Romans 11 Bible study: God didn’t reject his people

The chapter opens with the letter asking itself a question: "I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." (11:1) (tap reject). The next verse says it again: "God didn’t reject his people, whom he foreknew." (11:2). Then it asks, "Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.”" (11:2-3), and "But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”" (11:4). Then, of "this present time" (11:5), it says, "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace." (11:6). Favor's introduction to Romans, under What shall we say then?, gives the ten verses of the letter where "May it never be!" stands; this chapter has two of them (11:1, 11:11).

Isaiah 59:20→leads toRomans 11:26-27

The LORD says, "A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from disobedience in Jacob" (Isaiah 59:20), and "As for me, this is my covenant with them" (Isaiah 59:21). Paul (Romans 1:1) writes, "Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”" (Romans 11:26-27). Paul gives the words as Scripture but doesn't name Isaiah, and the WEB words the two differently: where Isaiah 59:20 has A Redeemer will come to Zion, Romans has There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and where Isaiah has those who turn from disobedience in Jacob, Romans has he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them stands in both. Romans 11:27's last words are close to Isaiah 27:9, and the chapter on Isaiah 27 sets them out. Romans doesn't name the Deliverer, so setting 59:20 beside Jesus is a reading. Many Christians read Paul's Deliverer as Christ, and hear in "A Redeemer will come to Zion" (Isaiah 59:20) a promise of him. Others read Paul as giving these words of Scripture for the LORD's promise to Jacob, without saying who the Deliverer is, and read Isaiah 59:20 in its own chapter, as the LORD's word that a Redeemer will come to Zion (Isaiah 59:20-21), without setting it beside Jesus. These notes pick neither. Paul's sentence begins "and so all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26); that is Paul's own subject, Isaiah 59 doesn't raise it, and these notes take no view on it.

κλάδοςkladossay KLAD-os

Strong's: "a twig or bough (as if broken off)". "If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches." (11:16). The chapter's picture of the olive tree has the word five times, from 11:16 to 11:21, and Romans has it nowhere else (counted in RP2018). The Gospels have it of trees and plants: "Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road." (Matthew 21:8).