April 9 Click on verses for Full Scripture

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Today's Pathway: Romans 11:20-26 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 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. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Today we will continue with Paul's discussion of the olive tree. He was using the tree as an illustration of the fact that God had made his original covenant with Abraham and Israel, but because many of the Jews rejected Him they were broken off and the Gentiles, who believed, were grafted in. In verse 20, Paul reminds his Gentile readers that the real issue is not nationality, but faith. It was unbelief that caused the nation of Israel to be broken off, and it was faith that allowed Gentiles to be grafted in. He now warns the Gentiles that they should not be trusting their ethnicity to get them to Heaven any more than the Jews should have. Remember that Israel believed that they were acceptable to God simply because they were children of Abraham. Paul warns the Gentiles not to assume, because they were being grafted in, that all of them as individuals were now children of God. We have mentioned this before, but always bear in mind that Romans 9-11 deals with nations and not individuals. Israel as a nation had been set aside, but individual Jews could still get saved. The Gentiles had been grafted in, but as individuals they still had to choose to receive Christ as Savior.

Paul continues with a warning. The Gentiles should not be proud, but fearful. If God was willing to cut off His chosen people, who were "children of the covenant" (Acts 3:25) because of their unbelief, He would certainly be willing to do the same to the Gentile nations, who were "strangers from the covenant" (Ephesians 2:12) if they would choose not to believe. In verse 22 Paul reiterates that God can be both good and severe. He was severe to Israel because of their unbelief and good to the Gentiles because they did believe, but that can be reversed at any time based upon the faith of those nations. In verses 23-24 Paul states that when Israel decides to follow God, they will be grafted in again. In fact, it will be easy to do, because Israel was already once a part of the tree. If God can graft the wild olive branches in, He can surely bring the natural branches back in.

In verse 25 Paul wants to make sure that his readers understand the "mystery" of what God is doing. If they don't understand, they may become arrogant, so Paul spells it out for them. Israel was blinded because of their unbelief, and this allowed the Gentile nations to come to Christ. John Walvoord wrote this:

"The term 'the fullness of the Gentiles' refers to the present age in which Gentiles predominate in the church and far exceed Israel in present spiritual blessing. The fullness of the Gentiles will be completed when God’s present task of winning Jew and Gentile to Christ is completed."

"From the context, Israel here must mean the Jewish people, and all Israel the whole nation. The Jews, as a people, are now rejected; as a people they are to be restored."

"'All Israel will be saved' does not mean that every Jew living at Christ’s return will be regenerated. Many of them will not be saved, as seen by the fact that the judgment of Israel, to follow soon after the Lord’s return, will include the removal of Jewish rebels (Ezekiel 20:34-38). Following this judgment God will then remove godlessness and sins from the nation as He establishes His New Covenant with regenerate Israel (Jeremiah 31:33-34)."