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Romans 11

Chapter Eleven


"Israel's Fall"


There are eleven questions posed in this chapter:

  1. Hath God cast away His people? v. 1

Absolutely not is the answer. Paul points to the fact that he has communion with God and is of Israel a Benjamite. Israel whom God foreknow is not cast way and utterly forsaken by Him. She has turned her back on Him.


  1. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? v. 2

Elijah makes a different kind of intercession from Paul's in Romans ten. In I Kings 19:10, Elijah testifies against Israel saying that they all were evil and none righteous remained but himself. Even God's prophet didn't see any hope of revival and was ready to cast them off.


  1. But What saith the answer of God unto him? v. 4

The answer is that Elijah was not alone. GOD ALWAYS HAS HIS REMNANT. Paul parallels that with his day saying that there was yet a remnant according to the election of grace. There are those Jews whom the Lord in His foreknowledge knows have not yet returned, but they will in due time. God knowing some will answer the call, for the sake of that some, God has not forsaken His people.


  1. What then? v. 7

If it were by works then Israel should be forsaken by God, but this election is by grace. Therefore, Israel has not obtained what they look for, but the election hath obtained it. This evidences the fact that God is still dealing with His people even though Israel as a whole is blinded.


  1. Have they stumbled that they should fall? v.11

"The failure of the Jews has led to the opening of the door to the Gentiles."—James Thompson. The salvation of Gentiles in return is a spur to the Jews to get it right. Though they have failed, Israel may return and is not without hope. (They must come by the way of grace, and not the law.)


  1. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? v.12

The Gentiles should glory in that they have been engrafted, but not in the fact that Israel has fallen. As the Gentiles have benefited from their fall, they would much more benefit now by their repentance and return to God.


  1. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? v.15

The Jewish people are the greatest testimony of the reality of the Gospel. They are living evidence of the accuracy of Scripture.

  1. How much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? v. 24

It is not impossible for Israel to be graffed in again for God is able to restore Israel which is cut off from the branch if He has graffed in a foreign branch to the olive tree—the Gentiles.


  1. For who hath known the mind of the Lord?

How unsearchable are his judgments and His ways past finding out!


  1. Who hath been his counsellor? v. 34

If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Job 35:7a Who is man to question God? He has no place. Not only hasn't God asked for our advice, but also He doesn't need it.


  1. Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? v. 35

or what receiveth he of thine hand? Job 35:7b All things have their beginning in God. The story goes about the evolutionists who requested a showdown with God. They argued that man has evolved and advanced to such a point that he doesn't need God, but can do anything God can. The competition was agreed to that God would make a man and the evolutionists would make a man. As the evolutionists began they reached down and gathered a hand full of dirt. God points at them and says, " Get your own dirt."

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