The Book Of ROMANS.....A Systematic Teaching

Romans 11:4..........
"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."
Elijah was totally unaware that God had been working in the hearts of 7000 men!

If there was 7000 men who had not bowed the knee then you can double that because of the women.

Elijah was not alone, after all.

Paul will show that the same is true of Israel in his day. Though most of Israel has missed the righteousness of God by rejecting faith in Christ, a remnant of Israelites is faithful to God in and through Christ.
 
Romans 11:5.........
"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."

God always had a remnant in Israel. That remnant today is made up of those Jews who have come to Christ. This is the reason Paul will say later that ALL Israel is not saved.
 
Romans 11:6............
"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."

In other words, grace and works represent two mutually exclusive ystems. they are diametrically opposed to each other.

The "remnant" at this time is composed of those who are not saved by works or by merit; they are saved by the grace of God plus nothing!

The future purpose of God, from the day Paul wrote down to the present, concerns those who will accept Christ!

What about those who do not accept Christ???? Well.....the remainder of Israel is hardened.

Those who remain as the remnant of faithful Israel understand that they have not been saved by their works. They have come to God by faith in Christ.

While this verse is meant to prove a point about God and Israel, it also draws a clear line in terms of theology. There is no gray area between works-based salvation and grace-based salvation. None.

Any dependence on works—adherence to the law, undergoing rituals, performing sacraments, or good deeds—is a rejection of grace.

IF you are reading these words, and YOU are involved in a religion which says that YOU must do something to be a child of God-------LEAVE IT NOW!!! That is a lie! Is that plain enough for all to understand. ?????
You do not have to go door to door and witness to be saved!
You do not have to be baptized in water to be saved!
You do not have to take Communion to be saved!
You do not have to go to church to be saved!
You do not have to tithe your income to be saved!
You do not have to sell flowers on the corner to be saved!
WHAT YOU MUST DO IS BELIEVE AND ACCEPT THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST PLUS NOTHING ELSE WHATSOEVER!

This is an often-resisted truth, but it is the clear teaching of Scripture. If works, in any sense, contribute to salvation, then that salvation is no longer "by grace." Paul's point, here, is that because salvation is, in fact, by grace, works have absolutely zero part to play in securing it
 
***********************************REMAINDER OF ISRAEL BLINDED*****************************************************

Romans 11:7........
"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."

Did they fail to come to Christ because they were blinded??? OH NO!!!!+

They had been exposed to the gospel as no other people have ever been exposed to it!

God said.........."All day long have I stretched forth my hand unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." (Romans 10:21)

God has been patient with them. Now they are blinded because they would not accept the light given to them.

Both the nation and the clear majority of the Jewish people, failed to obtain what was given to them. This echoes what Paul wrote in Romans 9:31: that Israel pursued a law that would lead to righteousness but failed in reaching or keeping that law. In other words, they failed to reach God's righteousness.

The "elect," on the other hand, did obtain the righteousness of God. Paul describes those who have come to God by faith in Christ as the elect. This term, in general, refers to both Jews and Gentiles, but Paul here seems to be talking about the Jews who have become believers as the elect. This group obtained righteousness by their faith in Christ and not by obeying the law (Romans 9:30).

Although the elect obtained righteousness by God's grace, Paul now writes that the rest of the Israelites were hardened by God. This is consistent with what Paul has already written about those whom God allows to stand in their sin of unbelief. He addressed the issue of whether this is fair or not in Romans 9:14–29, including the statement that God will have mercy on and harden whomever He chooses (Romans 9:18).
 
Romans 11:8.............
"(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."

Here, Paul seems to assemble the quote in this verse from Isaiah 29:10 and Deuteronomy 29:4.

You see......they were the ones who rejected what was offered to them. When anyone rejects something, he then becomes the most difficult to reach with the grace of God.

Now....... some might ask if this is fair on God's part. Paul made clear in Romans 9, however, that God retains the right to give or withhold understanding, to soften or harden hearts, as He sees fit and for His greater purposes.

Just as Pharaoh was resistant to God, and so God enhanced that resistance, Israel's "hardening" comes as part of God's overall plan to fulfill His own purposes.
 
Romans 11:9..............
"And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:"
This comes from Psalms 69:22.

Why does Paul quote so many Old Testament Scriptures?????

His goal is to support the teaching that God gives or withholds understanding about what is true based entirely on His choice.
To some, God gives the ability to believe Him and others he "hardens" (Romans 9:18). This is not a concept Paul takes lightly, and much of chapter 9 was given to exploring how this idea fits with the idea of a just, fair Creator.

Now Paul quotes from David's Psalm 69, a psalm that is often described as being about Christ Himself. In that sense, then, the verses quoted here could point to the enemies of Christ. In that way, Paul suggests Psalm 69:22–23 could apply to those Jewish people who have rejected faith in Christ.

Paul then uses David's words to suggest that these Jewish unbelievers would be trapped and tripped up and punished by their own "table" when they think they are at peace. They would be fooled into complacency, although they are in mortal danger. Paul seems to add the idea of a stumbling block to the quote, connecting it to Isaiah 8:14, which he also quoted in Romans 9:33.

The TABLE has a reference to feasting which is a picture of Israel's material prosperity in the past. The children of Israel had great feasts at which they were actually the guests of God. They did not invite God to their feasts as the pagans did---rathe God invited them.

The PASSOVER was the best example. The idea here is that they were feasting in a conceited confidence which was entirely pagan.

Their carnal security deceived them as to their true spiritual ruin. They trusted the tings that ate without and true confidence in God.

My dear friends.....this is the condition at the present time of the majority of church members!

They come to the Lord's Supper without a spiritual understanding!
 
I am not seeing many responses to the Romans study. However we have had over 19 Thousands views and that is a blessing!!!!

NINETEEN THOUSAND people have been exposed to the truth of God's Word and we all should rejoice in that kind of blessing!
 
Romans 11:10..........
"" Let their eyes be darkened to see not , And bend their backs forever ."
God gives light in order that we might see, but if they are blind, they will not see.

The light reveals the blindness of most today which is the reason why wee see so many "denominations".

It has always amazed me that so many people do not seem to understand what the Bible is all about.

Their eyes will be more and more darkened as they persist in their unbelief, and their back shall be bowed down always; far from becoming a great and powerful nation, they shall continue ever in a state of abject slavery and oppression, till they acknowledge Jesus as the promised Messiah, and submit to receive redemption in his blood.
 
************************REASON FOR SETTING ASIDE THE NATION OF ISRAEL*********************************************
Romans 11:11...........
"I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy."
Paul asks if God caused them to stumble over Christ, the stumbling stone (Romans 9:32–33) in order to make them fall down. In other words, Paul asks if God caused Israel to be tripped up in order that they might permanently fall—never to rise again. Was that what God wanted for Israel? Paul answers his own question once more with a rousing "By no means!"

Instead, God has two purposes for Israel's stumbling over Christ by refusing to believe in Him.

#1. Israel's trespass, or sin, made it possible for salvation to come to the Gentiles. That sin was a refusal, on a national level, to obey the gospel of faith in Jesus (Romans 10:16). When Israel rejected Christ, God used that rejection to make His offer of salvation by grace through faith in Christ available to all people.

#2. To make Israel jealous. Paul introduced this idea in Romans 10:19. God plans to use this—jealousy of a close relationship with God enjoyed by Gentiles—to provoke many Jewish people to eventually come to Him, as well, also through faith in Christ.
 
Romans 11:12..............
"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 fulness?"
Israel has been set aside, that is, God is not dealing with them as a nation at this time.

When God does once again begin to deal with them, they won't have any problem with the Arab-that conflict will be completely resolved.

Now, since The setting aside has brought the grace of God to the Gentiles, what about the grace of God toward the Gentiles AFTER the Jews are revived again?

If Israel's sin brought the riches of sharing in God's glory to the world, and if Israel's failure to believe brought those riches to all the Gentiles, then how much more will Israel's full inclusion in Christ mean for all of us? Put another way, if Israel's sin can result in that kind of glory, then imagine how much glory will result when Israel accepts Christ!

Acts 15:16-17..........
" After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things."

I believe that after the church has been removed in the Rapture, the greatest revival of all time will take place.
 
Romans 11:13 .........
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office".
Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul addresses Gentiles directly, beginning a thought he will complete in the following verse. Paul describes his identity and purpose to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Christ Himself gave this role to Paul in Acts 9:15. Paul writes that he magnifies his ministry to take the good news about faith in Jesus to all Gentiles. In other words, he glorifies his ministry. He goes big. He works hard at it. He is bold and strategic and amplifies the message of God's grace for the Gentiles through faith in Christ.

In part, as Paul reveals in the next verse, he does this to provoke jealousy among his own Jewish people. He wants to see them saved, to have the same special relationship with God that the Gentiles have now received.
 
Romans 11:14..............
"If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them."
I understand the satisfaction Paul felt in doing what God had called him to do.

You know, God has a place for each one of us. He may want you to get busy and teach a Sunday School class. He may want you to have a ministry of going to visit those in nursing homes. He may want you to go and talk to those in the jail.

All you have to do is be available!!!

Paul now declares that he magnifies—he works hard at—this ministry, in part, to help save some of his fellow Jews. How would that work? His aim is to provoke the Jews to become jealous of the special relationship the Gentiles now have with God through faith in Christ. Paul wants his fellow Jewish people to see that and want it too. Some will come to faith in Christ in that way, Paul believes.
 
Romans 11:15...............
"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?"

Do YOU anticipate the future?

Do YOU think that your best days are ahead of YOU?

From man's point of view, the days ahead are dark. Do you ever hear any GOOD news? It seems to me that man has gotten this world into a real mess.

A whole lot of people are pessimistic about the future! That includes church people as well!

Personally I think that the best days of humanity are ahead of us!

Anyway.....Paul seems to be saying that God's eventual acceptance of Israel is somehow connected to the idea of resurrection, perhaps the future resurrection of the bodies of all who are in Christ at some future moment.

THAT is certainly something GOOD to be looking forward to! That means we will see Jesus face to face and that is something else to be looking forward to!
 
Romans 11:16............
"For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches."

Here, Paul uses as an illustration from Numbers 15:20-21 to show that a bit of dough mixed into a larger lump of dough can determine what the entire mixture will be like. Paul is referencing Israel's practice of offering the first dough made from each year's harvest as a loaf of bread to the Lord . That bit of dough offered as the "firstfruits" to the Lord was set apart. It was holy.

The "First fruit" seems to refer to the origination of the nation of Israel.
1. Abraham then Isaac then Jacob.

"Holy" here = set apart for God!

The second illustration is one Paul will build on in the following verses. The nature of branches is determined by the "root" from which they grow. The basic Greek word used here is rhiza, referring to the core part of the plant, from the surface and reaching below the soil.
If this root is holy, Paul implies, the branches will be holy as well.

Paul's larger point seems to be that Israel's firstfruits were the patriarchs. God set those first Israelites apart as His people. He made them holy in a sense. In that same sense, Paul says, their holiness will determine the ultimate nature of Israel. That's why she must eventually return to a right relationship with God, which now comes through faith in Christ.
 
Romans 11:17..........
"And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree".
This verse begins an if/then statement that will be concluded in the following verse.

So then, If the root of the tree is holy, then the branches of the tree will be holy. Paul was making the point that Israel will eventually return to their first nature as the set-apart people of God by coming to faith in Christ.

Now Paul begins a sentence meant for Gentile Christians.

He writes that some of the branches of Israel's tree have been broken off. In this context, that seems to mean they have been deliberately pruned away because of their refusal to trust in Christ for salvation. He describes Gentile Christians as being grafted in among the other branches on this metaphorical tree. The Gentiles now receive nourishment through those holy roots, just as believing Jewish people do.

Paul is describing an apparently common practice of olive tree farming. To mingle plants, caretakers can transplant branches from one tree to another. Paul's take on the practice seems unusual, however. It was unlikely that a farmer would graft a wild olive branch onto a cultivated olive tree. However, that may well be Paul's point. God's choice to graft the "wild" and unspiritual Gentile people onto the tree of God's grace to the Israelites also seems unlikely. And yet, this is exactly what God has done.

Paul's if/then statement concludes in the following verse with the "then" part in which he warns Gentile Christians not to be arrogant.
 
Romans 11:18............
"Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."
The "Olive Tree" is a picture of the nation of Israel.

The "Wild Olive" is the Church!

It is helpful to understand that some of the Gentile Christians of Paul's day were being harsh or dismissive about the lack of faith in Christ among most Jewish people. Since some in Israel's leadership were persecuting Christians, it's understandable that some Christians would lash back against them. Even today, there are those who attempt—falsely—to justify antisemitism through Israel's rejection of Jesus.

Paul doesn't want these Gentile believers to miss an essential truth, however. They are the ones being "artificially" inserted into a relationship with God. This is happening only by His grace and through faith in Christ. These Gentiles are not nearly the first to have a special relationship with God. They are not the root: the vital, life-giving source of the plant, taken from the Greek term rhiza.

In the flow of this passage, the "root" is the patriarchs of Israel who received God's promises. Those roots, and the trunk which now grows from it are what supports these new Gentile Christians. They, the grafted-in branches, do not give life to the rest of the tree. Humility about Israel's special and ongoing relationship with God is the only response that makes sense for non-Jewish believers.
 
Romans 11:20.........
"Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:".

Though Israel had rejected faith in Christ as the way to be right with God, Gentile Christians are in no way superior or favored to the Jews. Paul has compared those Israelites to unproductive branches broken from a tree. Purely for the sake of this point, those people are like limbs deliberately pruned to make way for the new branches to be added: those new branches are the Gentiles.

That fact, Paul now writes, should cause a Gentile Christian to be even more humble about their place on that symbolic tree. The only difference between the broken off branches and the newly added branches is faith in Christ. Paul warns the Gentile Christians to hold tight to the branch by continuing in their faith in Christ.

Lest we lose sight of Paul's point here, this is not a suggestion that saved believers can lose their salvation.

The analogy of branches and trees, so far as this specific statement goes, extends only to the idea that God has the right to add or remove branches. Since God removed Israel for their stubbornness and pride, He is more than able to do the same to Gentiles for their arrogance.

Instead of pride in their position, these non-Jewish believers should respect the consequences of drifting from the very faith that brought them to the tree in the first place (Hebrews 2:1). Instead of false confidence in themselves because of their position, the Gentile believers should fear the God who gave them that spot and took it away from the unbelieving Jewish people of their era.
 
Romans 11:21...................
"For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee."
The only difference between the Jewish people who have been pruned by God and the Gentile Christians who have been added is faith in Christ. The Jewish branches that were pruned were taken off because of their refusal to believe. The Gentile Christians were added because they believed. Faith in Christ is the only difference.

Now Paul writes that if God was willing to break off the natural branches, those Jewish people who were genetic descendants of Abraham, He certainly won't spare Gentiles who refuse to believe in Christ. Faith in Christ is their only hope of remaining connected to the tree!
 
************************RESRORATION OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL*********************************************

Romans 11:22..........
"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

These are very stern words! Paul calls upon the Gentiles to behold two examples:
1. Rejected Israel reveals the severity of God but to the Gentiles........
2. The benevolence of God to those who turn to Christ.

Those two side need to be seen today.
1. The Judgment of God against the rejection of Christ and against sin.
2. The Grace of God to those who repent and come to Christ.

Paul did not have the complete picture of the severity of God toward Israel. The history of Israel in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and all that succeeded it is a terrifying story.

May I say to you all that over 2000 years the Gentile church is as much as much a failure. if not more so, than was Israel.
 
Romans 11:23............
"And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again."
Since God accepted the Gentiles who had no merit, surely He can restore Israel who like wise has no merit!

"AGAIN" is the key word here!

Paul now writes, though, that these discarded branches can be grafted back onto the tree if they don't continue to reject Christ in their unbelief. Paul is clear: God has the power to do this. He can grant His people Israel their rightful place on the olive tree when and if they trust in Christ. This ability to be grafted back in, after being "cut off" is further evidence that Paul's discussion here is not about eternal salvation, but about fellowship with God.
 
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