Commentary - Romans 11:25-36

Bird's-eye view

In this magnificent conclusion to his argument in chapters 9 through 11, the Apostle Paul unveils a "mystery" concerning God's plan for Israel and the Gentiles. Having spent three chapters wrestling with the problem of Jewish unbelief, Paul now reveals the grand, sovereign purpose behind it all. This is not an appendix to his theology; it is the capstone of his argument about God's righteousness. The temporary, partial hardening of ethnic Israel served a strategic purpose in redemptive history: to open the door for the mass ingathering of the Gentiles. But this is not the end of the story. Once this "fullness of the Gentiles" has come in, God will turn His saving attention back to ethnic Israel in a climactic way, and so "all Israel will be saved."

This salvation is not based on any merit of their own, but entirely on God's unbreakable covenant promises to the patriarchs. The gifts and the calling of God are, as Paul famously declares, irrevocable. The passage culminates in one of the most glorious doxologies in all of Scripture. Beholding the sheer genius of God's plan, a plan that uses even disobedience and hardening to bring about a greater mercy for all, Paul is driven to worship. The riches of God's wisdom are unsearchable, His judgments are beyond our tracing, and His ways are past finding out. It is a fitting end to an argument that demonstrates how God, in His absolute sovereignty, weaves together judgment and mercy, Jew and Gentile, history and prophecy, into a single, breathtaking tapestry for His own glory.

Outline

Context In Romans

Romans 9-11 forms a distinct unit within Paul's letter, addressing the crucial question of God's faithfulness to His promises to Israel in light of widespread Jewish rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. After establishing the universal sinfulness of both Jew and Gentile (chapters 1-3) and the doctrine of justification by faith alone (chapters 3-5), Paul explores the believer's new life of sanctification in Christ (chapters 6-8). Chapter 8 ends with the triumphant declaration that nothing can separate the elect from God's love. This naturally raises the question: what about Israel? Are they not God's elect people? Have they been separated? Paul answers with an emphatic "No!" In chapter 9, he defends God's sovereign right to choose whom He will. In chapter 10, he demonstrates that Israel's failure is their own fault, a failure of unbelief. In chapter 11, he shows that this failure is neither total (there is a remnant) nor final. Our passage, 11:25-36, is the climax of this entire section. It provides the ultimate resolution to the problem, revealing God's long-term plan which will result not only in the salvation of the Gentiles but also in a future, large-scale conversion of ethnic Israel, thus vindicating God's covenant faithfulness once and for all.

Key Issues

God's Grand Reversal

One of the central themes running through Scripture is God's tendency to work in ways that are entirely contrary to human expectation. He chooses the younger over the older, the weak to shame the strong, and the foolish to confound the wise. Here in Romans 11, Paul shows us this divine signature on the grandest possible scale. Who would have designed a plan where the covenant people's rejection of their own Messiah becomes the very mechanism for bringing salvation to the pagan nations? And who would have imagined that the inclusion of those pagan nations would, in turn, become the instrument for provoking the original covenant people to jealousy, leading to their ultimate restoration? It is a breathtaking strategy.

Paul's argument is a direct assault on all forms of human pride. It demolishes the pride of the unbelieving Jew, who trusted in his lineage. It warns against the potential pride of the Gentile believer, who might boast against the natural branches. And it humbles us all before the throne of a God whose plans are so intricate, so counter-intuitive, and so perfect that our only proper response is to fall on our faces in worship. God has "shut up all in disobedience" not out of caprice, but as a strategic move in His great campaign of grace, "so that He may show mercy to all." He drives us all into the ditch of our own sin and misery so that He can be the only hero of the story.

Verse by Verse Commentary

25 For I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery, so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;

Paul is about to reveal something that could not be known apart from divine revelation. A mystery in the New Testament is not a puzzle to be solved, but a truth previously hidden and now unveiled by God. He tells this to the Roman Christians, who were mostly Gentiles, for a specific moral purpose: to keep them from becoming arrogant, from being "wise in your own estimation." The mystery has two parts. First, a partial hardening has come upon Israel. It is partial in that not every Jew is hardened; there has always been a remnant of believers (11:5). But it is a judicial hardening nonetheless. Second, this condition is temporary. It has a terminus point: until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. This refers to a time when the great harvest of Gentile salvation, made possible by Israel's stumbling, reaches the full measure that God has appointed for it.

26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.”

Here is the stunning climax. The word so means "in this manner" or "at that time." When the Gentile harvest is complete, then the great salvation of Israel will occur. Who is this all Israel? Given the context of the chapter, which consistently distinguishes between ethnic Israel and the believing Gentiles grafted in, this must refer to a massive, nation-wide conversion of the Jewish people to their Messiah, Jesus. It does not mean every single Jew without exception, but Israel as a corporate, national entity, just as "all the world" could mean the Roman Empire. This is not the church replacing Israel; this is the natural branches being grafted back into their own olive tree (11:24). Paul undergirds this prophecy with Scripture, quoting from Isaiah 59. The Deliverer, Christ, will come and turn the nation of Jacob away from its ungodliness in a great revival.

27 “AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.”

Paul continues his appeal to the Old Testament, here referencing Isaiah 27:9 and Jeremiah 31:33-34. The basis for this future salvation is not a new plan, but God's faithfulness to His ancient covenant promises. The New Covenant itself was promised to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The taking away of their sins is the very heart of that covenant promise. God made a promise, and God will keep it. The fact that they have been unfaithful for a long period of time does not nullify the covenant on God's end. His faithfulness is the anchor of all of redemptive history.

28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

Paul now presents the current status of unbelieving Israel as a paradox, viewed from two different angles. From one perspective, that of the gospel's progress in the world, they are currently enemies. Their rejection of Jesus and their opposition to the apostolic mission actually served to push the gospel out to the Gentile world. So, their enmity was used by God "for your sake," speaking to the Gentiles. But from another, deeper perspective, that of God's sovereign election (God's choice), they remain beloved. Why? Not because of their own merit, but "for the sake of the fathers", Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God's covenant love for the patriarchs extends to their descendants.

29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

This is the foundational principle upon which the entire argument rests. The "gifts" refer to the covenant privileges listed back in Romans 9:4-5, and the "calling" refers to God's sovereign election of Israel to be His special people. These things are irrevocable, which means "not to be repented of." God does not change His mind. He does not make a covenant promise and then say, "Well, that didn't work out as I'd hoped." His purposes are eternal and unshakeable. Because His call on Abraham is irrevocable, His purpose for Abraham's physical descendants is not yet finished. This is a massive anchor for the believer's security as well. If God's promises to Israel are this certain, then His promises to those who are in Christ are just as certain.

30-31 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.

Paul now draws a beautiful parallel that ties it all together. He reminds the Gentiles of their past: "you once were disobedient." But now, through the gospel, they have received mercy. And what was the historical occasion for this? It was because of Israel's disobedience in rejecting Christ. Now the tables are turned. The Jews "have now been disobedient." And what is the purpose of this? So that through the mercy God has shown the Gentiles, the Jews themselves might ultimately be shown mercy. The salvation of the Gentiles is not the end of the story; it is the means to a further end, the restoration of Israel. It is a divine pincer movement of grace.

32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

This verse summarizes the divine strategy. God has sovereignly "shut up" or "consigned" all humanity, both Jew and Gentile alike, to disobedience. Romans 1-3 made this case in detail. No one has a righteous leg to stand on. But this is not a declaration of fatalism; it is a declaration of divine purpose. God's reason for demonstrating to all their utter sinfulness and inability is so that His mercy might be the only solution for all. He levels the playing field at the foot of the cross. He brings all men into the prison of sin so that He can be the great liberator of all, without distinction. Mercy, not human merit, is the theme of the entire Bible, and this verse is its pinnacle.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

Theology, when done rightly, must lead to doxology. Paul's mind has been stretched to its limits contemplating the majesty of God's plan, and he breaks forth into worship. He piles up his words, depth, riches, wisdom, knowledge, in an attempt to describe the indescribable. God's "judgments" (His decisions and decrees) are "unsearchable." We cannot plumb their depths. His "ways" (His methods of carrying out His decrees in history) are "unfathomable," like the tracks of an animal that cannot be followed. We can know what God has revealed, but we cannot fully comprehend the mind that conceived it all.

34-35 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE REPAID TO HIM?

Paul again pulls from the Old Testament (Isaiah 40:13 and Job 41:11) to reinforce his point. He asks two rhetorical questions that demand the answer, "No one!" First, who has ever been admitted into God's inner council to advise Him? God is utterly self-sufficient in His wisdom. Second, who has ever put God in their debt? Who has given God a gift or done Him a service that would require Him to pay it back? God is the ultimate initiator. He is the source of all things; nothing originates outside of Him. This demolishes any idea that our salvation is a cooperative effort where we contribute our part and God contributes His.

36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

This is the final, grand summary of a God-centered universe. All things are from Him as the sovereign source and creator. All things are through Him as the sustainer and ruler who providentially governs every detail. And all things are to Him as the ultimate goal and purpose. History is not a random series of events; it is a story that God is writing, and it is a story about His own glory. Therefore, it is only right that all glory be ascribed to Him, not just for a little while, but forever. Paul's "Amen" is the hearty affirmation of every true believer. So be it.

Application

This passage should, first and foremost, produce in us a profound sense of humility and awe. Our God is smarter than we are. His plans are bigger, more complex, and more glorious than we could ever imagine. This should cure us of the arrogance that Paul warns the Gentile believers about. We have no room to boast. We were wild olive branches, dead in our sins, and we were grafted into the covenant people of God by sheer, unadulterated grace. We must never look down on the Jewish people, the natural branches who were broken off. They are still beloved for the sake of the fathers, and we should pray eagerly for the day of their national salvation.

Second, this passage is a mighty fortress for our faith. If God's calling on ethnic Israel is irrevocable, despite millennia of disobedience, then how much more secure is our standing in Christ? God does not abandon His projects. He does not break His promises. The same faithfulness that will one day regraft Israel into the olive tree is the faithfulness that holds you fast today. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.

Finally, this passage ought to shape our view of history and current events. God is on the throne, and He is working all things, even the disobedience and rebellion of men, together to achieve His ultimate purpose of showing mercy to all. This should give us a profound sense of hope and confidence as we look at the world. History is not spiraling out of control. It is moving inexorably toward that final day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And that glory is the point of everything.