Gorman, Romans 9:11

Paul’s claim to have “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” (9:2), affirmed three times as a solemn oath (9:1), is one of the most emotional and self-revelatory remarks in his letters. In this prophetic, poetic lament, he is essentially willing to be cursed (made anathema)3 and cut off from Christ—to forfeit his own salvation—for the sake of his fellow Jews/his siblings (9:3), who have failed to believe in the Messiah despite all their privileges (9:4–5; cf. 3:1–2).4

Paul’s oath is more than simply a cry of anguish (echoing 8:22) and frustration from the depths of his heart—though it is clearly that. But it is also nothing less than an outburst of sacrificial, or cruciform, love (cf. 10:1), for he knows that Christ became a curse for others (Gal 3:13). It is also reminiscent of Moses’ plea before God to punish him rather than the Israelites who had committed idolatry and immorality before the golden calf (Exod 32): “‘But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written’” (Exod 32:32).

The privileges that have not assisted Jews (“Israelites”; 9:4) in coming to faith in the gospel of the Messiah include, ironically, the very realities that Paul’s preaching affirms as fulfilled through the past, present, and future action of God in Jesus (9:4–5):

Nevertheless, despite this sad irony, the thought of God’s goodness to Israel leads Paul at the end of 9:5 into praise. The translation of these words is difficult and debated. Paul is either blessing God (i.e., God the Father; so NRSV, NAB), as a foretaste of 11:33–36, or he is affirming the deity of the Messiah and blessing Jesus (NET, NIV). Although Paul does not specifically call Jesus “God” elsewhere in the letters of undisputed authorship,5 it is quite clear that he includes Jesus within the divine identity of Father, Son, and Spirit. And in various places and ways, Paul attributes to Jesus the name of God, declares him to be the ultimate referent of scriptural texts about God, and calls for worship of Jesus, so it is certainly possible that “God” in 9:5 means Jesus.6

However we understand the reference to God here, the main point is that, in his lament, Paul begins chapters 9–11 as he will end them: with a spontaneous outburst of praise.7

In 9:6–29, lament is replaced with scripturally rooted theology. In these verses, Paul makes the central claim of chapters 9–11: despite appearances to the contrary, God is not unfaithful and unjust, but merciful.

The question lurking behind the lament of 9:1–5 is Why? Paul’s initial response is that the failure of belief bemoaned in that lament cannot be the failure of God’s performative word (9:6a). This assertion—God is not at fault—is the negative dimension of Paul’s central thesis. The notion that God’s word has failed is a theological nonstarter. The apostle offers an alternate starting point: “not all Israelites truly belong to Israel” (9:6b).8

This bold claim leads Paul into a narrative of God’s salvific activity (extending to 9:29) that reveals a pattern: that which looks like capricious and unjust divine action is actually part of a larger plan in which God acts freely, faithfully, and mercifully. This admittedly difficult section of Romans must be read in context as offering precedents for God’s surprisingly merciful activity in and through the gospel. If it is read—as it often is—as a theological treatise on predestination rather than as a testimony to God’s mercy and faithfulness, then Paul’s main concern in chapters 9–11, and perhaps beyond these chapters, will likely be missed.

Paul begins by recognizing a biblical distinction between descendants of the “flesh” and descendants of the “promise” (9:6b–9). This develops the important contention of 2:28–29 that not all physically circumcised people are actually Jews (cf. 9:6b) and places it in the framework of divine election and promise rather than human choice or merit. Paul says Abraham’s true offspring, and thus God’s real children, are not merely Abraham’s physical descendants but “the children of the promise” made to Abraham and Sarah and fulfilled in the birth of Isaac (rather than Ishmael, 9:9; cf. Gen 21:8–14; Rom 4:13–25).9 Ishmael, son of Abraham and Sarah’s slave Hagar, was Abraham’s firstborn but was the result of human planning rather than divine promise (Gen 16).

Somewhat similarly, according to 9:10–13, the story of Rebekah’s love for her second-born twin son Jacob, rather than the firstborn Esau (Gen 25:19–28), demonstrates God’s freedom in carrying out his purposes. God loved Jacob (= Israel, from whom the twelve tribes of Israel descended) but not Esau (from whom the people of Edom, rejected by God [Mal 1:3], came). This was due solely to God’s call, not anything good or bad done by either of Isaac’s sons (9:11–12).

A quotation from Mal 1:1–3 (referring to Israel and Edom) in 9:13 lends scriptural weight to Paul’s claim: “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.” The mention of hatred in this verse does not mean that God loves certain people and detests others. Paul’s point is to emphasize the inexplicable mystery of God’s preferring—in the sense of freely, sovereignly calling—Israel to be the people of God. The love-hate language is about a divine decision, not a divine emotion.

These two examples of God’s election (Isaac not Ishmael; Jacob not Esau) at the foundation of Israel as a nation are confirmed for Paul as examples of divine freedom and mercy, not divine injustice (Gk. adikia; 9:14). Once again, the apostle uses the question-and-answer format in 9:14: Divine injustice? By no means! Impossible! And, once again, Paul calls on Scripture to make his point, offering a word about God’s freely given mercy, spoken to Moses after the exodus (9:15–16; cf. Exod 33:19), and a word about God’s freedom in extending his glory, spoken to Pharaoh during the exodus itself (9:17). The Lord, as God, is free to show mercy or not to any and all (9:18), but Paul’s main point is that God is in fact the mercy-showing God (9:16). This God has been (and is) about the business of unexpected, undeserved mercy that will expand the worship of God “in all the earth” (9:17).

The reference to “all the earth” is clearly a hint about God’s ultimate plan in all of these mysterious workings: that not only ethnic Israelites but also gentiles—and thus all people everywhere—will know the glory of God and will, in turn, give glory to God. (A further hint: this requires messengers to go into all the earth; see 10:18.) In 9:18, Paul’s conclusion further emphasizes God’s freedom as he enunciates the principle of divine freedom to have mercy and to harden hearts. This is neither capriciousness nor injustice, because—as we will shortly see—it was through the temporary and partial hardening of Israel’s heart (11:7) that salvation was opened to the gentiles (11:11). Paul’s theology of mercy is ultimately tied to his theology of mission. The merciful God is the missional God, and vice versa.

The principle of divine freedom is further affirmed in the scriptural illustration of the potter and the clay (9:20–24, alluding to Isa 29:16; 45:9; cf. Jer 18:1–12, esp. v. 6). Paul places a completely logical question in the mouth of his interlocutor: If God shows mercy to some and hardens the hearts of others, how can God possibly find fault with those who oppose God?—for they are simply doing God’s will! (9:19; cf. 3:7).

At first glance, Paul seems to be defending the capriciousness of God, but his theological point is, rather, the Godness, or sovereignty, of God and the non-Godness of humans. Moreover, such a conclusion about God’s caprice would fail to consider the larger purpose of Paul in chapters 9–11: to show how that which appears to be a divine whim is actually an expression of God’s mercy and love to extend salvation even to those who are recipients of divine judgment—“objects of wrath” (9:22).

In other words, Paul is not articulating a doctrine of double predestination: the predestination of some individuals to salvation and others to damnation. Rather, he is proclaiming the freedom of God to surprise people with mercy and ultimately to glorify them (9:23; cf. 3:23; 5:2; 8:18, 30). Human beings have no right to challenge this divine prerogative, because the same freedom allows God to have mercy on the undeserving and unrighteous, whether Jews or gentiles (9:24). This is the meaning of grace for Paul.10

The mention of both Jews and gentiles in 9:24 is an echo of the thematic statement of 1:16–17 that has surfaced repeatedly in the letter. The pattern of God’s merciful election is now occurring in the salvation of both gentiles (9:25–26) and Jews (9:27–29). Again, Paul appeals to Scripture. In 9:25–26, he applies Hosea’s prophetic word spoken about disobedient Israelites (Hos 1:10b; 2:23) to gentiles contemporary with Paul. More hopeful words than these are difficult to find in Scripture: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved’” (9:25). Over the centuries, this text has caused many people to feel included in God’s grace.

In 9:27–29, Paul applies texts from Isaiah to his fellow Jews. The salvation of “the children of Israel” is not always in large numbers—another surprising feature of God’s mercy. In fact, Isaiah saw divine mercy in the saving of a small number, a “remnant” (9:27–28, citing Isa 10:20–23, which contains an echo of Hos 1:10a). Otherwise, Israel would have been destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah (9:29, citing Isa 1:9). This past divine action becomes the paradigm for Paul’s own time in his analysis of the Jewish response to the gospel (also a “remnant”; 11:1–5), for some Jews have in fact believed the gospel. But even this remnant theology will not be Paul’s final word about Israel’s salvation (see 11:26).

In 9:6–29, then, Paul has affirmed God’s free exercise of unexpected and undeserved mercy in the past and thus God’s faithfulness to Israel and to his promises. This pattern of surprising mercy, according to Paul’s reading of Israel’s prophets, goes beyond the bounds of ethnic Israel to include even gentiles, while it simultaneously saves a remnant of Israel. This practice of gentile inclusion, paired with the formation of a Jewish remnant, is for Paul the paradigm of God’s present activity through the proclamation of the gospel by Paul and others, as we will see in what follows.

Romans 9:30–10:4 begins with a familiar question: “What then are we to say?” (cf. 3:5; 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14). This question always introduces a significant theological discussion that builds on an immediately preceding theological discussion. In this instance, Paul applies the theological observations of 9:6–29 to his own context of significant gentile belief in the gospel and significant Jewish disbelief.

Paul answers the question that begins this discussion by noting that gentiles who were not even looking for righteousness have attained righteousness through, or on the basis of (Gk. ek), faith or faithfulness (9:30; cf. 10:20). This could refer to the human response of faith to the gospel, to the Messiah’s faithfulness (if the translation of 3:22 and 3:26 offered in the commentary is correct), or to both. “Israel,” on the other hand, although it pursued “the law of righteousness” (what Paul literally says), or “righteousness that is based on the law” (NRSV), did not attain, or fulfill, the “law” (9:31). Paul may be engaging in a play on words here, but his point is clear: although Israel had the law (unlike the gentiles), they failed to gain righteousness because they wrongly thought it was achieved by “works” rather than by faith/faithfulness (9:32).

Paul has already dismissed the idea that works of any kind—however we understand what he means by works—bring about righteousness or justification (3:19–20; 3:27–31; 4:1–15). He succinctly repeats that claim in 9:32, but what follows is both new and highly significant. Paul is not disparaging the law per se but identifying misguided zealous attempts to fulfill it apart from the Messiah, as he will say shortly, in 10:2–4 (cf. 8:3–4). God’s chosen people have by and large missed the boat, so to speak, or in Paul’s biblical metaphor (9:32b), “stumbled over the stumbling stone” (petran skandalou)—the Messiah (9:33), a stone that causes people to stumble. Paul even says the stone offends people (CEB), but those who believe in it/him will not be put to shame (9:33; cf. 10:11).

This stone has sometimes been mistakenly interpreted as the law or the gospel (the latter perhaps because of the reference to shame; recall 1:16–17). With many other early Christians, however, Paul associates Christ with this stone spoken of by Isaiah, whose words are cited in 9:33.11 For Paul, at least, the cause of stumbling or scandal among his fellow Jews was specifically the death of the alleged Messiah by crucifixion (1 Cor 1:23; Gal 5:11). A crucified messiah was, for non-Jesus-following Jews, simply an oxymoron.

In 10:1–4, Paul reveals that his earlier lament is also a prayer. Though (most of) his fellow Jews have stumbled over the crucified Messiah, Paul repeats his deep, heartfelt desire for their salvation (10:1), echoing 9:1–5. (In 11:11, we learn that the stumbling is not “so as to fall.”) He acts as a court witness, claiming—no doubt echoing his present perspective on his own past life of persecution (cf. Gal 1:13–14; Phil 3:6)—that they have a misguided “zeal” by which they attempt to establish right relations with God on their own terms rather than on God’s (10:2–3).12

The means to God’s righteousness is not the law, for the law points beyond itself to the Messiah, who is the “end” (Gk. telos) of the law (10:4; cf. Gal 3:24). The sense of “end” here has been hotly debated; does Paul mean “termination,” “goal,” or both? The context suggests that Paul means both but with an emphasis on goal. Paul means that the Messiah is the focal point of Scripture, the goal of the salvation history to which Scripture bears witness, and thus the God-given means of righteousness.

The arrival of the Messiah, then, means that the law ceases to be the means of righteousness, not because it is bad (see 7:7–25) or abrogated but because only the divine gift of the Messiah and his Spirit makes the fulfillment of the law, and thus righteousness, possible (see 8:3–4; 13:6–8). Righteousness is now available to “everyone who believes” (10:4)—that is, both Jews and gentiles, but also both slave and free, male and female, and so on.

To clarify what “righteousness for everyone who believes” means, in 10:5–21 Paul summarizes for the Roman faithful the content and availability of God’s gospel: salvation for all, gentiles and Jews alike, who believe that God raised the crucified Messiah Jesus and confess that he is Lord.

With a string of Scripture quotations, in 10:5–13 Paul provides a brief overview of key aspects of the gospel. The theological question implicitly behind this passage asks, What is the source of life with God—of justification and salvation? Moses had said that the law is the answer to that question (10:5, citing Lev 18:5), but in Deut 30, Moses tells the people they need covenant renewal through heart-circumcision. Paul has already implied that this heart-circumcision, establishing a new, or renewed, covenant, has come to pass through the Messiah Jesus (2:25–29). The law itself could not accomplish what it required of God’s people (8:3–4); it could not “make alive” (Gal 3:21). Thus, life—justification and salvation—come through Jesus the resurrected Lord to all who confess him and call upon him.

The somewhat confusing scriptural citations in 10:5–8 are meant principally to affirm the proximity of this divine word of salvation and its character as God’s means of covenant renewal, and thus righteousness, through Christ. As in Deut 30, which supplies the quotations and key words “mouth” and “heart” in 10:7–10 (esp. Deut 30:11–14), this invitation to covenant renewal and life with God is not something to be searched for hither and yon. It is present here and now, in the apostolic proclamation, not of the law but of the Messiah Jesus.

In 10:9–10, Paul recounts the essential gospel message and the need for both inner trust and public confession: “Jesus is Lord (Gk. kyrios),” the basic Pauline statement of faith (cf. 1 Cor 12:3; 2 Cor 4:5; Phil 2:11). Those who respond in faith, affirming with heart and mouth Jesus’ lordship by virtue of God’s resurrection of him from the dead, receive justification/righteousness. They are reconciled to God, made part of God’s covenant people, and delivered from Sin and adikia (unrighteousness/injustice) to become God’s just/righteous people. They also receive, or will receive, salvation, probably meaning future salvation.13 A scriptural quotation from Isaiah already cited in 9:33 offers assurance (10:11; Isa 28:16). Although it is unwise to split hairs about the sequence of human and divine actions named in 10:10 (belief, confession, justification, salvation), it is important to note Paul’s emphasis on both internal conviction and public affirmation.

Once again, Paul emphasizes that this good news is for all people, without distinction (cf. 3:22), for the Lord is Lord of all and “generous” (lit. “rich”—i.e., rich in mercy) to all who call on him (10:12). Because the covenant renewal of Deut 30 was to take place after exile (Deut 30:1–5), Paul apparently reads that passage in light of prophetic texts that speak of the postexilic salvation of the nations (gentiles) as well as Israel. The explicit theological grounding of the universal availability of the gospel, however, is the oneness of the Lord (10:12)—that is, Jesus.14

As the confession of faith “Jesus is Lord” in 10:9 makes clear, in 10:13 Paul again applies the word kyrios (lord), the Greek Bible’s title for YHWH, to Jesus (citing Joel 2:32). The quotation of Joel is, for Paul, both a promise and an exhortation. Salvation is offered to all those, but only to those, who “call on” the Lord—on Jesus.15 Paul knows no other way of salvation—of participation in the covenant and in the life of God—for Jews or for gentiles.

If the gospel is for all, then it must be disbursed, even if it is “near” (10:6–8). In 10:14–15a, Paul poses a series of four rhetorical questions, each one carefully linked with a word to the previous question, to make this point with clear logic and subtle passion. God’s offer of the gospel to all comes through human agents, such as Paul, but also others who are sent (10:15–16).

The four rhetorical questions in 10:14–15a and the partial quotation of Isa 52:7 in 10:15b—“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”—forcefully affirm Paul’s personal commitment to the spread of the message about the Messiah (10:17), as well as the necessity of other evangelists. The word indeed must go out, and has gone out (10:17–18). But like Isaiah, the preachers of good news may encounter disbelief and disobedience.

It is significant that Paul speaks about the proper response to Christ and the gospel as both believing (10:14, 16–17) and obeying (10:16), for the two words are essentially synonymous for Paul (see also 11:20, 31). His missional goal was to bring about “the obedience of faith” (1:5; 16:26), a phrase that likely echoes his understanding of Jesus’ death as both his obedience (5:19) and his faith/faithfulness (3:22, 26).

In 10:16–21, Paul again wrestles with Jewish unbelief and gentile belief, citing Scripture to interpret the situation to both his audience and himself. In spite of people’s disbelief/disobedience, Paul sees himself as part of the team of messengers embodying Isaiah’s text about announcing good news of the Messiah to the ends of the earth (10:18; cf. Isa 52:7–10). The problem is not the message; “the word of Christ”—the gospel of God’s Son (1:1–6)—is in fact the means by which people come to faith (10:17). The word of God has not failed (9:6a), for the gospel is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (1:16b). But, of course, not everyone responds positively to this good news.

With the message having gone out, Paul wonders aloud whether perhaps Israel has not heard it, but they indeed have (10:18). He then wonders whether they have not understood it (10:19b) but does not explicitly respond. The answer, however, seems to be that, yes, they have understood, but they persist in disbelief and disobedience (see 10:21). Nevertheless, Paul finds in Scripture—specifically in the words of Moses (Deut 32:21) and Isaiah (Isa 65:1) warrant for the belief that God is making Israel jealous by finding (i.e., saving) those not looking for God (10:19b–20; cf. 9:25–26, 30). Paul’s quotation of Isaiah in 10:20 (“I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me”) demonstrates his belief in God’s habit of demonstrating undeserved mercy in unexpected ways.

The prophet’s words in Isa 65:1 originally referred to a remnant in Israel, but Paul interprets them as a reference to the gentiles. This interpretive move offers Paul’s audience then and now a profound characterization of the nature of Israel’s God as the one who seeks nonseekers (like Paul himself!) and self-reveals to the spiritually apathetic. At the same time, Isaiah bears witness to Paul and his audience that God also extends open arms to Israel, ready to welcome back the “disobedient and contrary” covenant people (10:21, quoting from the very next verse in Isa 65, 65:2; cf. 9:31–33). God’s mercy for some does not exclude mercy for others.

Paul ends 9:30–10:21 where he had begun, reflecting on the troublesome phenomenon of gentile belief and Jewish unbelief, but also affirming the fidelity and mercy of God to Israel. The point of this section as a whole, then, is that justification and salvation remain available to all, Jew and gentile alike, who confess Jesus as the (crucified Messiah and) resurrected Lord. The gospel has gone out, and though many Jews have not yet obeyed it, God stands ready to take back his chosen but disobedient people. A sense of anticipation carries us to the doorstep of chapter 11.

“Has God rejected his people?” asks Paul rhetorically at the start of this chapter. With another resounding “Of course not!” (11:1a NAB) and a firm declaration (11:2a), Paul answers the burning question of whether Israel’s rejection of the gospel means God’s rejection of Israel. Returning to the historical pattern of a “remnant” (11:5; cf. 9:27–29), Paul offers himself (11:1b)—and other Jewish Christ-believers, implicitly—as tangible proof that once again, as in the time of Elijah (11:2b–4; see 1 Kings 19), God has preserved a remnant of faithful, obedient people, “chosen by grace” (11:5).

The situation was bleak in Elijah’s day: murdered prophets, destroyed altars, and (so it seemed) no faithful Israelites (11:3). But no, there were actually seven thousand loyalists to YHWH (11:4). The situation may have seemed similarly grim to Paul (and others?), but now there is a parallel group of messianic loyalists (11:5). In both cases, Paul stresses, the presence of a faithful group is the result of God’s grace, not human works (11:6).

How should we characterize the larger situation of Israel—the nonremnant? Unsurprisingly, Paul again appeals to Scripture, both alluding to and citing texts that claim divine involvement in Israel’s hardened heart (11:7) and blind eyes (11:8, 10). They are spiritually “sluggish” and hard of (spiritual) hearing because God has seen fit to treat his own people in this way—for the moment. It must be stressed, however, that this situation is not the final word. Sometimes, in God’s mysterious working, only a remnant, not the entire people (11:7), perceives what God is up to; the rest trip over a “stumbling block” (skandalon in 11:9, citing Ps 69:22 LXX).

That stumbling block is the Messiah Jesus (cf. 9:33), because, as we have already seen, he is a crucified Messiah: “we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). Yet there is a remnant, and there is hope for even more—many more.

The current situation does indeed seem bleak, however, which prompts another rhetorical question and strong negation: “Have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means!” (11:11). The good news in all of this is that Israel’s unbelief is neither a fatal fall nor a disaster without purpose in the divine economy. The metaphor of stumbling, rather than falling, suggests that this situation of unbelief/disobedience is only partial and temporary, as Paul will soon declare explicitly. Israel’s stumbling (11:11a) over the Messiah (9:32–33; 11:9) has resulted in salvation for gentiles (11:11b), making Israel “jealous.” (Of course, not every Jew would have shared Paul’s perspective.)

If Israel’s stumbling and “defeat” enriched the gentiles, Paul avers, Israel’s “full inclusion” (NRSV, NIV, ESV), “full restoration” (NET), or “full number” (NAB)16—that is, their eventual salvation (11:26)—will bring even more blessings (11:12, 15). In the meantime, Paul hopes, through his ministry to the gentiles (11:13–16), to continue making Israel “jealous” and thus to bring “some” to faith and salvation (11:14). Already the gospel, in the context of Israel’s unbelief, has brought about reconciliation in the world, so their belief will mean a resurrection from the dead (11:15)—like the dead bones of Ezek 37, but inclusive of both Israel and those outside Israel.

In 11:13, Paul addresses his gentile audience specifically and directly. He speaks to them as a body, using you-singular pronouns and verbs through 11:24. (He switches to the plural in 11:25.) This should not be taken as an indication that the letter as a whole is aimed only at gentiles. Rather, at this point in his argument, Paul is explaining to non-Jews what Jewish disbelief means—and does not mean.

The existence of a believing remnant within Israel, imaged in 11:16 as holy “dough” related to a large “batch” (see Num 15:17–21) and as a holy “root” related to multiple “branches,” is a sign of the holiness of the entire batch and all the branches. That is, God’s holy, set-apart people are still God’s holy, set-apart people, and they always will be. God has not rejected them; the remnant is like a firstfruits offering (11:16), with more to come. So, what does the future hold? The reference to a “root” and “branches” leads Paul to begin answering this question with the well-known analogy of the natural and grafted branches of the olive tree and its root (11:17–24).

Once again, Paul is indebted to the prophets and psalmists for his theology and language. They often describe God’s people as God’s tree, vine, or vineyard.17 Jeremiah says God called the people an olive tree (Jer 11:16; cf. Hos 14:6). As we just observed, it is important to note that Paul addresses his analogy, or allegory, of the olive tree directly to the gentiles (11:13; i.e., gentile believers as a body), using second-person-singular language through 11:24 and then second-person-plural language through 11:31. Paul is offering his fellow gentile participants in the messiah a word of instruction and warning.

In his use of this traditional image, Paul understands the olive tree not as ethnic Israel but more broadly as God’s covenant people rooted in Israel. He says (11:17) that some natural branches of God’s olive tree were broken off (= unbelieving Jews) and replaced by a wild olive shoot grafted on (= the contingent of believing gentiles). The grafted-on branches (gentile believers) should not “boast over” (be arrogant toward) the broken-off branches, for they are supported by the tree’s root (11:18).18 (This root is probably Israel, but perhaps the patriarchs or Abraham.) Accordingly, they are even more liable to pruning than were the natural branches (11:18–21). – Gentile believers, then, must not be proud of their status (11:20 reinforces 11:18) or unmerciful toward the natural branches, not even toward those that have been broken off. For without “awe” at God’s mercy,19 as well as mercy in turn to others, gentile believers may themselves be cut off (11:20–22). The whole situation has nothing to do with the merits of individuals or of ethnicity but only with the kindness of God and the response of faith.

The fact that some original branches were broken off was, in God’s providence, to make room for gentiles, but that divine action cannot be the basis of gentile presumption or pride. In fact, the unbelief or faithlessness of Israel is a reminder that God’s grace, God’s kindness, requires faithfully remaining in that grace: “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off” (11:22). “Consider yourselves warned,” declares Paul. “Don’t underestimate the seriousness of this merciful God.”

Moreover, Paul continues in 11:23–24, if God can perform the agriculturally abnormal feat of grafting unnatural branches onto a “cultivated olive tree” (11:24), God surely has the power to graft the broken-off natural branches back on again (11:23).20 The only thing that must happen for God to do just that is for the broken-off branches—the unbelieving Jews—not to “persist in unbelief” (11:23).

Just as the gentiles who have been grafted on to the tree are there only by God’s mercy and their faith (11:20, 22)—that is, their faith in the gospel of the Messiah—so also Jews need only God’s mercy and that same faith in the gospel of the Messiah to be reconnected to God’s covenant people. This is what Paul has already said repeatedly in chapter 10 and throughout the letter. It is imperative, in other words, to note that Paul does not here change the criterion for inclusion (i.e., for salvation). That criterion is, negatively, the end of unbelief and, positively, a faith-filled response to the gospel of Christ.

Such words spoken to gentiles seem stern but contextually appropriate. Such words spoken about the chosen people, however, could be interpreted to mean that God has essentially disinherited his own children and thus proven completely faithless. This sort of concern has led some interpreters of Romans to look for a different approach, not only to chapter 11, but also to the letter as a whole. They suggest that Paul must have another way in mind for his fellow Jews to remain in covenant relationship with God. (Hence the “two-ways” interpretation of salvation noted and ruled out in the introduction to the commentary, pp. 47–49.) Such concerns are both anticipated and answered by Paul, which takes us to 11:25–36 and Paul’s remarkable conclusion(s) to this part of the letter.

Everything Paul has said so far in chapters 9–11 now comes to its logical (for him) conclusion in 11:25–32, but it is a conclusion that has puzzled interpreters for nearly two thousand years. Paul may have thought of this conclusion as a “mystery” (11:25) in the sense of clear revelation, but for his later readers it has been much more confusing than clear. The following paragraphs acknowledge other possible readings of the text but argue for a particular interpretation—with a few loose ends. Whatever Paul’s precise conclusion, it was and is meant to lead to the praise of the one all-merciful God (11:33–36). For Paul, of course, the ultimate mystery and the ultimate revelation of mercy is Jesus Christ.

Paul’s discourse is directed primarily to the gentile believers (“brothers and sisters”; 11:25), now addressed with the plural rather than the singular “you.”21 The tone of instruction and warning that began in 11:13 continues. The first claim Paul makes is relatively clear. Israel’s current unbelief (“hardening”) is only partial and temporary (“part of Israel … until …”; 11:25b). It will last only until “the full number [Gk. plērōma, as in 11:12 of the Jews] of the gentiles has come in” (11:25).

Some interpreters understand this as a fixed number or time period, as is common in apocalyptic thought, while others take it as a general reference to a widespread gentile response to the gospel. It may, however, in parallel with 11:12, mean all gentiles as opposed to some (cf. 11:15, “the reconciliation of the [gentile] world”); we cannot be sure. But when the gentiles (in one of these senses) have believed, then (“at that time”) or, more likely, thus (“in the following way”) “all Israel will be saved” (11:26).22 Their sins will be forgiven, marking God’s renewed covenant with them (11:27).

This second main claim—“all Israel will be saved”—is far less clear, eliciting three basic questions: Who? How? When? Many different answers to these questions have been suggested. We will start in the middle.

How? The basic how question seems self-evident: by abandoning unbelief and disobedience, and by believing and obeying the gospel. Both the immediate context (11:23) and the larger context (e.g., 10:5–17, not to mention the letter as a whole) require this answer, however much it might offend the modern or postmodern sensibilities of some. In other words, the how question must be answered with a firm christological response and not merely a theological one: belief in Christ, not a generic belief in God. For Paul, there is no way to salvation (e.g., via the law) except confession of Jesus as Messiah and Lord, as chapter 10 makes clear.

But part of the question How? involves identifying the agent of Israel’s salvation through faith: Is it Paul through his preaching, a broader group of evangelists, or perhaps God acting in some as-yet-unknown future way? We shall return to this issue when considering when.

Who? As for the who question, it is tempting to import the idea of a spiritual Israel comprised of believing Jews and gentiles. In other words, this would mean all Christians will be saved. A few texts in Romans and elsewhere in Paul make this a possibility, for Paul does indeed distinguish between ethnic Israel and a heart-circumcised Israel (2:28–29; 9:6–7; cf. Gal 6:15; Phil 3:3). Once again, however, the whole context and flow of the argument in this part of Romans suggest a different answer.

Throughout chapters 9–11, Paul’s burden is for his fellow Jews, ethnic Israel, the large number of broken-off branches. He has already expressed hope, if not confidence, that the fate of the “batch” and the “branches” will be that of the “dough” and the “root” (11:16). That is, Paul has already implied that God’s nonrejection of Israel means more than that some nonbelieving Jews will change their minds. Otherwise, Paul’s argument about a “remnant” of faithful Jews would have been sufficient to demonstrate the fullness of God’s fidelity. But for Paul, the remnant proves God’s fidelity yet also indicates that the story of that divine faithfulness is not over. It is difficult, therefore, to resist the conclusion that “all Israel” means “all Jews” rather than “all gentiles and Jews who believe the gospel.”23

The oft-quoted text “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (11:29) confirms this interpretation. This is a critical theological affirmation about God’s integrity. Practically speaking, if Paul simply meant that Jews are not excluded from the gospel, he would be merely restating the obvious, for there is already a remnant of Jewish believers. But a remnant, however large, hardly seems like a long-term fulfillment of an irrevocable call; it is more a stopgap measure. It does not seem to qualify as undisputable evidence for a fundamental theological axiom about divine promise-keeping.

On the other hand, attempts to interpret the words in 11:29 as Paul’s affirmation of the salvation of Jews apart from the Messiah Jesus, or by some other means, pay insufficient attention to the context and argument of chapters 9–11. Rather, Paul affirms that the stance of all Jews will one day be reversed from disobedience to obedience, just as gentile believers have received mercy and become obedient (11:30–32). The final statement in 11:25–32, “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (11:32), refers, in context, to all Jews and to all gentiles who believe the gospel.24

When? Remaining to be answered is the when question. The phrase “will be saved” of 11:26 is linked to two texts from Isaiah (Isa 27:9; 59:20–21) that, together, forecast the forgiveness of Jacob’s (Israel’s) sins, the removal of its ungodliness (Gk. asebeia; cf. 1:18), and the renewal of the covenant when “the Deliverer” comes “out of Zion [Jerusalem]” (11:26–27). Although Paul does not use the phrase “new covenant” here, he does seem to be alluding to texts like Jer 31:31–34 and Ezek 36:26–27. This Deliverer could be YHWH but is more likely YHWH’s Messiah; the text refers, then, either to the first or, more likely, second advent (Gk. parousia) of the Messiah, Jesus.

The eschatological coming of Jesus the Deliverer will result in the salvation of all Jews through faith, that is, through the acknowledgment of Jesus’ lordship. Specifically, Paul likely means that all his contemporary Jews who have so far disbelieved the gospel and thus been “broken off” from the olive tree (i.e., those alive during and after the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection) will believe it, joining the ranks of all faithful Jews who preceded the advent of Jesus and all gentiles who have believed the gospel.25 Although the phrase “all Israel” can mean Israel as a whole but not every individual, and might actually mean that if plērōma (fullness) is interpreted narrowly, there is more reason to think that Paul envisages all Jews.

Whatever we make of these challenging questions, the bottom line for Paul is this: God’s mercy has been, is, and will be for all (11:30–32). “God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (11:32). Does this mean Paul is a universalist? Not necessarily. For one thing, the word “all” might be meant to emphasize people as a whole, both Jews and gentiles, rather than every individual. Furthermore, Paul’s logic is also guided by passion, and his rhetoric expresses that passion. Is emotion here prevailing over previously articulated theology?

There are, in fact, texts in Paul’s letters that clearly anticipate something other than universal salvation (e.g., 1 Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15; 4:3; 2 Thess 1:9). Moreover, Paul himself, in chapter 10, has just made an argument for the church’s ongoing work of spreading the gospel, which of course he himself is committed to doing. He has also made it clear, and we have emphasized, that salvation is dependent on confessing Jesus as Lord. For these and other reasons, I find the arguments for Paul as a universalist ultimately unconvincing.

At the same time, if this passage is Paul’s final answer, so to speak, to the huge theological question, “Who will be saved?” then Pauline universalism cannot be definitively ruled out. If, however, one concludes that Paul is a universalist and grants that he is also a careful, coherent theologian (which Romans shows him to be), then one must also conclude that Paul’s affirmation of universal salvation is accompanied by two other, more certain affirmations: (1) that the church’s mission includes worldwide evangelization and (2) that people need to believe and obey the gospel of Jesus’ lordship for salvation.

All of that said, it seems that the primary focus of 11:30–32 is both properly theological (i.e., about the nature of God) and pastoral. First, Paul is emphasizing the merciful character of God, who has graciously worked all things together for good (recall 8:28) in order to make salvation available to everyone. He is not primarily concerned about numbers or even about being precise with respect to the meaning of the word “all.” Second, Paul’s aim is pastoral in light of the situation in the Roman house churches. He wants all believers to realize their dependence on God’s mercy, and to praise God for it—without a hint of pride or judgmentalism.

If we think that these various affirmations and concerns make sense together but also leave us with some remaining questions, face to face with a mystery, we are likely in good company—Paul’s.

The logical conclusion of chapter 11, of chapters 9–11 together, and indeed of the letter to this point found in 11:25–32 yields finally to a doxological conclusion in 11:33–36. Paul’s confidence in God’s mysterious, magnificent mercy engenders in him praise to God that is expressed in some of the most beautiful language of the New Testament: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (11:33). Paul employs biblical words, allusions to texts, and explicit scriptural citations (11:34–35 = Isa 40:13; Job 41:3). The Scripture texts are in the form of rhetorical questions, recalling the series of questions in 8:31–39. (Some of Paul’s best theologizing takes the form of questions.)

Paul is convinced that all Israel will experience the glory (doxa) and justice/righteousness (dikaiosynē) that are God’s gifts to the chosen people and to the entire world in the Messiah Jesus. Paul therefore shares in this glory, and invites us to do the same, by giving glory to the God of inscrutable, universal riches and mercy: “To him be the glory forever. Amen” (11:36b). This act of praise anticipates the description of gentiles and Jews united in Christ to glorify God that follows in chapters 12–15, culminating in another round of praise in 15:7–13 and again in 16:25–27, the last lines of the letter.