Chapter 11

I say then: Has God cast off his people? By no means! For I also am an Israelite of the posterity of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not cast off his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the account of Elias, how he lodges complaint with God against Israel?

"Lord, they have slain thy prophets, they have razed thy altars; and I only am left, And they are seeking my life."

But what does the divine answer say to him? "I have left for myself seven thousand men, Who have not bowed their knees to Baal."

Even so, then, at the present time there is a remnant left, selected out of grace.

And if out of grace, then not in virtue of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. Witness of the Scriptures

What then? What Israel was seeking after, that it has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been blinded,

as it is written, "God has given them a spirit of stupor until this present day, Eyes that they may not see, And ears that they may not hear."

And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block and a recompense unto them;

Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and let them bow their backs always." Israel's Fall the Gentiles' Salvation

I say then: have they so stumbled as to fall? By no means! But by their offense salvation has come to the Gentiles, that they may be jealous of them.

Now if their offense is the riches of the world, and their decline the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their full number! The Gentiles Must Be Humble

For I say to you Gentiles: As long, indeed, as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry,

in the hope that I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

For if the rejection of them is the reconciliation of the world, what will the reception of them be but life from the dead?

Now if the first handful of the dough is holy, so also is the lump of dough; and if the root is holy, so also are the branches.

But if some of the branches have been broken off, and if thou, being a wild olive, art grafted in their place, and hast become a partaker of the stem and fatness of the olive tree,

do not boast against the branches. But if thou dost boast, still it is not thou that supportest the stem, but the stem thee.

Thou wilt say, then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in."

True, but they were broken off because of unbelief, whereas thou by faith standest. Be not high-minded, but fear.

For if God has not spared the natural branches, perhaps he may not spare thee either.

See, then, the goodness and severity of God: his severity towards those who have fallen, but the goodness of God towards thee if thou abides in his goodness; otherwise thou also wilt be cut off. Israel Can Yet Be Saved

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them back.

For if thou hast been cut off from the wild olive tree which is natural to thee, and contrary to nature, hast been grafted into the cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! Israel's Final Conversion

For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that a partial blindness only has befallen Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles should enter,

and thus all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, "There will come out of Sion the deliverer and he will turn away impiety from Jacob;

And this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their sins."

In view of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but in view of the divine choice, they are most dear for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the call of God are without repentance. Ultimate Triumph of God's Mercy

For as you also at one time did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy by reason of their unbelief,

so they too have not now believed by reason of the mercy shown you, that they too may obtain mercy.

For God has shut up all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon all. God's Ways Unsearchable

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!

For "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?

Or who has first given to him, that recompense should be made him? "

For from him and through him and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen.