful! By their unbelief they were broken off, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear,

²¹because if God didn’t spare the natural branches, ʜᴇ will not spare you either.

²²Consider then the goodness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but kindness toward you, if you continue in ʜɪꜱ kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.

²³And if they do not remain in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

²⁴For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

The Salvation of Israel

²⁵For I don’t want y’all to be ignorant, siblings, of this mystery, so that y’all won’t be conceited, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the ethnic groups has come in,

²⁶and 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.

²⁷This is my covenant with them,

when I will take away their sins.”

²⁸Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for y’all’s sake. But regarding election, they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs,

²⁹since God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable.

³⁰Just as y’all were disobedient to God in time past, but now y’all have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,

³¹so they too have now become disobedient, so that by the mercy shown to y’all they may also receive mercy.

³²For God has bound everyone to disobedience, so that ʜᴇ might have mercy on all.

³³Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are ʜɪꜱ judgments, and untraceable ʜɪꜱ ways!

³⁴“For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been ʜɪꜱ counselor?”

³⁵“Or who has first given to ʜɪᴍ,

that it will be repaid to them?”

³⁶For of ʜɪᴍ and through him and to ʜɪᴍ are all things. To ʜɪᴍ be the glory forever! Amen.