Romans chapter 11

vs 19

It's an interesting idea, but not one that is full of merit - that God would sacrifice the people whom had maintained a relationship with all that time to include others. But I am guessing that this idea had come to the minds of some.

vs 20

If unbelief and faith are two sides of the same coin, then that is indeed reason to tremble, because that means that the Israelites only stood in their old position by faith - the same reason we stand in ours now. It's interesting, of course - the Christian life is so full of assurances that we are God's chosen people, predestined to be with him, precious to him unable to be taken from him. The most quoted passage regarding us never being plucked from his hand is in Romans! And yet how often do we read this verse and tremble? If faith is what keeps us bound, then unbelief could surely cause us to be stripped away.

vs 21

We should therefore be on our guard to never make the same mistakes that our spiritual forebears did. Yes, they were actual bears. Rawr. Although I think we can be somewhat more secure - we don't have all those promises of falling away and being invaded by the Babylonians that Israel had in the Old Covenant - but we do have promises of people not being on the narrow road, and of people being turned away at the gates. Read in the context of this verse, they take on just that little bit more realism and urgency.

vs 22

There it is, a straight out kick in the teeth. If we continue in his kindness, all well and good. But God is also a God of sternness, not afraid to cut off those who are not faithful. Scary thought, isn't it?

vs 23

God is also a God of eternal forgiving kindness - and even those who seem cut off can be grafted back in. So it's not like he has turned his back on them forever.

vs 24

Ok, apart from flogging the grafting analogy to death, I think we have a good understanding of the potential for what Paul is saying - that there is no reason God could not call Israel back to himself. There is nothing stopping him from doing so, and therefore we should not look at the gentile church as inheriting God from the Jews who are now dead. Rather, we have been adopted into a family without first pushing the original members out. Sure, they might be in a huff about it and run off and sulk (sounds like the older brother to the prodigal son to me) but that does not mean they won't return.

vs 25

Ok, so far we have been talking in potentia about the Jews coming back into the fold. But now, Paul is making it clear that he is talking about something more than a potential reclaiming of the Jews. Rather, he believes that the Jews are being hardened specifically because they were making it difficult for gentiles to come in. But there will come a time when all the gentiles God has called will become Christians, and then...

vs 26-27

... all of Israel will be saved. That seems a very odd thing to say. Some people read it literally, and assume that at the end times (when all gentiles have been saved) then Israel (the Jews at the time, I assume) will be reclaimed by God. Others read it metaphorically, saying that the Israel here is now the New Israel. That does seem a little farfetched to me, considering all the other references seem to have been to Israel so far, and seem to continue onto Israel after this too.

In the end, I've got to say that considering this isn't going to happen until God doesn't want any more gentiles, I'm not holding my breath.

Paul backs up his statement with a couple more verses of scripture, but I'll be darned if I see the direct relevance to this argument in particular. But more power to God! I say save them all if they have faith in Christ. Seems only fair to me.