Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 1 Study # 1
October 21, 2018
Humble, Texas

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1769 Translation:
1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, [of] the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
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.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
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.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
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.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

1901 ASV Translation:

1 I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel:
3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
6 But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
7 What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:
8 according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, And bow thou down their back always.

• I. The Appearance of a False Conclusion.
  • A. Paul has been arguing that there has been a major "T"heological shift in God's Larger Plan as well as a major "audience" focus. Lest this thesis be carried to a false conclusion, he dives right into the possibility of this false conclusion.
  • B. The major aspect of this conclusion: "...did God cast away His people?".
    • 1. A problem in the translations is that both the KJV and the ASV seem to ignore the negative that stands before the main verb of Paul's posited declaration.
      • a. A solution may well be found in Robertson's A Grammar of the Greek New Testament on page 917 where he discusses the use of the two most common negative particles and makes the claim that when writers are setting forth a question, they often use those particles to indicate the answer they are expecting (an anticipated positive answer is indicated by the placement of ou before the verb in the question and an anticipated negative answer is indicated by the placement of mh before the verb). This being the case (and Robertson argues that it is a consistent find in the entire New Testament), there is no need to actually translate it.
      • b. That the negative particle exists in the Greek simply indicates that the answer is expected to be "No", but the reality is that the "No" is emphatic in this case as it is also in the next paragraph that begins in 11:11.
    • 2. The fact is that Paul had already quoted from Moses and Isaiah to establish the plans of God to "reclaim" His people from their wickedness, not "cast them off".
      • a. The only reason for raising the question of whether God had decided to "cast off" His people was the parting shot in 10:21 where he quoted God as saying He had stretched forth His hands in appeal to a disbelieving and argumentative people. People tend to respond to consistent rejection with a throwing up of their hands and giving up on the rejectors; but God's response is divine, not human.
      • b. Paul emphatically denies that this is the way God is going to respond ( mh genoito ).
  • C. Paul's reason for "suggesting" this false conclusion.
    • 1. He is clearly aware that this is what people think ought to be done when people prove themselves to be determinedly resistant.
    • 2. He is also clearly aware that for God to "cast off" ("thrust away", "forcefully push away") His people, He would have to break His promises to the fathers.
      • a. It seems clear from the on-going context that this issue of "breaking His promises" is a major issue for Paul.
      • b. The reason for this being a major issue is not hard to see: Paul was totally committed to proclaiming his message so that people would "believe". Nothing kills faith faster than the notion that God can be pushed beyond His commitment to integrity.
    • 3. It also seems relatively clear that Paul assumes that his readers will not "read" what he has said with "understanding". If his readers "read" that Moses wrote that God was going to use "jealousy" to get His people to turn back to Him, he would not have even raised the issue of whether His turn to a "non-seeking" and "non-understanding" audience meant that He had "thrust His people away from Him".
• II. Paul's Denial of the False Potential Conclusion.
  • A. He adamantly denies that God has thrust away His people because He has turned to another temporal program and focus ( mh genoito ).
  • B. He uses himself as "proof".
    • 1. In doing this he reveals his own astonishment regarding this truth. If anyone deserved to be "thrust away", it would be one who was "chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).
    • 2. His identity as one of "His people".
      • a. His outward qualifications.
        • 1) He was an "Israelite" (I am an Israelite, the emphasis is in the text).
        • 2) He was of the seed of Abraham.
        • 3) He was of the tribe of Benjamin.
      • b. His essential qualification: one of the "foreknown" people of God (11:2).
        • 1) He had already argued that "not all Israel are of Israel" (9:6).
        • 2) He had already argued that "not all of the 'seed of Abraham' are children" (9:7).
        • 3) Though it was apparently a strong "plus" in Paul's mind to be of the tribe of Benjamin (Note Philippians 3:5), he was fully aware of the fact that the tribe of Benjamin was the tribe of "Saul" (1 Samuel 9:1-2), first king over Israel (definitely not a "plus"), and his own personal namesake...a glory-seeking scoundrel.
        • 4) His "bottom line" was not these outward qualifications; it was his being one of the "foreknown" of God.
    • 3. The question, then, is this: Why did he list his "non-qualifying" "qualifications"?
      • a. On the one hand, his prior arguments in 9:6-7 only indicate that "God's people" were His people on the basis of two realities, not just one. One had to be both "Israelite" and "of Israel"; one had to be both "the seed of Abraham" and "a child of promise". Esau and Ishmael had one of the required characteristics, but not both. Jacob and Isaac had both characteristics.
      • b. So, on the other hand, he could not argue that God had not "cast off" His people if they were not "of Israel" and "children of promise". That he was both "Israelite" and "of Israel" and both "the seed of Abraham" and "a child of promise" means that God has not "cast off His people".
      • c. That God has turned His attention to gathering together a "non-nation" and turn it into a "nation", to gathering together "non-seekers" and "non-askers" and turning them into those who have "found" God and "those to whom He has made Himself manifest", in no way means that He has summarily ended His plans for His true Israel. It does reflect a major change in the present time, but it does not eliminate His earlier covenants and promises regarding Israel.
  • C. He insists upon this denial rooted in God's "foreknowledge".
    • 1. In addition to his mh genoito , he adds the emphatic, "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew".
    • 2. This is the second time Paul pulls "foreknowledge" into his arguments in Romans (8:29 is the first time).
      • a. Among the issues of "foreknowledge" is the fact that the term is rooted in the familiar Greek verb " ginwskw " which points to "knowledge arising out of intimate interaction".
      • b. In the Study Notes for May 21, 2017 (RomSN170521), posted online here, we went over this concept in some detail. The bottom line is this: those whom God "knows" are irreversibly His. He could no more "cast them aside" than He could Self-destruct because that is what would have to happen for God to "know" someone and not retain them in that relationship.
    • 3. The point is this: God's people have often existed within a context of a larger group of people who appeared to be a part of the group known as "the people of God" but were not. His turn away from the "apparent" does not mean a turn away from the "actual".
      • a. A prominent characteristic of "Israel" is that "to them belong the promises" (Romans 9:4).
      • b. If they "own" the promises, God will fulfill them because those promises have deep roots in divine integrity which can never be compromised (it is the foundation of all "faith").

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This is article #081.
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