Go to Related Reading
About this book

Romans

About this book
Chapter 11

1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not!⁠ For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets; they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life!” 4 But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself 7,000 people who have not bent the knee to Baal.”⁠ 5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually.”⁠ 11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.⁠ 12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring? 13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. 17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root,⁠ 18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God—harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And even they—if they do not continue in their unbelief—will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.⁠ 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” 28 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.⁠ 29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways!⁠ 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? 35 Or who has first given to God that God needs to repay him?⁠ 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.

Texts in conversation

Compare Romans 11:25 and 4 Ezra 4:35

New Testament · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

Share:

Summary

Romans 11 and 4 Ezra share a Jewish tradition that the future messianic age follows a set timeline shaped by God. This includes a place for Gentiles in that plan and explains how God guides history toward a promised future for all people.

Passages

Romans 11:25

New Testament
24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” 28 In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
55–58 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Romans

4 Ezra 4:35

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · 2 Esdras
34 He answered me, and said, “Don’t hurry faster than the Most High; for your haste is for your own self, but he who is above hurries on behalf of many. 35 Didn’t the souls of the righteous ask about these things in their chambers, saying, ‘How long will we be here? When does the fruit of the threshing floor come?’ 36 To them, Jeremiel the archangel answered, ‘When the number is fulfilled of those who are like you. For he has weighed the world in the balance. 37 By measure, he has measured the times. By number, he has counted the seasons. He won’t move or stir them until that measure is fulfilled.’” 38 Then I answered, “O sovereign Lord, all of us are full of ungodliness. 39 Perhaps it is for our sakes that the threshing time of the righteous is kept back—because of the sins of those who dwell on the earth.”
70–132 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 4 Ezra

References

"... Donaldson notes two Pauline assumptions underlying the temporal view: (1) Paul 'believes that the parousia will bring to an end the opportunity of salvation for the Gentiles.' This may be suggested in Paul's talk of 'the fullness of the Gentiles' (Rom 11:25); it is seen more clearly in I Cor 15:23; 2 Cor 6:2; I Thess 4:13-17; and 2 Thess 5:2-10. (2) Paul 'believes that the reversal of Israel's present situation of stumbling/defeat/rejection, will precipitate the eschatological age itself.' These two convictions of Paul have Jewish parallels. Donaldson finds parallels to the first conviction in exclusivist streams of Second Temple Judaism, which were (perhaps reluctantly) open to proselytes in the present (2 Apoc. Bar. 41:1-6; 1QS 6:13-15; CD 14:4-5) but saw no possibility of conversion or even the presence of Gentiles in the future age (4 Ezra 8:56-58; CD 4:7-12; t. Sanh. 13.2; b. Abod. Zar. 3b; Pesiqta Rabbati 161a). He concludes, 'There is every reason, then, to suppose that for one strand of Judaism, at least, the Gentiles' hope of salvation in the Age to Come depended on their becoming proselytes in the present' (Apocalypse of Abraham 23:5; 4 Ezra 4:35-43; b. Sanhedrin 97b-98a; b. Shabbat 118b; Sifre Deuteronomy 41) ..."
Murray Baker, “Paul and the Salvation of Israel: Paul's Ministry, the Motif of Jealousy, and Israel's Yes,” CBQ (2005): 469–484.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Romans 11:25 and 4 Ezra 4:35

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library