Roma 11:1-8

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” ¹  11:4 But what was the divine response ²  to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people ³  who have not bent the knee to Baal.” ⁴ 

11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ⁵  rest were hardened, 11:8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

to this very day.” ⁶ 

[11:3]  ¹ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.

[11:4]  ² tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”

[11:4]  ³ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.

[11:4]  ⁴ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.

[11:7]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:8]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.