- The Remnant of Israel
- 1
- I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!
- I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
- 2
- God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.
- Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--
- how he appealed to God against Israel:
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- "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars;
- I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?
- 4
- And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself
- seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
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- So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
- 6
- And if by grace, then it is no longer by works;
- if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
- 7
- What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain,
- but the elect did. The others were hardened,
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- as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor,
- eyes so that they could not see and ears
- so that they could not hear, to this very day."
- 9
- And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap,
- a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
- 10
- May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
- and their backs be bent forever."
- Ingrafted Branches
- 11
- Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?
- Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression,
- salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
- 12
- But if their transgression means riches for the world,
- and their loss means riches for the Gentiles,
- how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
- 13
- I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
- I make much of my ministry
- 14
- in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people
- to envy and save some of them.
- 15
- For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
- what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
- 16
- If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy,
- then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
- 17
- If some of the branches have been broken off, and you,
- though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others
- and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
- 18
- do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this:
- You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
- 19
- You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."
- 20
- Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief,
- and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
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- For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
- 22
- Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God:
- sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that
- you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
- 23
- And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in,
- for God is able to graft them in again.
- 24
- After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature,
- and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree,
- how much more readily will these, the natural branches,
- be grafted into their own olive tree!
- All Israel Will Be Saved
- 25
- I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers,
- so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening
- in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
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- And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
- "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
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- And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
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- As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account;
- but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
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- for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
- 30
- Just as you who were at one time disobedient to
- God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
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- so they too have now become disobedient in order that
- they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
- 32
- For God has bound all men over to disobedience
- so that he may have mercy on them all.
- Doxology
- 33
- Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
- How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
- 34
- "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
- 35
- "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
- 36
- For from him and through him and to him are all things.
- To him be the glory forever! Amen.