Romans 10–11

Israel Needs the Gospel

10Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ¹Israel is that they may be saved. ²For I bear them witness ^athat they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³For they being ignorant of ^bGod’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own ^crighteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. ⁴For ^dChrist is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ^e“The man who does those things shall live by them.” ⁶But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ^f“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) ⁷or, ^g“ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸But what does it say? ^h“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): ⁹that ⁱif you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the Scripture says, ^j“Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” ¹²For ^kthere is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for ^lthe same Lord over all ^mis rich to all who call upon Him. ¹³For ⁿ“whoever calls ^oon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Israel Rejects the Gospel

¹⁴How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear ^pwithout a preacher? ¹⁵And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

^q“How beautiful are the feet of those who ²preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ^r“Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

¹⁸But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed:

^s“Their sound has gone out to all the earth,

^tAnd their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:

^u“I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,

I will move you to anger by a ^vfoolish nation.”

²⁰But Isaiah is very bold and says:

^w“I was found by those who did not seek Me;

I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”

²¹But to Israel he says:

^x“All day long I have stretched out My hands

To a disobedient and contrary people.”

Israel’s Rejection Not Total

11I say then, ^ahas God cast away His people? ^bCertainly not! For ^cI also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God has not cast away His people whom ^dHe foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ^3e“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? ⁴But what does the divine response say to him? ^f“I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ^5gEven so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ⁶And ^hif by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. ¹But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

⁷What then? ⁱIsrael has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were ^jblinded. ⁸Just as it is written:

^k“God has given them a spirit of stupor,

^lEyes that they should not see

And ears that they should not hear,

To this very day.”

⁹And David says:

^m“Let their table become a snare and a trap,

A stumbling block and a recompense to them.

¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,

And bow down their back always.”

Israel’s Rejection Not Final

¹¹I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But ⁿthrough their ²fall, to provoke them to ^ojealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ¹²Now if their ³fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

¹³For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as ^pI am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and ^qsave some of them. ¹⁵For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be ^rbut life from the dead?

¹⁶For if ^sthe firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷And if ^tsome of the branches were broken off, ^uand you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and ⁴fatness of the olive tree, ^18vdo not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰Well said. Because of ^wunbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. ²²Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, ⁵goodness, ^xif you continue in His goodness. Otherwise ^yyou also will be cut off. ²³And they also, ^zif they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be ^awise in your own ⁶opinion, that ^bblindness in part has happened to Israel ^cuntil the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶And so all Israel will be ⁷saved, as it is written:

^d“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,

And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

²⁷For ^ethis is My covenant with them,

When I take away their sins.”

²⁸Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are ^fbeloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are ^girrevocable. ³⁰For as you ^hwere once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, ³¹even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ³²For God has ⁸committed them ⁱall to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁴“For who has known the ^jmind of the Lord?

Or ^kwho has become His counselor?”

³⁵“Or ^lwho has first given to Him

And it shall be repaid to him?”

³⁶For ^mof Him and through Him and to Him are all things, ⁿto whom be glory forever. Amen.