11
1 Speaker 1: “Well then, I would want to respond that surely God has not actually abandoned his people?!”
Speaker 2: “Of course not—note that I myself am an Israelite, descended from Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not abandoned his people whom he predicted would act like this. And don’t you realize what the Scripture says about Elijah as he was complaining to God about Israel? 3 ‘Lord, they have murdered your prophets and they have burned your altars to the ground; I alone have been left behind and they are seeking my life.’ 4 But what does the oracle say to him? ‘I have held back for myself seven thousand men who have not bent their knee to Baal.’ 5 Just so in the present season a remnant exists which has been chosen by God’s gracious patronage. 6 (And note how if it is by gracious patronage then it is not through works; indeed [if it was by works] then grace would not be grace.)”
Speaker 2: 7 “So what should we say about all this?”
Speaker 1: “The thing that Israel sought after—this it did not receive?!”
Speaker 2: “But the remnant of Israel received it! And the rest were ‘hardened.’ 8 As it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of slumber—senses that do not work or function properly, right up to the present day.’ 9 And so David also says, ‘Let their table be a trap and a snare and a stumbling-block and a retribution for them; 10 let their senses be dulled to the point of insensibility and their backs bent over in everything.’”
Speaker 1: 11 “But I ask then, have they fallen to the point of complete collapse?”
Speaker 2: “Absolutely not. But through their mis-steps salvation has come to the pagans, and ultimately this will arouse them to jealousy. 12 And note how if their mis-step results in riches for the cosmos, and their defeat results in triumph for the pagans, then how much more will their fullness bring?!”
13 “I am speaking now to you, pagans. While I am God’s envoy to the pagan nations, I make a lot of my designated task, 14 hoping in some way to stir those who share my human nature to jealousy and thereby to save some of them. 15 Moreover, if their loss results in the reconciliation of the cosmos, then what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16And I would add that if the first fruits are holy, then so is the rest of the [heave] offering. And if the root of the tree is holy, then so are the branches [that stretch into profane territory]. 17 So even if some of the branches were broken off, and you, from a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them so that you share in the nourishing sap from the olive tree’s root, 18 don’t taunt the broken branches. And if you do insult them, think about how you do not bear the root; the root bears you. 19 Doubtless you will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ 20 True! They were broken off because of their faithlessness, and you stand in place by faith. So don’t exalt yourself. Show some respect. 21 If God did not spare the natural branches then neither will he spare you. 22 Consider the kindness and the severity of God: on the one hand, for those who fall, severity, and on the other hand, towards you, kindness—if you remain in that kindness, and outside of which even you will be cut off. 23 So even those other branches, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted back in again. Because obviously God is capable of grafting them in again. 24 If you have been broken off from the wild olive tree and grafted, against your nature, into the cultivated tree, then how much easier is it going to be for those branches from the cultivated stock to be grafted back into their own tree.”
25 “I don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of this divine secret, so that you will not be overly wise amongst yourselves: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the moment when the fullness of the pagan nations has come in, 26 and then all Israel will be saved. As it is written, ‘the liberator will come from Zion; he will turn impiety away from Israel; 27 and this will be the agreement made by me for them—when I take away their sins.’ 28 On the one side then, in terms of the great proclamation given on your behalf [at least in part], they are enemies, but on the other side, in terms of God’s commitment on behalf of Israel’s great ancestors, they are beloved. 29 God’s gift and God’s call are irrevocable. 30 So just as you at that time were disobedient to God, but now have received mercy through their disobedience, 31 they too are now disobedient, but will receive mercy through the mercy that you have received. 32God confines everyone within disobedience, but the result is that he has mercy on everyone.”
33 “The depths of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God;
How unfathomable his judgments, how unsearchable his ways.
34 Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Who has been his counsellor?
35 Who has given something to him
So that he should then be recompensed?
36 All things flow from him, through him, and to him,
And all the glory that shines for eternity is his.”
“Amen.”